Light Bulb Moment Today - Feeling positive!

melwinnie

Hello, and welcome to my diary. I'm new to all of this so hoping I've done this right (Please tell me if I haven't!)


DFW journey started today, don't get paid for a couple of weeks but everything's in place to start as I mean to go on.


Steps taken today:


Snowballing calculator done - was pleasantly surprised - been paying the minimum payment on my credit cards for 11 years and getting no where. Used the calculator and included what I could afford to make as an additional payment and it says I can clear the debts in 21 months!


Downloaded the YNAB free trial - Was really helpful to do a full budget and things are looking better already


Found my log on details for my ISA and made sure I could access the online site so that I can start saving as of next pay day.


Next steps:


Open a basic bank account, no overdraft no perks, just a cash account I can transfer my spend into each month. That way my current account can stay as my bills account.


Looking forward to pay day now (I always am!) but for very different reasons this month.


I'll leave it there for today, and will update you again soon on how my plans are going on the count down to pay day.


Good luck to all starting their journey and those who are already on the road to been debt free.


Looking forward to receiving lots of support and encouragement and to doing the same for others.

Ammeretto

Hi melwinnie and welcome to the forums

Good luck on your journey.
YNAB if fab. I love it. Its a brilliant budgeting tool.

21 months to debt free is a fantastic time.
Have you done an SOA yet? It can be really useful for spotting areas where you can save. SOA here

You can either post it here for people to suggest ways for cutting back / saving money or just use it for your own reference.

Good luck

melwinnie

Hello Ameretto, thank you for your reply. I've looked into the SOA but I don't feel like I need to do one at the moment. After doing the budget planner I've realised that I do actually have spare cash and there's no reason why I cant be paying the debts off. I think it was more a case of getting organised for me. Will see how I get on in 1st few months and if it looks like I need to free up more cash I'll do the SOA.


Looks like you've made good progress with your debts. Good luck and keep going :-)