58k in debt to frugal living..

debtfreeoneday

I'm not new on here, but I'm starting a new diary as I keep trying to be a more regular poster, so new start and all that.

You'll see from my signature that we had a hideous amount of debt which bit by bit we have paid off and are nowleft with just under £10k to clear.

A few years ago, we both got made redundant in fairly quick succession, had twins and moved to the coast in search of a better quality of life (not necessarily in that order). Our income subsequently went down by three quarters.

Whilst we now live a more simple life, money is tight (isn't it for everyone these days) and we desperately want to kick the last of the debt, but have very little spare cash to throw at it.

Hopefully with more regular postings on here and a bit more focus, I can make a bigger difference through the coming months and years. I'm sick of debt now and for the first time in my life, I want to be debt free, bar the mortgage. (that's the next goal)

Things are a little crazy of late and it's been hard with no family around us to manage young twins, me returning to work which I was determined to do. Childcare cripples us and I long for next July when we make our last payment to nursery.

Anyhooo, I would love some support of people of similar journeys and I promise to post more.

zenshi

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

I'm not new on here, but I'm starting a new diary as I keep trying to be a more regular poster, so new start and all that.




Anyhooo, I would love some support of people of similar journeys and I promise to post more.

That is me........

Well done so far, that's fantastic

2bak860

Hello!

Well done for starting a diary. We can all do this together!

debtfreeoneday

So, it's half term and we are planning a fairly quiet, low key (frugal) break. I'm off work this week (lucky enough to work term time), so it's me and the little people.

Plans today are baking, modelling clay and then off to Tesco to collect an order. I am slightly nutty about getting all my Christmas present shopping done as early as possible, so I probably have 5-6 more left to get and I am done!

December is birthday month is our house for the little people and DH, so we like to have a chilled out month celebrating those and Christmas..

What's everyone else up this half term week?

Thank you for all that have popped in so far. x

ellesbellesxxx

Wishing youluck for your DF journey - looks like you have already achieved a lot!
We have a family loan of 7000 to pay which we are determined to start doing in November (getting married this weekend so money been goingo towards that in meantime!!!!)
I will follow your journey with interest x

debtfreeoneday

Oooh how exciting! I hope you have a fantastic day ellesbelles!

crunch_time

Hi debtfreeoneday!
congratulations on the new diary! I will subscribe! Currently waiting for baby number 2 (any day now) and have a toddler so have little people to entertain too. On maternity leave till Sept next year and then will have nursery costs to pay as moving further away from family hopefully before Christmas. Attempting to pay off debt whilst on statutory maternity leave so hopefully we can share frugal tips!




look forward to following your journey!
Crunchy x

debtfreeoneday

Exciting times crunchy! Hope the house move continues smoothly as well.

These little people are expensive aren't they?

debtfreeoneday

Today is all about baking which I never got round to yesterday! Carrot muffins and halloween fairy cakes.. Apart from that I don't intend to venture anywhere in the car, but will get out for a walk with the littlies if the weather improves a bit.

DH and I have just agreed this morning not to buy Christmas presents for each other but to knock a little bit off the money we owe to our 'bank account' - we are not overdrawn, but we both upgraded our phones recently and 'borrowed' money from our savings pot, so we pay this back over a period of time - I know phones are expensive and a luxury but we do very little in the way of spending on things we don't need, don't go out or treat ourselves very much at all since we starting tackling the debt, so our phones are our one vice!

Interestingly, I opened an Experian credit report account recently (got £5 cashback for doing so) and cancelled in the free trial, so no cost to me. My credit score was 991 which I think is pretty good, but the report showed £110 of outstanding debt to npower - so yesterday morning was spent on the phone to them to get that removed which it should be today. I don't know where that came from, neither did they.. but interesting to look at the report - must get DH to do that as well..

Happy Tuesday folks..

debtfreeoneday

Wednesday already - half term is flying by!

Weigh day for me and I lost 3lb this week, so 30 in total now. Really pleased as I didn't think I would lose at all this week!

Weather is still looking dreary.. not much in the way of plans today.. need to go to Tesco later to collect a few Christmas deliveries... apart from that a day of playing and crafting with the kids!

Going to investigate moving energy suppliers today.. tried to do it a while ago and it didn't go through as npower hadn't changed the status of our meter.. assuming they now have, so will see if I can find a cheaper deal..

Also thinking about our TV / Broadband - we need broadband as we both work from home at time... but wondering if we could without the TV licence and not have the TV package.. anyone any experience with this?

debtfreeoneday

Used MSE's energy check thingy and have swopped for a saving of £30 per month and £15 cashback..

Also spoke to BT and could save £5 if we drop the TV package and £12 if we drop the TV licence. DH seemed quite up for this and suggested we pull the plug on the ariel for a month to see how we fare.. would be a savings of £17 a month.. doesn't seem a lot to have TV to hand, but we rarely watch anything live..

£17, plus £30 and that nearly £50 a month saved..