Snowscreamer's debt reduction efforts

snowscreamer

And I forgot... we are currently back in the black (net balance) in a big way... £1116.80 at the end of last month!! Still £778.26 today after a few bills have left the account too! So should make it for a few days yet before dipping under again Woohoo!

MoneyMission2015

Hi SS, nice to hear from you.

It sounds like you're well on track. Cars are a nuisance aren't they! My car seems to spend almost as much time in the garage now as it does on the road, it's on about 130,000 miles so pretty high but as it's a BMW it is in good nick. The garage visits are annoying little things like tyre pressure warning light keeps coming on, tyres being replaced, even a tiny little rubber tube that cost about £10 but with the damaged one my car was struggling to move! The mechanic did warn me that the problem I was having sounded like the turbo had gone which would have cost hundreds, but it turned out to be the silly little rubber tube which I was very grateful for.

That's a great amount of extra income, it's a nice surprise when a bit of extra money comes in isn't it.

Good idea about the buffer (or diamonds) category. I would like to treat myself in a few years to something very sparkly.

Good luck in September, I hope you keep in the black & keep going with your debt busting.

snowscreamer

Hi MM,

Thanks for popping in.

Just in case you missed it I was talking about a specific type of diamonds... ie. set in platinum to be worn on my left-hand ring finger... Now we are well on the road to financial security; we have a three-bedroomed house and have been together very nearly 4 years I am not sure what he is waiting for!!

Anyway, that aside, September's mortgage payment came out today and still in the black... woohoo! Very chuffed. So that's now 28th (pay day), 29th, 30th, 31st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd (assuming I don't spend it today!). 7 days - a whole week! Current balance is £319.14 (give or take OH spends since 31st but it's normally only his work lunch unless there's a special occasion approaching).

snowscreamer

Just updated my first post and realised another significant checkpoint has been reached - total debts have halved. Started at £7123.58 of debt which has been reduced to £3341.05 as at the end of August And it shouldn't take another 9 months to clear it given our basic incomes have increased since we started without a commensurate increase in monthly spending (although we have relaxed the budget a little - it's not at all in proportion to increased income). Not to mention since we have been budgeting for 9 months we are now down to budgeting 1/12th per month for all our big annual bills as the last of those to rollover (car insurance) happened last month. At the beginning I had to budget big for some of these as they were coming up quickly. So I estimate that we will definitely be done with the debt before 0% expires on our credit card in March. No need to go any faster so I will budget enough (£600/month) to ensure that we do clear the credit card in time but no more. Excess will go into car replacement and buffer categories.

MoneyMission2015

Ah now I get it, when you said diamonds I just thought you fancied some sparkles. For some reason I just assumed you were married already. I definitely agree, whats he waiting for. Tell him to get a move on ; )

Fab that the debts are now half what they were when you started. I'm sure you'll soon be posting to say it's all gone.

snowscreamer

Still in the black...! Can't believe it! Another £350 from OH's business from abandoned goods sold on eBay - that means we now have a full £400 in the "car replacement" fund to add to last month's £400 plus £500 on the CC which keeps us on track to pay off by end of 0% period (March). Still expecting a large dividend, tax rebate and £200 from former client on a CCJ this month too so that's all for the buffer / diamond fund... might stick some of it on the CC though; love seeing the balance go down!

+£512.15 as we speak so I'm hoping the week will end before we inevitably return to the red.

Happy Monday!!

hummingbird

Hi snow, just dropping in to say sorry I haven't been on the forum much just recently but will catch up with your news soon!

snowscreamer

Hi Hummingbird :wave:

snowscreamer

...aaaaand back in the red. Booked a holiday and had to pay £300 deposit and £311 for the flights up front. Still, holiday fund is healthy and it's all been budgeted. Got to stump up the final balance of £1470 by the end of October so that will probably mean we'll be budgeting a chunk of OH's bonus money towards it. But not at all worried that we won't be able to afford it so that's great.

snowscreamer

So, very long time no post. Still YNAB'ing away and spending within our means. Priorities are an evolving beast, so the budget for this month has been changed a few times! September turned out well, even though we didn't get extra income we were expecting from OH's business (miscalculated dividend payment / delayed tax rebate) I hadn't budgeted it and we still had room within our basic income to put some aside for debt.

Extra income in September

• £200 monthly installment from CCJ on client of OH's old business
• £350 payment from unclaimed business goods sold
• £10.63 in coins found whilst clearing out our spare room!

Total extra income: £560.63

Total paid off C/C debt: £600
Total savings: £400 new car fund, £17.46 unclassified savings (diamond fund )

So I stand here on the 18th October and can hardly believe that our net position in our on-budget accounts is still positive, £52.72. Over half way through the month! Fab. Plus we paid the final balance for our January holiday of £1470 earlier this month and still we are in the black. Things are definitely on the up. Bit of a panic and a budget shuffle was required to pay that bill but we managed and a credit card was not required. Talking of holidays... more to come.