Mortgage free by 2023 (!)

debtfreeoneday

Well back to school and work it is.. sigh
7 weeks till Christmas though!!! :-)

My wages in and a few bills out, sent £3.92 to the CC to round it down to the nearest £5, I'm liking this daily tilly tidy.

Big bill day tomorrow.. and must remember to take the meter reading!

hiddenshadow

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

7 weeks till Christmas though!!! :-)

That's...scary. I think I've got DH's gifts sorted, but haven't even begun to think about anyone else.

My wages in and a few bills out, sent £3.92 to the CC to round it down to the nearest £5, I'm liking this daily tilly tidy.

I do find - for me - frequent payments (of whatever size) are more exciting than the one bigger payment. (It's also exciting, especially if/when I can hit a big milestone number, but I like continually seeing the number go down, even by a few pence.)

SueP19

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

Just musing away here, because let's face it I was never going to get any longer in bed today, thanks to DS - he got up at 4.30 (old time) so 3.30 (adjusted time)

I've just sent payment to the CC to cover the car.. we are left with £15 in the bank account!! Just don't want to go over our limit with the payment. This all shows me yet again that we must have a rainy day fund, even if we are trying to clear debt, so I will save a percentage of all earnings into that, just not sure on the percentage - the more I pay off the debt, the more I can then send to the savings and mortgage - I desperately want the debt gone and I swear 2017 will be the year that it happens.. I hate hate hate credit cards.

CathT wrote: »

We also need a rainy day fund or it becomes a never ending cycle with the 0% cc doesn't it.

I have found not having an emergency has been a problem, yes we have survived BUT it's at a big cost, it can take weeks to recover when something breaks or the car is more than expected. I have just come out of overdraft after many many years (28!!!) at the moment this will be my emergency fund, the plan is to reduce it slowly

hiddenshadow wrote: »

I do like Dave Ramsey's baby steps for debt (steps 1-3)

Baby Step 1 – £1,000 to start an Emergency Fund (the size of the "baby emergency fund" should probably be tailored to one's income/expenses - I think ave salary in the US is about $10k higher than here as well)
Baby Step 2 – Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
Baby Step 3 – 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings

It works well (or did for me, anyway) because you break out of the CC cycle that CathT mentioned, so you have a lot more flexibility to really throw everything at the debt because you have that cushion if you really need it.

(If you're curious, step 4 is to save 15% income for retirement, step 5 is pay for university for kids, step 6 is pay off the mortgage, and step 7 is invest/grow wealth. His advice there is ok, but doesn't account for individual circumstances, and the maths in his books assume a very nice return on investments, which isn't realistic IMO.)

That's a good at a glance plan thanks hidden not sure if step 4 should be swapped with step 6 and I don't have a 5 :rotfl::rotfl: because I did that sept 14 to june 15 (£23,500) :D

hiddenshadow

SueP19 wrote: »

That's a good at a glance plan thanks hidden not sure if step 4 should be swapped with step 6 and I don't have a 5 :rotfl::rotfl: because I did that sept 14 to june 15 (£23,500) :D

I think in the US step 4 is a bit more important as there's less of a security net for retirement, esp. regarding potential medical expenses. However, it also arguably has the biggest impact because you'll earn more in compound interest saving for a pension than you'll save in paying off the mortgage early. (The US also has the complication that you can deduct mortgage interest from your taxes, so there's incentive to keep your mortgage around.)

We're technically doing steps 4, 6, and a tiny bit of 7 (if you count a S&S ISA) all at once, and we won't have a step 5 at all.

debtfreeoneday

First day done and wasn't too bad, despite the fact I'm doing more work tonight!

80p on pr0filic and 150 points on ips0s meaning I've hit payout and £10 am@zon voucher ordered.
15p on 1poll. Still waiting for TCB to track a bit of cashback before claiming a £5 am@zon voucher there.

£20.64 from Pr0filic hit the account today, so £15.64 sent to the CC and £5 to the rainy day fund.

Just about to go look at pbase and then do some more work.

Got caught out by trick or treaters tonight, we never get them as we are so rural and one turned up at the door, we didn't much at all!, Cobbled together a few bits of chocolate in a bag!

shangaijimmy

Nice step by step approach and does get you thinking, but everything's relevant to individual needs/circumstances. Steps 1-3 we're sorted for and 4-7 I suppose we're tackling at the same time with a fairly even split. My priority is mortgage gone before uni starts then those uni pots can grow whilst they're there along with retirement acceleration (currently at. Approx 18% of monthly income). The smallest would be step 7 which us massively affected by interest rates being so low so motivation is low, however downsizing our house is also included in this area...

Food for thought!

I missed trick or treating, only home from work in time for bedtime stories!,!

amycool

I couldn't live without my emergency pot! I think because we were so poor as kids and lived hand to mouth I never wanted to be in that position so as soon as I got a job at 15 I started saving and I never stopped! I'd say focus on building one if you can as it gives you such peace of mind.

I totally agree that you need a diagnosis for your son as it would definitely increase awareness and support. My daughter's possible diagnoses are less well-known and don't have clear adjustments linked to them. I still find it disgusting that you should have to wait so long and fight so hard for something so necessary.

We are the mean anti-trick or treaters here and put up a poster saying no thank you. There are so many on our estate that do take part so it's not like the kids are wandering the streets for miles for a single Maoam. DD wanted to do it but it's hard enough avoiding sweets at the best of times. We still had blood (Ribena) for drink and a pumpkin and spooky music on.

debtfreeoneday

How is it Friday already! £200 sent to CC1 to ease that up a bit (hair cut and grey ridding to pay for today)

No movement in the bank account so £5 sent to CC2..
£3 survey completed on p-cone
TCB tracked, so £5 requested for Am@zon and received. Just over £40 left to track in there and will convert that to Am@zon as well. That wil lbe about £55 on Am@zon and then the £150 for the bank switch should hopefully cover the rest of birthdays and Christmas.
£2 survey done on pr0filic so up to £6.30 on there
75p on YG yesterday.
£28.30 on 1poll

Off visiting relatives this weekend for Christmas! So presents to wrap tonight and should be a fairly quiet weekend except money for petrol!

debtfreeoneday

:eek: Well the hair cost three figures!

However I've gone back to my natural colour, so in theory that's no hair appointments for a while so I figure it is a saving.

Popped into Mr T and managed to spend £60 on birthday and Christmas presents / paper / cards. Probably a bit bah humbug(and I love Christmas) but i really begrudge spending money on cards as they just get thrown away.

Then booked a birthday party for the littlies which we weren't going to do, but all in it's £140 - the only thing on top is a cake for them each. They been really good lately and we just feel it will be nice for them given the whole school move thing. It's really nice they've both asked for two friends from their old school to come as well.

DD off out with friend to soft play today so me and DS will have some time together, make some cakes. Would also like to get to the garden centre today as all their christmas stuff is out and it's nice to have a wander about and get in the mood!

debtfreeoneday

Been pottering about, cleaning up leaves, baked some cakes with DS and DH just gone to do a tip run. Mr T has been so food stocked up for the week.

Might take some kitchen wall tiles down later, just trying to do a bit at a time.

Jobs for this week are to create party invitations for the littlies and get them sorted.

And mostly just get through the week, it's looking like a shocker!