DFW in Action - How it works for me.

andyfromotley

So since i began my DFW mission i have become addicted to looking at my finances and these boards to really get a grip of my finances. Thought id post on here to show people how following the advice can really make a difference!

First big decision was to sell my camper van! This freed up a lot of cash to pay off two of my CC's it also saved me tax, insurance and servicing costs. I was sad to see it go but hey, i'm serious about this.

Monthly savings

CC payments from paying off 10k of CC debt £190
Camper van insurance/tax/servicing £60
House ins reduced from £420 to £110 £30
Got rid of sky phone/bb/tv £52pm :eek:replaced with
plus net phone and bb £8pm £44
Changed gas/electric £92pm down to £82 £10

This has given me a massive £334 per month extra per month!!

Things still to do
1. Change bank account - I'm hesitant at this for some reason. I like FD and their £250 free od is part of my emergency fund. I may hang on, but there is £185 from Halifax tempting me to switch.
2. Mobile phone. Currently £40 on a contract till oct but will be getting reduced to £15ish
3. Sell bike and guitars on E bay raising a further 1k for Debt repayment.

By far the most important thing i have done is to start budgeting properly. I use YNAB. I am now saving for everything that i can foresee happening to me! This includes, all car stuff, birthdays, christmas, holidays, school trips, weekend away, car repairs... EVERYTHING. This means life should hold no financial 'surprises' for me. These surprises ALWAYS went on the CC. (yes, i was surprised by christmas every year!!) So i have now stopped my debt growing, and feel able to pay it down. I also know exactly how much i have available to spend on anything at any time. Not left just looking at my balance and guessing. I'm working hard to drive down my spend on groceries and the like but saving are hard to measure as i simply had no idea how much i was spending before.

I just wanted to post in the hope that many of the people who visit these pages can see how its worked for me. Yes there is some big stuff, (and i was lucky to have assets to sell) but the little monthly bills are just as important and equally satisfying!! I know there is lots more work to be done and more savings to be made. Hope this helps

Andy

KirstyO

Sounds like you've made a great start Andy, I hope the rest of your journey inspires you to carry on committing to cutting unnecessary expenditure!

sourcrates

andyfromotley wrote: »

Things still to do
1. Change bank account - I'm hesitant at this for some reason. I like FD and their £250 free od is part of my emergency fund. I may hang on, but there is £185 from Halifax tempting me to switch.

Do you have debts with First Direct ?

If not i`d think very carefully about changing as they are a cracking bank, I was with them for 5 years before my IVA, I had £15000 worth of debt with them, fast forward 6 years, and one IVA, and i`m back with them again, as they were the best Bank i have ever been with.

My largest debt was with them, so they held sway over weather my IVA was approved or not, on decision day, i had a call from my IP`s office, the lady on the other end said, "First Direct want to know if you could possibly up your payment by £25 by taking it from your emergency fund" ? err, "OK I said, yes, I can do that", "OK, she said, I`ll ring you back", ten mins later, my IVA had been approved, and a hugh weight was lifted off my shoulders.

Halifax on the other hand were a complete nightmare, had both mortgage and bank account with them, and they are completely clueless, and not very customer orientated, despite what there ad`s say.

tizerbelle

andyfromotley wrote: »

1. Change bank account - I'm hesitant at this for some reason. I like FD and their £250 free od is part of my emergency fund. I may hang on, but there is £185 from Halifax tempting me to switch.

Or you open a bog standard current account with another bank - but not Bank of Scotland and switch that to Halifax to get the bonus and then to get the £5 reward, either:
1. manually switch two of your DDs from FD to Halifax, or
2. open a Tesco Internet Saver and a Tesco Instant Access Savings Account and use these to create £2.50 a month DDs

and the £750 funding each month can be paid in by faster payments from FD and then as soon as it has landed in Halifax it can be sent straight back to FD

ETA: I've had my main account for over 27 years and I just can't bring myself to let it go so in the past 12 months I've opened a total of 10 current accounts - some for the interest eg TSB/Nationwide and some as donor accounts for switching - the 10 accounts also includes those opened to switch into.

andyfromotley

thanks for that tizerbell. i shall look into that.

thanks sour crates, you have reinforced my decision. i don't have any debt with FD, but i have banked with them for years and never had a single problem. I find them to be excellent, hence the hesitation.