Crunchy pays it down....£20k...the final chapter

DebtFree2012

Bring on the frugal summer and well done on the reining in!
You're very focussed which I think is the key

crunch_time

Morning debt free wannabes!

So I have officially fallen out of love with bay of e. It turns out one of my items has gone missing in the post. The buyer is being really nice about it but rather than go through the hassle of providing all the evidence of postage I'm going to give them a refund out of my own pocket. I immedialtey cancelled all my other items to sell and have decided to take them to the secondhand shop and try to sell them there. I propabaly wouldn't get as much per item but there are no fees and no postage hassles and anything I seel will be money off my bill.

Ive managed to 'tilly tidy' all my accounts this morning making about £10 in the process. This has gone into my savings pot which currently stands at about £367. I still have a pre school bill I'm waiting for of around the £100 mark. The rest is for a few DIY bits I have bought online (using my credit card as that is what I do) and haven't paid off yet as I'm waiting for my account to settle after some refunds are due in. One item is being returned today and the other I shall chase today.

I will still keep my credit card after it is paid off next week and use it for online purchases (only if I absolutely need to) and emergencies but for anything big we will have to save up for it first. THAT IS MY RULE AND IM GOING TO STICK TO IT!!

So there is enough money in each of our accounts to pay our minimum credit card payments and that is it until the end of the month - unless I want to dip into above savings/slush fund - which I don't.

Horns are in, frugal summer it is!!

Right better get ready for DS swimming lesson or else we are going to be late!

Crunchy xx

DebtFree2012

Have a lovely day


I always plan to cut my cards up and close the account as although I have changed my ways, I don't want to ever go back here and having open cards may lure me back. I don't know if the temptation would always be there for me. I don't think so but I hate being in debt so much that I won't risk it (knowing my past!).

crunch_time

Hmm I'm starting to consider that Debtfree2012. It earned its keep if you like last summer when my car broke down at a petrol station and my breakdown insurance had lapsed so I had to pay £100 call out fee plus membership plus £200 repairs once I had got to the garage. So its useful for keeping in ones wallet - but at the back so its not visible! Ha ha!

I will always use it for online shopping for insurance purposes. My downfall is actually 'ill buy it on credit card now and then ill pay it back when I get paid next month.' And this is for things that I have mulled over for a while and decided we do need. So its actually about pacing ourselves with the money that is left over every month for things we need.

I think I might look into those pre paid cards though and see if one of those would meet our needs. Like an emergency fund without the interest.

My little brain has been going into overdrive with financial possibilities for once my credit card is paid off.......next week!!

When it is we will 'only' have

- £13,447 of loan - £3000 my (old no longer owned) car
£5000 husbands current car
£4000 old uni debt from 5 (gulp) years ago
£1173 husband old historical debt from our early 20's (gulp - 10 years ago) plus interest for the whole loan.
- £1262 - husbands credit card

I'm planning to save, save, save as I said before in case I don't get a job but I'm also considering our long term strategy and I think this is it.......

- Savings - from this month husband and I are each going to pay £50 a month into our ISAs. Every 3 years we are going to up the amount by £25. By the time we are 60 that is around £50k each without interest!!!! Feels good to finally have a plan in place for savings.
- Loan - I'm just going to let this run. Its due to finish in April 2020 so 4 years to go. In a few years time I may try and find the £1248 to pay it off early by Christmas 2019. We shall see. The interest is cheaper than my mortgage. I've typed the figures into the loan calculator and the monthly interest is about £18. My mortgage monthly interest is £505. I want to start hammering that mortgage down.
- Mortgage - from Sept, If I have a job, husband and I have worked out that we can start paying down our mortgage by another £200 a month. Our current equity in our house is £21k. If we do this (so total overpayment of £250 a month) our total equity will be £44.5k - without considering reducing interest a month or our house value going up in that time. We will then have enough money to move to our forever home. But we intend to hammer more money at it just as we have our credit cards.

I'm very pleased that this is all coming together. Cant wait for next week now!!

Happy Saturday everyone!!
Sorry for the long brain dump of a post!

Crunchy xx

DebtFree2012

It's it fabulous to have a plan? Good for you.

crunch_time

Hurray!!!!!!

The credit card is paid off!!!!!!!!!

This means once it is cleared I am officially debt free apart from my mortgage of course!!!

I cant tell you what a massive weight it is that has been lifted. I feel differently already. I'm going to stop beating myself up about money and just get on with life.

The official debt figure has dipped below £15k to £14,709 so very pleased with that!! Next week it will go down even further as the loan payment will go out - £275 so £14,434.

By the end of the year, the loan will be £11,255 and we will have paid off husbands credit card by then so that will be our total debt. Just £3454 to go!!

We have decided to carry on as we are and assume I will get a job for September. What you put into the universe you get out and all that. SO long as I have saved up a £1000 emergency fund, not used the dreaded credit card by end of August, and stuck to our budget throughout the summer then I know we can survive off husbands income in the short term - we will make it work.

First £50 into my 'life savings' pot today. Feels very good. That's about £200 now. Its the start of a new me!

Because of all the illnesses in April we have gone massively over on food money because ive let husband loose with the food account card. AM going to massively rein it in for May.That is my target.

Right - lets write the budget for May, stick to the food budget and get this emergency fund complete then!! Oh and also start dog planning!!

Crunchy xx

abba1772

Congrats on clearing your credit card............I've just cleared hubby's credit card today as well xx

crunch_time

Well done abba - feels great doesn't it!!

So husband and I have decided to treat ourselves to a date night tomorrow night. Meal out. First date night this year I think other than those we have had at home.

Husband is doing his expenses as we speak so will know if we can take anything off his credit card this month.

After everything goes out in May we have about £250 left but that will go towards decorating and landscaping.

I have decided small goals are better than one bug one so I am going to try and save £250 a month towards my emergency fund over the next 4 months. I will then have my £1000 but feel like I can still do the decorating without sacrificing on the next part of the plan. Once the decorating is done it is done so all extra money can go towards mortgage.

Still very conscious that I have got to keep on track and not feel the need to splurge.

I'm wondering whether I enjoy always having the challenge of paying something off!! Ha ha!! Noooooooope! Got to tackle that mortgage now!!

Crunch xx

crunch_time

Afternoon everyone!

We costed out phase one of the landscaping. Railway sleepers - £250.

Decided to do the sensible thing and factor it into next months budget. Then we can just buy paint with the remainder of husbands money and tackle 1 room and a few more walls in the house.

One of our placeholder chairs for our table has broken so we are down to 3 which is fine as DD is still in her highchair for the moment but it is making the reality of getting a new table and chairs slightly closer. Therefore making the dog reality a little bit more distant. Its all a case of priorities. Perhaps we need to re-evaluate our list of wants. And I definitely don't want to get into anymore debt.

I'm back on track with my food budget. Spent under £100 despite husband telling me that he wanted lots of yummy snacks. I didn't buy him any. If he wants anything extra he can have toast or fruit.

I'm going to sort out my computer tonight and my iPhone. iPhone is running out of storage.

Oh - I forgot to say I changed tariffs for our energy and managed to save us £7 a month - that is a result. I also managed to get our car insurance cheaper by £1.50 a month. Every little helps!!

Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Just discovered a morrisons in a town we are yet to properly explore 15 mins away from us. We just popped in to get a few bits for the week and I was like 'that's cheaper here. So is that and that.' Going to head there for my weekly shop this week and see if it makes any difference. I'll still shop at the butchers for our meat.

Will keep you posted of course!!

Really dreading work tomorrow. Some old politics reared its ugly head last week making me looking forward to leaving that much more. Only 23 working days to go and £3500 roughly left to earn.

Husbands pay day on Thursday so another £275 can come off the debt. Woohoo!! Crunchy xx