Help to keep me honest

glass_half_full

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Congratulations on the great debt busting - only 2 months left thereabouts and on possible promotion. My suggestion would be to think long and hard about priorities as it is so easy to loosen the purse strings and go a bit mad once released from restraint of debt. Keeping going with the budgeting will pay dividends and enable you to have a bit more money to enjoy but also put some plans in place for the future whether that is overpay mortgage or pension or save towards holiday, new car or home improvements.
When our daughters finished uni and we had repaid our mortgage for the first time ever our direct debits were a fraction of our take home pay. We had a lot of disposable income and it would have been easy to spend that on holidays, cars, house projects, meals out etc. We did them all but also invested for early retirement and divided the money up into monthly amounts but also doubled our personal spends from £100 each to £200 each. We did not always spend it but we kept it separate so we each saw the benefit of no mortgage.

Thanks for the good advice here, some great tips. I think some of the habits I have acquired will be for life! For example, the daily discipline of recording spends and budgeting is pretty much hard wired. Equally, the aversion to debt, I don’t think I will ever borrow again for any reason, its just become a complete no-no for me. We are at the moment living on about £3000 per month with an income of £4400. I realise that we are fortunate to at the moment both have our health and be able to work full time. Who knows how long that will last. So on that basis I want to stay living on the £3000 and then perhaps overpay the mortgage by £1000 which will pay it off in about 4 years. Then in March we will make a list of things we want to do. I know OH has a long list of backlog things we have not done due to debt busting for the last 2 years. We will work our way through this but only pay when we have the money from the extra £400 per month.

glass_half_full

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

Good news on the meeting about promotion, hope it progresses satisfactorily. Another £1000 payment well done , edging closer to the finish line .

Hi Cumbria,
Thanks, yes, nearly there at last.:)

glass_half_full

Good evening diary and all,
I hope you all have had a great Christmas. I do like this period between Christmas and New Year. I have been lucky enough to have had two weeks off so am starting to forget what day of the week it is, always a good sign that I am relaxing!
Just back from visiting my Mum which is a long drive. Had a good conversation with OH about plans for next year including holidays etc. We have a list of things we want to do once the debt is gone!
Good luck to everyone with your plans for 2018.

glass_half_full

Good afternoon diary and all,
New Year’s Eve and time to look back over the last year and look forward to next year. This time last year the debt was around £14,664. I notice that I didn’t post on my diary from January until May, and that in that time the debt reduced by around £1500 to £13,163 which was around £300 per month. During this period last year we did spend quite a lot on DIY and on booking a holiday. I don’t think I was really focused on debt busting to be honest during this period. From May onwards, I got much more focused and started to post more regularly and the debt has come down to £3,365 today which is a reduction of £9,798 which has been about £1400 per month. I think posting on here has helped, because when I have had windfalls along the way, whereas in the past I would probably have spent it, posting a diary entry makes me somehow more accountable and so I have more often used the money to pay off the debt. I have filled in the budget for the whole of 2018. The aim is to clear the debt in the next two months. We have made a list of things we want to spend on after that including:
• Some redecorating and recarpeting
• Some small pieces of furniture
• A weekend away to celebrate OH birthday next year
• A new tent and camping stuff (our existing tent is 10 years old)
I have budgeted for this and will mean spending some of the money left over each month in March and April. Then I want to build up a bigger buffer in May, June and July. Then start overpaying the mortgage in August of next year.
The main thing I want to avoid is going overboard spending which would be easy to do once the debt free date arrives.
Wishing everyone a prosperous New Year!

glass_half_full

Good morning diary and all,
First week back at work over. It wasn’t too bad although everything seemed to take twice as long as it should have as I am struggling to get back up to speed! Finally submitted my promotion application on Friday. I will hear if I have got past the first stage by mid-February so fingers crossed. We had a nice night out last night around with some friends for dinner. Three weeks to payday and the main challenge is going to be staying in budget since I have a tight budget for January and February. Signed up for the January take your lunch to work challenge. I find if I am focused on saving on the small things then the bigger things follow. Planning for two large repayments to clear the debt. Going out later today to do the weekly shop. Had a nice surprise in the post this morning, received the £50 Amaz*n voucher from B*T for taking out their SIM only deal in November. The process to claim it was a bit of a pain, I imagine that quite a few people will have not done it or forgotten about it. DS is still with us on and off between disappearing to friends houses for days/nights here and there.

Sunday is forecast to be a nice day. I will aim to get out for a walk in the winter sunshine, that always lifts the spirits. :j

Hope you all have a great weekend!

System

Happy New Year to you ! We are in your debt free year now .

Plans all look good , I think doing the diary has helped me a lot, like you any windfall would have just been spent but not any longer .

Have a lovely walk tomorrow, I will be having a tootle out as well , locally .

enthusiasticsaver

You are almost debt free now. How exciting. Good luck with promotion.

glass_half_full

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

Happy New Year to you ! We are in your debt free year now .
Plans all look good , I think doing the diary has helped me a lot, like you any windfall would have just been spent but not any longer .
Have a lovely walk tomorrow, I will be having a tootle out as well , locally .

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

You are almost debt free now. How exciting. Good luck with promotion.

Thanks cumbria and enthusiastic ! :beer:

Week two of January over. I have had some irregular expenses through which I had forgotten about. The water bill comes every six months and although I budget for it every month, still it comes as a surprise somehow. Noticed that our water consumption has dropped by 1/3 since this time last year when DS was living with us which makes sense. Also had a subscription for work which I can claim back for so that’s ok. The car insurance is up for renewal mid-February so I have done some quotes and the prices seem pretty good, must be because the car is worth less and less! OH is starting to choose various things for the house, need to hold off just a bit longer so we can buy from savings. We need to avoid window shopping because I know that it will be next to impossible to resist spending. So just need to hold off until March.
Have a great day all.

glass_half_full

Good morning diary and all,
A few expenses have come through in January. They shouldn’t be a surprise and in some cases they have been budgeted for or I have been able to claim them back as expenses. However, combined they seem to have pushed the budget very tight.
Annual professional subscription £245 – luckily I can claim this back.
Water bill -£167 – I have been budgeting for this monthly
Garden waste collection £45 – our council charges if you want garden waste collected. To be honest I had completely forgotten about this.
Extra £25 on phone bill. Called a relative overseas on Christmas Day, should have used Skype!
£100 deposit on hotel for OH birthday celebration later in the year. Needed to do this since they get booked up.
Having done the numbers, this all together with some overspending in December means that I am going to need one more month to reach my debt free date. I am a bit disappointed in missing this target, but it can’t be helped.
Have a great day all!

System

Just got caught up with you . An extra month isn’t so bad , better than a whole year.

We have lots of relatives in the land down under and we use FaceTime , great invention. Can’t remember the last time we phoned .