A debt free Beautiful - Moose

Beautiful-Moose

So I had a bit of a shocker this week. I decided in the new year I want to be more on top of the finances. So I asked my bf to send over all the totals of his debts. I got a bit of a shock when I realised as a household we are almost £25k in debt!! I knew it was high but where I thought we were making progress it seems nearly £5k has now been added on to our bill and mainly on his side. I thought he had things under control but seems that he doesn't. As much as it will be a big year for me and my boyfriend in 2017 with us both turning 30 I think this needs to also be the year we start turning things around. I feel so ashamed that we have allowed ourselves to get in to this horrific mess.

So doing a fresh snowball calculator and putting more money in to the debt situation has shown me that we can still be debt free by June 2019. I want this to happen more than anything and it gives us a 6 month cushion just in case anything drastic does happen in the next year or two.

We are both on good wages so we can do this. We will both have some spare cash for things each month and maybe the odd night out from time to time but we have both got to get our heads out of the sand and sort this mess out. The sooner the better as well.

Beautiful-Moose

I read on the forum today someone asking about feelings of jealously. I can totally relate to that feeling. I feel that way a lot of the time lately.

Me and my bf are £25k in debt right now. We both turn 30 next year and a vast majority of our friends do as well. They are all planning these amazing trips, things they want to do with their lives next year. Me on the other hand - I have planned a party in my local hall because I am good friends with the owner so got it for free and it's cheap booze. I will spend most of next year and the following 18-24 months paying off debts and finding fun things for me and the bf to do in London on the cheap/for free.

A few of my friends own houses, have got married or are planning to, some are planning babies others are planning on taking big holidays. I look at them all and think how did I get it so wrong when it comes to money? I feel we are so far away from doing all those things. We can't bring a kid in to the world while in this amount of debt. We can't even think about getting married with this amount of debt. We can't own a house with the amount of debt we have so that dream is fading fast.

I had to watch my friends all take the trip of a lifetime to America this year and I could not afford to go. I fully admit to feeling jealous of them all.

However I am trying to see the positives in the situation and the future. I then realised that if we stick to the plan we are only 30 paydays away from being debt free. Just 30! It makes the light at the end of the tunnel feel that little bit closer. It makes me feel like it is something we can do in we work together. So the next few years may have more nights in than out and will require some big changes to the household but if we sacrifice now then the future doesn't need to be a struggle.

Beautiful-Moose

So something has changed since my last post.

I AM ENGAGED!! As you can see from my previous post my mind was not in to getting married at all. But 3 days after Xmas by boyfriend proposed to me. I had no idea, I am still in shock but it was a lovely surprise. The best surprise ever!

However it has added another problem in to the mix now with our plans to become debt free as we now need to fit a wedding in to everything! I am glad we are both on the same page when it comes to our ideas on the sort of day we would want. Something casual and more about the party than the ceremony. Keeping costs down should be easy to do as we both aren't big wedding people so all the minor details won't matter. So long as we both turn up on the day then nothing else really matters. I shall not get dragged into family politics.

This weekend I turn the big 3-0. So all thoughts are party focused at the moment. Weddings can wait.

My twenties have been a very mixed bag. I have some fantastic memories and I found the love of my life too. But it has been hard at times, a lot of lessons have been learnt and I hope I can take them in to my thirties and use my thirties to make more memories and less mistakes.

leslieknope

congrats on your engagement! i'm glad you're both on the same page so i'm sure the wedding will be a success : as long as the two of you are happy!

boxofpaws

Congratulations!

And re the debt - you can do this!

Beautiful-Moose

So almost a year since I started this diary and I feel like I haven't really made any major progress on my debt journey. But then I look at the total of some of my cards and see that I have cut them down bit by bit so although the progress may not be on a massive scale there is still some progress.

So I am now drawing up new plans for our money to start taking place on payday this month. We need to kick the debt while also saving up for a wedding and we need to start sooner rather than later.

I have come up with an idea so that we both transfer the same amount of money each month in to one separate bank account. Then from that account we pay towards all our card debts. I have all the bills to do with the house set up on my bank account so my Fianc! (still getting used to that) can transfer his side of the rent and bills to me still. Then whatever is left in both our accounts is for us to use as we see fit and for our own bills like mobile phone bills, socialising etc. Then from what we have left we can put some money aside for the wedding, even if at the moment all we can afford to part with is £50 each, it is better than nothing. We have very kindly been given some money from family members towards our engagement so I shall put that in our savings account so we have something to start us off.

Maybe it's because I have turned 30 recently or maybe it is because I have finally become fed up with having debt in my life but I am feeling more determined than ever to kick this debt. It would be amazing if we could be rid of it all and start our married life with no debts at all. Well a girl can dream...........

[Deleted User]

Hi Moose,


Congratulations on the engagement, what a lovely surprise


It's good that you both know how much you owe in total now, as that gives you a head start.


Hope your commute is going okay, I used to go to a site in Camden so sympathise with the trek over there.


Keep going, you're doing well.

Beautiful-Moose

Hi Moose,


Congratulations on the engagement, what a lovely surprise


It's good that you both know how much you owe in total now, as that gives you a head start.


Hope your commute is going okay, I used to go to a site in Camden so sympathise with the trek over there.


Keep going, you're doing well.

Thanks for the congrats and the sympathy over my trek to Camden.

I have had some pretty good news this month. Next week when I get paid I will have a nice £720 bonus in my pay although once the tax man takes his cut it will be more like £500 but still I will never say no to extra money in my pocket. I have also had it confirmed by my work that when we do move to Camden they will pay the difference in my travel costs. I was worried that my new salary would get swallowed up in travel costs but it is a relief to know the difference will be covered so I won't be losing out.

I plan to use my bonus to pay off some of my Argos card the 0% ran out on them and the interest rates are stupidly high so I want to get rid of my card asap. I never wanted one but when we moved in to our flat we originally were going to get our sofas from them so took out the card. Since then I have only used it twice to get a Dyson hoover (was in the sale and I have always wanted one) and an air con unit for the flat. With the bonus I plan to pay off the air con unit as that is the one that cost the most and then the rest of my bonus will be used to pay for flights to Rome. Me and the Fianc! don't plan on having an engagement party what with us both turning 30 this year and having parties, having a 3rd party seems too much and also a lot of people used my party to give us cards and presents anyway. So we decided to have a little trip to Rome which is on the bucket list. I know others will say use all of the bonus to pay off as much of the Argos card as possible but by just paying off the air con unit it will take a month off our debt free date of June 2019 bringing us to May 2019 and that is a big enough win for me and allows me a treat too as I worked hard for that bonus and put in so much unpaid overtime.

Me and the Fiance plan to sit down tonight with a cup of tea and update our snowball calculator (if needed) and make sure we are still on track to do this. We are going to get our debt heads on and fix this mess and also start saving up for our wedding.

dottydebts

Congratulations on your engagement!

I have also fallen for the 0% ending ridiculous interest on Argos in the past but fortunately I've managed to pay things off before they have ended ever since that blip in judgement!

boxofpaws

Great news on the bonus and if I get one, I will definitely be spending some of it on me:D