Mopping up the mess - my final debt free journey!

clearmydebts

Another €15 gone off the loan. Every bit counts as they say. OH used to drive to work every day but nowadays he takes the train 2 days per week (free travel) and works from home 1 day per week so I can use the money that would have gone on petrol to pay off the loan, which is great. He is moving office in September (hopefully) and will be getting the train everyday so we should be able to make savings of about €300 per month, which is huge.

Got the letter from the hospital re: Friday. It is costing €150 and we get €70 back so not as expensive as I thought it would be ( €180).

clearmydebts

Plod plod plod. Not too much to report money wise. Trying to spend the least amount possible before payday (18 days away!).

We went to a flower/garden festival yesterday with the kids. There was loads for kids to do so we were all happy! Last week myself, OH and friends went to see Guns n Roses. They were unreal. It was a great day out.

It is the bank holiday here today and weather is rotten so plan to go to the local garden centre (inspired by yesterday) and get some flowers (nothing too expensive) and then go to a free indoor softplay area to run the legs off the little ones!

clearmydebts

Never made it to the garden centre on Monday. we had a complete lazy day.

We are planning to go to a garage tomorrow and view new cars. Our car is 12 years old now and is starting to need lots doing to it. I am complicating matters by insisting the new one is automatic, as I just can't get to grips with gears. We live about 3km away from the school so I really do need to be able to drive. OH is also going to be moving work location in Sept so will no longer be able to drop the kids to school either. I've done the sums and we can afford the repayments, as OH gets free public transport and will be using the train from 1st July onwards so essentially what we were paying in petrol will go on car repayments. Think we'll have to push out getting the kitchen done until 2019 but me learning to drive has to be a priority. I've put it off long enough.

clearmydebts

Payday today at last! I need to learn to stop over-spending when we get paid and then self-sabotaging when we have money left over at the end of the month.

We ended up getting that new car. It is due into the garage next week. I'm not even adding it to debt figure because I can't over pay on it and it will only de-motivate me. I'll just view it as a household expense.

We have more medical expenses again this month. OH has to go to a consultant. It will cost €200 and we get €70 back. Every month seems to bring a different health expense. We are also going away for a week with my family to a house by the sea. It has been paid for and is self-catering so can't see it costing that much.

I've paid some money off the loan and put some money aside for savings. I probably should be putting the savings off the debt but I get very anxious towards the end of the month when my account starts to dwindle and I like to transfer savings into my current account. It's like a safety net. I also want to set aside some savings for my car insurance which is up in Oct. I also worked a good amount of overtime this month so am adding it to the savings to bump them up.

I had a nightmare last week as my phone fell down the loo I was devastated. However it turns out that I had just come out of contract (luckily) and my tariff had gone up €10 a month. By pure chance a corporate deal came up in work and I am on a €20 a month tariff for unlimited everything, so that is a savings of €25 per month. I did have to pay €85 for the phone but it will work out way cheaper in the end. We are also looking at cancelling our landline and moving to Vodafone for a much cheaper deal on our TV and broadband. I have also checked gas/electricity and can move to a cheaper tariff too so need to organise that. Our house has also increased in value but we are on a fixed rate so I want to see what the break out clause is and see if we get on the cheaper rate now as we have a better LTV.

So lots going on money saving wise. If I can get all the above sorted out over the next few weeks I'll be saving a nice amount every month, which I can put off the loan.

Oh and best thing of all. I am now under €24,000!!! Just

clearmydebts

The loan has just gone out of the account so have updated my signature. I got paid overtime this month so used it to book flights to a wedding we have been invited to in Poland. Feels like I didn't have to pay for it at all. Am due to work more overtime in August so can use that as spends when we are over there.

Got the new car today. It is fab. Love it!

Hoping to get below 23k within the month

clearmydebts

Did a little bit of a tidy up on some of my outgoings and have been able to throw another €30 off the loan. I really want to get to below €20k and I know it's a long time away but I am so impatient. I need to calm down though, because this is why I always fail. I get impatient and then think sod it and spend spend spend.

Chandelier.

Sounds as if you are doing well CMD.

I'm with you on the urges to pay debt off and being impatient. It's a struggle not to be!

clearmydebts

Chandelier. wrote: »

Sounds as if you are doing well CMD.

I'm with you on the urges to pay debt off and being impatient. It's a struggle not to be!

Hi Chandelier,

Thanks for stopping by! It is a real struggle now to not pay the €400 from my emergency fund into the loan. But then I get so anxious at the end of the month if my bank account is running low. So it's great to have that as a cushion even if I am just transferring it over to make my account look healthy (and not touching it).

Chandelier.

I have quite a healthy cushion to fall back on but I'm battling and arguing with myself whether I should pay some more off debt.

All debt is 0% for me and I've not yet sorted out a decent saver account for my savings. It's a tough one.

clearmydebts

Chandelier. wrote: »

I have quite a healthy cushion to fall back on but I'm battling and arguing with myself whether I should pay some more off debt.

All debt is 0% for me and I've not yet sorted out a decent saver account for my savings. It's a tough one.

I'd keep the cushion if I was you as you never know when something will crop up, especially if everything is at 0%.

Do you have a diary? They are great for keeping me on the straight and narrow. The more I post, the better I am doing. Just want them gone now at this stage.