Paid off the £31,000! BUT - still scrimping!

Sun_Addict

I never begrudge money spent on lunches out and lipsticks I love how you still manage to fit in your treats along with the budgeting, it's what you work for after all Enjoy your weekend with DD.

doingitanyway

Sun_Addict wrote: »

I never begrudge money spent on lunches out and lipsticks I love how you still manage to fit in your treats along with the budgeting, it's what you work for after all Enjoy your weekend with DD.

I agree. You achieve such a good balance SSG58. I am taking notes

Keeping_Motivated

Hi Im really enjoying following your diary I didnt read your last diary but I a,m amazed by how much you paid off.

I only have a small debt of £4000 (plus a large mortgage of 112,000!) and my car is paid for. Plus I have some work I want to do on the house that isnt urgent is a want not a need. I want to clear the debt, get a saving fund and then start over paying the mortgage.

Anyway I just wondered if you had any top tips that you used to clear your debt from experience and what you felt worked the most?

Hope you dont mind me asking

Sunshine_girl2

Hi SSG , hope work has calmed down a bit and that you have had a good weekend.

Seasidegal58

Thank you all!

Apologies for the delay in replying Keeping Motivated :wave: - I have been luckier than most when clearing my debt, even though it was quite a large sum! A good job, no dependants, low essential outgoings, and some good bonus payments at work all helped! I did fall off the debt free wagon a couple of times though – but clambered back on again!

However, I think the most important thing I found when on my debt free journey was drawing up a budget with categories for everything I could think of. I started out with a fairly elementary Excel spreadsheet for these, plus I downloaded a free spending app onto my phone so that I could record everything spent as I went along and then offloaded the results to the spreadsheet at the end of the month. This was absolutely key as before I was just spending willy-nilly without thinking. After a while I decided to try the You Need A Budget (YNAB) software after reading some very positive reviews of it on the forum. I did (and still have to) pay for it but it's been one of my most valuable purchases. I now know exactly how much I have to spend each month and know almost to the penny how much cash I have in my purse at any time! Of course if you are a whizz with spreadsheets you can probably knock up one just as good!

Things tend to fall into place once you start a proper budget – food is one of the easiest things I found to budget once I took a good stocktake of what I already had and set a meal plan – taking homemade lunches into work instead of buying them saved bundles! – Clothes also – we all seem to have too many of these!

It was due to the fact that I couldn't get any more 0% credit card balances that shocked me into starting my debt free journey – up until then I just kept getting more cards and putting the debts onto them. I did find though that after a few months of paying down the cards I was accepted for them again so I could use them properly this time round and this saved quite a bit in interest payments. In addition, I downloaded the credit card snowball so that I could see my debt decrease each month – I used to stare at it for ages when I updated it each month after I got paid!

And the other big thing was starting my diary on this thread – all the help and positive comments I have received over the years from other posters has been wonderful. I would thoroughly recommend in starting a diary and if you do, I would subscribe and cheer you on!

Seasidegal58

END OF SCRIMPY WEEK 4 – JANUARY

Managed to keep the Ad Hoc spends this week – so after updating YNAB after I got paid, I put £500 over to my workplace pension! :j

A couple of months ago, I added the values of my flat, workplace pension, premium bonds, bullion, and Stocks and Shares ISA to YNAB. At the end of the month, my flat, pension and bullion were up in value, premium bonds the same (as I haven't added to them) and the ISA slightly down with events! :eek:


SCRIMPY WEEK 1 – FEBRUARY (WHICH WAS SATURDAY)

I have the run-up to my holiday this month. I have dropped another 4lb but I'm really not sure I'm going to make the Icelandic horse weight.:( I have a couple of things to buy for the holiday – some thermal tights and long sleeved t-shirts - I'm going to have a look on the M&S site for these.

I have a few birthdays in February as well – DD's OH, his DS1, one of my BFs, and DSis's little great-niece, plus a couple of birthday cards for those whom I don't actually buy presents. Also, my friend's granddaughter has just had a little girl so card and gift here as well.

The rest of the week is quiet – may be going to the cinema this weekend, but will have to check with my friend. Work is ticking over today - boring but steady.

beanielou

You have done so well

Sun_Addict

Well done on adding to your workplace pension I think I can increase the percentage of salary I pay into mine but I can't add cash - it's a civil service pension.

doingitanyway

Wow, your finances are tiptop. Well done

Keeping_Motivated

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

Thank you all!

Apologies for the delay in replying Keeping Motivated :wave: - I have been luckier than most when clearing my debt, even though it was quite a large sum! A good job, no dependants, low essential outgoings, and some good bonus payments at work all helped! I did fall off the debt free wagon a couple of times though – but clambered back on again!

However, I think the most important thing I found when on my debt free journey was drawing up a budget with categories for everything I could think of. I started out with a fairly elementary Excel spreadsheet for these, plus I downloaded a free spending app onto my phone so that I could record everything spent as I went along and then offloaded the results to the spreadsheet at the end of the month. This was absolutely key as before I was just spending willy-nilly without thinking. After a while I decided to try the You Need A Budget (YNAB) software after reading some very positive reviews of it on the forum. I did (and still have to) pay for it but it's been one of my most valuable purchases. I now know exactly how much I have to spend each month and know almost to the penny how much cash I have in my purse at any time! Of course if you are a whizz with spreadsheets you can probably knock up one just as good!

Things tend to fall into place once you start a proper budget – food is one of the easiest things I found to budget once I took a good stocktake of what I already had and set a meal plan – taking homemade lunches into work instead of buying them saved bundles! – Clothes also – we all seem to have too many of these!

It was due to the fact that I couldn't get any more 0% credit card balances that shocked me into starting my debt free journey – up until then I just kept getting more cards and putting the debts onto them. I did find though that after a few months of paying down the cards I was accepted for them again so I could use them properly this time round and this saved quite a bit in interest payments. In addition, I downloaded the credit card snowball so that I could see my debt decrease each month – I used to stare at it for ages when I updated it each month after I got paid!

And the other big thing was starting my diary on this thread – all the help and positive comments I have received over the years from other posters has been wonderful. I would thoroughly recommend in starting a diary and if you do, I would subscribe and cheer you on!

Thank you so much. I did once look at YNAB but I must need a dummies guide as I found it hard to work out :cool: it would definitely be good for me though as I would like to be more clear of where I am and also where I waste money.
I do already cook from scratch and take left overs for lunches. I don't buy coffees out anymore as I invested in my own machine BUT I know we spend far too much on snack type food i.e. nipping to the shop for treats probably most evenings :eek: wheres the greedy emoji!
I think if we actually saw how much we spent on junk it would keep us more accountable in that area.

Thanks again