3rd Time Lucky?!- Attempting to clear £6645.93 of debt in 105days (3months+13days)!!

Shelbi

Afternoon all, £5 made on swag bucks- taken as amazon vouchers so will add to the kitty. Lunch brought from home- overall a quiet day hoping to get another nsd in the bag. Sx

Shelbi

another £4.21 from quidco, withdrew it in amazon gift certificate which gave me £4.30. A nsd again today, a pleasant day at work too! really looking forward to the weekend though. It feels like these past 2 weeks have been the busiest yet...still its nice to be kept on my toes I guess. tomorrow will be a corker. Nothing much to add really still need to get lunch prepped for tomorrow so I best get on with that. Happy Wednesday everyone x

Shelbi

Evening All,

Its been a great non-spendy few days, today payday hit, though I hadn't realised it was moved forward, to cushion the long wait from Christmas...bless our thoughtful HR team.

Have paid £1316.33 to the CC, plan to pay another 2 equal amounts in the next 2 months..and will pay anything I can extra towards it to speed it up. I am hoping to get a bonus this year but am working on worst case scenario's for now.

Today I paid over tithe, rent, credit card payment, put aside some for electric and gas bill money (due March), ordered contact lenses (3months) as I had a 10%off voucher (so thought better to bulk buy)..amazing what you can find when you scan old emails:), thats taken out my beauty budget for the month. Groceries brought for the week £25.61.

So whats left to do...remaining budget for Jan- Feb18:

• car tax- £12
• council tax- £92
• mobile phone (mum)-£12.50
• mobile phone -£14.99
• groceries- £150.56
• work drinks- £20
• gifts- £24.77
• fun money- £66.40
• valentines day -£30.00

nothing much else to report, just another month of battening down the hatches and trying not to spend too much...I can almost see the finish line of baby step2.:D :D

Shelbi

Afternoon all,

Just checking in to keep focused on this lovely wet Wednesday, enjoying being at work rather than outside in it;)..hopefully itll slow down by the time the masses leave to go home. Not a nsd today, but was budgeted spend- vday present bought, using part amazon vouchers so physical cash paid £6.25/£30:dance: also payment made to CC £1.33, will attempt to do a payment a day to keep up momentum even if its just a pound. Lunch brought in...nothing more to report, guess I should get back to work...have a fab day guys.


Sx

Shelbi

Evening all...

so I've had 3 NSD and had some great news I received my bonus letter from work, I've been awarded the full 15% £6430 so I'm really happy and extremely grateful!!:j:j

I will get it in 80% in February's paycheck & 20% in March though ill be taxed 40% &11% NI on it as I've gone over the £40k earnings bracket... reducing my pension deductions earlier this year means I have no buffer from the 40% tax. Speaking with my other half he says that I should put it in my pension to save the tax building up my pension and continue with my current debt plan of paying £1300 in Feb and £1300 in March to clear it.

My suggestion was to keep following Dave Ramsey's baby step plans and take it now even with the tax deducted to clear my debt asap. Then put the remaining 20% (March money) into my pension (tax saving) and boosting my pension contribution to 15% (as Dave suggests) as I'll be debt free then concentrating on my 6 month emergency fund (£5k) and house deposit. Id rather pay off the debt asap but I do understand where hes coming from...Any advice here would be greatly appreciated please guys as I'm torn.:)

Another quiet weekend though welcomed this week as I'm shattered OH and pals are doing DIY all I can hear is @%$£! so all going well I guess:rotfl: worried to see what damaged they've caused. X

Shelbi

Another quiet day...have stayed home most of the weekend..late night last night and a blinding headache to boot.

Found out what the noise was all about..they put the tv on the wall and part of the wall come off...oh well they did try this flat is falling apart...TV is still in tact and will sit on the coffee table until we find something passable and have some spare money to do it...as for the wall I'm sure OH will think of something.

Rechecking Dave Ramsey's steps I had it wrong, 1) £1000 Emergency fund, 2) pay off all debts then 3)3-6 month emergency fund (£5k in my case) 3b)the home deposit & then 4)15% of income into pension. so that's what ill do, its a long trek and I'm behind but better later than never.

Plans for the week:
Food shopping- aim is to get all we need for the week £25-(planning needed).
Budget for the next few months (update YNAB) to include new goals and true expenses.
Work do- keep spend to £20 (max)
bring lunch to work (zero spend on snacks)
Exercise 3 times
5SFD's
Research on frugal living and saving tips.

Sx

Shelbi

Evening All (assuming someone other than me reads this:rotfl:)

So today was a good day, work was good I spent an hour at lunch updating my Ynab to make it more realistic for my goals...Was busy and half my team were off so was a busy one and I just knuckled down and got on with things. Took advantage of an audio book for company as I concentrated and worked my way through.

Not a sfd today, forgot lunch- completely my own thought this one- £2.99 spend there:( then paid over £10 to CC as penance.
Did an exercise class with my work colleagues, it was challenging (as I haven't exercised in a long time) but it was also really fun...our teacher (another colleague was amazing, encouraging and motivating)- I enjoyed it, perhaps not at the time (it was tough) but after I felt fab, Am really happy she ran the class & I had the good sense to attend.

Came home to empty flat so enjoyed a long bath and a lush bath bomb...OH back now on the PS4 so im thinking an early-ish night for me...felt good to do something different. I have around 2 stone to lose but am happy I took a step towards it today. Need to exercise another 2 times this week...thinking running or fitness dvd..free & cheerful abit harder to do alone though.

Didn't manage the shopping tonight but OH brought back milk, chicken, beer, and cake...his essentials & at least he got milk, I can have a cuppa in the morning..bless him..I'll pop out tomorrow but should probably do a proper stock check first...maybe Wednesday then..Am thinking to keep up with the no drinking thing for a little longer. At least till I shift the weight and debt, I dont know... Overall it was a good day...a fun day...hope tomorrow is just as good, if not better maybe ill score a nsd.

Hope everyone else had a good one...Night x

Magpie100

Hey Shelbi, I'm still reading! You are doing SO well - I'm really impressed! You really seem to have changed your mentality towards spending and I am DELIGHTED that you'll be getting such a good bonus. And well done on working out your priorities for clearing debt/emergency fund/house deposit, etc.

Every time I read you seem to be having a low or no-spend day - you are going great guns. Do you feel like your budget is sustainable in the long-term? I don't want you to suddenly have a spluge after months of denying yourself things, but you sound so sorted that hopefully you won't!

Well done again and keep going! :beer:

Shelbi

Hi Magpie100:hello::hello:

Thank you for popping in...honestly it really helps to know im not talking to myself (not that thats ever stopped me :rotfl:)

THANK YOU! honestly any change in mindset was down to you guiding me to have more determination, It made me extra determined to see this thing through to the end and clear the debts:):)

I realy am grateful to you and all the other kind MSE'ers who popped in and gave me such great advice and encouragement...Its really helped. This is such a lovely forum.

Was super excited about my bonus but mostly I was just trying to keep my job secured so I worked extra hard, It paid off... this year am going to try and do even better.

I dont think my budget is sustainable in the long term as Ive cut down going out and shopping massively usually opting to stay home though for the months of March onwards Im going to give myself £150 budget for socialising/fun money whilst I save so hopefully that'll help keep me on the straight and narrow.

I cant thank you enough for pointing me in the right direction and challenging me to keep the course it was exactly what I needed...Thank you!!!...To you:beer:

Shelbi X

enthusiasticsaver

Shelbi wrote: »

Evening all...

so I've had 3 NSD and had some great news I received my bonus letter from work, I've been awarded the full 15% £6430 so I'm really happy and extremely grateful!!:j:j

I will get it in 80% in February's paycheck & 20% in March though ill be taxed 40% &11% NI on it as I've gone over the £40k earnings bracket... reducing my pension deductions earlier this year means I have no buffer from the 40% tax. Speaking with my other half he says that I should put it in my pension to save the tax building up my pension and continue with my current debt plan of paying £1300 in Feb and £1300 in March to clear it.

My suggestion was to keep following Dave Ramsey's baby step plans and take it now even with the tax deducted to clear my debt asap. Then put the remaining 20% (March money) into my pension (tax saving) and boosting my pension contribution to 15% (as Dave suggests) as I'll be debt free then concentrating on my 6 month emergency fund (£5k) and house deposit. Id rather pay off the debt asap but I do understand where hes coming from...Any advice here would be greatly appreciated please guys as I'm torn.:)

Another quiet weekend though welcomed this week as I'm shattered OH and pals are doing DIY all I can hear is @%$£! so all going well I guess:rotfl: worried to see what damaged they've caused. X

Your OH is right and the most tax efficient thing would be to put your bonus in your pension. It is a large amount though which could obviously clear the debt and go someway towards building your savings. 51% deductions is a lot so I would work it out as it depends on how close to the £40k you will be as to whether you pay HR tax on all of it or some of it.