I'm Back - and better! Final Push to Go...

Exerbusi2

Just paid my tax bill - ouch!

Actually, it's not all ouch. For the first time in 6 years of self-employment, I had saved more than my tax bill. This means that despite me paying my tax bill in full, I still have around £1500 in cash sat in the account. This will be a great start for my tax savings for next year.

I'm due to be paid around £2000 this week for a project I've just run, so I will pay all of that off the CC.

That'll see me down to a balance of £1800, which I will aim to get rid of within 6 months - hopefully less!

At that point, I'll be DEBT FREE!

Well, apart from my mortgage, but for some reason I don't really see that as a debt, more a life expense.

beanielou

A life expense is a good way to describe a mortgage

Exerbusi2

That's right, Lou!

The mortgage for me is a funny thing. Of course it's a debt, but it's so massive (£178k) that even if I had £50k in the bank it wouldn't even get close to paying it all off.

I overpay my mortgage every month, so it's a lot lower than it would otherwise be. I'm also allergic to the idea of extending the mortgage in the way a lot of my friends have to extend houses etc.

Of course with no debt to pay off (almost there on that front), I can put more towards paying off the mortgage quickly!

For now though, it's not a debt in my head - it's a life expense in the same way water, electricity, gas, council tax etc are!

zippygeorgeandben

Hi Exerbusi2 it's me! Remember me? I'm back in good old Blighty after a week in the sun. Well, when I say sun, I say 4 and a half days sun, 2 and a half days overcast weather not impressed!
Anyway, came back today, paid £2000 with the loan from my sister off the Zopa debt. This debt is now under £2k. It's saying monthly repayments are roughly £85 and coupled with the £133 I will be paying my sister, it's still less than my usual monthly repayment.

Exerbusi2

Hi Zippy!

How was your week in the sun? Good I hope (well, when it was sunny anyway!)

Fantastic news that the debt is down and the repayments have been reduced - will you be able to transfer any money across to further debt repayments elsewhere?

I've had good news today - the money from my project has been transferred today, so I hope that reaches the bank tomorrow. It's always confusing with the bank holidays, so I'll keep my eyes peeled over the next day or two.

When that money comes in I'll be paying it straight off the CC, which should bring my balance down to £1800, which would be nice!

zippygeorgeandben

Yes the week was relaxing thank you!
I think that I might be able to throw an extra couple of £££s at the Zopa loan. Thing is, since the BT to the sainsburys card, the first payment of this isn't until 2nd May. This means that I won't be paying any in April. Just the way it works I guess!
When it gets to the 30th April, hopefully I'll be able to take a look at the signature, reduce it etc.

Great news about the project money! very impressed! It looks like we'll be in competition to reduce that CC debt as I think mine might be around £1800 at the end of this month. It certainly can get addictive can't it? Trying to sort finances out! I have this sketchy laid out plan in my head which goes something like this..
A) Pay ZOPA
Pay CC
C) Pay Tesco Loan
D) Pay Student Loan
E) Increase Pension contributions
F) Get a LISA and start contributing a regular sum
G) Emergency 3 month fund
H) Help partner with debts

Exerbusi2

I suppose in the grand sheme of things it doesn't matter that there isn't a repayment in April really - it's just the way the payments have fallen. You're still on track.

I've had my payment money come through this morning, so that has all been paid off the CC - £2,000 in one go!

I'll be so happy to see the balance down to £1,800, but it's a bizarre number - it's small enough to be able to clear relatively quickly, but it's big enough that it's still pretty large amount of money (that probably doesn't make sense, but it does to me!)

Your plan sounds great - how much of a difference can you make to your partners debt?

zippygeorgeandben

You're right about £1800... it's small enough yet big enough!

Hmmm to be honest, I'm not sure how much of a dent I could make. He's not really bothered about debt and quite frankly, I'm not going to push him into sorting it. I'm just hoping I can sort mine out and then help him out!

Weekend of nothing coming up and then the 29th April is a charity quiz night which will be a few drinks I guess.
I was meant to sell £100 of candles on Monday but she went quiet on me, another time waster!

Exerbusi2

So I'm due to be paid a £100 fee tomorrow, which I may put towards the CC debt. That will knock a little off it and keep the momentum on the payments.

I'm also due £800 soon, which will be split £100 off CC, £300 into savings and £400 towards my living expenses.

Took on some new work this week too, which is a nice little bonus. Not a huge amount of money, but it'll add up over the course of a year.

zippygeorgeandben

Yup good news - I decided to pay a cheeky £116.89 off the Zopa yesterday just to make the monthly payments at £85.00 (like you, I like round numbers!).
Have a great week!