Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

astrocytic_kitten

You’re definitely doing the right thing, especially with your debt on 0%. I know it’s nerve-wracking though. I’m saving for a new appliance that seems to be on the verge of breaking and I keep on wanting to just get a new one NOW I case I lose my head and spend the money on something frivolous. I’m trying to tell myself sitting with that uncertainty is all part of the learning process and the longer I sit with a balance building up the more I’ll trust myself.

I’ve got a haircut booked in a couple of weeks and I’m so anxious about it. But I was also overdue a haircut at the start of lockdown and now it’s a real mess. Keep on seriously considering taking the kitchen scissors to it 😂

Isitdoable

I've got a haircut booked for next week.  I am really looking forward to it, but I'm feeling odd about spending the money on it!  Its been so long since I have paid for anything apart from food!

GeorgianaCavendish

August Debt & Savings Totals 
It has been a quiet month here, still plodding along. It looks increasingly likely that we will be working from home for the rest of the year. 

I've decided to balance transfer the HSBC debt rather than pay it off next month as I really want to get my emergency fund sorted before paying off more debt. We are also going to be moving in the next 3 months, so once the emergency fund is sorted we will have some saving to do more the moving fund. And then I can resume the focus on debt repayments. 

I have been accepted for a 0% balance transfer card (20 months at 0% with a 1% transfer fee) so I will make the transfer when the card arrives. 

Emergency Fund : 73% of the way to goal

Debt : £10,250

HSBC - £3,000.00
0% rates in order that they will be paid off (HSBC applies payments to the oldest balances first)  

• £253.15 exp Sep 2020 
• £1,425.17 exp Aug 2020
• £1,321.68  exp Aug 2020 

TESCO - £1,290.00
0% until April 2021 
(set payment of £30 per month) 

MBNA - £5,960.00
0% until April 2021 
(set payment of £70 per month) 

GeorgianaCavendish

astrocytic_kitten said:

You’re definitely doing the right thing, especially with your debt on 0%. I know it’s nerve-wracking though. I’m saving for a new appliance that seems to be on the verge of breaking and I keep on wanting to just get a new one NOW I case I lose my head and spend the money on something frivolous. I’m trying to tell myself sitting with that uncertainty is all part of the learning process and the longer I sit with a balance building up the more I’ll trust myself.

I’ve got a haircut booked in a couple of weeks and I’m so anxious about it. But I was also overdue a haircut at the start of lockdown and now it’s a real mess. Keep on seriously considering taking the kitchen scissors to it 😂

Thank you for this post! (Sorry it took me so long to reply too) ... I'm glad that it is not just me that struggles with prioritising something over debt repayment! It is a real mental challenge and I still find that I'm second-guessing my strategy at least once a week, but I know that these other goals will help me feel more financially secure. It is hard though! 

How did you find going for a haircut? I'm enjoying it being easier to wash and dry now, but after a few days of swishing around, it is back in the bun now!

GeorgianaCavendish

Isitdoable said:

I've got a haircut booked for next week.  I am really looking forward to it, but I'm feeling odd about spending the money on it!  Its been so long since I have paid for anything apart from food!

I hope you had a nice haircut I felt really guilty for spending on something "non-essential" - it is so strange comparing my spending over the last few months to the same period last year!

astrocytic_kitten

GeorgianaCavendish said:

Thank you for this post! (Sorry it took me so long to reply too) ... I'm glad that it is not just me that struggles with prioritising something over debt repayment! It is a real mental challenge and I still find that I'm second-guessing my strategy at least once a week, but I know that these other goals will help me feel more financially secure. It is hard though! 

How did you find going for a haircut? I'm enjoying it being easier to wash and dry now, but after a few days of swishing around, it is back in the bun now!

It was so great seeing my hairdresser again, I’d missed her. I was nervous beforehand but reassured when I saw how seriously they were taking everything and all the precautions they’d put in place. My hairdresser knows I have a few illnesses so also went out of her way to be reassuring, and there was only one other client and hairdresser in and it’s a big salon so plenty of space too. My hair is also back in the bun now though!

I’m back to prioritising debt after hitting my interim emergency fund goal...my loan is still interest bearing though so don’t let that have any impact on your thinking! 

GeorgianaCavendish

astrocytic_kitten said:

GeorgianaCavendish said:

Thank you for this post! (Sorry it took me so long to reply too) ... I'm glad that it is not just me that struggles with prioritising something over debt repayment! It is a real mental challenge and I still find that I'm second-guessing my strategy at least once a week, but I know that these other goals will help me feel more financially secure. It is hard though! 

How did you find going for a haircut? I'm enjoying it being easier to wash and dry now, but after a few days of swishing around, it is back in the bun now!

It was so great seeing my hairdresser again, I’d missed her. I was nervous beforehand but reassured when I saw how seriously they were taking everything and all the precautions they’d put in place. My hairdresser knows I have a few illnesses so also went out of her way to be reassuring, and there was only one other client and hairdresser in and it’s a big salon so plenty of space too. My hair is also back in the bun now though!

I’m back to prioritising debt after hitting my interim emergency fund goal...my loan is still interest bearing though so don’t let that have any impact on your thinking! 

It sounds like your hairdresser did everything perfectly I'm really glad that I got my hair cut when I did, I feel like now I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for lockdown measures to continue. 

My emergency fund got another boost this week as I finally received a refund for a course that was cancelled due to lockdown back in April. Dealing with the admin team for this course has been so stressful, so I'm really happy that I don't have to deal with them every week (as well as extremely happy to have the money back!)  I also had a really great long-term survey on Prolific which paid out earlier this week and a £10 Amazon voucher from i-say. I'm now at 85% of my initial savings goal. 

I can't wait for the heat to break, it is really exhausting! 

GeorgianaCavendish

So glad the heatwave is over. I couldn't concentrate on anything when it was so ridiculously hot, and I felt exhausted all the time. Feeling much more productive this week! 
We've been invited to stay with some extremely generous relatives to get a bit of a break from the city so we are planning to head down there this weekend. They also said that the invitation is open if we would like to stay for the rest of the year (we've both had confirmation that our offices are going to be closed for the rest of the year). It is really tempting from both a lifestyle perspective and a MSE perspective, so we will use the next few weeks as a trial period to see if we can handle living together! They do have quite a big house and garden, so we wouldn't be living on top of them, but on the other hand it is different going for a visit compared to actually living with someone else.
Of course if we do decide to stay for longer then we would make a financial contribution to bills, food etc, but it would still be an enormous saving on our rent and bills in London and give some breathing space to consider where to move next. We'd have to think about putting our stuff in storage though, so that would be an added expense. Lots to consider! 

Kakiste

Wow. What an offer. Are they in a nice bit of the country to live in?

GeorgianaCavendish

Kakiste said:

Wow. What an offer. Are they in a nice bit of the country to live in?

It is a hugely generous offer, we are very lucky! They are in a lovely bit of the country - not far from Bath. Very different to where we are now! 

I'm just about to start packing my suitcase and working out what food will have to come with us in a cool bag and what we can eat between now and Friday night. Feels very exciting to be going somewhere different - I didn't realise how much the current location was getting to me until now.