Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

Naomim

Well done on getting the tax info sorted. My SiL asked me for the wfh tax relief link. I think my FiL told her it was for her electricity for some reason and she was very disappointed when I told her it was the tax relief on £6 so only about £1.20! 😂

GeorgianaCavendish

Naomim said:

Well done on getting the tax info sorted. My SiL asked me for the wfh tax relief link. I think my FiL told her it was for her electricity for some reason and she was very disappointed when I told her it was the tax relief on £6 so only about £1.20! 😂

I had a similar conversation with a friend recently! It sounds so small per week but it adds up over the course of the year. I wonder if they will do the same thing again in April. 

GeorgianaCavendish

Coming to the end of the current pay cycle, can’t wait to do another transfer to MBNA - so close to it being gone forever! 

Had a couple of cash outs from Topcashback and Quidco, plus £10 from Prolific and finishing the month out with a tiny cushion built up in a couple of my regular expenses pots. I’m not building up much in my birthdays / gifts pot, money is going straight in and out each month at the moment, but the summer and early autumn is a quiet time for birthdays so I should be able to build up a cushion then. 

astrocytic_kitten

You’re doing brilliantly! When do you expect to see MBNA gone? We’ll all be cheering that one along with you.

GeorgianaCavendish

astrocytic_kitten said:

You’re doing brilliantly! When do you expect to see MBNA gone? We’ll all be cheering that one along with you.

Thank you!  Hoping to clear MBNA by end of March / beginning of April so fingers crossed! 

GeorgianaCavendish

March 2021 Goals & Debt Totals

Another payday and another step closer to debt freedom! I had a windfall of sorts this month (my employer agreed to pay for a course I had been saving for, so I was able to pay another chunk off MBNA and redirect the money I would have added to that pot this month towards credit card).
The LISA bonus was applied to my account and speeding up my MBNA repayments means that I will be able to start saving the 21/22 allowance right at the beginning of the tax year. 
Savings pots are going well - insurance and Christmas pots are 25% funded now and the holiday pot is ticking along nicely. I'm using pots a lot, although haven't built up a buffer in all of them I hope that this might come over the next 6 months or so as I start to have lighter months for some expenses. 
I've been tidying up my finances with an eye on mortgage applications next year and closed down a couple of unused accounts ( and will get rid of another one when MBNA is done! ), I want to close my account with Very too but this can only be done over the phone so I keep putting it off - maybe a job for next week! I updated HMRC with details about my new health insurance premium and had the new tax code applied to this month's salary, I think I will likely have a tax underpayment for this year anyway but at least it is somewhat reconciled and won't be such a shock in the summer.

I'm thinking about using the Cycle2Work scheme to buy a bike. I was very reluctant to cycle when I lived in London but there are lots of very quiet roads where I live at the moment to get my confidence back, and I'd like to have the option of being able to cycle part of a commute when we move. Although I don't need it for commuting yet, I would like to get confident on a bike before commuting becomes a reality again, and I think it would be good to pay off the cost of the bike while still working from home and not having to pay for trains etc.  I've been waiting for the weather to improve and I'm planning to wait until the middle-end of March as I'd prefer not to alter tax codes again until after next payday - maybe it will be my reward for paying off MBNA! 

So that's it for now. If all goes to plan then I will have cleared MBNA by this time next month  

Debt £4,000.00

MBNA - £1,500.00
0% until April 2021 

Virgin - £2,500.00
0% until March 2022 
(Used part of the windfall to pay off MBNA, now I've got 10 x £250 repayments to clear it by the end of 2021) 

Savings :
Holiday: 19.10% 
Total Deposit Savings: 15.00% 

Naomim

You've done so well and it's great you have goals to think about too.

astrocytic_kitten

You’re storming ahead - really well done!!

GeorgianaCavendish

Naomim said:

You've done so well and it's great you have goals to think about too.

astrocytic_kitten said:

You’re storming ahead - really well done!!

Thank you @Naomim and @astrocytic_kitten  
I had a small gratuity payment from Virgin relating to a customer service complaint so the new balance on that card is £2475; and another £5 from TopCashBack which is added to a savings pot.
I've been able to close the Very account (after a very long time on hold) and have closed down an unused bank account. Confident that my credit file has been tidied up and there is nothing controversial that would negatively impact on mortgage application. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the budget tomorrow re: house purchases 

welshspendthrift

Hi you are doing so well. Can I just ask about Top cash back , how long do they take to pay out, I have some from January is still pending ? Thank you