Debt Demolisher

motivated

:wave: Morning world :wave:

Not too much excitement in the Motivated household today, just a run of the mill day really. Managed to sort out our cupboard under the stairs yesterday :eek: why we keep so much useless clutter I'll never know. DH is a bit of a "I may need that one day" kind of man whereas I'm like bin it it's clutter

On the debt front my mind has been doing overtime of late and I'm not even sure why. I suppose it's because I haven't really made any dents in it. But from now on I know I will be reducing it properly again. I will be paying a reduced amount to SC in September and from October onwards we should see a difference being made.

My separate savings pots are building (slowly) and we seem to be catching up gradually after our big vet bill. At least that is paid up and now we can start building our funds up again.

My goals for each month are:

• Save around £200 per month spread over 4 savings accounts. Car tax, insurance, Xmas etc
• Make at least 2 overpayments however small to our short term goal. (Want to get this cleared ASAP)
• Start a £1 savings tin £5.00/ £100 target

I know it sounds ridiculous or some may say selfish saving whilst on a DMP but we also need to be able to live as well. Otherwise my mental health may just not cope. I love having goals to reach as it keeps me focussed and gives me something to aim for.

A random post but it helps me to write things down. Sort of a way of thinking aloud.
M

EmmaMicawber

Hi motivated, I've just been catching up on your diary. I'm so glad to see you're doing so well. I remember we had our LBM at around the same and same ish debt. I'm not very good at posting regularly but am just chipping away steadily, it doesn't seem much every month but it is so much better than going in the other direction isn't It?
So sorry to hear about your lovely dog, they are such an important member of the family aren't they? Ours is getting old and I'm dreading her getting ill or worse.

It sounds as though your decision to go with stepchange will be a lot less stress than managing things yourself- personally , I like trying to stick to a fixed predictable payment every month for our debts so that would be a big plus from my point of view. It makes me feel more positive that we will get there and can sort of forget about it and get on with living the rest of the time.

Good luck, keep going, I'll be popping in to see how you're getting on when I'm on here

motivated

Hi Emma

So glad to see you back posting and all is going well. I too have started to plan my life around having a set amount that is going towards the dreaded debt. But also being able to live as normal (ish) as possible.

Our creditors are still being ok and not hounding us, as they can see we are trying. Our saving accounts are still building slowly and once they are at their targets I will be able to build up F & F amounts. Here's hoping. ��

As for my dog my house is still awful and will take some time to get used to it I suppose, but he gave us the best 9 and 1/2 years and will be a hard act to follow.

Keep plugging away and one day, just one day
M

motivated

Is it payday yet. Becoming impatient as I want to make another small dent in my debt. Hopefully my wages will hit my bank this evening, then I can play around with my money and make it stretch to 5 times more than it actually is :rotfl: If only

Just withdrew £11.55 from Quidco. Will add it straight to one of the savings accounts. I've only waited about 9 months for it to clear.
M

motivated

Right all accounts fed and updated. My EF I'm aiming for has now reached half way . I will be rounding down accounts to add more to it through the month and then add a bigger chunk when I get paid again.

My other savings accounts are also on track. I have figures that I need to reach by a certain time for things like car insurance and tax. My Xmas one will also have what I need by the time November comes. I just need to be a little more patient as I am trying to run before I can walk. I know it's a marathon, not a sprint but we can hope
M

Cherryfudge

Brilliant to hear your EF is half way there! That teaspoon is a fair blur at the rate you're going!

motivated

Morning diary world

Been playing around with my accounts again my bank must be like :eek:

I've set up standing orders on my main account so when it's my payday I have £500 being shared between my EF, the car, F&F and Xmas accounts. The weekly money I would've usually added to these is going straight to the EF therefore making this up to its target by the end of Sept :j much sooner than I had anticipated. After Sept then I will be focussing the £500 between the other 3 accounts until December. So at the end of the year 3 of my savings accounts will have the amounts they need ready to start a new year afresh.
The F&F account will be added to as I go along in order to build up some funds ready to hit the smaller debts with offers (please God)

By Xmas I will have

• Car Tax money
• Car Insurance money
• Emergency Fund
• Christmas money

And nothing added to any Credit Cards :T

All very confusing I know but it works out in my head :rotfl:

So all in all

• yea I am still in massive debt
• Yes it's going to take us a loooong time to clear
• Yes it can be very stressful at times
• Yes it's somewhere I never thought I would be
• Yes I'm ashamed
• Yes I'm angry
• Yes I wish I did things differently

NO I WILL NOT LET IT STOP ME LIVING THE REST OF MY LIFE.

M

foxyloxy11

couldn't have said it better xx

enthusiasticsaver

sounds like a good plan.

motivated

Thankyou foxy and ES for popping in. It's good to know I have some support

DHs weekly payday looms and I'm itching to start my weeks budget. He usually draws out some spends for the week for himself and the rest is budgeted for the house. I will be adding to my EF again and am still on track to reach my goal by the end of September.

I paid out £210 from it today for something DH had to pay at work. Another minor driving thing in the works lorry :mad: He had to pay it in instalments and the £210 was outstanding. My thinking was just pay it and have done with it. Rather than drag it out over another month. This [STRIKE]doesn't[/STRIKE] shouldn't stop us from reaching our EF total.

Just being able to pay that outright is a huge step forward for us and just goes to show, we must be doing something right.

So with discipline and budgeting my plan should work out ok.

Have cashed out £11.55 from Quidco and currently have £4.60 from surveys. One more survey and I will be able to cash out my fiver. I will round these 2 up to £20 and add this to my EF too :T
M