Dan's desperate dash towards solvency

System

You have done really well Dan , have a good Christmas and a great new year.

EssexHebridean

You've made a huge amount of headway this year Dan. It sounds as though maybe getting your Emergency Fund up and running might need to be a priority for next year though - that would have covered a huge chunk of that expenditure you've had to make if you'd had 1k sitting in there wouldn't it.

another_casualty

You’re doing really well dan . Relax, enjoy Christmas and keep on going

worriedDan

Hi Everyone, I hope you have all had a great Christmas.

I have been doing some forward planning for 2018. We have quite a few things coming in the New Year - family weddings etc. Nothing hugely expensive but still stuff that falls outside of our usual expenditure. We are also planning to have a cheap holiday in the Summer. All of these things fall between January and July.

This evening I have sat and worked out a 7 month budget. I have worked out how much money will will take home and deducted our house bills, food, fuel, afterschool clubs and debt payments. I have then deducted how much we think we will spend on the weddings, holiday etc.

We will still have over a grand left over each month after everything has been paid for. This is money that we can use for emergency fund or possibly for additional debt payments.

I have found it useful to take a longer term view of our finances for next year. I am also reassured that we can still do nice stuff without it impacting on our debt repayment plan.

EssexHebridean

Yes - forward planning on the financial stuff is precisely the thing that stops us getting caught out by things - and by saving for expected spends like holidays, Christmas etc right through the year rather than just using a couple of pay cheques to cover it make a huge difference to the budget too doesn't it.

worriedDan

Time for an update!

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while. Things have been good recently. We have made a positive start to debt busting this year. February's payments are due to be made next week and this will mean that we have cleared 4K from the debt since the start of the new year.

We have quite a lot going on this year so we have had to budget well in advance. We have hen do's/stag do's coming up, followed by a major family wedding and then a holiday in August. We have budgeted for all of this and it will all be fine and won't affect our debt payments. I know that some people will say that this money could have be used for additional debt payments, however we have decided that we need to have something to look forward to, providing that it doesn't affect our debt payments or lead to additional debts.

We also need to do a bit of work on the house this year. All essential stuff as opposed to cosmetic. Our bath desperately needs replacing and out toilet is on it's last legs!! We will probably have to repalce the tiles too. We are planning to do this work in the summer but we are buying bits and pieces when they are cheap and storing them in my parents garage. My BIL will fit these items for us in the summer in return for me tutoring his daughter through her GCSE's.

We are going away with my lovely parents at Easter. We had the opportunity to stay at a friends Gite in France. We have used Tesco club card vouchers for the Eurotunnel so we have only got to find the money for food and fuel. Really looking forward to getting away for a week. My parents are paying for us to have a day at Disneyland paris on the way home. This will be a nice surprise for our son and something that we wouldn't have funded ourselves this year.

A few days ago we fixed our mortgage for 3 more years at 1.84%. We had been on a variable rate for the last 7 years but I was a little concerned that any further rate increases might impact us. OUur new payments is £9 per months more than we were previously paying, however I think that this is a small amount for the peace of mind if brings me.

I am still receiving some treatment for my depression/anxiety. Barclaycard and Creation have supported this by freezing interest on my debts for 6 months. Most of my debt is with these 2 lenderes so this is really helpful.

Up until this point we have focused on repaying the highest interest debts. however for the last couple of months we have focused on paying off some little 'leftover' debts of £500 or less. Psychologically this has been useful as it is really nice to see fewer bills arriving. It also means that we have 4 or 5 more settled accounts on our credit file. at the start of our journey we had something like 10 different accounts that were paying each month!!

We have cleared my wifes Flybe credit card which had a small balance of £350. Normally they will offer a 0% offer as soon as the balance is zero so we are hoping that we can use this to transfer my wifes Barclaycard debt across as the promotional rate expires soon.

I hope that everyone else if doing ok. IF you are new to this board, please have a look back at my posts from this time last year. No matter how awful you are feeling, there is a way forward and you will feel better as time goes on, no matter how big your debts are. We still owe a lot of money but just knowing that there is plan in place and that is under control makes all the difference.

System

Great post Dan from some of your first ones . Really pleased the debt is decreasing . You have lots to look forward to this year .

Keep on posting when you can.

kelpie35

You are doing so well, long may it continue. :j

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

Take care

Drawingaline

You sound so positive. I hear you on the holiday, we have one coming up in may, something a bit more than normal. But i have cleared so much over the last year I felt that we could put it into our budget. I think as long as you identify your issues and are not putting it on a card, and are more frugal than you might have been in the past, these small luxuries are a must, especially on a long journey.

savingholmes

Just caught up on your diary Dan. You've been making great progress and sound so much healthier now than you did at the beginning. I think allowing some funds for enjoyable things to do together as a married couple is sensible and affordable for you.