Debt Free Wannabe Teacher

dfw87

Right, today is the day that I take full control again.

Payday is Wednesday (and I should get a nice one as it will include September and October's payrise!)

I am going to Lidl today to do my food shop - I had started going back to Tesco as I found I wasn't able to get everything I needed at Lidl and I was being lazy not wanting to do 2 shops.

I am budgeting myself £25 a week for my supermarket shop. I am going to take this out in cash and hope it keeps me on track. Today's shop is still from this month's budget.

Things are a little different over the next few months as it is obviously Christmas... however I am trying to spread my shopping. I bought my Mum's Christmas present which was about £40 (saved 20%) and my brothers was £27 (saved 10%). I have about £33 in Amazon vouchers that I will use for Christmas presents - I've already seen one for my other brother which is £10.

Today will be spent doing my food shop and some planning for school. I don't usually spend any time on evenings, weekends or holidays doing school work but this term has been particularly busy.

dfw87

I find that I spend my half term doing things that most people can do in their regular week! I've done lots of school work (all done!) and today we have cleaned the house, top to bottom.

I now have lots of organising to do! I have a lot of things to eBay and lots of craft bits and pieces to sort out. I bought some lovely watercolour pens a while ago and I am going to try to make some Christmas cards this year.

I am hoping to spend no money today and tomorrow is PAYDAY! I have lots of bananas which were leftover at school so I am planning to use those to make some banana bread.

Went to my mum's last night for dinner which was lovely (and saves a meal!)

Was hoping to have some more PA studies this week as I am available more but I've only had one for 50p so far!

dfw87

Counting down the hours to pay day so I can transfer some money and get started with my new month of saving! Whether I save any extra this month will depend on my Christmas shopping. From January I will be putting some money away for presents for the year.

Today has been a NSD - yay! I've done lots today - cleaned, made banana bread (had all the ingredients in the house) with leftover bananas from school, done some watercolour painting (for Christmas cards), walked the dog, made a lovely butternut squash and bacon risotto and some parsnip crisps.

Tomorrow I don't plan on spending anything. I'm meeting a friend for a walk so we may pop for a drink too - we will see!

dfw87

I had a grand total of £0 left at the end of this month! Blaming it on Christmas presents and not being as strict with myself.

Was paid an extra £200 this month which is my backdated pay rise. I've transferred £150 of that to my savings straight away so that it is gone and can't be spent this month. I'll still aim to have some more savings by the end of the month.

Off to update my sig with my new savings now!

dfw87

My 4th loan repayment came out today so I have now paid back £1336.20 since July. Halifax also gave me my cashback extras money which was £8ish - love that part of my bank account! I transferred that straight to my savings and then realised I only needed another £11 in there to get it to £1840 so I quickly transferred that too!

DrSpendLittle

So, that is £3,176.20 that you've 'put aside' since your 9th July LBM! That's fantastic!! :T:T

What are your plans for the savings? I think I remember you saying you were saving up £5k increments and would pay off the loan in chunks...? I might be wrong... Do you have any urges to spend it or do you trust yourself with it being in savings? Did you decide to go on the skiing trip as xmas?

Keep up the excellent work! :money:

dfw87

DrSpendLittle wrote: »

So, that is £3,176.20 that you've 'put aside' since your 9th July LBM! That's fantastic!! :T:T

What are your plans for the savings? I think I remember you saying you were saving up £5k increments and would pay off the loan in chunks...? I might be wrong... Do you have any urges to spend it or do you trust yourself with it being in savings? Did you decide to go on the skiing trip as xmas?

Keep up the excellent work! :money:

Totally trust myself not to spend it which is good! I was a little worried this month as I was getting quite close to £0 in my current account and didn't want to risk going overdrawn as I have no overdraft now. I transferred £50 from savings to current and then as soon as I was paid I transferred it straight back. It's nice to know I have the option of a buffer.

It's amazing how much I have managed to pay off/save now that I have put my mind to it. I also have £2000 inheritance coming soonish which takes me over £5000. Once my debts are cleared, I will make sure I spend that £2000 on something special rather than having just used it to pay off debts!

I haven't got plans really... my options are save and pay the debt early, or save and continue paying the debt at a manageable rate for the full 5 years and use the savings for something else - potentially a house deposit. I think it depends on the situation at the time... I can see the benefits of both.

It would feel fantastic to pay the loan off early and I am confident that I could save pretty quickly again, particularly when not having to repay the loan. However, I can imagine that it'll also be gutting to see that much leave my bank account just to pay the loan!

No skiing - they decided not to go so at least that takes the option away from me!

DrSpendLittle

All sounds really well thought out and organised! You have the nice experience of repaying and saving at similar rates, which is cool!

I see what you mean about saving alongside paying back debt - if you're happy paying off the debt over 5 years, it makes sense to keep on saving as well. You could put your savings into one of those help to buy isa thingies (assuming you'd be FTB) - might be worth thinking about this sooner rather than later as you'll get a government match that is basically free money. But, it does commit your savings to one particular thing, which you may not want to do...

Good luck and I look forward to keeping following your journey!

wishingthemortgaheaway

I see your dilemma - save v pay off debt.

Are your savings earning more in interest than the debt is costing?
If they aren't then I would save until you hit a certain limit for a good emergency fund (the £5k you are going to be at soon would be a great figure) then throw everything you can at the debt, unless you need to borrow money from savings for something, then divert some money back to top it up agaain.
Then, when you've kicked the debt into the long grass you throw everything at your savings knowing that everything you are paying in is capital growth, rather than interest and capital

Just a thought.

dfw87

DrSpendLittle wrote: »

All sounds really well thought out and organised! You have the nice experience of repaying and saving at similar rates, which is cool!

I see what you mean about saving alongside paying back debt - if you're happy paying off the debt over 5 years, it makes sense to keep on saving as well. You could put your savings into one of those help to buy isa thingies (assuming you'd be FTB) - might be worth thinking about this sooner rather than later as you'll get a government match that is basically free money. But, it does commit your savings to one particular thing, which you may not want to do...

Good luck and I look forward to keeping following your journey!

Great minds think alike - I waited until I had the initial £1200 that you can put in to a cash ISA, then I have been putting £200 in a month by standing order. Currently at £1400 in there and the rest of my savings in a standard saving account. I am not entirely sure what my circumstances will be whenever I am in the right place to buy - my bf's parents are very wealthy and he has no desire to own property himself. If we needed a mortgage, it may be that they lend to us at a cheaper rate. I'm not sure.