Debt Free Wannabe Teacher

dfw87

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

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.

I need to look into the loan repayments as I am sure there is a fee to pay each time I overpay which is why I was planning on doing it in much larger increments like £5k, rather than overpaying each month. It's all in my Mum's name so I need to ask her to look for me.

Another reason that I would want to repay early is because the loan is in her name and she is single and almost 60 with no pension to look forward to. Her retirement plans are the money she is inheriting soon and her two properties (one of which I live in). She would ideally like to buy again at some point, perhaps with my brother as they are both looking into property development, however the loan will impact her borrowing capacity.

I think my plan will be to always have a £3k emergency fund, then pay the loan in £5k chunks... we will see!

dfw87

NSD day today - finally!

Glad to have the extra hour in bed this morning but I definitely needed it! Felt absolutely exhausted!

Had a really good night out on Saturday night and didn't spend a penny - just had people offering drinks all the time which was great!

Tomorrow I am off to London to do a risk assessment for my school residential. I'll have train ticket and car parking paid for but need to buy y own lunch. I could take something with my but my HT is coming with me and said we would just stop at a cafe or something. Nice to have the day out of school though!

I've signed up to a few bar shifts to start getting the extra money in again so I have a 6:30 til 12:30 shift on Friday and about 5 hours on Sunday. I won't do it too often but the extra money is handy for going into the savings.

dfw87

Exhausting day yesterday in London and has left me behind with work too - 3 days in! I stopped at M & S on the way home and got some reduced bargains which I've frozen and will have for dinners next week so next week's food shop will be cheaper too.

Otherwise not much to mention!

dfw87

Nothing particularly exciting going on with me...

- I've received my Halifax monthly bonus of £3 so have put that in my savings.
- I had my £10 transfer to my savings for my Mum's birthday (in just over a year) which I've also added to my savings total.
- Had another PA study today but they are SO rare nowadays! I've cashed out the money that I have on there so that'll be roughly £10 going to my savings when that credits.
- I've cashed out £4 from Crowdology which will hopefully arrive soon and go to my savings. Not sure what I think of Crowdology - the surveys take quite a while and I haven't had many recently. But, you can cash out at £4 which is pretty good.
- I've finally gone over the 1000 needed to cash out on MintVine. When they have been confirmed, I will cash out and I'm finished with that site - takes ages to do surveys and get screened out of lots!
- Working tomorrow and am hoping there'll be tips too - we will see. Also working on Sunday but can't imagine there'll be tips there.

I'm so close to a lovely £2000 in my savings so that's my target this month!

dfw87

Had my first pay slip of the new salary and it was also backdated - very nice! So my bank balance is looking quite good at the moment and I am getting closer and closer to £2000 in savings!

I've bought a couple more Christmas presents so the cost of Christmas is being spread nicely. I have also bought all of those either with good discount codes or with Amazon vouchers!

Just got back from a bar shift so that's 4.5 hours of pay to come next Friday. I was supposed to work on Friday night but was luckily let off as I was exhausted from my real job!

zippygeorgeandben

Hey dfw87 congrats on the pay rise. Is that going up the MPS I take it? Fellow teacher here too!
I can't believe you have the energy for a bar job as well, hence you saying you were exhausted! Very commendable and it shows a real determination to sort your debts out.
Can you take any extra responsibilities at work? Or some private tutoring?

dfw87

Thank you - yes, gradually moving up MPS. I thought about private tutoring but I like the bar work - I don't 'need' to do it, but I just put the money straight into my savings so it's a little extra. I won't be signing up for Friday shifts again anytime soon!

I have far too many extra responsibilities at work as it is, I just don't get paid for them. I am Math and Computing co-ordinator but no TLR...

dfw87

Good day at work - finally getting on top of my work as I had become very far behind somehow. Well, not that far behind but too far behind for my liking! I had my PPA time today and I have some subject lead time tomorrow so I can finally get ahead.

I popped to Sainsburys to get a few bits of shopping for the week and found a beautiful skirt in the sale. I bought it as I need something to wear for my brother's RAF graduation and sadly all my suitable outfits are too small at the moment!

I've put on quite a bit of weight this year - sadly all weight that I had previously lost. I gave Slimming World a good try but it is just not for me so I am back to calorie counting and I think that works much better for saving money too as there is a lot more freedom so I can buy deals/reduced items without worrying if it'll fit in my syns.

I've made a risotto tonight which has made 5 portions (4 for the week and a spare). I had all ingredients apart from bacon and mushrooms so that cost me £2.90 for the five portions - a bargain I reckon. Dinner was a reduced M & S chicken roast with gravy and veg - £2 for the chicken and shared between us both.

I've spent some time this evening trying to complete my SWAGO board as I want the extra 300 they offer!

I also put a few resources on the TES website the other day and have sold 5, at about 95p profit each. I was torn between whether to sell things on there or not but I've shared plenty of freebies before and now need the money!

dfw87

NSD today - all good!

I spent ages completing my Swago board last night and managed to get a £5 Amazon voucher and then with the 300SB for the board, I'm almost at another £5 voucher - good thing as I have Christmas presents in my basket!

Also got a £2 PA study which is the best one I've had in a while - I miss them!

dfw87

My SB voucher cleared today so I've bought my BF's (small) anniversary present and a friend's son's birthday present with my vouchers. I've just redeemed another £5 voucher so will try y best to keep my Amazon topped up with those!

I did spend money today - I've mentioned before that I have a proper Diet Coke addiction. I went cold turkey for Lent once and it worked really well but gradually slipped back in again. I have it every day and can't seem to kick it. I do feel though that it is my one naughty treat and when I am dieting, it is nice to have it as a treat. I do need to cut back though as it is expensive!

Anyway, whilst I was buying some earlier I got two packets of Warburton's Toastie Pockets which I really like - 10p each. They'll be ideal for lunch next week as they defrost really quickly.

I'm trying to look in to matched betting... every time I look I just get really confused!