Journey to £0 by 2020, with a few bumps along the way

chelseablue

Just done a bit of a snowball calculator

a) If I pay £500 a month off the debt my debt free date is May 2021

b) If I pay £1,000 a month off, my debt free date is August 2020

So could be debt free in 12 months

If I go with option a then I would also put £500 a month into savings, so would have plenty of money available for things like car repairs, Christmas (which is fast approaching!), insurance, MOT, stuff in the house

Option b would mean debt free in 12 months which would be amazing. But would mean no money for the things above

ChasingSunshine

Might a mixture of the two be better. Do you need £500 a month (£6000 for all these expenses)? If yes then better to have the money ready rather than reaching for the credit card when they fall due. If not maybe save the £500 for a few months then reduce the amount going into savings (but still enough to cover these expenses as needed) and increase up the debt repayment. You might not make it in 12 months but maybe by the end of 2020.

chelseablue

ChasingSunshine wrote: »

Might a mixture of the two be better. Do you need £500 a month (£6000 for all these expenses)? If yes then better to have the money ready rather than reaching for the credit card when they fall due. If not maybe save the £500 for a few months then reduce the amount going into savings (but still enough to cover these expenses as needed) and increase up the debt repayment. You might not make it in 12 months but maybe by the end of 2020.

Well my house does need a lot of work :rotfl:

Seriously though that is a great idea! Thank you!

Maybe do option a with the debt/savings split until Christmas?
Then from January drop down to maybe £100 a month to savings the rest on debt

I get my bonus from work in March so could either save that or send to the credit card (this year I had £1,600 after tax and NI)

ChasingSunshine

Sounds like a good plan and you can always reassess in January. By then you might have more of an idea of your usual monthly spending after all the changes as well.

chelseablue

That's true

The council have confirmed I've now got the single occupier discount on the council tax, it was too late for the 1st August DD so will start from September's. Its gone from £169 a month to £117

chelseablue

Pay day next Friday and I still have £832 left in the bank :j

I cant remember the last time this happened, probably before my son was born 5 years ago!

Im planning on being VERY frugal and seeing if I can just live off the £32 and have £800 left.

Question is, what should I do with the (hopefully) £800?:

Save £400 and pay £400 off my Barclaycard

Save £800

Pay £800 off Barclaycard

What would you do?

enthusiasticsaver

chelseablue wrote: »

Pay day next Friday and I still have £832 left in the bank :j

I cant remember the last time this happened, probably before my son was born 5 years ago!

Im planning on being VERY frugal and seeing if I can just live off the £32 and have £800 left.

Question is, what should I do with the (hopefully) £800?:

Save £400 and pay £400 off my Barclaycard

Save £800

Pay £800 off Barclaycard

What would you do?

The Barclaycard is not 0% interest is it? Do you still have £1000 in emergency savings?

If the Barclaycard is not 0% and you have £1000 still in emergency savings I would pay it all off the Barclaycard which I think you were aiming to clear within 2 months anyway weren't you? Ideally I would get shot of that so you can concentrate on reducing that Virgin card.

chelseablue

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

The Barclaycard is not 0% interest is it? Do you still have £1000 in emergency savings?

If the Barclaycard is not 0% and you have £1000 still in emergency savings I would pay it all off the Barclaycard which I think you were aiming to clear within 2 months anyway weren't you? Ideally I would get shot of that so you can concentrate on reducing that Virgin card.

No its not 0%, if I pay £800 off it the balance will then be down to £1,058

I do have £1,000 in my easy access savings but also wanted to start saving up for Christmas (keeping the £1k untouched)

chelseablue

I think I'm being a bit ambitious trying to make £32 last a week for food and petrol (especially with a 5 year old who seems to eat all day)

I still have the £832 in the bank, but need to go food shopping tonight.

I shouldn't need to buy loads as I only have my son until Tuesday

I have 60 miles of petrol left, I don't think that will last a week as on Tuesday Im dropping my son at his Nans which is 15 miles there and obviously 15 miles back.

I think if I can aim to have £750 left that will be more achievable

chelseablue

Am thinking of reducing the amount of Childcare vouchers I buy, currently I do the maximum £243 a month, which was needed while he was at nursery but not now he's at school

I've totalled up the invoices from Afterschool club and holiday club since he started in September and it comes to £1,770

This divided by 12 is £147.50 so could drop to £150 a month of vouchers

BUT I've also built up a voucher balance of £1,200 so could drop to £100 a month