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

enthusiasticsaver

chelseablue wrote: »

So tempted to throw my £1,700 savings at the credit card!

Would bring the balance down to £7,535

But the £1,700 is earning 5% interest and the credit card is 0% so probably not a good idea?

Just so desperate to be debt free

But it'll mean no emergency fund, plus my car is 13 years old so my savings are also if that brakes down (although it did pass the MOT a couple of weeks ago)

But then the sooner I pay off this bl00dy card the sooner I can start saving £1k a month

Totally get where you are coming from but I would not get rid of your emergency fund. You could maybe pay off £700 from your savings though and leave yourself £1000. There must come a point where you really resent paying so much off the debt monthly but part of this journey is to ensure you don't get in this situation again so by necessity it has to be painful. You will get there if you persist then hopefully get to a position where you never have to commit so much of your income to debt in the future.

chelseablue

You're right. December 2020 just seems so long away

I don't want to be without savings with Christmas coming up.
We don't go too mad, just need £150 for my half of the presents, no food costs as we're going to my parents house.

I think I might continue with the £600 credit card/£400 savings split for now.

After Christmas I might switch to £800 off the credit card and save £200 a month

enthusiasticsaver

chelseablue wrote: »

You're right. December 2020 just seems so long away

I don't want to be without savings with Christmas coming up.
We don't go too mad, just need £150 for my half of the presents, no food costs as we're going to my parents house.

I think I might continue with the £600 credit card/£400 savings split for now.

After Christmas I might switch to £800 off the credit card and save £200 a month

You could always aim for debt neutral instead which will be earlier than December 2020 and give you the option of using your savings to get rid of the credit card then? Technically you are already there or will be next month due to your S and S ISA/Easy access savings combined.

Totally agree with keeping your savings going and switching to different priority after Christmas if you wish. It is always a difficult balance to find between paying off debt and saving. Depends on what is more important to you. I always think having savings gives you security and would always prioritise that initially and especially if the debt is 0%. £600 off the credit card is fine and will take you into the 8ks next month. When your easy access savings get to a level you feel comfortable with you could always chuck a bit extra towards the debt as you are considering.

chelseablue

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

You could always aim for debt neutral instead which will be earlier than December 2020 and give you the option of using your savings to get rid of the credit card then? Technically you are already there or will be next month due to your S and S ISA/Easy access savings combined.

Totally agree with keeping your savings going and switching to different priority after Christmas if you wish. It is always a difficult balance to find between paying off debt and saving. Depends on what is more important to you. I always think having savings gives you security and would always prioritise that initially and especially if the debt is 0%. £600 off the credit card is fine and will take you into the 8ks next month. When your easy access savings get to a level you feel comfortable with you could always chuck a bit extra towards the debt as you are considering.

Funny you should mention that, I was thinking about it this afternoon.
All my savings total £9,019 so end of October I'll be debt neutral

Then I really will be tempted to clear the card :rotfl:

enthusiasticsaver

chelseablue wrote: »

Funny you should mention that, I was thinking about it this afternoon.
All my savings total £9,019 so end of October I'll be debt neutral

Then I really will be tempted to clear the card :rotfl:

I think being debt neutral is definitely something to be proud of. Don't cash in your S and S ISA though

I know that still seems a lot to clear but in the grand scale of things it really isn't when you have a solid plan to clear it. You are making decent repayments and no interest so you are in control. You will still clear it in 2020 so celebrate how far you have come.

chelseablue

Thank you, I'm already thinking of what I can do with the money when I've paid of the card haha. Current plan is £500 to the ISA and £500 to cash savings

I realised today that since I got paid almost 2 weeks ago I've only spent £3.50 in Primark from my personal account.
I think I might actually be too frugal :rotfl:

chelseablue

Still only spent £3.50 since I got paid on the 30th September (not including petrol or my mobile phone bill)

Not sure to be proud or embarrassed by being too frugal this month

Will be spending on Sunday as I'm taking my dad out for a curry

November and December look like spendy months though;

Christmas presents
Tickets to the local fireworks display
Dress for company Christmas party
Need my highlights doing desperately
Taking my son to see Father Christmas (since when did he start charging?!)

But being super frugal this month means I've got around £250 to carry over to next month which will cover a lot of the above

Will still be sending at least £600 to the card in November and December

Debt
Virgin £9,235

Savings
S&S ISA £7,183
Easy Access £1,400

Current Accounts
Halifax £121.86
Nationwide £349

enthusiasticsaver

Wow I think that is something to be congratulated on as you now have money to carry forward for Christmas which is always expensive. No shame in being frugal. You might get that card to just over £8k by December. I would try and find a spare £35 to get it into the £7ks by the end of the year if I were you.

chelseablue

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Wow I think that is something to be congratulated on as you now have money to carry forward for Christmas which is always expensive. No shame in being frugal. You might get that card to just over £8k by December. I would try and find a spare £35 to get it into the £7ks by the end of the year if I were you.

Thank you, I should get it into the £7ks in December as there is 3 pay days to come, October, November and December

£600 x 3 = £1,800

So should get to £7,435 in December (barring any disasters!)

Maybe I should target getting into the £6ks :eek:

Fingers crossed!

chelseablue

Happy Halloween AND Happy pay day to me

Just paid £600 off the card, so I'm into the £8k's!

Balance is now £8,635

Plus I now have more in savings than what I owe so a nice start to the day all round

Other spends for the day will be filling up my car and booking tickets to the local fireworks display on Saturday (cheaper to book the tickets in advance than pay on the night)

I think we're going out for a meal tonight and its my turn to pay as husband paid last time we went out

Also need to start my Christmas shopping

I hate spending money! :rotfl: