This Duo's debt free journey 20 September 2017 at 8:43PM in Debt free diaries 841 replies 43.2K views

DebtFreeDuo

I just have to get this down as I'm really excited by the thought, I have been looking over the next 12 months and feel that the following is completely doable:

Car loan balance in Jan 18 approx £2100 - Clear and be left with around £1000 after bills to last until May

Loan balance in April 18 approx £1200 - Clear and be comfortable with no huge restrictions on budget

CC balance September 18 approx £800 - Clear and be debt free!

I think the above is completely possible which could mean that in less than 12 months I could be completely debt free. I have started with the car loan as this is the longest length loan and therefore costing me the most, my repayments are higher for the other loan too. If I add in possible overpayments to the CC then I could be clear before this but I don't want to stretch myself too much and I want to have a nice comfortable summer with lots of treats for the both of us.

Willowtree222

Take care of yourself too. Perhaps have a little blow out instead of a huge one to help motivate. For your birthday, I agree that you need to have that little treat.

You're making huge progress. Those little £5 here and there really do add up. I just looked at my direct debits and saved over £40.

x

HairyHandofDartmoor

It's great when you see those debts coming down and it's a lovely idea to spend some quality time with DS:)

DebtFreeDuo

Not much of an update today, had a nice day out with a total spend of £10.30 which included £2 for parking. I put off going to grab bits that I need and put off getting fuel even though I'm desperate. Will do these tomorrow so the total spends I have left will drop considerably tomorrow.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Don't run out of petrol :eek: The amount of times we've nearly done that because DH will only stop if the petrol is cheap enough :rotfl:

DebtFreeDuo

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

Don't run out of petrol :eek: The amount of times we've nearly done that because DH will only stop if the petrol is cheap enough :rotfl:

Haha the only reason I hadn't filled up before is because I track how many miles I get from each tank (encourages me to drive better to get more miles) and I won't fill up until the estimated remaining mileage is below 50, it wasn't below that until today but I just didn't have any motivation to do anything 'adult' today.

DebtFreeDuo

Today has been very spendy but it couldn't be avoided, £55 on fuel for the car and £44.22 on food although I had a gift card that I received a few months ago and kept forgetting to use so this bought the total spend down to £39.22. This included stocking up on a couple of things that were on special offer which I buy every week. I'm hoping that I won't need to go and do a big shop now for a couple of weeks and just do a couple of top up shops. On the plus side I did win 1000 nectar points from the shop so now I have a total of £55.75 in nectar points. Total spends left until January: £343.09, going to need all the luck I can get!

HairyHandofDartmoor

How long do you expect the petrol and food to last you? Sometimes you have to do a big shop and it can come to a frightening total, but if it lasts ages then it evens out, doesn't it

DebtFreeDuo

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

How long do you expect the petrol and food to last you? Sometimes you have to do a big shop and it can come to a frightening total, but if it lasts ages then it evens out, doesn't it

I'm hoping a couple of weeks with 1 or 2 (around £15 total) top up shops for milk and fruit. I gave myself a budget of £100 for food for the month in the October challenge but now I'm not sure if I can afford to spend that much on food each month. The fuel I'm hoping will last me 5/6 weeks as I'm going to be using my car as little as possible.

So far I have made almost £19 on PA which I'm going to cash out when its cleared so that should give my spends a boost, if I can get a good amount each month from that then it will be much more comfortable.

DebtFreeDuo

Posted this elsewhere, just thought I would also post it in my actual diary so I can find it easily to come back to.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned....................

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1398.11
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 361.22
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1759.33

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 580
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 10
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 9
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 3.25
Internet Services....................... 1
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 37.5
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 20
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 49
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 6.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1136.25


Assets
Cash.................................... 4400
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 8400

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................2065.32...153.8.....4
Car loan.......................2432.89...140.......4
CC.............................1064......28........0
Total unsecured debts..........5562.21...321.8.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,759.33
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,136.25
Available for debt repayments........... 623.08
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 321.8
Amount left after debt repayments....... 301.28

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 8,400
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,562.21
Net Assets.............................. 2,837.79

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.