This Duo's debt free journey

DebtFreeDuo

Thank you ladymay, I do feel that I am making progress but there is also still a lot more progress to make!

Where has February gone?! I have been sorting out March pots today and looking at my finances up until September. Had some holiday expenses which has come from the holiday pot, I have £116 left in there with the holiday fast approaching. Also bought an Easter gift for my niece, its a little early but there was an offer on. I don't spend much at Easter as I only buy for my niece, DS and a close friend as they always buy me something.

Lots of birthdays also approaching but I am cutting down in this area, I always feel like I should buy presents for my smalls cousins on his dads side because they always buy my small a present but I have stepped back from looking at it this way. There are 6 of them so its a huge expense when you consider birthdays and Christmas, I don't see them much anymore but its always me that takes small to their birthday parties and I never felt like I could turn up empty handed. I currently have £210.87 in the gifts pot but I have 5 birthdays coming up in the next 2 months, this would have been 9 if I hadn't cut down! One of which is my smalls birthday so will be quite expensive, he really doesn't need anything toy wise so I am only going to spend a small amount on him but will also put some money into his account.

Had an interest rebate which means an extra £38.57 cleared from the debt in Feb, total £538.57 in just one month. I'm hoping for similar in March, I need around £100 to get up to the £500 but also need to cover the overspends from half term. Watch this space! One positive is that I have reduced the amount I have to find from half term down to £126.62.

Small wanted to do an after school activity which means I have had to allocate £25 to this, I try to encourage him to do extra things as much as I can and its for the rest of the school year so it is good value. Have taken this from the entertainment pot.

Overall March will be a tight month.

DebtFreeDuo

So I have spent a lot of time on my finances today, based on my regular payments my DFD was looking to be around June of next year, after some adjusting it is now set at November of this year. I know its later than I would have liked but it feels like this time I will really stick to it and not go back to the way I was as I don't rely on credit like I used to do.

This factors in some payments I have coming in over the next few months that I have assigned to overpayments and uses my savings pot at the end of the year to clear what is remaining. This does mean that I need to stick to the savings plan no matter what, this will become difficult as I am left with the higher amounts (£1 - £52 cross one off each week) but I do try to clear one higher amount off each month at the moment. If I work at it I know that I can bring this date forward. If I do manage to bring the date forward then I really have no excuse as to why I shouldn't be saving more towards my help to buy ISA, if I can find even £300 a month to be clearing off debt then I should be able to find the £200 to put into there each month!

Willowtree222

Debt reduction is always a long journey and a bumpy road. You have it well planned out an are tackling it. I doesn't matter if it is next month, next year, or next decade. You are doing amazing. xx

DebtFreeDuo

It certainly is Nicnak. thank you for your kind words.

So March debt payment at the moment is looking good:
£202.60 regular payments
£55.90 overpayment already made
around £150 interest from help to buy ISA to go over
around £50 from sales

Which means I only have to find another £50 and then, for the second month running, I have cleared £500 off the debt. This feels amazing! I won't achieve this in April or May but likely will again in June. March will also see my debt come down to the next 000 bracket which is something I always love to see.

DebtFreeDuo

Took some boots back today that weren't very good quality so a refund has gone on to my account for them, I have assigned this to the clothes pot as it was looking very empty and DS needs some new shoes

Received the interest on my ISA so £156.05 has been assigned to March overpayment, just waiting on my invoice for selling and then I can also take the difference and assign that too. Currently I am at £407.69 cleared, another £50ish from selling plus a little amount back in interest and I will be almost there.

Have been clearing lots of things around the house as part of my yearly goals, I think I am around 40 items cleared although realistically this is higher if I counted the bundles of clothing seperately, I could easily add on another 20 items that way!

Willowtree222

The interest in the ISA is great, Sounds like you are on top of it this month. Remember this feeling when you have the ones where it seems out of control and know that you have these one as well. xx

DebtFreeDuo

Wow I can't believe its been almost a month since I updated here! I have had a very busy month with our holiday and other stuff. Had some unexpected spends as my laptop gave up on me, luckily it didn't cost too much to get it repaired and working again.

I didn't have as many NSDs last month as I would have liked, 13 in total which takes me to 40/160 for the year. This puts me right on target so no major damage done.

£500 off the debt total again in March which means £1000 cleared in 2 months! Still looking at November 19 as my DFD which feels a long time but it is only 8 months away. Won't have any big months for clearing debt for a little while now. April and May are both going to be very tight months for me.

49/365 items cleared. I'm really behind with this but I just haven't had the time. I do have some things listed to clear and have some things bagged up which just need to be taken away from the house but I can't count them until they are gone.

13 weeks savings done which totals £221. I was going to save this until the end of the year to clear the debt with but thinking about it I might actually pay it off quarterly, this way I will gain the benefit of having an interest rebate. I will see how I get on in April and make the decision then.

I have a couple of spendy months with birthdays, including DS' birthday. Hoping to be very frugal and get those NSD numbers up! Have also had my exam timetable so revision will be taking up a lot of my time which should help a lot. Will try not to leave it another month without an update!

EssexHebridean

Sounding really good with you DFD!
NSD's still on target is great - I reckon it averages out over a year when you do better than expected some months then miss your target by a few another. Great progress with knocking another lump off the debt totals too! :T

Wow to November as your DF date too - SO close now!

Willowtree222

That's great. You are doing fab x

DebtFreeDuo

Nicnak wrote: »

That's great. You are doing fab x

Thank you, I hope you're well. I have become more of a lurker with your diary as of late but I promise I will stop by properly soon!

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Sounding really good with you DFD!
NSD's still on target is great - I reckon it averages out over a year when you do better than expected some months then miss your target by a few another. Great progress with knocking another lump off the debt totals too! :T

Wow to November as your DF date too - SO close now!

Thank you EH, it definitely averages out. I really want to try and move the date forward but I don't think its doable whilst trying to take a more realistic approach.