£50k to zero - made it across the finish line

One-step-at-a-time

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer every day.

One-step-at-a-time

1: Get credit utilisation under 60% by Christmas. Taking interest into account, making no extra payments and hoping for no emergencies requiring card use, this requires paying £553/month to cards. I'm currently paying off at least £540, usually a bit more, and should be able to up my minimums to at least £575 from July when another payment ends. This goal is completely doable unless disaster strikes.

2: Finish losing the weight I gained following my leg injury in December. I have less than a stone to lose so this is just a case of making a few small adjustments - a couple of hundred calories less in daily, a couple hundred more out, rinse and repeat. I lost 70lbs around 8 years ago (all I did was track my calories and exercise on MyFitnessPal so it was simply a routine like checking bank accounts) and had kept it off until the end of last year, when the worst of the money fears and the injury and health scare related to it catapulted me back into old bad habits. I stopped seriously comfort eating a couple of months back but haven't quite given myself the kick in the bum needed to reverse the damage. Completing this goal will really help with goal 3.

3: Buy no clothes in 2018! I'm doing really well with this (zero spend to date) but my choice of summer stuff is slightly limited as most things are a bit tight. The weather over the last few days has given me new motivation for goal 2, which is my secret weapon for achieving goal 3 :A

4: Make a positive improvement every day. This is a vague one, but it will cover extra payments, tidying, DIY, doing something nice for someone.

One-step-at-a-time

Morning Diary!

Happy happy day. The sun is still out, my hay fever is currently under control and I sailed through an exam at work when I thought I would scrape a borderline pass at best. One more qualification for the CV - you never know when it'll come in handy

Because I apparently HAVE to do something money-related every day, even when I'm not making payments, I've done another spreadsheet jiggle - I've been recording payday to payday, but have changed it to each calendar month.

My end of May total should therefore see me hit 26% paid as the biggest payment goes out on the 28th of the month (I may be out by a few £ depending on whether I've calculated the interest correctly for the card I haven't had a statement for yet, but it shouldn't affect the %). I think I need to face up to how addicted I am to watching the numbers go down - it sure beats the alternative

One-step-at-a-time

Hello diary.

Swings and roundabouts today - needed to DHL a parcel and grabbed an opportunity to top up the concealer/foundation that is literally the only makeup item I wear other than occasional mascara as it was on two for one; I'm probably good for the rest of the year now. Total unplanned spend £17.88. I will probably be attempting to claw that back from the grocery fund again!

On the plus side, I had a lovely email from my favourite client discussing some new work and some money owed, and independently I have a couple more print sales, so after a period of no extra income (save a £20 cashout from prolific and one lone tiny ebay sale), things are looking up a little. I plan to settle my 2017-18 SA tax bill by August and need a little bit more in the tax pot to be able to pay it in full, so I will take that from my next SE income, top up the tax pot for 2018-19, and pay anything left over to the priority CC. The one with the smallest balance and highest rate is now under £3k which has prompted a bit of a happy dance; being into the £2ks on *something* feels like progress

One-step-at-a-time

Yesterday was a bit :eek: in money terms - I had to buy an expensive train ticket for a little bit of short notice work. It will be refunded, but not for a couple of weeks, so the EF is temporarily looking a bit sorry for itself. I will come out of it a little bit ahead, the money spent on food is all a business expense, I've done a client a favour and made a great new contact (who has already invited myself and DH to a show he's playing later in the year), so other that being totally knackered today it's all good! I took out some cash in case of taxi expenditure which wasn't needed, so I will just attempt to make that last for as long as possible. I have enough food for breakfasts and lunches for the next few days at least, and all we need this week for home is a top-up of milk and fresh veg/salad.

Expecting the next week to be very busy so the diary will take a hit for a while.

One-step-at-a-time

Afternoon, diary! I have briefly come up for air.

DH and I have hit a teeny bump with one of the forthcoming road trips with friends. He had work booked in months ago, so I had booked solo travel, single rooms, all dirt cheap and non-refundable. He's just (ten days before a trip that was planned months ago) found out he won't be working after all and wants to come along too, but at this late stage it makes absolutely zero financial sense to change anything - if we both go we'll have to take our car, so would need a whole tank of fuel, at least another £70 for accommodation and double the food costs, plus he's missed out on money he would have earned, and we absolutely do not have enough left in the bank this month to cover it.

One-step-at-a-time

Since I last posted, the car has become a money pit. There is no way we can easily work around this without adding to debt temporarily, as the EF won't cover it. However, life goes on, and everything is still manageable, so there's no point in fretting. It may add a couple of months to our DFD. Not the end of the world - we will just continue to pay things off as aggressively as possible whenever we can.

One-step-at-a-time

Still no car, the part hasn't arrived yet. While this is ongoing I've cancelled our AA membership (which was due to be renewed tomorrow) -the quote was eye-watering, so we will be getting a better deal with another provider via tcb, and start the cover on the car pick-up date once we know it.

The only other thing I need to investigate this week is camera insurance renewal, which is due on the 6th, and I'm looking to save 50% on that this time around.

Everything else is ticking over and the little road trip at the weekend was fabulous. Nine hours of travel is a breeze when the company is good!

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No real progress to report. Tiny overpayments still being made to the CCs, but the car part still isn't in so that huge repair bill is still to come. This will be split between me, DH and the emergency fund. I've cancelled my camera policy renewal and am now shopping around as I don't need to take it out of the house until the end of next week.

My last HP payment goes out at the end of this month, so next month's budget has an extra £72 in it.

I need to chase two payments totalling £130 owed to me, which will go straight to debt. If I can clear £595 by the end of July I will hit the £10k repaid to cards mark - I think I'm just about on track to do that.

One-step-at-a-time

Quick check-in. Hanging on in there. The current game is the usual one; to end the month not overdrawn. June has been an expensive month, the worst for a long time, and I've barely managed any overpayments, but somehow we've juggled it. Not exactly helped by my camera insurance company taking £36.60 out of my account two weeks after the cancellation of the policy and being extra-tardy at refunding it. Another phone call will be required, I think! I'm not enjoying the lack of momentum at the moment; a month more or less treading water is incredibly unsatisfying. Roll on July!