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

One-step-at-a-time

Ahhhhh, nice relaxed end to the weekend! All the tasks have been finished, and I made another four sales today which have covered all of the new packaging stuff with a bit left over for a card payment. I've paid off another £15 and am keeping the rest back for a while (because I find it quite useful to keep a small PayPal balance). Tomorrow I'll be doing a sig update (even though the card payments will be staggered over the next week) and the total will be under £13k
I've added a 'number of payments remaining' column to the spreadsheet, and changed a couple of the direct debits to concentrate more on the card with the smallest balance/nearest 0% end date. At present it will be paid off in May (0% ends in July) but by targeting the overpayments we may be able to bring that forward to March. Anyhoo enough number crunching. Time to dig out a film!

Drawingaline

Enjoy your film. I agree re the PayPal balance, it's like finding £10 in a coat pocket!

enthusiasticsaver

Just caught up on your diary and I am pleased to see you now have a pension and have almost cleared 75% of the debt. Subscribed to see the final slog of getting that pesky debt gone. 

One-step-at-a-time

Thank you @enthusiasticsaver
Today has been a day of shopping experience contrasts.
I flexi-ed my time a bit to get 2 hours free in the middle of the day, and got a lift into town (from DH who waited in the car) for the first time since March, to pick up a couple of things I couldn't get locally. I only had to go about 30 meters from the car to the shop and back again, but it was like being thrown unwillingly into a game of Pac-Man, trying to keep away from people with no concept of distance who don't seem to have got the covid memo. Hideous, I wanted to shower in bleach when I got home!
Immediately after that I went to the local high street for the Post Office (again - though I won't moan about starting to feel like I live there, as going there generally means I'm selling things and chipping away at debt) - then popped in to the new grocery shop next door. People, I am in love! It's a from-scratch cook's dream. Fab fruit & veg (including the largest garlic, ginger and sweet potato that I have seen in ages), an entire aisle of herbs & spices, eight different types of flour (cheap, and some in 5kg bags), several different types of rice, a massive selection of pulses, and enormous jars of olives. My mental price-checker was whirring in my head and I've already identified at least half a dozen staples that are far better value than Lidl. Plus there were only two other people in there. Bliss! 

One-step-at-a-time

I was at a bit of a loose end last night so I decided to amalgamate my spreadsheets. I've now got tabs for card payments, mortgage payments, SOA, savings & pension, and net worth, with cells linked to minimise what I have to update each time I look at it, rather than having completely separate files. The SOA tab also includes versions with minimum card payments, no card payments and no mortgage payments, which helps me to focus on where I'm heading. 

Another game I play every now and again - calculate the number of days between  now and my target DFD, divide the debt by that figure, that gives me a daily debt progress target - then if I'm considering spending money I also have the knowledge of how much longer in debt a purchase would cause me to be.

astrocytic_kitten

I love both the description of the new grocers, and the daily debt progress target - off to play with my spreadsheet now to figure out what mine is!

One-step-at-a-time

Re selling on eb4y and the like. I commented on another journal about this, and the subject of opportunity cost came up.
I didn't feel a desire to respond there further as everyone's perspective is different, and decided according to their circumstances and mindset, and I'm not going to clutter up someone else's journal with my brainfarts (but if you do see this, hello! ) 
The opportunity cost for me is negligible which is why (even though I grumble about auction sites and people sometimes being demanding and useless) ultimately I'm still in favour. There is a time/effort/return threshold at which I don't bother either, and in that case broken stuff goes in recycling (or landfill if no other option- ugh) or to a charity shop if it's decent (and they're accepting donations). Yes, I do realise that 'worth it' rides on many factors -  usual income level, how you spend your leisure time, ease of location and effort required actually getting shot of the stuff, etc. etc.
The way I see it, I'm probably always going to spend a bit of time faffing around on the internet in a teabreak, shooting my mouth off/drinking a coffee (as I am right now). Some days I choose to spend the same tea break listing stuff. I'm in the habit of only doing it when I have a certain amount to try to shift in one go, everything I need for packaging is organised and close at hand, and it's not wasting time I would otherwise choose to spend working (either day job or side hustles). But will I spend a total of three or four hours on auction-related admin selling things for between £2.50 and £10 if I surmise that the cumulative end result can be a short holiday that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to fit in the budget? (real life example and actually how I kept myself motivated in 2017) or a chunk paid off a debt? Oh h3ll yes
Paying attention to the small stuff is part of how I've shifted more than £37.5k of debt in less than 4 years. Not impressive to some I'm sure, but it works for me!

remote_control

I totally agree! To add to that though, I have just sold an item of clothing and probably made about £2.50 profit. That item of clothing had another life in it and it has gone to someone who actually wants it. I would rather that than put it in the material recycling bank.
I kept a spreadsheet once for a year to see how much profit I made from selling and the little bits all added up. It did get quite addictive and some days several items sold and it added up to be £20 or £30. 
I really like the 1% challenge. I am not doing it at the moment as we are saving all our extra money for an emergency fund due to potential job insecurity. But I pick the smallest debt and have a grid of 100 squares. I think you're already doing all the little bits you can to find those pennies though!

One-step-at-a-time

I love keeping things out of recycling too. There's a lot of satisfaction in seeing usable goods not going to waste, but being passed on to someone who appreciates them! 
My smallest debt now is neck and neck with my next smallest debt. Both under £3k, both due to be paid off before their respective 0% deals end, so it would be entirely possible for me to just sit back and let things run their course now. Every extra £ from now on is just being deployed to help me beat my own target.

mark55man

that's a good place to be!  auto pilot will work so relax , but now you can also feel that every extra pound you earn will bring your timescale in - and leave you with a better balance on the day you pay the final penny