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

One-step-at-a-time

remote_control said:

Your baby steps have meant giant leaps this year though! It is very inspirational. What else can you find to ebay this weekend?

Thank you I'm planning an ebay-free weekend in favour of cracking on with some DIY (unless there's a £1 final fees offer or I find anything valuable down the back of the sofa!). I've listed a camera on marketplace so would prefer to sell it there without fees if I can; it's only been up for a week so far. In total I've still got a potential £380 or so of items listed. I do have a couple of larger items that *could* go, but I'm still struggling with a bit of emotional attachment to them at the moment. I'm working on that  

I logged in to my credit report today - this month it's lagging more than £2.3k behind as a couple of totals haven't been updated since August! I shall have to wait even longer for some of the little donut charts to change colour. I know, I know, it's a totally artificial thing, but now it's like completing a very slow, very boring computer game. Score is 999 and most categories good/very good, but loan affordability is lagging behind in yellow/fair territory. I am just very curious what the % has to be to put affordability up to the next level. It's a very silly game for someone who has no intention to use credit to be playing, but hey, what other charts can I obsess over in the last week before payday?

Feedback from the work I finished earlier this week has been fab, so that's put me in a good mood this morning. Client will hopefully be signing off on it today, and there has been talk of some invoices being settled this week. Fingers crossed! I'm only £35 away from 75% paid now.

One-step-at-a-time

75% PAID OFF      

Sarahwithlove

Yay that's exciting not long to go now x

One-step-at-a-time

Just over a year to go if I manage to keep the momentum up! I've kept a £40 buffer in the current account following the most recent payment to see me through to payday. We don't actually need to buy anything before then, so whatever is left over will be an extra payment to the smallest remaining card balance. Still hoping for four figures by Christmas. It's going to be tough but not impossible.

Sarahwithlove

You're doing well with your extra payments targets. It's nice knowing that by this time next year you'll be debt free. 

One-step-at-a-time

Thanks @Sarahwithlove - I am determined to hit the target but it means being able to consistently throw 40% of our income at it, which I know will be tough to sustain for another year. My target date is several months before the last 0% deal runs out, so there is a bit of wiggle room.
With that said, I'm glad that I decided to keep that extra bit of cash aside, as it came in useful tonight. I decided to get a bottle of very cheap red wine to embellish the weekend pasta sauces, and timed it right for a yellow sticker bonanza. £4.80 snagged me four Gu cheesecakes, a Victoria sponge, an apple pie, some guacamole, two loaves of bread, three packs of fishcakes, a packet of cherry tomatoes, some smoked salmon and some sliced ham. What's not freezable will be eaten up over the next few days (adjusting the original meal plan to suit, and adding desserts where there would otherwise have been none!). Total spent (including cheap wine) under £10. I feel that this is not awful use of a small cash buffer, and it pushes the need for the next grocery shop a bit further past payday

One-step-at-a-time

Pre-work check-in. The finances are at rest until Wednesday this week when it'll be time to do the budgeting/money shuffle for November. This month's worst case scenario should  see us closing November at under £11.5k. 
Not expecting to be posting much over the next few weeks after today, other than the odd signature update (unless significant progress happens) as I will be taking a bit of a step back from being online generally - too much reading, not enough doing!
Have a good week, all

One-step-at-a-time

Sig updated with this month's scheduled payments. The small balance from my current account has been rounded down and sent to the Virgin card. This brings me to:
VM £2180 (0% to July 21)
MBNA £2650 (0% to September 21)
HSBC £6700 (0% to February 22)
All overpayments targeted at the VM card.

Narola1976

You are doing so well, congrats, the end is in sight

One-step-at-a-time

Thanks @Narola1976
Quick check-in - managed to dip under £12.5k by the end of October and now under £11.5k (November's payments all went through in the first few days after payday) . There have been a few craft sales too. A fairly low-key week ahead - getting as much work out of the way as I can before a short break (which will involve staying at home but locking my office door for a week), and doing the last coat of paint on the interior doors (I'll be really glad to see the back of that task!).