My debt-free plan - £35,236.02...

BeBopTalulah

Day 4

This is my child-free day and I'm hitting it hard, with coffee...

I've set up a standing order for £250 a month to pay overdraft 1. Because I'm living in this overdraft (and have been for a while ) I'm going to save the payments into a lump sum which I can transfer back into current account and then cancel the overdraft. We've taken £50 from the £200 entertainment budget to do this, but I actually think £150 a month for entertainment is a lot for us so there is some wiggle room here. This is my first real money goal, getting £1800 into that account as fast as possible. Hopefully well before the January deadline...

I've been round and gathered up loose change, and along with our 'penny jar' I will deposit this into the coin machine at the bank. We used to discard 'inconvenient' small change that was cluttering up our wallets (it's still bloody money! :eek:) Lets see how much is there...

We've been compromising all over the shop since our family meeting yesterday (this could actually be good for our marriage :laugh:). Although the gym membership is cancelled, we've agreed for DH to take out a yearly entrance card (unlimited entrance fees and discounts) which is £40 for the whole year. He plays a league sport once a week, and this will be cost-effective. We've also agreed to continue saving for DS, but cutting it right down to £10 per month and not touching the balance. We previously paid £100 per month. I'm rather bossy and DH often feels like I bulldoze over the top of him, but I was on my best behaviour and it worked!

Hope everyone is having a lovely sunny day! :dance:

Weekly Plan - Week 1

-Organise a larger regular payment to CC5 Not done. According to our snowball calculation, paying off the overdrafts is the priority
-Cancel charity donation Tick!
-Cancel cinema membership Tick! Also cancelled gym membership
-Reduce mobile phone payments somehow To do...
-Batch cook one meal for the freezer (from what we already have) Tick! In the process of doing so today...
-Use the neglected savings account to start an emergency fund of £1000 Tick! This is not going to be the emergency fund though. I've set up a standing order to pay in £250 a month which I will then use to pay overdraft 1

[Deleted User]

Excellent, you've made so much progress in just a couple of days!

BeBopTalulah

Day 6


Good morning everyone! Another scorcher today :T

I took my loose change and gathered up coins to the coin machine at the bank, £15.98 I have no idea how long that would have sat about the house if I wasn't targeting our debt. Put that straight into the savings account to pay off overdraft 1. So we are at £15.98/£1800. Feels like I have a mountain to climb...


I've been looking for a chest freezer for weeks, but couldn't justify the cost right now. Yesterday, out of the blue, a friend asked if we had room for a chest freezer she was getting rid of. Perfect working order, £0.00. Man that feels good! I will now have room to buy in bulk and freeze more meals, hopefully saving us even more. If anyone has any freezer tips or recipes, please fire them this way!

I'm currently digging out some items to sell, book bundles particularly. I will never get anywhere near what I paid for them (100s of £s on pregnancy/maternity books that I only read one chapter of - 'How to bring on labour' :laugh:), but every little extra penny is going into the debt pot.

Weekly Plan - Week 1

-Organise a larger regular payment to CC5 Not done. According to our snowball calculation, paying off the overdrafts is the priority
-Cancel charity donation Tick!
-Cancel cinema membership Tick! Also cancelled gym membership
-Reduce mobile phone payments somehow To do...
-Batch cook one meal for the freezer (from what we already have) Tick!
-Use the neglected savings account to start an emergency fund of £1000 Tick! This is not going to be the emergency fund though. I've set up a standing order to pay in £250 a month which I will then use to pay overdraft 1.

Bess1234

You sound like you're doing well. At first there is a while of miscalculating and head scratching, then all of a sudden you realise it's the long term habit that matters. It will eventually all feel as organised as your cash envelope system does already. Keep going , good luck :T:T

Working_Mum

You sound very focussed which is wonderful!!

This forum has lots of threads which are so helpful in re-programming our behaviours towards money saving and being thrifty. I love the Old Fashioned Forum. They have this great thread which inspires me an awful lot to use up what's in my fridge etc and stretch my food frugally!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74465553#Comment_74465553

Carry on with all the hard work!! You'll soon get some traction which will reap rewards

((hugs))

WM x

[Deleted User]

Well done, you sound really focused!

Just one thought I had - why do you want to save up for your overdraft, then pay it off in one go? I would recommend reducing it every month by as much as you can instead.
Waiting until you can cancel the whole overdraft has three disadvantages:

1) You'll pay more interest. I did a quick spreadsheet calculation - if you keep your overdraft at the full amount while saving the money, you'll pay £216 in interest over the 8 months you'll be in it based on the 18% APR. If you reduce the overdraft by £250 a month instead, you'll only pay £111. This doesn't even take into account the likely additional fees you pay for your overdraft, which are probably also dependent on the balance/usage of said overdraft. You'll likely save yourself several hundred quid if you pay the overdraft off directly (ie reduce your overdraft limit every month)

2) There's a danger you'll spend what's in your savings account if you can see it sitting there. If you pay it straight off the overdraft, it'll be gone for good.

3) Your overdraft will still look the same even after you've saved up quite a large chunk towards it. If you keep reducing your limit instead, you'll get the psychological boost of actually seeing the number go down, as well as being more and more in the positive balance of your bank account. I've found this so helpful actually!

Just my thoughts of course, these decisions are very personal.

BeBopTalulah

Day 7

My first week is drawing to a close and I can't believe how motivated I'm feeling

Just one thought I had - why do you want to save up for your overdraft, then pay it off in one go? I would recommend reducing it every month by as much as you can instead.

I hadn't even considered gradual withdrawal of the overdraft, but it makes complete sense. This is one of the many reasons why this forum is amazing! Once my SO payment reaches my savings account, I'll transfer what I have over and ask the bank to reduce my overdraft by that amount.

Have a bit of a tough weekend ahead from a budgeting point of view. I have a night out tonight (which has been planned for months) and a lunch out with family tomorrow. Tomorrow is not an issue really, as we're going to Pizza Express and have about £100 of boosted clubcard vouchers to spend, so we only have to cover drinks. I think we can do that for £10. I have £45 left in my cash envelopes for tonight. I have budgeted for another £150 for Entertainment this month which we haven't used, but I'd love to fling that into debt, so my challenge is to stay within £45 for dinner and drinks tonight. I'm going to be a bit more choosey with what I pick from the menu, and I'm not going to order 2 sides that I won't finish. What a wasteful life I've been leading...:(

Pre-LBM, I would have forgotten all about the clubcard vouchers and spent full price on the lunch, and would have went way over £45 on dinner. I would have thought nothing of buying wine for the table all night and insisting to pay for it, because 'I don't go out very often so it's worth it'. Unfortunately for everyone else accompanying me, I'm on a budget and can't afford to be generous.

We are off on a UK trip next week to visit family. We're staying with relatives and driving, so we'll only use the petrol we would have used commuting anyway. We want a few treats, a trip to the cinema and a dinner out, and I'm hoping we can do everything we want using only our envelope cash. No groceries to buy but may need a few things to tide us over when we get home until the new week starts.

DS is shortly going to need new clothes as he's about to move up a size. We have a few things that we bought ages ago and some hand-me-downs, but at this point I would usually hit M&S for baby clothes and spend a small fortune. This time, I'm going to rummage the charity shops. I prefer higher quality clothing, simply because it puts up with more abuse and washes well. Hopefully I can find what I need second hand, and get a little bit of good karma since I've cancelled our monthly charitable donations.

Thank you to everyone who's made it this far! Budgeting feels a bit like a game, and trying to get everything we want within a set cash budget is really satisfying. I'm thinking about things I would have never considered before.


Week 2 Plan

-Stay within the budget in our cash envelopes on our trip away
-List some bundles of unwanted books on selling groups
-Contact the bank and reduce my overdraft by £250
-Make a list of what we need for DS for the next 6 months or so, and have a good look round the charity shops (haven't made a budget for this as I have no idea how much this will cost)

BeBopTalulah

Also just realised that there is a 'thank you' button that I haven't pressed this entire thread

courage2change

Hi BeBop!
You!!!8217;re doing so well in such a short space of time!
I!!!8217;ll be cheering you on

For DS, as well as charity shops, have you tried ebay?
You get lots of bundles of brand new or near brand new for babies and toddlers - lots of good brands - and auctions that if you grab at the right time can work out very cheap!
Search for boy age xx BNWT (brand new with tags)

Hope this helps xx
C2C

BeBopTalulah

Yeah thanks, I will definitely look on eBay too. Need to make sure I don’t go overboard though! It’s so easy when you feel like you’re getting a bargain. I will make a list and stick to it.