Tidying up the mess

BabyStepper

Me and OH had a think last night and made a decision about where to send the extra cash this month. Neither of us is in need of a quick win by paying a debt in full, we just wanted to do the sensible thing this month so we sent it all to Santander.

DDs still to go out but I was able to take £1500 wage + £350 for the holiday. £200 also skimmed from the joint account for the holiday so we're good to go. Still waiting for the £250 from extra work and realised I will only have £200 for the emergency fund as £50 will need to go to the car fund. Never mind, I'll get it topped up from somewhere.

So the debt looks like this. Not so exciting, no credit cards have been gotten rid of, but it's definitely the sensible thing.

[STRIKE]Barclaycard (1) £3,044.54[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Lloyds (1) cc £434.33[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Barclaycard (2) £517.12[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Hitachi loan £970.60[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Overdraft £2,000[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
Santander cc £3,435.67/£1,710 0% Dec 2019
Barclaycard (3) £1,250/£1,070 0% Feb 2020
MBNA cc £5,325.99/£4,940 0% Feb 2020
Lloyds (2) £907.57/£780 0% Nov 2020
Halifax cc £3,342.25/£2,820 0% Oct 2020

Total May 2018 £21,228.07
Total July 2019 £11,320
£9908.07 paid off :T:T:T

Also realised that all being well the debt will dip under 10k next month. Can't believe it. For some reason some of the buttons aren't working and I can't turn my 'paid off's red! Ah well.

Off to change my signature.

BabyStepper

enthusiasticsaver I appreciate your great advice as always. I'm thinking next month I may spread the big overpayment across Santander and MBNA - MBNA worries me the most (always has done) and it wouldn't hurt to get going with reducing it. There is definitely a place in terms of motivation for paying off one debt in full, but right now I'm not so impatient with any of the debts. Lloyds, BC and Santander now look so small compared to how they were I'm just not so concerned about them. Halifax is barely even on my radar - it can wait until the Dec and Feb deadlines have passed for the other ones.

warby68...GiantLeaper...I love it! Thank you so much for the encouragement.

BabyStepper

I've made some adjustments to my monthly debt DDs. I checked all the accounts over and have reduced Lloyds to £10, Barclaycard to £25 and Halifax to £30. These amounts are still over the minimum payments due, but will free up £20 to go to the target debt.

I'm just fiddling with the pennies now, and I hope these changes don't confuse me, but I thought it would be motivating to have even an extra £20 to the target debt.

enthusiasticsaver

BabyStepper wrote: »

Me and OH had a think last night and made a decision about where to send the extra cash this month. Neither of us is in need of a quick win by paying a debt in full, we just wanted to do the sensible thing this month so we sent it all to Santander.

DDs still to go out but I was able to take £1500 wage + £350 for the holiday. £200 also skimmed from the joint account for the holiday so we're good to go. Still waiting for the £250 from extra work and realised I will only have £200 for the emergency fund as £50 will need to go to the car fund. Never mind, I'll get it topped up from somewhere.

So the debt looks like this. Not so exciting, no credit cards have been gotten rid of, but it's definitely the sensible thing.

[STRIKE]Barclaycard (1) £3,044.54[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Lloyds (1) cc £434.33[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Barclaycard (2) £517.12[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Hitachi loan £970.60[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Overdraft £2,000[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
Santander cc £3,435.67/£1,710 0% Dec 2019
Barclaycard (3) £1,250/£1,070 0% Feb 2020
MBNA cc £5,325.99/£4,940 0% Feb 2020
Lloyds (2) £907.57/£780 0% Nov 2020
Halifax cc £3,342.25/£2,820 0% Oct 2020

Total May 2018 £21,228.07
Total July 2019 £11,320
£9908.07 paid off :T:T:T

Also realised that all being well the debt will dip under 10k next month. Can't believe it. For some reason some of the buttons aren't working and I can't turn my 'paid off's red! Ah well.

Off to change my signature.

Excellent update and I agree that as three of the debts are easily repayable within just one month of debt repayment or the deal has more than a year to run like Halifax then targeting the big two of Santander and MBNA is sensible. Great you have managed to find some money for a holiday too without touching a credit card. I don't think the emergency fund is such an issue as with such careful budgeting you have a large surplus which could go to covering most emergencies instead of debt repayment one month. Still, good to get it saved up again once your holiday is out of the way maybe.

Next month hopefully under £10k and I reckon Santander will be almost gone by then. I am in awe of how well you have got to grips with sorting this out. You are really focused so once this is gone you will need to sort some new targets.

enthusiasticsaver

You have been keeping this diary for a year next Monday. Worth remembering how far you have come I think.

DrSpendLittle

Fantastic progress, BabyLEAPER! :T:T:T

So nice to see you doing so well on your debt free journey

PositiveBalance

You're killing it, BabyStepper! :T


At the rate you are going I can see you having 4 less cards at the end of the year, and that's not stretching anything too far, either.


I'm glad the car is still going well for you.


Long may this continue for you....onwards and downwards!

BabyStepper

Thank you for your support everyone. :A I would not be achieving this without your help and I am so grateful to you all.

I have had some work come to a planned end and have had a look at cashflow over the summer. I'm taking 2 weeks off, badly needed as I'm very tired, but things are looking tough financially. Both July's and August's wages will be much smaller than recently and I don't know if I'll make my £1,500 wage. This month will see a surplus of somewhere around £700 so I need to hang on to this to see me through. Whether or not it will be enough I don't know yet. I have a meeting next week about some new work but I don't know how much or when, need to wait and see.

We have had a look at our budget but there's nothing more can be trimmed, except the mobile phones ending their contracts in Sep and Oct. This will be the final bill to be reduced. We are loathe to cut back on spends as that covers clothes, entertainment, travel associated with that and the odd treat to make all this manageable. Our spare £200 in the joint account might take a hit, but we really need that too to cover unbudgeted for expenses.

Figuring this out has increased my focus. No more faffing round with what debt to pay next - I'm going after Santander and it needs to be paid in full by the end of August wage. Over these 2 months, £70 in minimum payments and £820 per month overpayment. If my plan slips a bit, it needs to be no further than this.

There is nothing to do but go for it - nothing to lose but debt. It's going to be tight though and I need to get busy trying to generate more work.

Thanks for listening.

warby68

Try not to stress too much. You knew you had a quiet period coming.

What's the worst thing that could happen? Two months without extra debt repayment? Is that the end of the world if it takes you 2 months longer? Nope, of course not. Upsides, a bit of R&R, a holiday, summer, time to reflect on your hard work and gear up for the next busy time. I don't think for one minute you won't achieve ANY debt reduction but sometimes it helps to look at the worst case and when you find its not so bad after all then anything in between is fine too

findingthisdifficult

You're doing so well Babystepper, I wish I could be as focussed as you!, you're smashing it!!