Tidying up the mess

BabyStepper

After a very strong coffee and a moment to gather myself I am back with some ideas.

The first thing is that I won't tell OH about this. It will just panic him and he worries enough about things so I will keep it to myself and battle on.

Secondly I want to have October 2020 as our potential debtfree date. I don't know how I'm going to do it but that is quite long enough to be living like poor people when we should actually be reasonably well off.

Thirdly, it would only take 3 new clients for me to make up that overpayment amount. I have one almost in the bag already. 2 to go.

Fourthly (?) I am going to try and take on a part-time evening job. Even at minimum wage this would boost our income and it might also mean we could remortgage next year when the time comes, to get a better deal and help keep costs down.

Fifth (ly) I am going to keep a running total of how on/under/over target we are every month.

So that's decided. Wish me luck.

BabyStepper

Morning everyone

OH's MBNA card is offering 0% on spends until February 2020. We have no other deals available so I'm going to move £400 of the interest bearing debt onto MBNA. Over 2 months I'm going to take our £200 shopping budget, pay it off the Barclaycard, and then buy our shopping with the MBNA card (online, because the card is in 2 pieces!). £400 will be transferred to 0%, not amazing, but it's a start.

Only £2,200 with interest to deal with, pay off or move. I'm on it. :cool:

I got a job application in yesterday. Fingers crossed I get an interview.

Not much else to report. I have the figure £708 whirling around in my mind. This is what I need to make extra, every month, for the next 2 years. Gulp.

pidge04

Hello! Just read your diary for the first time. Well done you two for doing those jobs around your house by yourself. And well done for stopping smoking. Just wondered ... is your home big enough to maybe find a lodger or a student from a local language school (if you have a local language school!) to try and boost your income? You are making some significant steps in the right direction ... you can do this ... it sounds like you are a team. Love the debtometer your husband made!

enthusiasticsaver

I think removing the student loans from your targets is sensible. Many people will never pay them off.

Thinking of the amount you need to pay monthly to clear them within the deal period can be daunting and setting an unrealistic target can be self defeating. Changing your mindset around budgeting and clearing debt can take you a year or more to get to grips with and you are coming up with the right answers but it is important to set a plan rather than rush headlong into paying every spare penny off debt. You are a DR fan so you know the way to success although his way is slightly different to the MSE way as he targets smallest debts first and snowballs whereas MSE targets most expensive.

Firstly you need an emergency savings account. Maybe use your money saved from not smoking to build that up?

I have not seen an soa for you and I guess being self employed makes budgeting more difficult. Is there any reason why you went self employed rather than sticking with a regular wage? Clearing debt and having just taken on a mortgage leaving a salaried job has made things a lot more difficult for you. Is this set in stone or is going back to a regular job a possibility? If not taking on a job in addition to self employment would seem a good compromise.

DD265

Would you feel better if you broke the 'extra-required' down to 10% or 1% chunks? £7.08 feels a lot more achievable than £708 and personally I could easily save at least one lot of £7.08 in a week simply by not buying chocolate.

I'm tempted to say that you should tell your OH about the extra. I know you say he'd worry, but if he knows that would give him an element of control which he might actually find helpful?

I would be prioritising the most expensive debt, but I'd also make small overpayments on the credit card which currently has the most available credit, in the hopes that this will encourage them to give you a balance transfer offer in a couple of months.

BabyStepper

pidge04 wrote: »

Hello! Just read your diary for the first time. Well done you two for doing those jobs around your house by yourself. And well done for stopping smoking. Just wondered ... is your home big enough to maybe find a lodger or a student from a local language school (if you have a local language school!) to try and boost your income? You are making some significant steps in the right direction ... you can do this ... it sounds like you are a team. Love the debtometer your husband made!

Hi there, good to meet you and thanks for dropping by. You have just reminded me of something, I had a plan to let out the spare room for Air BnB once the renovations and decorating was a bit further on. Looks like we might be almost good to go. Thanks pidge04, great idea, I love it and so glad you reminded me.

BabyStepper

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I think removing the student loans from your targets is sensible. Many people will never pay them off.

Thinking of the amount you need to pay monthly to clear them within the deal period can be daunting and setting an unrealistic target can be self defeating. Changing your mindset around budgeting and clearing debt can take you a year or more to get to grips with and you are coming up with the right answers but it is important to set a plan rather than rush headlong into paying every spare penny off debt. You are a DR fan so you know the way to success although his way is slightly different to the MSE way as he targets smallest debts first and snowballs whereas MSE targets most expensive.

Firstly you need an emergency savings account. Maybe use your money saved from not smoking to build that up?

I have not seen an soa for you and I guess being self employed makes budgeting more difficult. Is there any reason why you went self employed rather than sticking with a regular wage? Clearing debt and having just taken on a mortgage leaving a salaried job has made things a lot more difficult for you. Is this set in stone or is going back to a regular job a possibility? If not taking on a job in addition to self employment would seem a good compromise.

Hi there enthusiastic saver

Thanks for dropping in. I'm not quite sure how to respond to your comments, you seem to have missed quite a few important points about my diary!

In post #38 I let everyone know about my £800 emergency fund. So I'm finished with the first step.

Just tried to write something about the rest of your post but it's too much to try and wrap my head around. Suffice to say, no I won't be going back to my old job, I love being self-employed, my business is doing well, I won't be replacing my profession with a 'compromise' part time post, I will be adding to it, because like DR says, I want to pay down my debts as fast as I can.

Thanks!

BabyStepper

DD265 wrote: »

Would you feel better if you broke the 'extra-required' down to 10% or 1% chunks? £7.08 feels a lot more achievable than £708 and personally I could easily save at least one lot of £7.08 in a week simply by not buying chocolate.

I'm tempted to say that you should tell your OH about the extra. I know you say he'd worry, but if he knows that would give him an element of control which he might actually find helpful?

I would be prioritising the most expensive debt, but I'd also make small overpayments on the credit card which currently has the most available credit, in the hopes that this will encourage them to give you a balance transfer offer in a couple of months.

Thank you for all of this. You comment about chocolate made me giggle...I buy mine in Lidl now where I can make myself feel sick for less than a quid...score!

Breaking the amount down into smaller percentages is also a good idea. Lots of little 1% payments in a month would be great as an initial target. I think I'll start there, and not with the whole total.

I told OH! He shrugged and said 'cool' and went out on his bike. Sometimes I get it all wrong with him. Good job he loves me anyway.

Also great idea about the balance transfer and overpaying the card with the most credit. I had hoped to not be shuffling cards in this way, but now that I'm here, who cares. It's all helpful and I hadn't thought of that. Great, thank you.

BabyStepper

The total credit card/loan/overdraft debt in my first post was £20,593.06. The total today is £20,069.47.

This means £ 523.59 has been paid off already, roughly 2.5%.

I'm really pleased with this. Progress!! :j It also means we have coloured in the first section of our revised (to exclude student loans) thermometer chart.

redmel1621

Hey Babystepper.

I've just scanned back up, but can't see it say anywhere. Is there a reason you are trying to kill yourself (more clients/2nd job etc) to get it paid off by 2020? If you extended this to 2021, would that not make it far more manageable. I am worried that you may not hit your £708 overpayments each month and become disheartened, or you will wear yourself into illness by taking on too much, just to hit an arbitrary debt free date.

You may have a reason that I have completely overlooked and if so tell me to stick some glasses on and re-read until I find it haha.

You seem very determined and I don't want to undermine all your plans, but at the same time I would love to see you succeed whilst still enjoying life