Debt Free by 40 - let the countdown begin!!!!

seahorsey

Morning all,
Been AWOL for a couple of days...wish I could saying missing in action, but the only action taking place is the complete draining of my bank account :rotfl: Being more aware of my finances has been a big eye opener. I've been all too quick to pin the blame for my debt on big mishaps and emergencies - but the fact there not paid off yet is as much down to the everyday overspend....... For example, my acccount balance and available balance were £70 difference this morning when I checked this morning. Went back through my spends yesterday and to my horror it was all accounted for, £15 window cleaner, £5 pets at home for new food for woof to try, £12 B&M on toiletries and cleaning stuff, £13 boots on the bits I couldn't get from B&M, £8 McDonalds treat for DS, £6 sainsburys :eek::eek::eek: Ouch!!! I have a monthly spreadsheet that details all the DDs, food budget, fuel etc but these fall largely outside of that. I'm wondering if it'd be worthwhile having a budget for housekeeping / DS activity budget in there too, to help provide a more accurate picture of what's available for debt repayment.

I've had our RAC renewal through, will have a shop round for the best deal via quidco & topcashback.

Little man is awake so best dash - be back soon x

seahorsey

Been a productive day eBay- wise, which has seen the savings / emergency fund grow to £62 out of £200 target. Over a quarter of the way there with 27 days left til payday. Whilst it's 27 days to make additional money, I'm also very conscious that's 27 days for things to go wrong! Fingers crossed for a quiet, boring, non eventful 3 weeks :beer:

GlendaSugarbean

On the budget, I follow the YNAB principle of giving every pound a job. So if I spend money on it, I budget for it. You could either increase your grocery budget to include pet stuff and toiletries, or set up another pot/envelope for sundries. Do you track all your spends? I need to set YNAB4 up again as it fell over, but I'm currently using Goodbudget on my phone - it's not as user friendly but it is free!

pidge04

You are doing really well.

Good news about your eBay sales!

Those flat days are hard. You!!!8217;re absolutely right ... one small step/victory at a time. Those seemingly small things impact the most.

I do find those £6 here, £8 there spends add up. They do not seem a lot at the time but I was shocked how much they add up. I was adding them up at the end of the month and regretted that that money could have gone to reducing my debt.

Onwards and upwards!

seahorsey

Thanks both.

Glendasugarbean - I've had a look at Goodbudget over the weekend and started setting it up, but ran out of envelopes!!! Don't really want to pay for it at this stage. Any idea where I'm likely to be going wrong or any tips?

Couple more small eBay sales over the weekend. Been more spendy than I hoped - largely due to the horrific food shop. I must must must get this under control!!!!!

Not really a huge amount to report - still 24 long days until payday :rotfl::rotfl:

Aims for this week...
1. Meal plan
2. Write EVERYTHING down in the spending diary
3. 30 mins house blitz daily
4. Run 25km

zcrat41

Hi seahorsey. I budget for the following categories in ynab:
Kids expenses
Kids holiday expenses
School clothes
Normal clothes.

I would highly recommend ynab. They do a months free trial I think.

GlendaSugarbean

Goodbudget is irritating in that sense! I have to collate some categories - so all insurance premiums/monthly subs/utility bills come out of one pot, groceries and household good another, one for personal spending etc. It's not as flexible as YNAB but it is free, so.

seahorsey

Thank you for the budgeting app advice - need to sit and spend some time exploring them. Briefly tried YNAB before but didn't really get to grips with it. I have my trusty old excel sheet but would be good to have something I can use a bit more in real time.

The emergency pot is at £137.54 / £200 - getting there nicely. Just need to keep focussed on all spending areas to ensure it's still there come the end of the month.

At the moment I've got 3 'project' balls to keep juggling - paying of debts, getting on top of housework and my fitness. At the moment I'm struggling to keep all 3 in the air! Very limited free time means that I tend to go in cycles where each one seems to get priority for the week while the other two get dropped. Really need to work them into my daily routine until they become second nature. Any tips wise people of MSE???

Right, best get going - will check in soon x

GlendaSugarbean

Another option: I've started using Monzo for my personal and grocery spending. You can set goals and spending pots on the app and it automatically assigns your payments and lets you know how you are doing. I'm keeping my main current a/c for bills as that has an agreed overdraft (not used at the mo) and is linked with my savings accounts and mortgage.

seahorsey

So payday at last. After what looked almost like a promising month in terms of progress, it swiftly went down hill. Probably the most worrying part of it all is I don't know exactly where. Yes there was an unplanned garage and vet visit (and a ridiculous amount spent on specialist dog food) but they shouldn't have really been catostrophic. The truth is we're no further forward this month to last.

I think one issue has been last month was almost 5 weeks long, meaning an extra week of food shopping, fuel and direct debit payments. I've never really taken this into account, but obviously in not doing so I'm creating a financial headache for the final week of the month.

This morning I've been and done an Aldi and home bargains shop which will hopefully mean the main food shop is slightly less painful in coming weeks. Yes it's cost me a couple of hours, but when you consider how much it's saved us it's a no-brainer.

Aims for this month:

1. Write EVERY spend down not matter how small. This will help me to see exactly where our money is going and hopefully to budget more effectively.
2. Meal plan in an effort to reduce food bills (and waste).
3. £250 in savings by month end.
4. Do a carboot sale.
5. eBay eBay eBay
6. Reduce debt. Not putting a figure on this, will just be happy with reducing it until Christmas is out the way (and I've put away £1k - aim by year end).

Feel more positive about it all already just by waffling on! It's helped focus the mind - let's get this nailed!!!