Spender to Saver - I want to be Debt Free before I'm 30!

adg89

Thanks, SSDD23 - appreciate the cheering on from the sidelines!


I have also started using Cleo for the Nationwide account and have set a budget on there which includes the bills that come from that account (approx £350). Trialling it out at the moment but I hope with that and the NSDs I have planned, I should be able to keep in lnie with my budget projection this month :-)

adg89

Some pros and cons over the weekend:


Cons

Found out that we have some more existing debt (not much, but adds to the pile):


- £100 owed to OH's sister for various birthday gifts over this year
- £50 owed to OH's mum for a Christmas meal deposit for December
- £36 owed to my best friend for tickets to see a drag queen we all adore in a few weeks.


Unfortunately, as I had forgotten/didn't know about these, I have already allocated budget to other debts this month so November paycheck will hopefully pay off the above.


Pro's

- Paid back £130 to my parents from our tips savings from the last couple of weeks
- Pet insurance claim has come in so we have paid £240.72 back to OH's Aqua (highest value interest so trying to bring that down).


Even with the additional owed, we've still managed to move forward.I'm hoping by the end of November, we will have OH's Aqua at £400 and Cap One at £300, with my Virgin CC being at £5750.

adg89

So it was OH’s sister who was owed £50 and she needed it back tonight so we have just paid it back out of the house budget and we will both pay in extra from our incomes from the restaurant this week.

At least it’s another debt gone :money:

adg89

Update on NSD's since 22nd October up to tomorrow (31st) - currently at 8! We had no food in the house on Friday and were really hungry when we came in from work so we spent £10 in Tesco.


The only other spend we have had is:


£42.43 in Aldi (Grocery budget) - £157.57 remaining for 3 weeks
£63.60 on an afternoon out together with my mum to cinema and for lunch. This was spent on some drinks and lunch as we had got the cinema tickets for free by using gift cards and e-vouchers which had not been used up. This will come from the Entertainment budget so £136.40 remaining there.


Planning out the entertainment budget for the rest of the month:


1) We have our drag queen show on 16th where £36 is owed to my best friend for the tickets. I think I may just need to swallow this as a loss because in hindsight we shouldn't have said yes, knowing the situation we are in. I plan to drive on the night so will be on lime sodas for sure - I'll try and see if OH can do the same so we are under £10 spend from the budget on the night.


2) Best friend's birthday dinner (30th birthday and as much as I would love to avoid, she put off going to Vegas because she wanted me at her party and I told her that Vegas was not going to be anywhere on the horizon for me), so I feel like I should go to this (as much as my inner-MSE is screaming at me not to!). Again, I have researched the menu and will only be having a main and non-alcoholic drinks so I will budget £40 for both of us (in case OH has alcohol or steak as he seems to be inclined to do when we are out out).


With a projected spend of £50 for both events this month, I feel like we should be able to hit that (I am going to speak to OH tonight so he knows!). This will mean that we will have £86.40 spare in this budget at the end of the month!

adg89

Another unexpected addition that went to the Aqua credit card today for OH.... an Uber trip from London to where we live in Essex... a princely sum of £123.13 :-( This takes Aqua's balance back up to £923.13 and the rate he has is truly awful at 39%. The sooner we get that one clear, the better.

adg89

October 22-31 finised on 9/10 NSDs so very happy with that. Only 1 impulse spend of £10 in Tesco, everything else in budgets or money moved to debt/EF.


Targets for November:


1) Keep out of overdraft (or as close as possible) - currently projected to be in by £50 this week so I may "borrow" from the EF to save me having the overdraft charge of 50p per day (Nationwide).
2) Make at least £20 from surveys (currently on IPSOS (1235 points), YouGov (3070 points), PopulusLive (nothing yet) and Qmee (£1.42 since yesterday!)).
3) Get my credit card below £5700 before statement date of 13th November.
4) Get OH's Aqua to below £800 again before statement date of 13th November.
5) Get OH's Capital One to below £300 before statement date of 13th November.
6) EF repaid from 1st point and to £300 by end of month.
7) 15+ NSDs this month.
8) Repay OH's Mum full amount owed (£100).


Total debt to be at or below £7300 before my next main payday on 23rd November.

[Deleted User]

Best of luck with your goals - you'll smash it x

adg89

Some updates since yesterday:

adg89 wrote: »

1) Keep out of overdraft (or as close as possible) - currently projected to be in by £50 this week so I may "borrow" from the EF to save me having the overdraft charge of 50p per day (Nationwide).

As suspected, I have had to borrow £60 from the EF to keep me out of my overdraft. One new payment has caused this (mainly mismanagement of my finances) - and that is a fixed direct debit payment I set up for my credit card a few weeks ago, which I subsequently forgot about. As I have never missed a payment on my credit card, I have now cancelled this so I don't need to budget it in (I normally whack as much on my credit card across the month so I exceed the minimum payment).

adg89 wrote: »

2) Make at least £20 from surveys (currently on IPSOS (1235 points), YouGov (3070 points), PopulusLive (nothing yet) and Qmee (£1.42 since yesterday!)).

Qmee is already up to £2.60 so I think this is going to be a good one for me!

adg89 wrote: »

3) Get my credit card below £5700 before statement date of 13th
November.

Currently at £5,790.60, so I think this will be more than achievable. Next week's restaurant pay will include about £100 of holiday pay accrued so this will all go onto the credit card.

adg89 wrote: »

4) Get OH's Aqua to below £800 again before statement date of 13th November.

This is back at £800 (effectively wiping the impulse Uber trip for OH last month.....). Planning on at least another £50 payment next week.

adg89 wrote: »

Total debt to be at or below £7300 before my next main payday on 23rd November.

With another £25 paid to OH's Capital One, his debt now sits at £1,175 bringing our total to £7,510.40, edging closer to 20% of our debts gone in our first month of DFW life!

[Deleted User]

All looking good so far x

adg89

Thanks SSDD23 !

I feel like it is starting to get there but I'm starting to get this mild panic that I'm going to forget a payment going out somewhere and will end up having to dip into a pot - I'm sure this isn't the case, but the thought is niggling at the back of my mind...


I think I'll be happy once I see my credit card below £5000 because it's been inbetween £5k & £6k for so long, that I forgot what it felt like to have it at a point where it felt manageable! That being said, I haven't spent on it in almost a month which is a proud moment for me as I got so used to seeing it as a safety net when I wanted something. Now I am finally seeing it as "not my money" so I want it gone as quickly as possible!


How are you after this week? Looks like things are going well for the most part in your thread too :-)