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

adg89

OH statement for Capital One also came through - £9.72 in interest so our total interest and overdraft charges this month is:


£84.84

flutterby29

@adg89 New to this site-
I’m on a similar path - 6 months before I turn 30 and want to set my myself up so that I’m debt free.

Well done on all you’ve achieved so far ��

adg89

flutterby29 Thanks for the words of encouragement - best of luck on your journey as well!


I added up everything spent over the weekend and it came to £128.33

- this doesn't include the £25 spent on petrol :-(


I am away again this weekend seeing my siblings in Liverpool, and although I don't want it to be a 'spendy' weekend, we haven't all been together since August so it will be a real occasion for us. We are planning a trip to the cinema, a couple of bars, some Christmas shopping and a brunch on the Sunday before I come home. Petrol itself is going to be around £60 (split with my brother).


I have graced my overdraft this month (3 days before payday), as OH and I needed some food shopping however we are now stocked up with two weeks worth of meat products and our fresh produce stocks are there again.


I'm only £35 in the overdraft (a lot better than being £1250 in it continuously), and it will be paid back on Friday when my main income hits, but I'm a little disappointed as it means that our budgets weren't enough this month in the house account. I will be going through this account with a fine toothcomb to see exactly where our budgets were spent and see what kind of increase we may need to ensure there is money there at the end of the month.

adg89

To save me 50p a day charge for being £35 in the overdraft, I decided to take out my Christmas savings and put them into my current account so the balance is at £0.00 with no charge.

Two days until payday now but I have nothing more to spend on.


OH wants me to go to the Comedy Night which is on at the restaurant every other week, and I will probably go, but just be drinking water and I'll eat before I go out. As we both work there, I like to show support for its ventures when I can.


I also looked at the credit card eligibility calculator and it looks like I am 100% pre-approved for a balance transfer... I haven't looked into detail but I would hope it would be the full balance on my VM CC. Another £2k falls out of 'interest free' in January 2019 so I would like to escape what would then be about £50 a month in interest.


I'll try and look into it more over the next week so I can make an informed decision.


I have also had it confirmed by Nationwide that my OD has been reduced to £500 - I have no plans to extend this anymore, and hope to not use it as we go into the most expensive time of the year!

charliedavis

Just read your diary and will join you on your journey - sounds like you’re doing great! Crazy question - have you cut the cards up to prevent them being used again? If not would be a good idea to do so and avoid the temptation?

I so admire you getting a second job to pay off the debt - that’s amazing! Are you finding it tiring?

adg89

Hi charliedavis

We haven't cut up the cards purely because we have next to no emergency savings at the moment so having a line of credit if something were to happen to the car or dog is essential until we have enough behind us to say we don't need them, however, I keep hold of all the credit cards as I am less likely to spend. OH has to have a very good reason to need his card! I think we are both so rigidly focused on paying off the debt that we can actually see it as a backwards move to use them!


The second job is completely different to my main job. I am a desk monkey normally, working the 9-5 at my computer so having a job in a restaurant changes it up. Some weeks it is tiring but for the most part, my focus on the money I am earning going towards paying off our debt is more important to me.


I felt like I was approaching burnout a couple of weeks ago, so OH has asked me to take a couple of weekends off as 'me time' considering we have already paid off a sizeable chunk and met minimum payments.


Thank you for joining me!

adg89

It's my main payday tomorrow and the plans for my pay are as follows:


- £866 to the house account (+£66 on last month)
- £190 to savings split £120 to emergency fund and £70 to presents pot for Christmas
- £85 remaining in the account where my salary is paid to cover phone bill & netflix
- £350 to my Nationwide account (£255 to cover my car payment, pet insurance, Spotify, iTunes storage payment, final overdraft charge from October) with £95 to then enjoy this weekend with (guilt free but within reason).


This will mean I should have around £200 to put to my credit card. Not as much as usual on the big payment but it's better than nothing, and means that I will have paid off just under £310 since the last statement.


I know it looks like I'm wishing the rest of the year away, but I would like to think that by the end of the year, I will be at least under £5000 on my credit card. This one seems to be the slowest to decrease but I think that's because it's the biggest - it just feels like it hasn't moved in months!

adg89

I'll be providing a bigger update tomorrow but these are the main events over the weekend:


- Christmas spending has begun and we are on target to come in £20 under budget
- Went over budget slightly on spending with my siblings - £130ish instead of £95 (remaining came back out of my savings).
- £120.10 onto my credit card.
- £60.59 onto OH Capital One.
- My credit limit has been reduced to £6000 from £6500 (customer services didn't seem happy seeing as I'd already rejected an increase to £8700 earlier in the year!).
- £110 remaining in salary account for phone & netflix (over budget so this will go back into Nationwide once phone bill goes out).


I need to update the spreadsheets but overall we are still heading in the right direction!

adg89

Sorry for the lack of posts. We have a lot going on at the moment.


We have had some good news and not so good news in the last few weeks.


OH passed his driving test, and we put him on my insurance policy for £77 (including RAC breakdown cover). This will all renew in March, and I am quite happy with the amount I have paid this year so will try to work with my current provider to see what I can do to keep this at the same premium.


There are some other pieces of news which are going to affect finances in the near future but I cannot say anything on here yet as I don't want us to become identifiable, sufficed to say, we may be going back to minimum payments in the short-term to be able to build our emergency fund as quickly as possible.


I still haven't been in my overdraft but we had a surprise bill we had to pay of £170 which went onto my credit card so I am now a little more in my credit card than I was last month but I know that this is not going to be a monthly recurrance.


The situation isn't dire and we have some savings and some credit available between us to cover the next couple of months and I hope the next time I post here, I seem a little calmer!

lonelyrat

Good news about OH passing the driving test. This is one of my big goals for next year

Hope things are OK! A return to minimum payments isn't the end of the world if it's only for a short period, the main this is that you still have a plan in place for the long term