Mission to reach "zero" before 2020

canaryfeather

Hi all,

I currently have £2,400 of credit card debit that has snuck up on me. :eek:

Luckily it's interest free until September 2020, but the thought of having this debt leaves me feeling anxious.

Therefore I'm on a mission to clear it by the end of the year. This will be a two-pronged approach:

1) Regular monthly payments above the minimum payment (£26) that I'm currently paying. I think I'll be able to contribute around £150 per month extra on payday, so about £175 in total. This should mean £1,575 paid off.

That leaves £825 leftover... That's just over £90 a month; £22 a week; £3.30 a day. That's how much buying lunch at work currently costs me...

2) An attempt to reduce monthly expenditure (take-out lunches, coffee shop coffee... I'm looking at you!) and paying any left over money towards the debt at the end of each month.

It's going to be tough, but I'm going to try my best. :T

pidge04

You will do it!

Do you have anything you could sell? Lots of little sales can add up to quite a lot! Plus it makes you feel like you are doing something.

Do you have any capacity to take on a little part time job? I do babysitting.

Definitely right to cut out unnecessary food spends.

Good luck!

canaryfeather

pidge04 wrote: »

You will do it!

Do you have anything you could sell? Lots of little sales can add up to quite a lot! Plus it makes you feel like you are doing something.

Do you have any capacity to take on a little part time job? I do babysitting.

Definitely right to cut out unnecessary food spends.

Good luck!

Thanks Pidge!

I don't have the capacity to take on a part time job as I work full time, but I DO have a load of old clothes that I've been meaning to get rid of so I could look to sell some of those.

canaryfeather

Currently out of the UK on a holiday that I booked months ago - it definitely contributed in part to the credit card balance but I needed the break.

Today is a day of travelling between cities so should be quite money saving friendly for a day on holiday - just the £12 bus fare.

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

canaryfeather

Not too much to report today, just some minor life admin:

- Opened a Marcus savings account, so the small amount of savings I do have (£300) will earn some interest rather than sit there doing nothing. I'll add a small amount to this alongside tackling th credit card as I want to build an emergency fund and not fall back on credit if faced with an emergency.

- Logged a formal complaint with my bank as mortgage searches are showing on my credit record when I didn't apply for one. They said they will get back to me by the end of the day if there is a quick and easy resolution.

- Checked my energy supplier portal and I've been +£60 in credit for the last few months (£85 d/d for a small 1-bed house always seemed ludicrous!)
I'm in two minds about whether to ask for a reduction in the monthly payment as I currently get 2% cashback through my bank on the payment. What do you guys think?

And that's it for today. Still on holiday and the weather is 33 Celsius so I'm happy! Payday tomorrow so I'm looking forward to knocking some money off the debt.

canaryfeather

Today was payday so managed to make some movement on the debt front!

I looked through all my accounts and had £34.67 left over from last month so paid that straight to the credit card along with £150. So the outstanding balance is now £2,215.33.

I also added another £200 to my savings account, taking it up to £500.

Finally I transferred £400 to my Monzo card for groceries/entertainment/misc. expenses for the month. This is the area I hope to reduce expenditure in, by making sensible life choices like taking lunch into work and questioning whether I really need that take our coffee. I'll review this next payday and can hopefully siphon some more money across to pay off some more debt.

beanielou

Great news on the debt repayments :j

canaryfeather

Not too much to report. The £100 switching bonus that I got as part of a current account switch has come through so I'll look to get that across to my savings account once I'm back in the UK.

In other news, I attempted to get a haircut abroad and it went so badly! My hair was literally hacked at and I now need to book into a salon when I get back to the UK to get it sorted out. At the moment I'm just trying to stay calm and come to terms with the fact that my long hair will now be medium length for a while.

canaryfeather

beanielou wrote: »

Happy shiny new diary

Thank you

canaryfeather

A month has passed already - how time flies! I'm pleased to let you guys know that things have been going really well. I have a much better understand of my outgoings, and my partner & I have cut down considerably on our grocery spend.

I've changed the plan slightly and have decided to save everything in a 1.5% interest account, before paying the outstanding 0% cc amount back towards the end of the year!

The cc balance has crept up slightly due to one outstanding Airbnb payment, but savings have been strong this month due to an annual bonus!

CC balance: £2,253.16
Savings: £1626.02

Plans for this month:
- Complete a HSBC current account switch to get the £175 joining bonus
- Stick to the monthly budget