Day One, yet again.

monetxchange

Hi all,

Sorry it's been a while since I updated. I've been trying to just keep my head down and work lots and spend little!

I've been keeping my groceries at a pretty low level, boasted this week by a £5 Lidl voucher I received about complaining about a dodgy product! Have been very strict on taking in breakfast and lunch to work every day, and batch cooking for dinners too. It does get a bit boring by the end of the week, but to be honest, I was bored of the selection of £8 a day Pret lunches too. Trying not to spend more than a couple of pounds a day when out at work either, no coffees or anything, just the odd pack of crisps etc to keep me going (if I buy a multipack, I eat them in a day!)

Travel is still a big expense for me, and there's not much I can do about it, but have been trying to cut down where I can. Have found a driveway to rent near the station that is just £20 a week instead of the station car park's eye-watering £40. Bit further to walk, but worth it. Plus I'm getting in plenty of exercise.

I'm currently trying to do some figures to see if it's worth trying to get another balance transfer CC to move my massive £9,000 Barclaycard debt onto, as that's so high in interest. I think I'll move the last £1,200 of my Vanquis onto my 0% Virgin card, as every bit saved on interest helps. Has anyone ever got a balance transfer card for such a large amount? I only recently got a 0%card with an £8,000 limit, so not sure I'm a prime candidate. Don't want to make my credit rating look bad, especially since it went up by 15 points this month for the first time in forever!

monetxchange

Wow, don't know how so much time has passed since I updated. I spent the majority of June working away, which was a lot and kind of threw my budget out of the window a little, but meant I made a bumper wage this month, which has all been thrown at the debt.

This month I managed to pay £1,800 to my HMRC, £1,600 to the Barclaycard, £400 to my interest free Virgin card (paying off business expenses I put on it so it stays on track) and a FINAL payment of £725 to my Vanquis. God, that card has probably cost me tens of thousands of pounds over the years I've had it. It will be getting closed down next month after any residual interest is paid. Can't wait to see the back of it.

My signature details where I'm at with at all currently. The HMRC is about to jump up by another £4,000 at the end of the month, but I should be on top of that (ie paid off AND have enough saved to pay the next bill) over the next year or so. My Barclaycard is now finally at an amount low enough to get a balance transfer to a 0% Halifax card I've just opened. Saving all that interest means I'm on track to pay that off by June 2020 latest (hopefully sooner, income dependant).

I've had a bad couple of weeks since coming home. I've really slipped on buying too many groceries and not being bothered to cook, meaning I've wasted money on lunches and breakfasts, plus I've been doing a bit of unnecessary internet shopping. I'm back on strict budget from now. Have had a no spend weekend and won't be doing a big food shop this week as I've got loads left over from last week and all the fresh stuff looking a bit peaky will be going into a use-up-everything fried rice. Have got stuff at work for simple breakfasts and am not buying coffee.

Feels like I'm making a dent, but still have a long way to go. Any words of encouragement greatly appreciated!

clickerty-click

Keep your head down and remember this is a marathon and not a sprint, you can do this

Tahlullah

You are doing great. Keep it up, success is coming your way!

monetxchange

Hi all,

Just thought I'd do an update. As you can see from my signature, I'm now at a remaining debt total of just under £15,000 from a starting point of around £27,000 in late April. Sometimes I wonder how I've managed such a chunk already, but I remember the 60 hour plus weeks, being too tired to go out on the weekend, never going anywhere without a packed lunch and and not buying any new clothes etc and then I'm amazed at how wasteful I was for all those years.

I've now got a small amount of HMRC debt left, which will be gone next month. Then I'll be on track to have £7,500 in savings by end of January when the next tax bill comes and I'll be up to date with it for the first time in over a decade. The two remaining credit cards are balance transfers and are currently on track to be paid off by April and May respectively, well within the 0% period. Lowering the debt enough to be eligible for those really has helped save interest and clear quicker.

I've become a bit of a money management bore - this weekend I set up a pot for my yearly car insurance so it's less of a chunk to pay when the month comes and have been badgering a friend to do an SOA so I can help her see where she can save and clear her debt quicker!

I've been lucky in that I've done a lot of work abroad in the last few months, which has helped boost my income and saved on day to day expenses like reduced bills and not having to spend tons on tube, petrol and parking. I am forced to eat out though. My company do offer a flat rate of £50 a day for food when travelling, which for me is more than I'd spend a week, so like to find cheap eats and keep some of that spare to add to my income.

I'm currently working for two months in a country where it's cheaper to eat street food at £3.50 a meal plus drink than it is shopping in a supermarket! I have been buying breakfast and lunch stuff to prepare in my accommodation though, to help save a little. Sit down restaurants are expensive too, so have been trying to get the balance. It's been difficult when colleagues want to go out and book expensive day trips all the time, but I came here to earn and not holiday and am just as happy with a free walk around the sights. It's funny because one of them recently confided in me that he (making double than me) never has any money at the end of the month and has huge debts! I'm at the stage where I can tell if someone has a 'how do they do it' lifestyle, it's usually because they have loads of debt!

The last few months have been rewarding, but a bit of a mental and physical slog. I'm going to take some time off in October to recover from it all so I don't burn out when the end *may* just be in sight. Hope you're all well and debt busting this summer

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds like you have made a great dent in that debt since April. Well done especially in getting the HMRC situation more stable. Another area self employed people often don't tackle is pensions so that might be something to consider when the debt is gone if you do not already have one.

monetxchange

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Sounds like you have made a great dent in that debt since April. Well done especially in getting the HMRC situation more stable. Another area self employed people often don't tackle is pensions so that might be something to consider when the debt is gone if you do not already have one.

Great advice. I currently save a paltry £50 a month in a stakeholder pension. I've recently budgeted to increase this to a minimum of £250 a month when I'm debt free. I'm also with Virgin and have read a bit about how they're not great, so may also shop around for a better provider

DebtFreeMonkey

Though I earn much less than you and can't find the same overtime, you do give me hope! Going to follow this thread so I can keep an eye on all your wins as motivation

monetxchange

DebtFreeMonkey wrote: »

Though I earn much less than you and can't find the same overtime, you do give me hope! Going to follow this thread so I can keep an eye on all your wins as motivation

Sorry, I missed this first time round!

I realise how extremely lucky I am to have had an upswing in income this year, but it is all relative. I started off by increasing my spending alongside my income, 'treating' myself to extras while still having huge debt, like an absolute fool! I actually had a great run at debt clearing several years ago when I was flat broke and really got into living with very little. I wonder how much better off I'd be now if I'd continued with that instead of pretending like I could afford overspending... I absolutely believe I could have made a much bigger impact on my debt by proper budgeting even when on a lower income, and fully believe you can too! Hope your DFW journey is going well (or as well as life allows) too

monetxchange

Hey all (or just me, writing down my thoughts!)

So another update. I'm now down to £7,000 of debt to go. It hasn't really sunk in that the end is in sight. Actually, just thinking about it makes me feel slightly funny, so I'm trying just to plough on. I'm currently hoping on a debt free date of March 2020, but as I'm a contractor, that is all dependent on no disasters occurring with work.

I have two weeks left of my contract abroad, then I'm returning home after nearly three months away. Actually looking forward to a bit of rain and a nice roast - plus the chance to get back into cost-saving batch cooking and cheap winter evenings tucked up in front of the fire.

I am starting to get a bit of a weird anxiety about money now I'm getting close to clearing the debt. I've lived in quite serious debt for my entire adult life now, and it's very much a strange feeling to actually have money left at the end of the month, to see a plus balance instead of a minus maxed out overdraft.

I'm just so scared of going backwards that I'm terrified of spending! I actually had to chide myself for feeling guilty for buying myself a cheap souvenir here last week - just a £25 thing I'd wanted for three months and kept saying I couldn't justify. What's the point in working so much if I can't buy one thing I want if it's all budgeted for? It's nothing compared to colleagues getting £200 facials on the regular.

I'll definitely need to read up on tips on here on how to get the balance of saving/enjoying your money. At the moment, I've saved up an emergency fund and am on top of my HMRC savings (which I honestly thought would *never* happen), so any surplus that isn't being used for debt clearing I've just pushed aside into a savings pot and ignored for now. I'm very well aware from my sudden home leak situation and resultant builder's bill how much you need for rainy days!

I'm taking two weeks off on my return to see family and friends because I'm absolutely exhausted. This year of debt clearing has been so rewarding, but I need a break from work too. I'm thinking of it as a staycation. I'm also just coming to the end of some studying I was doing, so hope to have some extra free time from that too. God knows why I decided to change everything in my life this year - my eye bags will never forgive me! Next stop, trying to lose some weight... Wish me luck!