How do you cope with boredom of paying down long-standing debt?

getmore4less

One thing you can look at is saving interest.

What rate is the loan?
What is the contractual payment
What is your actual payment

Poppy1984

tori.k wrote: »

I really struggled with the plod near the end, ended up with an incredibly tidy house, use to track down all the free or really low cost things we could do, to help alleviate the boredom, challenged myself you make meals as tasty and cheap as possible. Even started teaching myself Spanish using a free online service.
Start thinking about the next goal, whats the plan when your debt free anything that just keeps you plodding on.
Good luck

Thank you for understanding. I think it's because my hands are tied on how much more I can do so I'm just waiting feels stagnant. When I was paying down the smaller debts it felt like I was making a difference now it just feels like I'm chipping away SLOWLY

Poppy1984

getmore4less wrote: »

One thing you can look at is saving interest.

What rate is the loan?
What is the contractual payment
What is your actual payment

The loan rate is 8.09%
The contractual payment is £414.60
The actual payment at the moment is only £414.60 but I'd like to overpay it by at least £200 a month once my EF is back up to £300.

It's a Halifax clarity loan and as far as I can see in my paper work I am able to overpay it.

I've just been reading about the savings account the government have introduced for people on low earnings. I need to check if I'm eligible because although I received a letter to say I was entitled to child tax credit the letter also said it's below the minimum they would pay out so I won't receive it.

If I am eligible, they pay you 50p for every £1 you save and you can save a maximum of £50 a month over 4 years. Would it be worth me doing that? Or would it be more worth my while using that £50 to overpay my loan?

savingholmes

I would look at clearing your debt first before saving. 8% is quite high - have you joined the mse credit club? What's the likelihood of being accepted for a lower interest rate loan? Every little helps.

I know what you mean about boredom. I am using a version of the D@ve R@msey baby steps currently - that's helping me. He uses a phrase "changing your family tree" by becoming debt free. He says getting out of debt and staying out of debt is about understanding your why - why you got in a mess and why you want to get out of it - and what will be different when its done.

My why - is partly I don't want the kids to have the same debt struggle as I do - but more positively I want to have the peace of debt freedom heading into retirement and hopefully boost my retirement savings too. Following the DR steps - by retirement age in 18 years - I could be debt free, mortgage free (on a £250K current value home) and have half a million invested plus our work pensions.... Now that is some incentive. I could beat myself up for why I didn't do it sooner - but currently just plugging away to clear debt asap and over time mortgage.

DR says lots of people want to be millionaires - why don't you start with being a hundredaire or a thousandaire - that really helped me. Chris H0gan has a book everyday milli0n@ires which is about how ordinary people like teachers and nurses became millionaires

When I've done diaries here before - I hadn't properly understood my why - but also couldn't see the way to comparative riches. I've also been lucky along the way and got payrises etc as has OH. I find posting every day - now I've recommitted to the programme - helps. I like you like seeing the balance go down - could you overpay everytime you avoid going out for coffee or a meal or turn down a tempting item you were considering buying... those soon add up and would give you some mid month wins.

Is there anything you can do to up your income? See the £10 a day thread

dirtycredit

I spent three years paying everything off. I used to cope with the boredom by fantasising (obsessing :rotfl:) about what i wanted my life to look like after debt was paid off and planning a way to achieve it. My notebooks probably looked like the rantings of a mad woman. I was so primed after three years of waiting and planning that my last payment was like a starting gun in a race and i achieved the main thing (selling my flat and buying a house) 12 weeks after that last credit card was paid off.

Poppy1984

savingholmes wrote: »

I would look at clearing your debt first before saving. 8% is quite high - have you joined the mse credit club? What's the likelihood of being accepted for a lower interest rate loan? Every little helps.

I know what you mean about boredom. I am using a version of the D@ve R@msey baby steps currently - that's helping me. He uses a phrase "changing your family tree" by becoming debt free. He says getting out of debt and staying out of debt is about understanding your why - why you got in a mess and why you want to get out of it - and what will be different when its done.

My why - is partly I don't want the kids to have the same debt struggle as I do - but more positively I want to have the peace of debt freedom heading into retirement and hopefully boost my retirement savings too. Following the DR steps - by retirement age in 18 years - I could be debt free, mortgage free (on a £250K current value home) and have half a million invested plus our work pensions.... Now that is some incentive. I could beat myself up for why I didn't do it sooner - but currently just plugging away to clear debt asap and over time mortgage.

DR says lots of people want to be millionaires - why don't you start with being a hundredaire or a thousandaire - that really helped me. Chris H0gan has a book everyday milli0n@ires which is about how ordinary people like teachers and nurses became millionaires

When I've done diaries here before - I hadn't properly understood my why - but also couldn't see the way to comparative riches. I've also been lucky along the way and got payrises etc as has OH. I find posting every day - now I've recommitted to the programme - helps. I like you like seeing the balance go down - could you overpay everytime you avoid going out for coffee or a meal or turn down a tempting item you were considering buying... those soon add up and would give you some mid month wins.

Is there anything you can do to up your income? See the £10 a day thread

What's MSE credit club?
I'm not sure, my credit scores ok although I know that means nothing anyway. How would I go about finding out if I could get a lower interest loan to pay this one off? I thought I'd struggle because they would think I was going to have both loans?

I like Dave Ramsey, I'll have a think about my whys that's sure to alleviate some of the boredom.

Poppy1984

dirtycredit wrote: »

I spent three years paying everything off. I used to cope with the boredom by fantasising (obsessing :rotfl:) about what i wanted my life to look like after debt was paid off and planning a way to achieve it. My notebooks probably looked like the rantings of a mad woman. I was so primed after three years of waiting and planning that my last payment was like a starting gun in a race and i achieved the main thing (selling my flat and buying a house) 12 weeks after that last credit card was paid off.

Maybe I need to start fantasising about what I want to do but I don't really have any exciting plans I just want to be free from the noose around my neck! I will have a think though

Poppy1984

You have all gave me some food for though thank you.

Turns out I am eligible for a help to save. So at 50% interest it's a no brainer to open one and save the maximum monthly amount of £50 a month for 4 years. I can use the final amount to throw it at my loan if I still have it in 4 years. I'm aiming to pay it back in 3 though.

I have also been using martins loan eligibility tool and it says I'm 70% likely to get accepted for a Tesco loan. The best interest rate they offer is 2.9% but I know it's highly unlikely they will offer me the best rate.
My credit rating is "good" I have never missed a payment and I have my mortgage which is moderate in size and my loan, but nothing else so I am hopeful they will accept me at the lower interest rate.

If I add £37 to my contractual payment taking it from 415 to 450 a month I could shave a year off immediately reducing the term to 48 months from 60 then if I could over pay on top of that I could hopefully get it gone so much faster than the 5 years it is at the moment.

Anyone see any holes in my plan? I've already got an early settlement fee from my current loan there's about £23 difference which I'm willing to pay out my spending money.

savingholmes

I think pay the least interest possible.Check the loan terms for the tesco loan see if you can do overpayments. Go for it- Just don't extend the time it takes to pay off the debt.

What can you use the help to save for?

Unicorn_cottage

Is your son with you full time? How old is he? Just thinking of ways you can make a bit of extra cash