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

Poppy1984

Sassers wrote: »

I've been going 10 years now...I've tried so many challenges. Payment a day, surveys, second job, splitting larger payments into chucks, eating for a £1 a day, colouring charts, etc. Now on the D@ve R@msey method and snowballing like hell to get me to the end ��Good luck and don't stop, whether it's a shovel or a teaspoon. Keep bailing xxx

Thank you I find Dave Ramsey really inspiring and he has changed my attitude a lot. Good luck with your journey too

walletmoths

savingholmes wrote: »

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.

Wow - this is a huge help to me! Been thinking of my "why" today and it's given me a proper boost :j

KxMx

I can't help with the cash, but rather than look at the loan as a big amount, break it down into chunks.

As with your smaller debts, each chunk gone should increase the satisfaction and will power to keep going.

Poppy1984

KxMx wrote: »

I can't help with the cash, but rather than look at the loan as a big amount, break it down into chunks.

As with your smaller debts, each chunk gone should increase the satisfaction and will power to keep going.

You're right that's a good idea, I've been aiming to get it under £20,000 for a while and it should go under that this month so that will feel like a bit of an achievement. Need to decide what the next goal can be.

Poppy1984

I've been messing around with calculators and figures and can't seem to come up with a goal to aim towards after I get to the under £20,000 the next amount that feels like an achievement is £15,000 but with no overpayment that will take around a year so I don't feel like that's very motivating.

Can anyone help me split it into more manageable chunks of what to aim for?

Yellow_mango

Oh I hear you on the boredom. I’m only a couple of months into this and already I’m struggling with boredom big time :-/

One thing I’m considering which might help you, is to save up and chunk overpayments. So instead of paying each little saving straight off the loan, put it into a separate account. Then when you’ve built up a certain amount - say £250 - pay it off in a lump.

That way your goals are linked to the amount you can save, which is entirely under your control. And you can pick goals that are suitably achievable / challenging for you.

Poppy1984

Yellow_mango wrote: »

Oh I hear you on the boredom. I’m only a couple of months into this and already I’m struggling with boredom big time :-/

One thing I’m considering which might help you, is to save up and chunk overpayments. So instead of paying each little saving straight off the loan, put it into a separate account. Then when you’ve built up a certain amount - say £250 - pay it off in a lump.

That way your goals are linked to the amount you can save, which is entirely under your control. And you can pick goals that are suitably achievable / challenging for you.

Hi yellow mango thanks for the reply, that sounds like a good idea. I don't think realistically I'm going to be in a position to over pay for a little while. With my contractual payment increasing and opening the help to save account I've reduced the armoury I can afford to over pay even though it will be better in the long run it feels like a bit of a low blow at the min. I'm also trying to build my EF Fund back up to £300 before I start over paying.
I keep looking at jobs hoping for something better paid to become available I interviewed recently for something but didn't get it. The job was offered to someone who was already carrying out that role in another part of the country.

I think I need to accept I'm in this for the next 4 years and stop fighting it.

Poppy1984

My debt is finally under £20,000 woooooooooooooooo!!!! Feels like a milestone. Next milestone get it under £15,000 which will feel like a much more manageable amount and less scary.

enthusiasticsaver

Great result on getting the credit cards cleared and the loan under £20k. Keep up the good work and it will soon be less than £15k.

Poppy1984

Thank you enthusiastic saver. I can't wait to get it under £15,000 and I can't wait to be debt free. I'm still looking at jobs to try and find something better paid which would allow me to overpay the loan and get out of debt faster.