Debt free before August 2023

savingholmes

hi Poppy - I sympathise on the wanting to join in the spending thing. Good that you are staying on track. Is there anything you can do to kickstart things? Any utilities or broadband or other contracts to switch and save? Any bank account savings? Anything more you can sell so it doesn't feel like dead time waiting? Have you got any low cost hobbies that could make you feel more alive?

Poppy1984

savingholmes said:

hi Poppy - I sympathise on the wanting to join in the spending thing. Good that you are staying on track. Is there anything you can do to kickstart things? Any utilities or broadband or other contracts to switch and save? Any bank account savings? Anything more you can sell so it doesn't feel like dead time waiting? Have you got any low cost hobbies that could make you feel more alive?

Hi Savingholmes 👋 
I've been considering switching my current account but don't know if I can face all the hassle that comes with it. It would be £175 to put towards the loan though. 

Nothing to sell and no money making hobbies, shall have a think though. 

Poppy

Poppy1984

I've decided to do the current account switch for the £175 bonus, it wont come through for a few months but will be a nice little boost when it does, I will pay it directly off my loan when it does come through. 

Its pay day on Friday and I've got £40 left in my account, I have no planned spends over the next few days so hoping to pop the £40 away for spending money as I'm going away for a couple of nights next month. 

My car needed 2 new tyres and in the past that would have sent me into a spin and panicking about where I would get the money for this but because I had the money set to one side it was fine. 

I won't be making any overpayments to my loan this month but I'm okay with that,  things are just ticking on nicely, I have £300 in my emergency fund and a few different little pots of money set aside for upcoming one off payments. 

I'm managing to go to the gym 3 times a week at the moment so I'm pleased with that. 

Meal planning is still a bit of a hurdle for me but I need to keep at it as its the one thing that helps me to be organised and saves me money. 

Poppy

Poppy1984

Having a late night stress! Aghhhh! Feel so frustrated I'm trying so hard to become debt free and my partner just spends spends spends! How do people cope with partners who aren't in debt but are terrible with money? 

I don't feel like it's my business to tell him what to do with his money but it's giving me serious concerns for the future. 

We've talked about moving in together and where I'll be being very frugal and sticking to a budget he'll be off "treating himself" to the latest gadget or whatever. I think it'll really make me resent him. 

He's super impulsive, doesn't "plan" lives in the moment. I'm having serious worries about our future together. 

Sorry for the rant just need to put it out there and maybe someone in a similar situation could offer some advice? 

Poppy  

FootyFanDan

Morning Poppy  

you are going along really well at the moment. £300 in EF is a really good place to be so as long as you keep ticking along with that it will be going up. Like you my car is going to need new tyres at some point over next few weeks but this is already budgeted for so no panic, the old me would have not even thought about it and just found the money somehwere or got in debt to pay for it so we are both deffo improving there

Re the partner - its a difficult one as at present if there are no shared finances so to speak he is just plodding on and being care free which i guess is okay for now....however as you say in the future when your sharing an home and possibly finances then you are going to be in a place where you are used to been super savvy with money and is he going to want to get on board with that? Its hard...i used to be that guy no care in the world, no worry about the future so i can understand thats a nice way to live but if you have one person budgeting there !!!!!! of and the other not doing so it might be counter productive. Its okay to want nice things but it needs to be done in such a way that other stuff doesn't suffer.  Does he know the story about why your doing this? Have you two discussed a future and how that might work.

Sorry probably not helpful at all. but wanted to pop in and just tell you i am super impressed with the work you are putting in to fix your old ways. Keep going...whatever the challenge you have got this! x

Poppy1984

FootyFanDan said:

Morning Poppy  

you are going along really well at the moment. £300 in EF is a really good place to be so as long as you keep ticking along with that it will be going up. Like you my car is going to need new tyres at some point over next few weeks but this is already budgeted for so no panic, the old me would have not even thought about it and just found the money somehwere or got in debt to pay for it so we are both deffo improving there

Re the partner - its a difficult one as at present if there are no shared finances so to speak he is just plodding on and being care free which i guess is okay for now....however as you say in the future when your sharing an home and possibly finances then you are going to be in a place where you are used to been super savvy with money and is he going to want to get on board with that? Its hard...i used to be that guy no care in the world, no worry about the future so i can understand thats a nice way to live but if you have one person budgeting there !!!!!! of and the other not doing so it might be counter productive. Its okay to want nice things but it needs to be done in such a way that other stuff doesn't suffer.  Does he know the story about why your doing this? Have you two discussed a future and how that might work.

Sorry probably not helpful at all. but wanted to pop in and just tell you i am super impressed with the work you are putting in to fix your old ways. Keep going...whatever the challenge you have got this! x

Hi Dan thanks so much for popping by and your support. Honestly one of the reasons I fell in love with him was the living for the moment impulsivity so I feel bad bitching about it as he really is amazing and lovely and being care free and seizing the moment really are lovely qualities. I think if I'm totally honest I've got a bit of the green eyed monster going on too as I used to be a shopaholic (one of the reasons my debt built up was buying things as "treats" that I didn't really need) so there's still that part of me that would love to splurge if that makes sense. 

Also he is rubbish with money he will buy a big purchase on pay day and be skint for the rest of the month so that frustrates me too. 

We have chatted a little bit like I say I find it a bit awkward because we don't have any shared finances at the moment so it's none of my business what he spends his money on, he's very open about money so it's not like he's hiding things from me so I don't want to start poking my nose in where it's not wanted and push him away if that makes sense. 

Like you day maybe it will be different when we move in together and he can't be as care free I just panic he'll still be the same and I'll be left picking up the pieces. 

He knows all about my debt and has been super supportive while I've been trying to pay it down. 

Maybe I just needed to get it off my chest, I know I'm very lucky and money's not everything it's certainly not worth falling out over. 

With the EF I like to have £300 in there as a minimum, I'm only feeding £10 a month in after that so it won't build up very fast, but it's the way I like to do it and it's worked for me for the last couple of years. The reason why I'm not too worried about it being more is because I have a lot of other pots set aside for 1 off yearly purchases, I have a car pot a pot for things my ds may need, a pot for xmas savings, a pot for holiday savings and so on. So the EF is literally only for emergency's that haven't been planned for and nothing else. 

Thank you for your kind words. Pay day today yippeee! I'm really hoping to make a loan overpayment The day before next pay day. 

Poppy

FootyFanDan

Hey, 

I 100% get that and I really understand your view on it. I think maybe due to our debt situations we wish we could maybe live more in the moment and maybe have a little envy of those that can do that ( WE WILL GET TO THAT POINT) haha.  I get the splurge feeling alot which is why i am quite happy i have kept on trackk so far with becoming debt free, but i won't lie i have days where i wish it was different and i didn't need to be sensible. 

I think it wise whilst you have seperate finances to leave it alone at the moment, however hopefully by time joint finances come then you will be further down the line with the journey. It seems that he is very supportive so that is a blessing really, and deffo not worth pushing him away. this place defo gives you a place to air some views and clear the air too so that is added bonus of a diary haha.

Every bit helps with the EF, have a fab weekend. x

savingholmes

Hi Poppy - what you are describing sounds similar to ADHD - as he ever done on online questionnaire or looked into it? It is likely to affect your relationship if you get together and he doesn't put strategies in place to limit his spending... I think you are right to be concerned.

Poppy1984

savingholmes said:

Hi Poppy - what you are describing sounds similar to ADHD - as he ever done on online questionnaire or looked into it? It is likely to affect your relationship if you get together and he doesn't put strategies in place to limit his spending... I think you are right to be concerned.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with that one, he shows other signs of adhd also. He would never want to do that he doesn't like labels and feels things like that are a judgment. I think as hard as it is I have to really think long and hard about our future together. I haven't worked this hard to have it all undone I know that sounds harsh but I am worried that may happen. 

Poppy

Poppy1984

It's been a while since I've posted, really just because I feel like I don't really have much to say so what's the point in posting. I am still plodding on though, and debt is still coming down. I've paid off £13,845 to date, so happy about that!! 

I'm currently trying to switch to a different mortgage provider for a better interest rate to the one that has just finished the fixed deal. Not sure what's happening with it as everything's taking much longer during this time so just going to wait and see. If it goes through okay I will be paying £20 less a month so that would be good but we'll see. 

Hoping to make an overpayment to my loan by next pay day (15th) however I'm not sure whether to do this or not with the current situation, I wasn't sure whether it would be better just to put any money I would have used as an overpayment into a separate account for now and then pay off a lump sum once things are more back to "normal" just in case something comes up with work and I need that money. But also seeing an overpayment would be motivating and I do have an emergency fund and other saving pots so I just can't decide. 

An over payment would be taking me into the next thousand bracket and toward the 15,000 which was the next goal I was aiming towards! Once I get the total down to 15,000 my next goal will be 10,000 and I'm hoping to get to that by the end of this year. 

Once my total is down to £10,000 I think I'll feel much happier about the level of debt and feel like it's much less of a burden and a real light at the end of the tunnel. Not that I want to wish my life away but I really can't wait to be debt free!! 

Hope everyone is keeping well and safe during lockdown  🌈 

poppy