Debt free before August 2023

Poppy1984 · 18 May 2020 at 3:50PM

WhySeaEm said:

Poppy1984 said:
I cannot wait to be debt free!!!!!! What a slog but oh so worth it. I never ever thought I'd even get close to becoming debt free when I was drowning in debt and struggling to make payments I thought that was just going to be my life forever. If you're reading this and you haven't had your light bulb moment yet or you have but you feel like it's impossible I can tell you if I can do it anyone can! The one thing that had helped me the most is sticking to a budget yes it's boring yes it's dull but my god does it work. I think it's Dave Ramsey who says something like it's the simplest thing to do but also the hardest and that's true but once you've stuck to a budget a while it starts to become second nature.

Wow I'm so impressed by you paying off half your debt, that's really inspiring! I had mine last night and was awake til 2am reading this forum and thinking, thinking, thinking.

Hi thanks for popping by, oh that's a lovely thing to say thank you. Good luck in your journey

I find these forums a huge support and inspiration.

Take Care
Poppy

Poppy1984 · 18 May 2020 at 3:54PM

savingholmes said:

It's a great target to have Poppy. I know on paper I would be wiser to put my money into an EF - but it tends to get fritter spent there - just keeping it real - where if I pay it off debt I don't respend it. You have to find the right method to motivate you.

Hi Savingholmes
I'm kind of the same when it comes to an EF I like to keep one of around £300 but any more than that I would rather pay off my debt. I do have other savings pots for things like my car, school uniform, holidays, Christmas and other expenses that may pop up so if I totalled them all up including the EF I'd have around £2,000 enough to keep me for having to reach for a credit card I think. It works for me at the moment anyway and I really need to see that debt total coming down to keep me motivated!

Take Care
Poppy

Poppy1984 · 18 May 2020 at 4:01PM

Hi everyone
Just a post to say I have decided to use some of the money I had put away for the family members big birthday trip towards paying off my loan, I will continue to save for the trip and by the time we hopefully are able to book for it again I should have the same amount saved up again so all in all I think it was the right choice.

Is anyone else completely addicted to their phones? I am getting so frustrated with myself. I am totally addicted, its not as if I even have alot of social media on there other than youtube and whatsapp I don't have fb twitter ig snapchat or anything like that. I can find myself just wasting so much time reading on the internet and its doing my head in. I feel like I am just wasting my life away distracting myself by this stupid little box!

I've decided to make a conscious effort to leave it in another room and only check it for messages, emails etc from time to time. As at the moment Ill pick it up to check a text then get distracted and before I know it I have wasted so much time sitting on the dam thing!
Poppy

DancingInTheRain · 18 May 2020 at 4:19PM

Hi Poppy, just caught up on your last few posts and wanted to add my congratulations on being so close to the 15's.
The focus you've applied to debt busting is really admirable.
Good news that you hope to be sub 10k by the end of the year too, that was my stretch target last year and DH and I were do excited to achieve it, such a great feeling, you've got this!
I also would have used the postponed birthday trip money on overpaying the loan, I've done a similar thing recently with refunded holidays that were cancelled due to the virus.
You're disciplined enough to save up for it again so definitely worth it.
Take care x

enthusiasticsaver · 18 May 2020 at 4:57PM

Well done on reducing your debt from more than £30k in Feb 2018 to almost £15k. That is a brilliant result along with having savings pots and an EF. I totally agree with you managing your finances like that and paying insurances annually rather than monthly will save you money. As the holiday is not going ahead I would use that money to pay it off the loan and start saving again for next year. What interest rate did you get on the loan?

I haven't read your diary before and although you fell into the classic error of consolidating debt and then building it up again it now looks as if you have really got to grips with budgeting and controlling your spending rather than your spending controlling you. It can seem like a real slog but I think once the loan is sub £10k the final DFD will seem reachable and needing a bigger house is a great incentive to get this gone.

Re the difference in spending between you and your partner, my husband is a fritterer and I am most definitely not. We have always had joint accounts but the way we have sorted finances is we both get £200 spending money into a personal account for each of us. Mine is often saved and his spent but at least I know that he keeps to the £200 per month rather than constantly spending out of our joint account which is earmarked for household spends and bills. He never goes overdrawn or uses a credit card though (except for our joint supermarket and fuel credit card) which is paid off in full monthly. If you and your partner ever move in together I would recommend you both having spending money to put a ceiling on his spending although if he is fairly casual about taking on debt I would not suggest merging finances at all.

Poppy1984 · 19 May 2020 at 1:25PM

DancingInTheRain said:

Hi Poppy, just caught up on your last few posts and wanted to add my congratulations on being so close to the 15's.
The focus you've applied to debt busting is really admirable.
Good news that you hope to be sub 10k by the end of the year too, that was my stretch target last year and DH and I were do excited to achieve it, such a great feeling, you've got this!
I also would have used the postponed birthday trip money on overpaying the loan, I've done a similar thing recently with refunded holidays that were cancelled due to the virus.
You're disciplined enough to save up for it again so definitely worth it.
Take care x

Hi Dancing in the rain thank you so much for reading and commenting, thank you I am literally so excited to get there

Well done on getting below £10,000 yourself that's amazing! When is your debt free date?

Take Care
Poppy

Poppy1984 · 19 May 2020 at 1:34PM

enthusiasticsaver said:

Well done on reducing your debt from more than £30k in Feb 2018 to almost £15k. That is a brilliant result along with having savings pots and an EF. I totally agree with you managing your finances like that and paying insurances annually rather than monthly will save you money. As the holiday is not going ahead I would use that money to pay it off the loan and start saving again for next year. What interest rate did you get on the loan?

I haven't read your diary before and although you fell into the classic error of consolidating debt and then building it up again it now looks as if you have really got to grips with budgeting and controlling your spending rather than your spending controlling you. It can seem like a real slog but I think once the loan is sub £10k the final DFD will seem reachable and needing a bigger house is a great incentive to get this gone.

Re the difference in spending between you and your partner, my husband is a fritterer and I am most definitely not. We have always had joint accounts but the way we have sorted finances is we both get £200 spending money into a personal account for each of us. Mine is often saved and his spent but at least I know that he keeps to the £200 per month rather than constantly spending out of our joint account which is earmarked for household spends and bills. He never goes overdrawn or uses a credit card though (except for our joint supermarket and fuel credit card) which is paid off in full monthly. If you and your partner ever move in together I would recommend you both having spending money to put a ceiling on his spending although if he is fairly casual about taking on debt I would not suggest merging finances at all.

Hi Enthusiasticsaver
Thank you for reading and replying, yes I did fall into that trap I consolidated twice the first time I had 3 credit cards with £5,000 on each and I took out a loan for £15,000 then gradually spent on the cards and on catalogues, the second time really shook me,I took out a consolidation loan of around £26,000 and only really got it by the skin of my teeth. I did it in summer 2017 and by February 2018 I started to borrow AGAIN on catalogues that's when I had my lightbulb moment and my total debt was almost £31,000 that makes me feel sick to the stomach I scared myself half to death. It was way more than my yearly salary. Since then I have gotten to grips with budgeting and haven't been in my overdraft or borrowed another penny and I don't intend to ever again.

The rate on the loan originally was 8.09% but refinanced it in July 2019 and the rate is now 3.9% my monthly payment increased slightly but it allowed me to reduce the term by an entire year.
Thats a good tip about finances with a partner I will keep that in mind for the future, thank you.
Take Care
Poppy

Poppy1984 · 19 May 2020 at 1:52PM

Hi everyone
I have some exciting news! Not only am I finally in the £15,000 bracket I have got my total down to £15,188

I am sooooooo happy!!!!!!! Its almost in half from what it was in February 2018. Next month on the 15th of June I will be in the £14,000's bracket (only just but still to have it in the 14s will just be amazing!)

can't believe that. It was so worth making that big over payment it has given me such a HUGE boost. Can't wait to get to that £10,000 goal I'm sooooo super excited for that.
Just need to keep plugging away at it and making over payments where I can.
Thank you all for all the support it means so much to me

Poppy