Back to the grindstone

Wimbrel

As you can see from the signature I've been very well supported here to sort my life out,

2019, however, has been a bit of a pig of a year, A close family bereavement meant several expensive trips and then there was the funeral and seemingly endless legal bills to pay and my savings were wiped out. In much happier news our youngest daughter got married and we contributed to that too, then, just before Christmas, we got an unexpected bill from HMRC. we are fighting that but HMRC can do serious damage to your credit rating so I paid it whilst we continue to contest. Add to this an unexpected MOT failure and a £600 garage bill and 2019 has been costly!

Anyway, long story short after a lovely period of being debt-free and building savings I now have to bite the bullet and get back on track. I've just done the calculations and the budget and that is always the toughest bit.

We still have our emergency fund intact,
The total debt is £7325. It's divided between a bank loan on 5% interest (current balance £4325) and £3000 on a credit card on 0% interest (thank you newly rebuilt excellent credit rating). I intend to throw everything possible at the CC over the next few months then overpay the loan...The intention is to clear the credit card by June at the latest and be back to a point where I can start rebuilding the savings again by December. The loan reduces by £220 a month but as soon as I can I want to up that payment (there are no penalties for early repayment)

I will continue to put £155 a month into my credit union savings account as that's the car fund and not only guards against future garage bills but builds to the time when the car will need replacing and to put £50 a month into the emergency fund.. other than that it makes no sense to build savings when paying more interest on a loan than I get in savings.

Anyway, you guys were incredibly helpful when I was facing a far worse issue so posting here is a marker of my intention to be back on the straight and narrow in a year!

I'm starting with a freezer and store cupboard challenge, I reckon I can do two or three weeks of only buying fresh veg/ milk/ bread and use the things I have in stock.. that should release £150 or more to pay off from the credit card. I'm also going to pay something, no matter how little, every week and, in the new year, pay in the £2 coin jar and transfer that to reduce the balance, I know that I should deal with the loan first as it's the highest interest but I can't stand being in credit card debt so psychologically that needs to go first!

Wish me luck!

sourcrates

This may be better off in the diary section, would you like me to move it for you ?

Wimbrel

yes please!