YNAB...ing my way to freedom!

SuperFrank88

So I emailed one of my creditors a few weeks ago to ask why they hadn't defaulted my account yet. This is the last account I am waiting to default. It is frustrating because all my other accounts have defaulted but the 6 year clock hasn't started yet because of this last account.
Anyway, they replied to my email saying that they wanted to help me and that they would freeze interest for a period of time blah blah blah but if I did not set up a payment plan then they 'Could' default me. So the wait continues, I will just have to keep my heels firmly dug in and wait for the default. 

It is a shame though because I had my 'Light Bulb Moment' this time last year and I was hoping that I would have defaulted all my accounts and have that 6 year clock ticking by now. 

Looking back over the last 12 months though I am very proud of the mindset shift that I have had. From living hand to mouth and wasting '000s on credit card on stuff that I did not really need, to sorting my !!!!!! out and getting a decent emergency fund behind me and also having nearly £5k in my S&S ISA. I am proud of myself.

Roll on the next 12 months my goal by the end of Dec 21 is to have a total of £20k in my ISA. It will mean that I have to be very mindful of my spending but it is possible. 

FootyFanDan

Hey, I have been quietly following your progress in the background. Firstly you are smashing this journey, the fact you are in such a good position is a true testament to the hard work and total transformation of mindset you have had so well done. Whilst it is so annoying re the final default I think that the fact you have come so far means that is just shouldn't get you to downhearted. 

Good luck on your next target...pretty sure you will smash it!

SuperFrank88

FootyFanDan said:

Hey, I have been quietly following your progress in the background. Firstly you are smashing this journey, the fact you are in such a good position is a true testament to the hard work and total transformation of mindset you have had so well done. Whilst it is so annoying re the final default I think that the fact you have come so far means that is just shouldn't get you to downhearted. 

Good luck on your next target...pretty sure you will smash it!

Hi Dan, 
Cheers for the kind words. I'll tell you what made the penny drop with me. It was a comment someone made on the DMP thread where he said that my debt is merely a number on a screen. From reading that comment that day, I totally changed my attitude. Don't get me wrong, I am not shying away from the fact that it is my debt and I was the one who got myself in that position, but I will pay it back....just on my terms, not theirs

Legs21

Hi Frank, another Welshy here 

Have spent the last couple of days reading your diary from start to finish and I’m well impressed with how far you’ve come in a relatively short space of time (2 days in my reading mind  )

I don’t have any debt anymore as I paid mine off this year with all the overtime I worked during the pandemic, and there was A LOT of overtime! I’m still doing overtime now but it’s now going into saving an EF and getting all the annual payments saved for when they are due. It’s been much easier to save since all the places I would normally spend have been open then shut, open then shut... 

Good luck on the rest of your debt free journey, I’m sure you’ll smash it with ease. 

L x

SuperFrank88

Legs21 said:

Hi Frank, another Welshy here 

Have spent the last couple of days reading your diary from start to finish and I’m well impressed with how far you’ve come in a relatively short space of time (2 days in my reading mind  )

I don’t have any debt anymore as I paid mine off this year with all the overtime I worked during the pandemic, and there was A LOT of overtime! I’m still doing overtime now but it’s now going into saving an EF and getting all the annual payments saved for when they are due. It’s been much easier to save since all the places I would normally spend have been open then shut, open then shut... 

Good luck on the rest of your debt free journey, I’m sure you’ll smash it with ease. 

L x

Hi @Legs21,
Good to chat to another Welshy What part? I'm in Swansea.

Wow, thank you for spending the time reading my diary, do you have one? I should go back and read through it to see how far I've come.
Congrats on getting rid of the debt, that must be a awesome feeling! Plus it must be even better watching your EF grow knowing that every penny of that is yours to keep. Yes I agree about the spending, it will be interesting to see what happens next year once we get back to some sort of normality, whether I can keep the frugal living up. I am pretty confident that I can because of the mental mindset shift.

What goals have you got now that you are debt free? I would love to follow your journey too

Frank

Legs21

Hi Frank,

I’m more South than you. Just think cheese and Castle!

I don’t have a diary, just followed everyone else’s and took the advice from theirs to bust the debts. It’s weird being debt free as I’m so used to being frugal I think I’d really begrudge flittering money away. I hated spending on necessities even when I was debt busting!

I’m going to tackle the mortgage next. Due to divorce I had to start all over again at 45 so don’t want to be paying my mortgage until I’m 67!

Have subscribed to your diary and will chip in now and then to cheer you on 

L x

Rgib89

Hiya Frank,
I'm back and just caught up on your diary. Well done with how far you have come.

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and everyone is well x

SuperFrank88

Rgib89 said:

Hiya Frank,
I'm back and just caught up on your diary. Well done with how far you have come.

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and everyone is well x

Hi @Rgib89

Great to see you are back and thank you for giving me a nudge to update my diary I will catch up on your diary today.

Frank

SuperFrank88

Hello All,
Nearly a month since my last post! It has been a pretty manic month with finishing projects in work before the Xmas shutdown. 
My OH's Nan went into hospital with a fractured pelvic, caught Covid on the ward and sadly passed away. What a bloody awful disease! We had the funeral on 23rd, well I say funeral... it was literally a 20 minute send off at the graveyard in the hammering rain. We were home within an hour! So sad. My OH and her Nan were so close so it has really hit her hard. 

In more positive news, we had a lovely Christmas dinner together, I cooked and it was so nice for it to be the two of us. Don't get me wrong I love getting together with the family but Christmas day just seems so rushed and then it's over! Had my DD over in the evening for Christmas 2.0 which was great. 

So onto finances, I think I did pretty well this year. I did slightly overspend what I had budgeted this year but it was not the end of the world because the Xmas money I received was used to replace the pot OH said I should've used that money to treat myself, but I don't need anything and it made me feel better knowing that I don't 'owe' any pots in YNAB next month. 
I am still making my DMP payments, still waiting for that last account to default which is annoying as I am 6 month in on paying the rest of my accounts but the 6 year clock still hasn't started yet because of that last account. I did email them asking why they hadn't defaulted yet but they replied saying they did not want to default me and that they would prefer to set up a lower repayment for a period of time. Grrr!! Safe to say I did not reply to that email and will just wait until they eventually default me.
So my plan for this week is to look at my YNAB goals for 2021. I need to increase my 'Gifts' pot based on this Christmas' expenditure. I want to try and get my savings rate up to above 40% from March when my car is paid off  

Great news about the Oxford vaccine today! Hopefully there is light at the end of this very long tunnel! I hope you are all well and staying safe. Last push!

Frank

SuperFrank88

HNY All. I’ve got a good feeling about this one

We had a zoom quiz night last night which was fun. Only had 4 small Brewdog pale ale cans so was fresh this morning. OH wanted to go for a early walk so that’s what we did. 6 miles on the icy local cycle/walking paths. Home to a beef roast. 

Not many goals set for this year. Keep doing what I’m doing, chipping away. I do want to make an effort with my diary on here though, so I will try and jot something down everyday just to keep me accountable! I’m on the site everyday anyway so might as-well write something down. 

Chilled rest of the day for us here. May watch a film.