**Insert witty diary title here**

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*shuffles feet, head down pops back in**

Right after being "outed" by a certain @Naomim just for a titsy weany post on @MiMi66 's thread I thought it best to pop me head in the door and say hello to all debt busting pals old and new.
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I will have me a read later on to see where I was at and update seeing how you get bullied by certain posters --yes @Naomim I'm looking at you here -- for just trying to sneak back on quietly lol.

Naomim

See you can't escape me!!! I re-read almost my whole dairy back last weekend so you were "fresh" in my mind and there you pop up on another diary I read in entirety yesterday.  

Hope all is going well for you, waiting for the updates to come flooding in 😁

Naomim

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I am doing well thank you.  
Why have I "lurked" for over a year? well I guess I just needed a break and some time to chill after a heavy time covering other members of staff during lockdown, the extra traveling hours due to Mr M_F not getting public transport to protect us both and shopping for the outlaws I just felt burnt out and couldn't raise the energy to keep on contributing.  I stopped following diaries (a lot of catching up to do) and just concentrated on keeping well mentally.  It worked to be honest.  Even in real life as a closet social introvert I can't cope with too much interaction at times and have learnt when to step back and take a break.

I have recently being following some threads on the over 50's board and trying to understand some of them on the pensions board! 

There's some really useful stuff there particularly the threads on what you need to live on in retirement. but M_F your no-where near retiring age I hear you cry! (ok a faint whisper I am the wrong side of mid forties) but they have really helped us with forming a budget that includes ALL yes ALL expenses.  Its no wonder we got into this mess with the totals it showed as affordable on our "good income".  I am making strides into cutting down un-necessary expenses and making sure there is room in the budget for the unexpected AND the expected that tends to bite you in the bum when your not looking.
Someones at the door -more to follow....

Naomim

Health & mental health definitely take precedence over everything and I'm glad you found what works for you.

Also being the wrong side of mid 40's, I might have to go look for this over 50's board you mention!  

Lovely to see you but don't feel pressured to keep posting 👍

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Right I've had a talk with meself. Can't be posting on @Naomim s diary while neglecting my own. 
Where are we at?
Debt is now under @£22K yes I know still ouch but continue reading...
At its highest point it was around £28k. This is the first time I've posted actual figures on here.
For years we have tried the Dave Ramsey approach of pay it all off as fast as you can but guess what? This didn't work for us. It involved pay off so much you end up going back in debt because a. You had an "emergency", b. You felt restricted so decided blow it. Or c. Life happens.
What have we changed? We have found OUR budget. Not Dave Ramsey's or Joe bloggs from this site our very own. 
We have found what's important to us..nice food features high on this list. Holidays don't. We like having money for our hobbies which tend to be craft or electronics but don't care if our cars not the latest version as long as it has "some poke" to quote Mr MF. 
It so happens this is a 1.2 ltr C1  not some flashy BMW or the like. 
By learning what our must haves are we have worked our budget to suit us and it works! Debt is reducing.not as fast as it could but for about a year it's not gone up which is fantastic. 
We have savings for annual spends and are gradually reducing our grocery budget but not trying to run before we can walk. 

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BTW just to avoid confusion we know the exact amount we owe but prefer to be ambiguous by saying under £22K

Naomim

It sounds like a well balanced plan. I still feel a little like I'm lurching from one disaster to another, but like you my debt hasn't increased. It has to be good right?

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Oh course it's good @Naomim. Your not only going through a hell of a lot (insert recommendation for Naomin's diary here if you know how to link - I don't ahem) but your debts going the right way. This is what we are learning, as long as it's not increasing or stagnating it's good. Remember the wise old tortoise he knew it was the best way for him x

Anyone reading who doesn't know the story of the tortoise and the hare really needs to Google it. It's a lovely old fable if that's the right word.

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Mini update just incase anyone pops in:
Balance transfer Santander card was applied for and obtained with with a lower limit than needed to transfer the full MBNA balance to.
Not to worry the remainder has been transferred to Virgin for 12 months. Not as good as the 31 months with Santander but at least it's 0% for a year and can be tackled as soon as we have built up a bit more emergency savings. 
We have set DD's at over the minimum but want to increase savings before hitting the debt any harder.  I've given us a year to get at least 1K on top of savings for those non emergencies we know are coming but not when e.g.car repairs.
There was a small hiccup with the virgin transfer as they initially did it at standard rate 😱 but a quick call sorted it out.  I can see the interest refunded but will have to wait till mid Jan for the next statement to check all's well.
Ok not such a mini update after all 🤣

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Right as I'm on a roll I may as well post our current plan/goals for 2022

Debt - pay standard payments above minimum until emergency fund at 1K. Allow one year for this but hope to complete sooner so can resume higher payoffs.  

Savings - continue paying into our discretionary and necessary sinking funds ensuring all annual bills are covered (gifts dentist insurance opticians etc etc) and build up non emergency pots for the stuff we know will happen just not when.
These stuff happens pots will be separate from the true emergency fund and so far goals are:
Car maintenance £500
Tyres and wheel alignment £300
Vet bills £500
Household goods and maintenance £500 (this will need increasing once debts paid).
General Budget - keep on reducing outgoings where possible without stretching so far we quit and blow all our hard work. Do we need it this week is our household mantra and I say this over and over when doing shopping lists and so far it's working. The aim is to squirrel away any weekly budget savings to the EF along with amount budgeted monthly.
In April our sky TV and internet contract is up so I have a note to review March with the intention to cancel the sky TV and go with now TV or similar for less money and no tie in. The TV element is only £16 a month but the tie in annoys me.
Grocery budget is still a work in progress but hey ho at least it's going in the right direction.

The long term goal is to be debt free by end of 2025 if not sooner and then work on overpaying the mortgage to hopefully have that gone within the next 5 years by 2030. Then we will both be mid fifties and can review the longer term goal of retire before SP age or at least go part time. Our current mortgage runs until we are mid sixties but as we are only 3 years into a 10 year fix we have plenty of time to clear chunks before rate rises have to be considered. 
We pay into work pensions but as late starters pay above minimum to ensure there's something in the pot to get out.