Sorting out the mess 'past me' got me in to, for a happier 'future me'

FOMO_overspender

Sarahwithlove said:

As much as it might be nice to overpay the loan due to interest if the mental aspect of paying off the card will help then pay the card. Could you maybe work out how much you'll save in interest for every extra £100 you pay off to help keep you motivated towards paying the loan off. 

That's a very good idea re: interest saving, as that will definitely make me motivated to keep on the loan! Great suggestion - I feel like there is a calculator online to work this out?! 

enthusiasticsaver said:

Sounds like you are managing to make savings.  Even if the credit card is at 0% presumably the deal expires sometime so it would need to be repaid by then and it might motivate you to get rid of a fairly small debt.  Never really thought about selling books through Ziffit.  I am going through a decluttering phase but tend to take them to charity shops but at the moment that is problematic.  

Yes, it expires in 19 months time, so I have been paying off £100 to make sure it is totally gone before the 0% expires. Same, I normally do charity but since unable to drop off I tried Ziffit and it was pretty good - seemed to get more £ for books than anything else. 

Hope everyone is having a good week! 

Naomim

Hi, I've just finished reading through your diary. You are doing so well! It goes to show how the small overpayments soon add up.

Keep up the good work 👍

Naomim 

FOMO_overspender

Naomim said:

Hi, I've just finished reading through your diary. You are doing so well! It goes to show how the small overpayments soon add up.

Keep up the good work 👍

Naomim 

Thanks so much! Really appreciate your comment and encouragement  

Paid another £100 to my loan today & it's almost payday - first time in a very long time I am not counting down the days because I have overspent. Another month with no adding to my debt too!  Managed to be totally underbudget each week so far this month, I am sure that is definitely in large due to lockdown but also I think having a weekly spend budget has been much better for me. 

EssexOstrich

FOMO_overspender said:

Mid week update (kind of). Got the money for decluttering through from Zifft so paid that to my loan, I also underspent on my weekly budget last week by £50 so put that towards my loan too. So I am under my £18k target now by £100, so that's great. I am starting to feel a slight dip in motivation as £18k (or just under) still feels so HUGE, so I think from next month I might overpay on my CC (as this my smallest debt at £1,850) and get rid of that quicker. I am torn though, as my credit card is on 0%... 

I am definitely relating to you on this Fomo! I've just got below £20k, which is great, over a third of the way through, but £10k seems so far away!

You have done brilliantly! I've paid down my smaller debts despite them being on 0% as mentally it's felt more of an achievement than chipping away at a bigger debt with interest and keeps me more motivated. Good luck!!

FOMO_overspender

EssexOstrich said:

I am definitely relating to you on this Fomo! I've just got below £20k, which is great, over a third of the way through, but £10k seems so far away!

You have done brilliantly! I've paid down my smaller debts despite them being on 0% as mentally it's felt more of an achievement than chipping away at a bigger debt with interest and keeps me more motivated. Good luck!!

Wow over a third is amazing too! Well done. Its funny isn't it, that when you see the achievement in someone else you can feel super impressed but with yourself it's a different picture. Need to keep reminding myself that this time last year, I would have been putting Xmas on credit cards, living with a maxed out overdraft of £2,500 etc, no conscious spending just spending to spend.

Yeah I think that might be the approach I take - even just paying off a bit more than the min to pay it off before 0% runs out will probably make me feel better. 

Successfully applied for the WFH tax relief, so that's a few extra ££ in my wage this month and have been doing quite a few surveys too, so got about £10 to withdraw from there. I have a few days off this week so going to do some Xmas present wrapping and try and get the last few bits. Feels like Xmas is going to be here in the blink of an eye!! 

FOMO_overspender

Ok, here is this month's pay day update!  
So, firstly, debt totals: 

• Loan: £15,458.94
• CC: £1,750
• Total: £17,208.94
• Total paid to date: £9,171.55/ 34%

I can't quite believe I have paid off almost £10k! That's huge and I am so glad to be over a third of the way through! Whilst this feels like a slog, when I look back and think I actually didn't start consciously debt busting until this year, I feel like I have come quite far.

Few wins this month: 

1. Sinking fund for Xmas - this has been a real game changer. I appreciate I am lucky to be fortunate enough to still be working and not possible for everyone, but for me this has been great. I haven't been reliant on this pay day to buy presents, which is really out of the norm for me (I used to rely on this pay day and the early Dec one too!) 
2. Simple budgeting - I have found that giving myself £X per week to spend on everything is really helping me. I have been running two budgets side by side, so one that details how much I spend on every category to keep track where I am spending too much (takeaways!!) and another that just has a weekly allowance. All in all my spending has come down so far, but it has also been lockdown so let's see if that continues. I think it's because I don't feel like I can as easily 'borrow' from another category on my budget when I have set myself a weekly spend, it somehow works. So going to stick with this for now. 

What's not been great; 

• I really dipped in motivation this month. I felt really overwhelmed with the number and really did wonder whether to just go back to paying just my set loan amount and min credit card payment. However, after some encouragement on here and also finding a calculator that showed me how much £ in interest overpaying my loan would save me kept me on track. 

Here's to a MSE December!! 

Aspiration

FOMO do you think it becomes a bit ‘Mundane’ now you’ve made such great progress? 

I’ve noticed that because I budget weekly now, payday is kind of irrelevant as It just tops the pots up so I don’t have that ‘Feeling flush’ payday feeling anymore? 

You’ve made huge progress and should be really proud. 

FOMO_overspender

Aspiration said:

FOMO do you think it becomes a bit ‘Mundane’ now you’ve made such great progress? 

I’ve noticed that because I budget weekly now, payday is kind of irrelevant as It just tops the pots up so I don’t have that ‘Feeling flush’ payday feeling anymore? 

You’ve made huge progress and should be really proud. 

Yes, I think it's a little bit of that and also just feeling like £17k is still a very big number! I think I just struggle sometimes with being so annoyed that I have got myself to this situation, that it can be demotivating. However, I agree, that payday feeling isn't the same but I am finding that a nice surprise as I never thought I would ever get to the point where it didn't matter how close or far away I am from payday! I keep reminding myself that every day I am not adding to any debt I am doing a good job and also, I know when I look at the numbers I have made real progress, I think I just hit a lull month combined with general lockdown feeling of meh!!! 

enthusiasticsaver

Paying off almost £10k is brilliant.  Keep going.  There will be periods where it all feels a bit of a slog but it will be worth it to get the debt gone and get that debt repayment figure back in your budget.  CC is almost gone. I agree that payday means nothing when you are on a budget.  Sometimes I forget when our pensions go in because it makes no difference really when all your expenditure is budgeted.  I think everyone feels a bit Meh at the moment. 

Sarahwithlove

Maybe focus on the percentage of debt paid off. I find now that mine ticks along due to DD for credit cards and my budget is same each month that it feels like I'm not doing much. So focusing on paying off 1% and how to build up money from different sources to make it seems to be helping. I use save the change on my bank, surveys and receipt apps for it. Also bank rewards and cash back also go into that pot. Once I have that extra 1% saved I will pay it off. Each percentage extra that can be paid off is 1% closer to goal of it all gone.