The Last Leg; 6 years later, debt free in 2021

greensalad

I haven't written a proper post in the DFW forums for a loooong time. I used to be on this forum all the time and it really helped me! Funnily enough I can see the points where my debt peaked were the points my posting here was at its lowest.

I wanted to start a little diary because, hopefully actually for the last time, I think I'm going to be debt free. It's so close and within grasp now where it never really felt it was before. 

A little bit of backstory about me. I graduated in 2014 with a fair chunk of consumer debt. Two overdrafts, a small credit card, and some student loan overpayment. I was on £22k and struggling to pay it off but I used to come on DFW every day and was able to slowly pay it down. Then in 2016 I got a new job, paying a lot more and my debt spiralled... funny that.

I went from earning £22k to £85k, that should have been the end of all my debt troubles, right? But I had never known how to look after money before. I threw money around everywhere. We moved house, I filled it with nice furniture. I got accepted for a £10k credit card and spent the entire balance within 6 months. I didn't properly keep to my paperwork regarding my corporation tax and ended up in debt with HMRC. I was spending so far beyond my means that I was scraping by on a ridiculously high salary. How did that even happen?

My debt rocketed to £26k and I was keeping it all from my partner, he had no idea. It was mentally killing me and I felt like there was no way out. I was suicidal. I came on here and poured my heart out about what to do and decided I had to tell him. I knew I'd never be able to say what I needed to without crying so I sent him an email on my commute home from work, so he had time to read it, and when I got home we sat down and talked.

Amazingly he forgave me, he wanted to help and he didn't want to leave me. I surely thought my relationship was going to be over there and then but I ended up coming out of it feeling even stronger. He offered to help me out by giving me an additional £200 per month to pay off my debt which was just the amount I needed to keep my head above water and I was able to start paying it down instead of it constantly spiralling.

I carried on like that for a long time, paying down what I could but I never really put a lot of effort into it. By this time I had moved jobs to a lower but less stressful job at £50k, plenty to be able to pay off my debts but I still needed to work hard at it.

New Year's Eve 2018 I was looking at my bank balance mere days after being paid and worrying how I would get through January. I knew I couldn't go on another year not really making proper progress so I knew I needed to start putting real effort in. I ended up going back to using YNAB, budgeting software I'd used before but had fizzled out of using at some point. I knew if I had YNAB to help me plan my finances I'd be much better at sticking with it. I have diligently tracked every transaction since December 2018 into YNAB and it's amazing to see the impact it has made. 

Now here I am halfway through 2020 and instead of the £26k I started with back in 2017 I've got £2,999 in debt. We've decided to combine our finances fully and total debt we have is £8.5k. I'm finally able to help my boyfriend pay off a credit card he has which feels great because of how much he helped me all those years ago. My forecasting shows we'll both be debt-free by next summer, but my personal debts will be gone by February 2021 at the latest. We're finally going to save for a house!

So here I am, starting hopefully the last diary of our last little slog through to becoming DF 

swfcfan

Just stopping by to say good luck! Inspiring story and the end is in sight! You can do this 

greensalad

Thought I'd share the data from YNAB's net worth graph from December 2018 to now. I just love looking at it as it shows progress well. 

Only accounts not included are my student loan debt (-£10k) plus pension savings (+£10k). As they both balance each other out and are rather inevitable I will still consider myself debt-free if I have student loan as I won't be overpaying it.


I started with next to nothing in assets. You can see around October 2019 when I decided I was a fool for not having even a small Emergency Fund, so I started putting cash aside and now have £1,500. Last month I had a nice pot of cash in assets as I was saving to pay off a loan, which has now been fully repaid just a few days ago

July's paycheque will be utilised:
£56 for my partner's minimum CC on his 0% card
£364 towards my last CC to pay it off by the 0% end date next February
Surplus (should be about £1k) divided and put into our LISAs so we can get that maximum bonus next April

greensalad

Sky are finally paying me back the credit I was owed after cancelling with them. So a nice £45 in my pocket! I can't believe how much we were paying for it (£90 plus) and glad that we were able to treat ourselves to Disney+ subscription, plus our regular Netflix, and still save £72 a month. 

I haven't really done anything money-saving today. It's our scheduled takeaway night which I am excited about, then freezer dinner tomorrow, and then our Ocado order arrives on Friday for our full meal plan to take us to next week. Much like the rest of furlough we haven't been doing much and I'm actually finding myself saving a lot of money.

Just sitting waiting for the next paycheque (25th) so I can budget which is something I always look forward to.

Kakiste

Well done. You've done so well.
I'm hopefully going to be debt free by the end of 2021 as well if all my plans come off well. Bit longer if not.  Can't wait.  

greensalad

Kakiste said:

Well done. You've done so well.
I'm hopefully going to be debt free by the end of 2021 as well if all my plans come off well. Bit longer if not.  Can't wait.  

Just had a read of your diary as it seems we are quite similar! Thanks for posting.

greensalad

Just got paid £10 for a craft joblot bundle I put on eBay. Just listed a joblot of lining fabrics I have. They were all cheap acetate type that I don't like very much so I think I'd rather get rid and buy what I need when I'm making something, so I can save on space too. 

Today 
Was meant to deep clean the kitchen today but ended up only doing a bit of a clean... more than just daily cleaning but not the deep one. Which means I'll have to do it on Sunday 

Tomorrow
Continuing with my current project of creating a sewing cupboard in our spare bedroom. The cupboard didn't have shelves in when we moved in but we took some wood out of the other cupboard so I am going to try and build the shelves in this week. I want to paint them white too as at the moment they are plain MDF boards. I've got some spare wood from building the veg bed but might need more

So tomorrow possibly a trip to Wickes to buy satinwood paint and some extra wood to balance the shelves on. Also need to go to the tip and get rid of some stuff.

The future
Being furloughed means not a lot. Ocado coming on Friday. Carrying on with organisation so I can get back to sewing. Need to sew my friend a cushion I promised her for her nursery. Seeing her Saturday after next for a socially distanced visit to Wisley Gardens.

Mumoffourkids

Ooh what kind of cushion are you sewing for your friend? I sew a lot and am currently making patchwork cushions out of school uniform for school leavers. 

greensalad

Just a simple cover with some piping. She is pregnant and had bought some pretty fabric she wanted for the baby room so I said I would make a cushion. Probably invisible zip so she can easily remove the cover and wash it as it's going on her breastfeeding chair! 

greensalad

Started my project today of painting the woodwork inside the new sewing cupboard only to discover my paint has separated and is drippy and horrible. So off to Homebase to buy a new tin. In fairness the other one is 4 years old and as much as I tried to mix it it kept dripping everywhere. 

Dinner tonight is veggie sausage cassoulet. I have a few people coming to collect Freecycle things and I have a few things to list on eBay. Other than that not a lot on!

greensalad

Finished painting the woodwork in the cupboard with the new tin. I forgot to look at the price, £21 when I got to the till! Eek! Plus it's horrible oil-based so a nightmare to clean.

Still, I realised I don't need to buy additional wood for the shelves that I thought I would so I guess I saved there. I've just painted the flat parts of both shelves that are out of the cupboard, they're drying in the kitchen.

I also painted the underside of the shelf that is stuck in place. Need my step stool to paint the rest.

House is a tip but I am going to put a podcast on and get the living room done over. I'm trying to get onto a better cleaning schedule where I just do everything on a Sunday (deep) but keep up with cleaning throughout the week to make it easier. 

Funny how furlough seems to have made me less likely to clean as I'm less motivated.