Finding a future after debt

Tahlullah.H

Congratulations on your successes so far.  Keep going, you are doing so well.  Hope you are happy with the haircut!

ceremony

Tahlullah.H said:

Congratulations on your successes so far.  Keep going, you are doing so well.  Hope you are happy with the haircut!

Thanks! Yes, it feels great to have hair "under control" again

LondonLiz

I love a good spreadsheet.  You should see my forensic accounting of spends tracker  Its awesome.  Some **might** consider it slightly OCD in its detail - who cares.  Glad yours makes you happy!

ceremony

LondonLiz said:

I love a good spreadsheet.  You should see my forensic accounting of spends tracker  Its awesome.  Some **might** consider it slightly OCD in its detail - who cares.  Glad yours makes you happy!

That sounds awesome! I'm toying with the idea of YNAB to track spends but I started the trial a few months ago and didn't stick with it. Maybe I should just expand my spreadsheet like you!

Today a £20 payment off one of the CCJs took me under £9,000 total owed, so I'm happy about that!

I got a letter from the council, though, saying that I'd fallen behind on the council tax payments before the pandemic started but they hadn't sent out a reminder due to lockdown. They want the missing payments ASAP, apparently, I'm £489 behind!

I can believe that since I had a very tough period in the run up to Christmas when I lost a client, and I didn't really fully "replace" my earnings until late February. I thought I'd caught up with the payments I'd missed, but wasn't able to check because the civic center was shut.

I'm expecting a decent paycheck next week so I'll throw every leftover penny at that. I've got the option of clearing it "fast" or upping the ongoing weekly arrangement, and since my income is unpredictable I'd rather keep the committed weekly amount low...

It's slightly frustrating to know that there's "some good money" coming in but that it's all going to have to go on debt, but I suppose that's an important lesson in its own right. Only a couple of years of this and then the money can go on something positive instead.

ceremony

I got paid from one client today and I've paid £89 extra off the council tax, leaving £400 urgently outstanding. I'm expecting more money from another client tomorrow so will throw some extra at it then and send them an email to work something out to catch up with the rest. I think I can clear it within a week or two but it's stressing me out to think I'm behind!

It's really hot and humid here and I don't do well in hot weather. I'm ahead on my work so I took the day off to do some fun stuff. It's still sort-of work related, I work in tech and I was messing with some new software that could come in handy for future projects. It was all I could concentrate on. I still feel really guilty though - there's a nagging voice telling me that there are bills to be paid so I should be working constantly. I'll be glad when I'm caught up and that voice shuts up!

Current total £8,800, with £62 in the emergency fund. Expected debt free date: Exactly three years from today at the current rate of repayment. Hopefully I can speed that up.

ceremony

Some more money cleared today so that's another £100 onto the council tax, leaving £300 that I'm behind. Next pay comes on Tuesday so will keep whittling it down as quickly as possible. Unfortunately this coming week is looking quiet for work so we won't have much extra cash the week after that. At least with working from home and not much going on socially there's not really anything to spend money on.

Since I won't have much to do late next week, I'm thinking of taking a "day off". It's less than £15 for a region-wide bus day ticket so I'm planning a cheap day out. I play a lot of GPS games so heading out to explore somewhere new would be fun. I'm a bit nervous about being on public transport for too long considering the virus, but I figure sitting on the top floor, with the windows, open, wearing a mask it should be fine, right?

ceremony

Quick check-in. I've paid another £50 off the council tax, so now the arrangement is £250 behind. I'd hoped to have cleared it by now but I'm still waiting for some payments to come through. At least I've been keeping up with the 'regular bills', so debts currently stand at £8,486, so about 15% paid off so far.

I really want to get the arrears on the council tax arrangement cleared so I can focus on the CCJ that we don't have an arrangement for. I'm worried that since bailiffs will start up again soon that will end up getting more charges tacked on to it so I want it cleared fast... then focus efforts back onto the council tax again to clear it asap. Debt in general is stressing me out but knowing that the council tax will take years to clear is really scary.

I'm expecting to get paid tomorrow which will be nice because we're down to £3 in the current account. At least there's food in so there's no reason to be spending any money!

ceremony

Another £50 paid off the council tax, so £200 behind on the arrangement... current debt total £8,436.

The emergency fund is up to £101.  I'm hoping to clear the council tax arrears without having to hit the emergency fund if at all possible.

I need a new passport for proof of ID for a work-related organization membership. Apparently they cost £75.50 these days. If the project pans out I'll obviously make a lot more back, but it's still a frustrating expense. My passport expired nearly three years ago but I don't travel so I'd never even noticed!

ceremony

Some more money came in so that's £50 more off the council tax, so the arrangement is £150 behind now. I threw some scraps at some other debts too and have ordered the passport. They say it might take longer than 6 weeks to come. Everything's up in the air project-wise (thanks, coronavirus) so I hope it comes through in time.

Current debt stands at £8,341. The emergency fund is at £104. 

The goal for the month is to chip away at the council tax and the bigger of the two CCJs since they're stressing me out. We'll get there eventually!

ceremony

So, monthly update:

Debt Jun 2020   Current

CT    5144    4300 (that includes this year)
Rent    240    0 (arrears)
CCJ  445    385 (has arrangement)
CCJ    543    460 (being paid back but no arrangement)
Three    40    0
Three    261    251 (has arrangement)
PDL   340    120 (has arrangement)
PDL    114    114 (need to contact)
PDL    200    191 (being paid back but they haven't agreed to arrangement yet))
Washer    509    509 (need to contact)
Business    2200    1954  (not defaulted)

Start debt: £10,036, Current: £8,284

Emergency fund up to £104

Slowly, slowly getting there!

I still have £150 to pay to be caught up with the council tax arrangement, and I really need to hammer that CCJ. Paying for a new passport set me back a bit with that but it'll be worth it in the end. My spreadsheet reckons 34 months to being debt-free at the current rate, which is both "so close it feels within reach" but also AGES away!

We still haven't replaced the microwave and it's getting more and more quirky so I think that really needs done soon. I'm working "overtime" (if you can do that while self-employed haha) this weekend so maybe once the council tax arrangement is caught up we can do that next.