12 months to be debt free

Skintforever

Hi all
After being an extremely long term lurker of these boards iv finally plucked up the courage to start my very own accountability diary. My light bulb beamed brightly about 12 months ago and I made some good progress, til life got in the way AGAIN and I'm now in a worse situation then when I began! I'm a serial planner of my budgets but when it comes to sticking to them I'm absolute garbage...but not any more! Iv roughly worked out I can clear the majority of my debt within 12 months if I stick to the bloody plan 😂 There's definitely going to be tears and tantrums along the way but I need this over with once and for all. Here goes, Day 1.

Homegrown0

Well done for taking control - these diaries are a great place to bounce ideas off other users, get advice and generally keep yourself on track. 

Want to share some of your plans? 

Skintforever

Hi Homegrown! So the most challenging and most important plan is to stick to my budgets! Iv always transfered money into a seperate bank account for food, fuel and general spends but then dipped into other accounts (and credit cards!) for random impulse spends within 2 weeks of the budget cycle. I have quite a modest income but I also have 3 financial drains (kids) that always need something or want to visit somewhere lol another important plan is to actually pay the amount I have set for the debts instead of thinking ill pay £50ish less and keep it to one side 'just incase'. This always gets swallowed up with nothing to show for it.

Skintforever

Morning all
So Day 1 went quiet well, only spends were cash to put inside a birthday card, which was budgeted for. Today could be quite spendy, iv been putting food shopping off for as long as possible (probably the longest iv ever gone) but we have literally no fresh stuff left in the house so will have to go today. I'm going to meal plan and head off with a list so should only spend on whats essential. I budget £70 a month for all food and cleaning supplies for a family of 4 with a few pets, I do go over occasionally but overall I'm not doing too bad with this 'pot'. Iv also got found a good deal on something I buy regularly but in bulk, saving me approx £30 a month over the next 2 months. Big cash outlay today but will be worth it 🤞Iv quite a busy day with people coming and going at certain times throughout the day so shouldn't have much time to visit anymore shops then what is needed. Here's to day 2...

Skintforever

So, a round up of day 2. As anticipated it was very spendy, very very spendy, so now I have £8 in the bank to last til Wednesday 😳 there's plenty of food in the house, hopefully enough fuel in the car and I'm hoping nothing else crops up from now til payday. Today will be spent walking in the countryside somewhere, well away from civilisation (and shops!) so should be a NSD. I'm looking forward to when I can kick start this journey properly and start making dents in this credit card debt! 6 days to go 🤞

enthusiasticsaver

Skintforever said:

I budget £70 a month for all food and cleaning supplies for a family of 4 with a few pets, I do go over occasionally but overall I'm not doing too bad with this 'pot'. 

Should that read £70 a week?  If not you are doing a brilliant job to keep that in budget.  Even £70 a week is not too bad I don't think.  Is it just the credit card debt and how much is it?  You may find it motivating to put the balance at the start and then record your progress each month as it hopefully goes down.  

Do you have any emergency savings?  I know people often think they should throw every spare penny towards debt but it is very disheartening to have an emergency come up and you end up back at square one if you have to increase borrowing.  Having emergency savings (usually £1k) avoids you  having to use a credit card.  Also saving for things you know will come up like birthdays, christmas, vet bills and car repair bills if you have a car is a good idea again to get off the reliance on credit cards. Speak to your children about budgeting and the need to pay off debt or save.  No greater lesson is better for kids of a certain age (early teens or sometimes younger) than learning that living within your income keeps stress low when it comes to finances and having an emergency buffer account is a priority.