5,000 miles and even more pounds

Smashingitnow

Brill idea! I love reading other people's percentages. My first milestones were all about clearing certain cards but won't be clearing any now til Feb...that will keep me motivated. Thank you!

moneyonmymindsam

What did I hear you say 14k amazing 

Smashingitnow

Thanks, Sam!

enthusiasticsaver

One third of the debt is paid off in just 6 months. Well done. 

purplehippo276

Smashingitnow - you are indeed smashing it now! What a great achievement. Hoping your boss was just having a bad day and your job is secure. 

I read about your Barclaycard debt being a slog. Barclaycard is my highest debt too and what I’ve done is on my repayment spreadsheet is split the card limit for that particular card into 5% intervals so that it’s counting down from 100% down to 0%  Every time I pay off 5% I fill the box with a colour to signify my progress, so I treat it as a mini goal within a much larger goal. If that makes sense, to stop me getting bogged down. I also have the same setup for my total debt as a whole (I’m VERY into spreadsheets!), but really recommend this method! 

purplehippo276

Ps: following your diary now, now that I know how! 

ryanm8655

Great that you’ve hit another milestone!

Barclaycard was also my highest debt...I had used BTs at different times so had several different 0% end dates, so used those as my milestones.

Sorry to hear about your boss, sounds like a ******. Clearly not very good at their job if that’s how they speak to staff. Are they under stress themselves? What are the employment rights like in the country you are in? Would you get notice? I assume the fluctuation in pay is due to fx rate changes. E.g. your salary might be set as $2000 but paid in GBP and hence fluctuates.

magicgal

Hope you’ve had a good birthday. I’m sure I’m a few days late on the wishes so apologies for that. 

You have done an amazing job with your payments so far and while February seems a while off yet, it will be here before you know it. Hopefully celebrating another milestone 🥳
I know loads of people who got their first mortgage in their 40s so it’s not impossible at all. Goalposts will move by the time you are ready but if you can keep saving at a reasonable rate, you will have a good chance of getting past a few hurdles. Keeping everything crossed for you x

Smashingitnow

Aw...just popped on and Magic Gal and Ryan's comments have cheered me up.
I have had a really tough few days...but focusing on the money side of things:
Got my refund from Capital One (managed to not just pay off the card but somehow over pay it, not sure how!) so that will go to Barclaycard. I'll have overpaid Barclaycard by a good 200 quid this month, which isn't bad
Loan payment came out today 146 pounds for a car I've long since sold, but don't regret it - the six months I had with that car before emigrating let me see the UK, go hiking, camping and generally have adventures. It's also only at 16% which imy lowest APR!
Something weird is going on with Vanquis - I am locked out of the account again. Am making a payment of seventeen pounds which I THINK will pay the card off...I'm just confused as to why the minimum payment is so high, since it should just be one month's interest on 800 pounds that is owing...maybe when the balance gets so low the minimum payment is higher, rather than a % of the total balance?
Finallym got my clearscore report, which I always look forward to as it comes out in the 'middle' of the month when not much is happening, debt-busting wise....
I've noticed they lag ridiculously behind my repayments. So it will claim balances are hundreds, sometimes thousands what they really are..still is motivating to see the trends coming down
But this week - the indignity!!!! - they'd managed up update the card I'd balance transferred ONTO and not the one I'd transferred FROM (of course!!) as well as being late updating the other accounts...meaning the balance they say I owe is about 3k higher than it is...now I don't this doesn't hugely matter, but given how delicious it would be to get a BT card for some of that Barclaycard debt, it was a bit depressing to see that according to them my debt went UP last month.
I am still in two minds about the holiday - which would start in just four weeks. I feel SO stressed, like a different kind of stress I've never felt before, sort of in a permanent panic attack...stopped eating or sleeping over the last two weeks.  So I think I might NEED to get away from this noisy, polluted city somewhere quiet and soothing or I am going to breakown irreverocably. I think my only hope - given we are months away from being able to go back to work or visit parks or museums or socialise here at all - is to have a break and just accept that it will put the debt free date back by a month, which isn't the end of the world. 

ryanm8655

If I was you I’d take the holiday if that is how you feel. Mental health is the most important thing and that level of anxiety does not sound fun. Pushing debt free date back is not the end of the world...think about how far you’ve come. I actually read back the first few pages of my diary yesterday having got a bit down that I still have £10k debt, which is monumental to lots of people. It helped put things into perspective in terms of my guilt at taking a break from going hard at it for a month.

Actually had a similar experience for different reasons and it helped no end. Take the holiday, not least because it was recently your birthday! Happy birthday!

With you on clear score being annoying...it’s always lagging behind my true debt level. As you know, it doesn’t really matter, though I did get excited when my credit scores went up for the first time in a longtime recently, even though I know it doesn’t matter.

On balance transfers, a small tip that you may already be aware of...as soon as one card is available there are usually a couple. I apply for all the cards I’m eligible for (and of course need - no point in getting cards you don’t need) before the credit records update and your available credit etc. Increases again. This is actually how my debt really ramped up back in the day, took out loads of cards at once to lower the interest rates on my debt but never paid more than minimum payment and also made use of money transfers to clear my overdraft (which I then built back up again - lesson learned) but done the right way it can be sensible.