Counting Down from £15K

Sarahwithlove

It is worth slowing down and taking longer to have your emergency fund back in place? Up to you but you don't want to have to turn to credit again if something goes wrong. Might be worth slowing it down 2 months to have £1k in buffer 

purplehippo276

@Sarahwithlove The good news is I will be able to replenish my emergency fund in a couple of weeks.  I have two freelance invoices due to be paid in the next couple of days, and I get paid on the 22nd from my day job, so that will top it back up.  If I wasn't able to replenish it, I wouldn't have taken the money out of the emergency fund, as my day job is only fixed term until August so my emergency fund is for a potentially very real upcoming emergency. 

 There is a possibility my contract will be extended for 12 months, but it's a bit up in the air at the moment.   I've got about £1.5K in my emergency fund, or it will be once I top it up next week.  I pay into it each month, but my plan is once the debts are paid off, to spend the remainder of the time between then and August putting what I was paying to debts into my emergency fund, just in case.  It's a real incentive to pay off the debts as fast as I possibly can!  
 

purplehippo276

@juicyjackieb Thank you!  I know, will be so good not to have any debt hanging over me!

Sarahwithlove

That's good then sounds like you have a plan in place whatever happens with your job. I imagine not having the debt to repay every month will massively help if you don't get your contract extended. 

purplehippo276

Got paid a few days ago, and the freelance invoices that I was expecting to be paid were paid on time (not always a given). This means I've topped up my emergency fund to what it was, and now I'm on the HMRC pay down. Feeling good about this.  Although HMRC have a really annoying system, where you can't make an overpayment in the seven days before your direct debit is due, or the seven days after your direct debit is due.  So I'm having to sit on the money I want to pay to them for two weeks. Oh well, there are worse problems to have. 

Nurseries went back here, which has been a real plus for us. From my mental health and my physical ability to work, to just giving us a bit of breathing space. My little one is enjoying seeing their friends too. It does mean that I'm back paying nursery fees again. The no fees in January and most of February really speeded up my debt payback.  It is such a huge chunk of my pay that goes out in fees, so to be able to put this to the debt for 1.5 months there was incredibly useful. But god, I won't lie, paying nursery fees is 100% worth it. Really hope I don't have to parent and work ever like this again.    

purplehippo276

Bumbling along and have a nice wee pot of money waiting to pay HMRC soon.  I was really strict and managed to not spend so much of my allocated fun money in February, so was able to add that to it.  Due to lockdown and snow, the car was barely used, so was able to add much of my allocated February budget for petrol money.  Now the nursery has reopened I'm using much more petrol a week, and I will use more once school reopens in a few weeks so I can't count on those savings, but it was a nice boost whilst it lasted!      

I have a nice client list for freelance work this month.  I'm starting to feel like I really could make the leap to full time self employment come August.  I'd be debt free well before then, am used to living to a strict budget, and would have a good emergency fund behind me.  I'm also building up a larger business fund contingency, which although my monthly outgoings are not high, would add extra security.  Something I'm pondering on a daily basis.  

purplehippo276

12th of the month and all my direct debits have come out.  10 days until payday.  Not matter how long I've been on this journey for (15 months now) this bit of the month is ALWAYS the slowest.  Updated my spreadsheet and I think I might just be able to pay off HMRC next month.  If I make my allocated payments on the 1st of April, I will have only £330 left to pay them.  All being well I should be able to do that with income from my freelance work.  Or I cave again and take it out of emergency fund, and repay that before overpaying on MY LAST DEBT!!  

purplehippo276

Phoned HMRC and finally made the overpayment with the pot I've been building up for a little while now. Did a little happy dance. A client paid me early for an invoice - I wasn't expecting it until next month. I almost cried when it hit my account, as after deducting tax and overheads, I've been able to put the profits to my HMRC fund. This means I will be able to pay off my HMRC debt on pay day next week. Five days until HMRC debt freedom! Then I've only got one debt left that I am going to avalanche the !!!! out of! 

purplehippo276

Payday, so phoned up HMRC and paid off the last of my debt with them! This debt has been part of my life for three years now, and felt like the catalyst for spiralling me into greater debt. My money situation was precarious - I really relied on the couple of hundred pounds a month I got from them to help with childcare costs. When that stopped things got tough, and then when I started having to pay the overpayment back through the monthly direct debit, that was when I started having to put things like petrol and food on to my credit card to get through the month. Paying this off really feels like turning a corner.

[Deleted User]

Well done for paying off the HMRC debt

Pmo2
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