Counting Down from £15K

savvylondoner

Hi @purplehippo276, I can totally relate to your diary. LBM, then quick pay down, then frustration at things not going faster. Everyone has told me that this is a marathon not a sprint and the importance of keeping going, chipping away bit by bit. £8k in such a short time is amazing. Something I did was a budget for post-DFD and this is a great motivator (and quite fun!)

purplehippo276

savvylondoner said:

Hi @purplehippo276, I can totally relate to your diary. LBM, then quick pay down, then frustration at things not going faster. Everyone has told me that this is a marathon not a sprint and the importance of keeping going, chipping away bit by bit. £8k in such a short time is amazing. Something I did was a budget for post-DFD and this is a great motivator (and quite fun!)
lo

I do love a budget - I have some very detailed debt repayment spreadsheets - so this sounds like a good plan @savvylondoner

purplehippo276

Quiet few days.  Friday was spendy but budgeted for - I took the kids out for a ice-cream treat and the eldest of course picked the most expensive thing on the menu - a knickerbocker glory - and promptly spilled it all over the floor after about four spoons of the thing.  The parlour kindly gave her a little tub of ice-cream on the house, so I didn't have to buy a replacement thank god.  

Managed a no spend Saturday and Sunday despite being out the house both days, which is a big win.    

The childminder let me know how much I owe her for September (September is my first month of paying full childcare fees again since March), and as a pleasant surprise it's come in at £17 under what I had budgeted, so that's another £17 straight towards the debt.  The nursery, however, have sent me a letter to tell me their fees are going up next month so I'll have to rejig next month's budget...  Swings and roundabouts for sure. 

enthusiasticsaver

What a fantastic result to get down from over £15k to almost under £7k.  I agree with your plan of attack and presumably you are doing everything to keep costs as low as possible until the debts are gone? Having sinking funds and emergency fund is brilliant.  Well done and I hope to see you debt free in the not too distant future. 

purplehippo276

enthusiasticsaver said:

What a fantastic result to get down from over £15k to almost under £7k.  I agree with your plan of attack and presumably you are doing everything to keep costs as low as possible until the debts are gone? Having sinking funds and emergency fund is brilliant.  Well done and I hope to see you debt free in the not too distant future. 

Thanks @enthusiasticsaver - yes, keeping costs as low as possible. I’ve not bought any new clothes or shoes this year, and anything we need for the house or kids I’m tending to  go down the secondhand route first. It gets a bit addictive, this money saving. In January I felt like things were spiralling out of control, now I feel firmly in control and can see an end in sight! 

purplehippo276

High-fiving my way into September with £320 paid to my Barclaycard.  I'm now dropped from the £7Ks in to the £6Ks for my total debt, which I'm over the moon about.  Now I'm in the bit of the month I find hardest - the lull after all my direct debits have come off and bills have been paid.  I have a small amount of money due in around the 17th of the month from freelance work, some of which can go to the debt, so I'm just going to try and hang tight until then, and try not to check my debt-free spreadsheet too obsessively...

enthusiasticsaver

Fantastic that you are now in the £6ks. This debt busting is a long haul so totally get the tough bit is in between paydays where it seems as if you can do nothing. All I would say is that keeping track of everyday spending, staying in budget etc is helping as it stops you adding to the debt. As you say don't get too obsessive or impatient but recognise slow and steady gets there in the end. Maybe if you budget weekly for food any underspend could go to debt? 

purplehippo276

enthusiasticsaver said:

Fantastic that you are now in the £6ks. This debt busting is a long haul so totally get the tough bit is in between paydays where it seems as if you can do nothing. All I would say is that keeping track of everyday spending, staying in budget etc is helping as it stops you adding to the debt. As you say don't get too obsessive or impatient but recognise slow and steady gets there in the end. Maybe if you budget weekly for food any underspend could go to debt? 

@enthusiasticsaver Thank you - celebrating with a cup of tea and a biscuit!  Very long haul - it's definitely much easier than getting into debt than getting out of it that's for sure.

Great tip on the budgets and underspend.  I'm also plugging away on the online surveys to raise a little bit of extra cash towards the debt.  Joined OnePulse the other day but looks like it's going to take forever to get a payout.  

Received a £10 off voucher in the post for one of my favourite shops yesterday.  I normally would have ordered something for me, whether I needed it or not, within half an hour of a voucher like that arriving, but as testament to how far I've come it's still sitting unused.  I'm not going to buy myself anything for myself, but currently debating whether to order something for my kids Christmas present using my Christmas sinking funds.  Sorry if it's too early to mention the C word...!

purplehippo276

Managed a no spend weekend, and managed a free date with my other half thanks to a voucher that Dobbies sent me for free tea and cake for two.  Managed my first trip to a charity shop since lockdown started, and picked up a bundle of kids clothes that they needed for under a fiver.  I feel this penny pinching is going to be my default state even after the debt is gone - it's pretty addictive!    

savingholmes

Wow really well done on shifting the debt.  You are  doing great.