Counting Down from £15K

purplehippo276

Had a rejig of my spreadsheets, and going to be taking more of a scenic route to debt freedom. 

The Barclaycard is now sub £1k - £900 to be exact. Rather than rush to pay it off next month (my original plan) I can pay it off at £150 per month within the 0% interest free period, giving me more leeway to save. 

I really need to increase my emergency fund (currently £780) in case I lose my job come august so right now that’s my biggest priority. Commuting to putting at least £150 per month in there, and topping that up with freelance income. My plan is to use some of that he emergency fund to pay off my loans if I keep my job/find another one quickly. Fingers crossed. 

I mentioned before but I need to save more for my sinking funds too. I’ve had to spend a bit on my virgin credit card in the last week. I think debt busting at the level I have been for 10 months now hasn’t been sustainable on my income as there are things I haven’t saved for (but plenty that I have) so it didn’t compromise what I could send to debt, so I need to increase what I save and what I need to pay to the Virgin card to compensate. 

I have been paying £600 per month on average to the Barclaycard, so I can split that to 
£150 Barclaycard 
£150 Emergency Fund
£150 Virgin Card (plus the £20 per month I’ve been paying) 
£150 Sinking funds 

Anything additional (e.g. a better than expected freelance month) will be split between the emergency fund and Barclaycard.  Feel like this puts me in a really good position although it would have been good to kick the Barclaycard to the kerb next month. 

I’ve also lost another 2.5 pounds! That means I’ve nearly lost five pounds this month. Nothing drastic. Eating a little less and moving a lot more. Feels good! 

ryanm8655

That sounds a sensible plan.

I considered slowing down and committing more to savings as well, though decided to just get the debt gone and wiped out my savings. Now feel a little nervous about the lack of savings but will prioritise building it back up. 

Good work on the weight loss.

purplehippo276

Thanks @ryanm8655 - ideally the emergency fund would stay at it’s current level and I would wipe out the Barclaycard next month but I’m on a fixed term contract until August with no guarantee of renewal, so I have to be a bit more cautious. So tempting though knowing that after pay day (22nd)  I could use the money in my emergency fund to pay off the Barclaycard and have it gone next week! 

And thank you! Have tried to lose weight before but never been able to stick to it for more than a week. I’ve always expected instant results from hard work, but I think my mindset has changed after being on this debt free journey for all of this year now and realising that things just take time. 

alt80

@purplehippo276 is the BC interest baring? If so, clear the BC rather than have the money sat about. If you need emergency money can always get a 0% deal if really needed. If BC is 0% ignore. 

purplehippo276

Thanks @alt80 - the barclaycard is interest free until April.  I've been overpaying the Barclaycard in a big way to get rid of it, but I've realised for me it's probably best if I repay lower than what I was, but still clear it by April, and meet my savings goals.  I'm facing potential unemployment next year, which is helping me focus on clearing debt and saving.   

purplehippo276

Just realised that it's pay day next week, excitingly, so looking forward to paying a bit more to debt, upping my savings, and updating my signature.  20 year old me would be horrified by how I get my kicks these days, but in lockdown times you've got to get them where you can! 

Feeling a bit meh about work at the moment.  Grateful I have the job, but I think working from home without seeing any colleagues after so long is getting to me a bit.  Just been told we're having our work Christmas party via Zoom which is filling me with dread a little.

alt80

If you've cleared it by the time the interest free runs out happy days. 

Smashingitnow

purplehippo276 said:

Been a quiet few days - payday is in a week's time so just counting down the days to that, when my Barclaycard will drop below the £2K mark, so that will warrant a little mini celebration (some kind of cake based treat!).  Being sub 2K on that card feels like being on the home straight as it's always been the card I have transferred a balance to.  Can't wait to cut the thing up! 

Been playing around with the timeline function on the Clearscore app.  I had looked at it before, but never really sat down and properly looked at it.  Over the last 4 years I've balance transferred three times, and each time ended up in a worse place financially as I kept spending on the card that I would transfer the balance from.  Felt quite sick when I realised what I had been doing - feel like I kind of sleep walked into debt. Sometimes I would pay a large amount off one of the cards, but then spend more on the cards, and other times I would pay very little towards the debt because I couldn't afford to pay more than the minimum, but still keep spending.   

Sometimes I get frustrated at throwing a lot of money at a debt that I didn't leave me with a lot to show for (no fancy cars, flash holidays, designer clothes - just petrol, food shopping, kids haircuts, car repairs/servicing - general life stuff really), but I just can't wait to be out of debt so I can move on from my past budgeting mistakes.  

Super late replying to this but this is so interesting. I love the timeline as it showed me how I seem to rack.up debts whilst in s relationship and pay it off while single! Never made that connection before!!! Sounds all going super well. Cheering you on.

enthusiasticsaver

I think as the Barclaycard is 0% and you still plan to pay it off before interest kicks in then your plan sounds sensible especially if your job is precarious.  Having a bigger EF is certainly sensible.  The debt is so much lower than January so you have put yourself in a much better position. 

purplehippo276

Payday today!  Made all my manual payments, and have a new budget to see me through the next few months.  I imagine it it will need tweaking in January as I plan to hit the debt hard after Christmas. 

Updated my signature too, and feeling good for the month ahead.  I thought I hadn't made much progress in October, but adding everything up I can see I made great progress despite veering off track a little.  Although through to Christmas I will be paying less to debt (so that I don't end up in debt) I'm feeling closer to the end goal, and I've managed to bump up my emergency fund to just shy of £900.