It's the final countdown...£10k to go 30 September 2020 at 4:59PM in Debt free diaries 280 replies 13.4K views

t2rry

It's too long a background to go through, but I have kept a handy, if not 100% accurate, log of what debt I've paid off over the last 4 years, which gives some context:

2017 I paid off £6,164.44
2018 I paid off £2,184.60
2019 I paid off £8,928.25
2020 so far I have paid off £10,297.08

That's a lot of money.  It includes 2 cars, a professional development loan, home improvements, a mortgage exit fee, 2 jobs changes, I don't know how many debt free diaries, numerous set backs and 2 little lives full of memories and experiences that were, at the end of it all, worth every penny.

I refuse to fall into the fog of 'what if....' when I look at those figures.  We are finally on the home straight and it is realistic, it is achievable and it is within touching distance.  So no looking back, just forward, and appreciating what we have and where we are, because we did it.

So here is my FINAL debt-free wannabe diary.  I have great ambitions for it, because this is where every penny counts towards bringing that debt free date forward, because it is more tangible than ever before.  Currently my debt free date sits at March/April 2021, let's see what I can do!

SuperSavingD

Good luck with clearing your last £10k, sounds like you have it all in hand.

savingholmes

Well done on how much debt you have already cleared. Cheers to clearing the rest by your desire date in 2021.

t2rry

SuperSavingD said:

Good luck with clearing your last £10k, sounds like you have it all in hand.

Thank you, here's hoping!!

t2rry

savingholmes said:

Well done on how much debt you have already cleared. Cheers to clearing the rest by your desire date in 2021.

Thank you!! Fingers crossed

t2rry

*****BANKED*****

So for the sake of looking after the pennies, I've had two small wins already today:

1. The kids childcare fees came in more than I thought, so I queried it (previously would have let this go) and they've corrected them, which saves me £18.40.
2. I've had a small payment through, previously missing from my summer's freelance work, £27.67.

That's £46.07 I'm better off this morning than anticipated, not to be sniffed at!  I worked out I'll be paying off approximately £50 per day between now and 1 April to clear the debt, so every £50 extra I can find and save is another day closer to £0 so I'm rounding the £46.07 up to £50 and setting it aside so it doesn't get swallowed by usual spending.

Good start to the month.

SuperSavingD

Hi T2rry
The little amounts do add up.  £50 is a fab saving especially in one day.  I need to look into new deals this week for gas/electric and hope I can make a saving there.  

t2rry

The car went in for it's MOT and cost the £500 I had budgeted with a small amount of change, which was both a relief and disappointing at the same time.  Just waiting for the CC statements to land to get some more paid off, one should come through today and I'll adjust my signature.

I'm keeping an itemised log of day to day spending this month and it's really interesting.  The batch food cooking is going well so we were in budget for week 1 but could do with being under budget for the rest!   Hopefully that's easy this week because we now have about 10 evening meals in the freezer ready to go so just need top up stuff.  

Sold an item for a tenner, not much but every little helps and I'm going to get some of the kids clothes onto [email protected] over the weekend.  I might even persuade them to have a toy clear out and get some of the nicer bits on marketplace.

t2rry

Ooh this month is a push, I didn't appreciate all the small things that add up!!!  Bought DD a new winter coat - necessary!  We had a toilet seat break so that's purchased, plus a broken light pull, so just that's £50+ , then nothing of substance but little things, a tenner here, £20 there, clearly not meant to come from the food budget (which is the only normal spending I have allowed for this month) but seem to have added up to what is now in the hundreds of pounds.

Some were budgeted for (a birthday and haircut, which itself is £100 but very rare), but most were not (DH went to the pub one evening, spent £20 I can't begrudge, I had a meal out too, for the first time since 2019, spent £25 which I was really pleased with, a gift occasion I had not considered for £20,  OH got a new shirt for £15, which again I can't begrudge as neither of us often have anything new clothes wise despite need)

I think it has just confirmed to me that we do need a generic spending budget, and we've not been excessive in previous months when we've been spending say £900 on what feels like nothing.  I always clumped it all together, the food and other spending, and therefore thought we were always spending way too much on food, when I'm starting to realise we really don't spend that much on food, its the other incidentals that are really adding up but they're also things we often can't avoid.  We do need clothes, we do need to upkeep the house etc etc.

I saw a post from someone recently who deals with money in the same way me and DH do (i.e. pooling the lot, it all being 'our' money rather that his and mine) and they outlined that they had £600 'allowance' each month, as in £1200 total, but separated for each of them to do with as they wish, spend or save.  I kind of love that idea, guilt free spending.  Maybe it will be something we come to consider one day but it is so far from my usual way of doing things that I think even when we get to debt-free, it would take a big change to get to that level of comfort.  I just know the moment I pay off the last pence, I will want to be saving as hard as we can because I never want to live without a buffer ever again.  There's no reason, with our income, that we can't save and also not feel like we're scrimping every last penny, but I think that is a long while off yet.  I'm thinking with 6 months income worth of savings behind us at least.

Wow I went off on a train of thought there....good for the soul?!

SuperSavingD

I’m with you on the small spends adding up but looking at your signature you have done amazing this year with paying off over £10k and the years not up yet.

I want so many house things at the minute.  I’m writing them down then picking one thing a month to get.  This month was new bedding for us and next is Christmas bedding for the kids.  After that a blind for the living room, just in time for Xmas.

Your doing great 👍   

mark55man

hi t2rry - my timeline and target are the same as yours, so will come along for the ride if that's OK.  Keep going you've done great this year - its amazing how frugal you can be when there is a pandemic outside and nothing to do (and in my case, not much interest at all in leaving the house unless its essential).