Slow progress but the journey continues...........

scotdebsV2

So here I am back again after 2 years away from MSE - lost access to old user name so a new shiny username deserves a new shiny diary.
I first started coming on MSE about 10 years ago would make some progress stop posting for a while and come back with the debt even bigger than before. At the last light bulb moment unsecured cc debt was sitting at £50.2k    the last time I visited and posted on this forum I had managed to reduce it to £48k. For once I have come back onto the forum with lower debt than I had previously  now at £33.6k still an eyewatering amount but progress I feel. Next target is to get it below $20k by the end of 2021. But with annual bonus and pay rises cancelled ( not to mention potential risk of redundancy ) its going to be a challenge ........ Coming back on here will hopefully keep me accountable and motivated to hit that target

Disney_Princess85

Welcome back!

horseeatsallmymoney

Gald to find your new diary! I'll be following your journey

scotdebsV2

 So October payday has been and gone and folks it just isnt the exciting date that I used to have marked in the calendar ........but for all the right reasons. One of the biggest reason my debt was "stuck" was that my overpayments were only made based what i hadnt spent in the previous month. So overpayments were only made on october payday - based on what was left of the September pay not  what was in my budget to overpay for October, just in case I "needed" it (for a takeaway, night out other unecessary purchse) and so what would happen instead of the £250 that my September budget said i should over pay by, it was only the £35 that was actually left oh but how virtous I used to feel about paying that £35

Another game changer for me was minimum payments. Yes I know all the facts that only making min payments would take 35 yrs for me to pay off but I thought that was only on the cards that were incurrring interest. For those on  a 0% transfer I just assumed the min payment would take care of it. Yet here I was with majority of debt on 0% and still it wasnt really shifting. Then I used the repayment calculator by Bc@rd. A £5k balance on min payment even on 0% would take 15 years to pay off but if I fixed the payment  even just to the level of the first months min payment pay back time was reduced to 5 years - MIND BLOWN :-0

So now for all my cc (all but 1 are 0%) and payment level have all been fixed to an afforable amount but give a reasonable time scale for being paid off  - so the overpayments happen automatically and I cant  stash some cash away to spend on rubbish. So I dont to feel super excited about making that extra payment but I do get to see the total number come down a lot quicker. Many of you much savvier debt busters would no doubt have got this much sooner than I did. But sharing this makes the difference for some other person that really believes they are doing everything they can but dont see the number shifting then its been worth the epic post

Also anyone know why MSE says Im not allowed to have a signature am I just being a complete IT luddite ?

Couldsavemore

Well I did not know about fixed payments... so will look into them.
Good luck with your goal.
Like you I feel no sense of job security so am busy cutting back, paying off and stashing some away.

Sarahwithlove

Good luck with your journey. Fixed payments are a good idea otherwise the min payment just keeps going down. I'm same as you I found that if I leave money just in case I'm likely to spend it whereas if I pay the amount I budgeted for off my card then if I don't have money for something I go without. 

scotdebsV2

Feeling pretty pleased with myself - an entire weekend without a takeaway - we normally have one each weekend but as the kids have gotten bigger (the 15yr old eats as much as his dad these days) its becoming a more and more expensive habit. Initial aim is to keep it to every other weekend and then maybe just a pay day treat (although OH and I get paid on different days so that could still end up twice a month  )
Debt busting task for this week -........... I have 0% balance transfer ending this month but have had alert from totally money that I have been preapproved for a 22 month 0% card so need to get that shifted across and new fixed DD set up.
To anyone struggling just now please make paying your cards on time a priority. At the start of this journey I often made payments late - usually just a few days and I was always being rejected for 0% offers. A year of constantly paying on time made all the difference.

joedenise

You also lose the 0% if payments aren't made on time, so another good reason to make sure it's paid promptly.

On the takeaway front, perhaps you and OH could decide on whose payday the takeaway would be or alternatively it could be the 1st weekend or the last weekend of the month.  That would make more sense than saying on payday when you have differing paydays.

Good luck with shifting that 0% which is coming to an end onto a new 0%.  Will you be able to pay that amount off in the time or are you going to be hoping for another 0% offer at the end of that 22 months?  These 0% offers are definitely getting fewer and fewer these days and I wouldn't be surprised if they are cut back even further in the future.

scotdebsV2

Reasonably productive weekend.........switched energy supplier (via top cashback) for first time in a couple of years saving approx £380 per year and shifted the 0% balance that was due to end 28th Nov to the virgin card on 0% for 22 months and set up my FIXED direct debt payment. Need to get the house and car insurance renewals in the diary (feb and april next year) not changed the car one for a couple of years so hopefully will be able to get a saving on that. Will find out in Jan if my role is impacted by the latest reorganisation at work I have no idea how I will be impacted but according to the latest guidance from HR because of my length of service I wont go off payroll until end of October if I am impacted. So that gives me even more motivation to get that debt down as much as possible whilst Im still earning at this level I have 2 loans that stop next year so thats an extra £450 per month which helps. OH has cancelled some subscriptions he had that work out about £400 a year and I have cancelled the salary sacrifice that I used to make for before/afterschool care as I had some built up when schools were closed and DS goes to academy next year so we wont need them so that's an after tax saving of £145 pm  so in all that's a saving of approx £2500 per year which the equivalent of approx £4k payrise.....blimey it all adds up . 

Sarahwithlove

That's amazing well done it will all help you with paying off the debts. Hope you don't get effected by the move around at work but at least you know you'll be secure for a bit of you do. 

horseeatsallmymoney

I didn't know about the fixed payments either- interesting!
It sounds like you're making great progress and fingers crossed for the change around at work.