The man who likes stuff. Can I pay 7k this year?

MB148

So I've been doing some basic maths, figuring out my debt free date.
The Halifax loan currently stands at £7684. 
I have just overpayed it by £500 today so: £7184
My monthly payment for the loan is £280 which comes out on the 25th of each month, so after this my balance will be : £6904 plus around £25 interest so £6929 approx. 
SO to get rid of this by Xmas I need to make payments of around £655 (include approx £25 a month interest) a month, less the monthly payment of £280 this leaves me with a minimum monthly overpayment of £375 to get rid of the loan this year 
Having achieved £500 this month I think I can do this, although I have sons birthday, dads birthday, car service and MOT coming up this month so the target will be a little harder, good to get this written down even if my math's isn't totally accurate!

RelievedSheff

Well done on the over payments. You are making massive inroads into that debt balance.

bamgbost

Good luck mate. Sounds like you have a plan.

Do the same thing over the next few months, and the debt becomes history mate! keep going... the end is in sight

Sarahwithlove

That's a good amount to aim for. If you can manage 500 some months and less others hopefully it will even itself out for you. 

MB148

For quite a few years my wife and I have absolutely loved watching the birds in our garden, it started with seeing a Goldfinch and not having a clue what it was, so we looked it up and it spiraled from there, I have always enjoyed the countryside and this fitted very well into our lifestyle with young children and it was great to see my wife so passionate about nature, we could also combine fresh air and free exercise with this making it a very cheap hobby in the long term. Naturally I started looking at high end Binoculars and purchased myself a pair of mid-range £300 (secondhand) binoculars which have served me well, but I've never been happy with the image quality, this month (after alot of research for quite a few years) I spotted a pair of Leica Trinovids on ebay (£1000 new) which were on a starting bid, I put in an offer with the seller for £525 and he accepted so I am a very happy man, we are also going (maybe) to Northumberland in May to see the puffins on the Farne Islands so they will be ready for this trip. Upon arrival they are in perfect condition, just needing a replacement strap, they have the original receipt for £920!
This was a considered purchase and I have already sold my old Binoculars for £320 so the spend on them is just over £200 which I am very happy with, in the past I would have made myself skint for a month with purchases and this is the first time I have bought myself something for a while in comparison to how much I used to spend on Credit.

MB148

Very happy to report that the Halifax CC is now paid off! This CC had all of our wedding expenses, plus at the time a couple of random very silly purchases, I remember we were going on a hiking holiday so I bought a new £130 rucksack on it! Something the new me would never do. It stood at £9000 and is now at £0!
We paid the usual £470 (wife £200 and me £270) Direct Debit and then I couldn't wait so paid the extra £194 and its gone. This payment will now go onto the Tesco CC until paid off, whilst I am still focusing on overpaying my loan. 

Sarahwithlove

That's great news well done. It's nice knowing that it's gone isn't it? How many months do you think it will take to pay off the CC with the extra payment now? 

MB148

Sarahwithlove said:

That's great news well done. It's nice knowing that it's gone isn't it? How many months do you think it will take to pay off the CC with the extra payment now? 

That should be June hopefully, then I will probably be tempted to throw that at the loan as well, so desparate for this all to be done!

Sarahwithlove

MB148 said:

Sarahwithlove said:

That's great news well done. It's nice knowing that it's gone isn't it? How many months do you think it will take to pay off the CC with the extra payment now? 

That should be June hopefully, then I will probably be tempted to throw that at the loan as well, so desparate for this all to be done!

Do you have any kind of savings or emergency fund? If not might be worth building that up so that you are in position you won't need to borrow again should anything happen. 

MB148

Sarahwithlove said:

MB148 said:

Sarahwithlove said:

That's great news well done. It's nice knowing that it's gone isn't it? How many months do you think it will take to pay off the CC with the extra payment now? 

That should be June hopefully, then I will probably be tempted to throw that at the loan as well, so desparate for this all to be done!

Do you have any kind of savings or emergency fund? If not might be worth building that up so that you are in position you won't need to borrow again should anything happen. 

Yep, saved up 1k in the EF and have another 1.7k in savings (some of which is in my watch fund) so hopefully covered but this amount is slowly creeping up as well! Probably wouldn't have an EF if it wasn't for these forums which have been a great help.