Sazzles needs some accountability 26 December 2020 at 10:27PM in Debt free diaries 46 replies 3.3K views

sazzles01234

Hello 👋🏻

Starting a diary to give me some kind of accountability!! Have been in debt for a while now- over spending to keep up with life, moving to London, taking a pay cut to get my dream job, and reached a high of £12k debt last year. 2019 I started budgeting and make a small dent but always seem to re-add to the debt..  this year have paid off £4K, loss of all social activities has helped, but also got furloughed for most of the year so lost 20% salary also. 

I’m heading into 2021 with £7833 debt and am determined to pay it off by April 2022 if not before! 

I don’t have a huge amount of outgoings- no children, live alone, company car... etc but my rent/council tax is high due to area (just over £1000) . Everything else I have cut down to minimum, cancelled prime/Netflix/gym...etc. So don’t have much else to cut back on. 

Aim is to pay £500 off a month. 3 credit cards all at 0% for various times... but have to space to switch when these run out. 

I also have £1000 in an emergency fund which is like to keep. 

Have signed up to the challenge pay off debt by Xmas 2021. And hope to learn some tips and tricks from the lovely people here. And hopefully have some accountability so I stick to my plan!!! 

Looking forward to getting stuck in! 

NeverendingDMP

Good luck with it. You have made a good dent in it so far. 

Disney_Princess85

Good luck, will be following along

Sarahwithlove

How long have you got on your rental contract? Have you considered moving so you have more disposable income free and then allow you to save up to buy your own place? Good luck with clearing the debts. 

sazzles01234

Sarahwithlove said:

How long have you got on your rental contract? Have you considered moving so you have more disposable income free and then allow you to save up to buy your own place? Good luck with clearing the debts. 

Hi Sarah! 

Thanks for reading! Yeh unfortunately where I live I won’t get a 1 bed flat for any less than what I currently pay and I can’t go into a shared flat again for the sake of my head! 

I’ve also got minimal hope of buying any time soon even if I had a deposit.... my current flat that I rent is worth around £230k, and the most mortgage I could get is about £130k, so I’d have to save a lot for a long time!

I also get location allowance where I live now and if I move my salary would drop by £2.5k. I also have a second job here that brings in £180 a month too. 

I know it’s not ideal and would love to pay less but unless I move really far away my expenses won’t drop enough to take into account the salary loss. 

It’s a big ol dilemma! I’ve thought about it a lot! 

sazzles01234

Down to £7450 now 🥳 

Sarahwithlove

That's fair enough. It's hard isn't it when you can't see a way to get on the ladder. Have you looked at shared ownership to see if that might be an option for you in the future? 

sazzles01234

Yeh have had a look into it but again not an option in this area as cost of mortgage plus rent brings it in more than my current rent. Something to bare in mind though! I’m sure I won’t be living here forever! 

Another pay day and some more payments made.. down to £6979. 

Also have some 0% ending in March so sorted a new Sainsbury’s cc this morning to do a balance transfer. Still on track to be debt free by March next year 🥳 just need to keep this up! The only plus to covid is ZERO social life 🤣 though I am really missing seeing people/friends/family, and my own home cooking is getting so boring! We’ve just had an aldi open in town so that’s good for the grocery Bill! 

Paddington75

Good luck with your journey

sazzles01234

Just checking in... anyone else feel like they sit waiting for the next pay day so they can pay more off... been paid from both my jobs now so all bills paid now. 

Got a promotion at work this week! Sadly only offered the smallest pay rise so have queried and crossing my fingers they’ll give me a little more on Monday. 

This week I have popped some clothes on vinted... £8 so far! Will pop some more bits on today! 

Did my weekly food shop yesterday £24 in lidl and £12 with an M&S voucher...slightly more that I intended in M&S but got myself a nice dinner to celebrate! Still on track for keeping to food budget for the month. £65 left and 2 food shops to go should be plenty! 

Also paid off £150 for a hen do... normally something I’d pay on credit card and I paid cash so pleased with that! 

It’s also the 2 month break in council tax... so I get an extra £134 to budget elsewhere which is always nice! 

Have a lovely weekend all!

Sarahwithlove

Yes I know what you mean about waiting for payday so that you can start assigning the money and see the debt going down. It's a nice feeling isn't it?
I think this year I'm going to try and spread the council tax costs over 12 months myself instead of having the two months break.