Debt free by 40

jokono

I have been binging on diaries in the last few weeks, I didn't read any books since and watched very little TV.
I love all the life stories and I feel so inspired and impressed, seriously amazing people around here! A few I have been reading recently are @CRANKY40 @girlatplay  @WinterWarrior @Debt_Me_Out_Of_Here @Naomim and more but I can't remember all because it's been a while and didn't discover the bookmark button until recently. Had a brief look at some of the older diaries but felt a bit overwhelmed when seeing 1k+ posts so didn't start on them. 

I am feeling very optimistic about my situation at the moment and I wanted to record that. Reading all these diaries and based on experience I know there will be low days and reading back might help.

My total credit card balance at the moment is £14,630, all on 0% and based on the amount I'm paying monthly I should be done with it by August 2023. I will need to move some  around next autumn as the 0% will end. I should only have 2 cards left then and I think I could swap the balances between them so I wouldn't even need new cards.
I have a fresh new loan of £20,000 which should be paid by May 2024. I plan to overpay by at least £100 monthly and throw every bonus, every extra penny at it to have it paid by end of 2023. I will turn 40 the summer of 2024 and if all goes well I will be debt free by then. We will still have the mortgage but not having anything else would be amazing!

I have just received a £5 Amazon voucher from Lifepoints panel which will be used for my coffee subscription next month and I have another £5 coming soon.
I have about £30 in my Panel Base account which I will claim as Love2shop vouchers and use them for new school shoes come September. I have 2 boys and last time I got them school shoes I left £100 in Clarks! I tried other brands but I couldn't find any that matched the quality/comfort of Clarks. 

I'm keeping a zero based budget (ish), started only a couple of months ago and it feels so good to be so close to pay day (this Friday) and still have money in my spending account! I am giving myself £500 a month, out of which £100 pw for groceries. My £100 go into my weekly spending account on a Wednesday, I have £42 left out of this week until reset tomorrow but I need to go to Lidl during lunch. Should have about half left anyway, which means that with the £76 I have left in the monthly spending account I can start a new week tomorrow with money from last month's salary. Crazy! I have £16.50 left in my salary/DD account, probably due to rounding up most outgoings?
I have a £637.68 EF and a few other savings accounts which I'm thinking of closing, that's another £100pm that could/should go to the loan. I have just cancelled the standing orders after typing this.

Thanks everyone for the inspiration! I never had a diary as an adult, let's see if I can keep it updated

jokono

hmpf just realised my car leasing ends a couple of months after my 40th. I include the car payment in household bills, that's why I didn't list it, but it's a debt really.

Debt_Me_Out_Of_Here

Hi jokono and happy new diary! You'll find lots of supportive folks on here, it definitely helps with accountability!
Thanks for reading my diary, I hope you didn't fall asleep haha! We have similar goals, 40 is a milestone for me too - only we don't even have a mortgage yet! I am also 40 at the end of summer 2024!  
If you post your SOA (template on stoozing.com), we can help you identify some obvious areas for optimisation if you're looking for advice. Good luck on your journey, it sounds like you're off to a great start and in a much better position than a lot of people are when starting their first diary. 

Naomim

Thanks for reading my diary! How exciting to get a mention 😁

It sounds like a great plan you have and a diary really does help keep you on track. 

I agree about Clarks shoes for school.  The children are in them for the best part of 6-8 hours so they need to be comfy and durable. My dd grew out of her almost new ones last lockdown so I hope one happy mama managed to snap them up in the charity shop.

We also owe bank of Mum & Dad £1k but I haven't listed it on my debts, just paying them £50 by standing order every month.

Keep posting 👍

Naomim 

Debt_Me_Out_Of_Here

I also have 2 boys. We are vegan and can't buy school shoes in Clarks for that reason as they don't do non-leather ones. We get school shoes from Asda and they are actually really good. £13 and have lasted my eldest all year even when he was in reception and tried his best every day to destroy them every day haha (he's in Y2 now). He loves them and thinks they're very comfy. Definitely worth a try if you're looking for something cheaper - you can always use the Love2Shop vouchers for Christmas presents instead. 

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

Congratulations on starting a diary 😊

jokono

Debt_Me_Out_Of_Here said:

Hi jokono and happy new diary! You'll find lots of supportive folks on here, it definitely helps with accountability!
Thanks for reading my diary, I hope you didn't fall asleep haha! We have similar goals, 40 is a milestone for me too - only we don't even have a mortgage yet! I am also 40 at the end of summer 2024!  
If you post your SOA (template on stoozing.com), we can help you identify some obvious areas for optimisation if you're looking for advice. Good luck on your journey, it sounds like you're off to a great start and in a much better position than a lot of people are when starting their first diary. 

Haha, I did not find it boring! I found we had a lot in common - 2 boys, raking up debt during maternity leave, not UK born (if I remember correctly), and now we'll both be 40 in August 2024
We are lucky to have a mortgage, we had a flat in our home country which we sold to get the 5% deposit and solicitor/stamp duty etc. That flat was bought with inheritance money, so yeah, mostly luck, we've never been great with money. I am aware and grateful, we both kept working during lockdown, hubs saved money on transport, things could be much worse.

Thanks for the wlecome and support!

jokono

Naomim said:

Thanks for reading my diary! How exciting to get a mention 😁

It sounds like a great plan you have and a diary really does help keep you on track. 

I agree about Clarks shoes for school.  The children are in them for the best part of 6-8 hours so they need to be comfy and durable. My dd grew out of her almost new ones last lockdown so I hope one happy mama managed to snap them up in the charity shop.

We also owe bank of Mum & Dad £1k but I haven't listed it on my debts, just paying them £50 by standing order every month.

Keep posting 👍

Naomim

Your diary goes quite a few years back, it is fun, lots of plot twists. Some not that fun thoguh, sorry about your dog
I rarely comment, might do it more now that I started posting. 

jokono

Debt_Me_Out_Of_Here said:

I also have 2 boys. We are vegan and can't buy school shoes in Clarks for that reason as they don't do non-leather ones. We get school shoes from Asda and they are actually really good. £13 and have lasted my eldest all year even when he was in reception and tried his best every day to destroy them every day haha (he's in Y2 now). He loves them and thinks they're very comfy. Definitely worth a try if you're looking for something cheaper - you can always use the Love2Shop vouchers for Christmas presents instead. 

Annoyingly I never lived close to a Asda. I did made a reasonably big online order when we bought the house - bins, cutlery, cups etc. I bought mine shoes from Tesco and Sainsbobs and they were okish, but they did wear out quicker. From chatting to other mums I understand my boys' feet don't grow at a normal rate so they can wear shoes for longer than other children  
I won't need any until next school year (fingers crossed) so I will look into it before then. 

jokono

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster said:

Congratulations on starting a diary 😊

Thank you! 

Just came back from Lidl and I still have £25 left in my weekly spends, result! I did most of my shopping in Lidl this month and now I'm less than £5 away from the £10 coupon reward, I'm sure I can spend £5 more there before the month ends. We're running low on soap but I keep waiting for discount coupons for it, maybe this week. It's already cheap at 65p for 500ml, but well, every little helps! Ironically this Lidl opened next to the Tesco I used to shop at

Debt_Me_Out_Of_Here

jokono said:

Haha, I did not find it boring! I found we had a lot in common - 2 boys, raking up debt during maternity leave, not UK born (if I remember correctly), and now we'll both be 40 in August 2024
We are lucky to have a mortgage, we had a flat in our home country which we sold to get the 5% deposit and solicitor/stamp duty etc. That flat was bought with inheritance money, so yeah, mostly luck, we've never been great with money. I am aware and grateful, we both kept working during lockdown, hubs saved money on transport, things could be much worse.

Thanks for the wlecome and support!

Yes, we do have all those things in common.
We've definitely learned that we're no worse than most people and even though we did overspend in our 20s/on mat leave, we largely have done most things the same as other people, but have never had the help of an inheritance or parental financial help in any way - in fact, we regularly lend money to the MIL because she's barely scraping by. I've found over the years that a lot of people who I thought "had it all together" have either had help, or live on credit cards. I've learned not to compare and just be happy with the progress we're making and count the blessings that we do have. We'll get there in the end. Like you say, keeping jobs during a pandemic is a major thing to be thankful for in itself!