Debt free by 40

WinterWarrior

Same here with work. It’s good pay and I am grateful, yet the amount of stuff above my pay grade is ridiculous. You end up doing higher grade work just to get things done…and so much of it!
I wish I could say I’d been running, but I’d probably die 😖

jokono

Had an NSD yesterday again, feeling very smug. The £32.95 left in the weekly budget is now living together with last week's £2 in the "wants" pot. I'm thinking I'll use this for batting if I ever sew that quilt top 😅 but I also need a large quilting ruler before that. I did a product test recently and I'm still waiting for the reward which I think is an amaz0n voucher, I'm hoping I can buy the ruler using that.

This week's budget is almost half spent. We got an £18 off a £60 shop in sainsbobs, I'm collecting the order this morning. We got large packs of wet food for the pets which should do us 3-4 weeks.

Work still busy but at least it's Friday, 5pm can't come soon enough!

jokono

Had a spendy weekend, not much left in the weekly budget and I need to prepare for two picnics before Friday. I reckon I have enough for that but I have to be very careful with everything else, I can't start next week's budget early because there's no money in that pot until the day the budget resets.

My mood's not been great for a while, I don't even feel like coming here, but I thought I'd log the bad days as well, not just the good ones. I have two days off this week, I'll try and get as much rest and me-time as I can.

WinterWarrior

It’s hard isn’t and always worse at the end of the month when there’s nothing to borrow.
however, look at your starting totals compared to now…you’ve come a long way and should be proud! 

Enjoy those lovely two days off, you deserve them 🧁

EssexHebridean

It's for the best that you can't dip into next week's budget really isn't it - as otherwise you'd just be short then instead, and so it rolls on...it is painful when you near that point in the month that things are truly squeaky, though! Are there any meals you can switch about to free up items that would work well for picnic food? 

Sometimes just acknowledging a low mood and putting steps in place to help deal with it (like your promise to yourself of some time just for you) can make a difference - I hope you're feeling a bit brighter now. Remember - the blue sky is always up there, it's just sometimes we can't see it for the clouds over our heads, but they don't stay about forever. 

MissRikkiC

Hoping you feel better @jokono even if only marginally. Sending you hugs. 

CRANKY40

Nipped in to add another few hugs. How is your physical health? My "nobody loves me, everybody hates me" times sometimes coincide with actual physical illness. If you're otherwise ok maybe a trip to the GP to put it on their radar in case it gets worse and you need more help? Extra hug at the end.....

jokono

Thank you everyone, I am feeling better now 🤗
I sometimes get so low when I'm due on, only this time it was much too early. But then I also got cramps the other day so it could have been that mixed with being tired.

First day off and first picnic today. I managed to buy everything I needed for 2p under budget, I was well chuffed with that. Then today I spent £5 at the bake sale.😏 I took that out of the boys pot.

Two new things I made recently that helped the mood:
- successful tortilla wraps for the picnic, the only time I tried before they were way too crunchy 
- I started and finished my first quilt!

While I was rolling and frying the tortillas, getting each one better than the one before, I realised how uplifting it is to learn and improve new skills. ❤

jokono

Pay day tomorrow, time for the monthly debt summary - this month I have paid off £1405. I didn't reach that overly optimistic target of getting the loan under £11k I set myself at the beginning of the month, but it was really impossible, 1405 is quite a bit ore than my 'usual' month. During the month I have overpaid the loan by £177 out of surveys and sales.

Reasons to be cheerful 
I started using the Debt Payoff Planner app exactly one year ago, logging the debt and payments starting with May's pay. That's also when I took this 36 months loan. 12 months later the app tells me I paid 43% overall and 44% on the loan, with a debt free date of Dec 2023.

During this year I was focused more on overpaying the CC so I could BT them when offers ended. Now the cards are fine for a while (except for about £2k that ends in Oct but I'm hoping to get an offer on a cleared one soon) I am sending any extra money to the loan. If no major changes, I should have the loan paid in just over 24 months. Then I will probably start saving more and get to be debt neutral, keeping the CCs while on 0%.

That being said I started feeling like I'm focusing too much on debt busting and less on living. It's half term next week and with two banks holidays I plan to do something with the boys so I rejigged next month's budget to overpay less and have a bigger entertainment/ boys pot. It will probably be a meal out after a long walk or something like that, nothing too extravagant, but I know I will have to make an effort to enjoy it and not think about how much it costs.

MissRikkiC

I find this balance hard to strike too @jokono you feel guilty which ever you chose Imho 

Just keep focusing on what you’ve done already when you need to adapt your tactics to account for other things like half term. Rather than what you’ve still got left