Debt free by 40

jokono

I bought an instant pot last night, it was on sale for £60 and I had a £10 voucher from shoppix and another £10 for using amaz0n photos - I need to delete the app now! So £40 for a brand new electric pressure/ multi cooker, I'm very pleased with that.

MissRikkiC

Sorry about the jobs budget not being enough, I get cross when companies don’t advertise salary’s. I personally feel it’s a massive waste of everyone’s time if expectations don’t match. 

Can I ask, how do you continue match betting once you’ve used up all the free bets. I did it a lot and would like to do it again but not sure how when I haven’t any new customer offers any more x

jokono

@MissRikkiC there are the weekly clubs, for example PP gives you a £10fb on a Monday if you placed 5 x £10 bets the week before. That could be one way to do it for free. I have signed up to odds monkey and for £25/month you get 'daily' deals and the matcher which saves a lot of time. I signed up last month ago and it was worth it, there were a few sign up deals that I ahevn't done and didn't knwo of, plus other offers that I wouldn't necessarily know about. I think I will keep the subscription for another month and reassess in the new year.

Work wise there are things happening, there will be a promotion/move in the new year, finally, with a net monthly pay increase of about £250. Also, Mr JKN is staying in his job for the time being. There is a risk of redundancy i the future, but at least he has time to try and secure another job.

Debt wise I have reached my target, with 51.36% paid off for the year. 🎉

Goals for the new year - fiish paying off the loan (Feb) and save at least £11k. That's how much I have on CC at the moment, I won't pay them off yet but I will build savings to cover them. When the 0% deals end in 2024 I will either pay them off or move them again; ideally I would like to use the savings to buy a car in Oct 2024 when we have to return our current one. the EV second hand market should be really healthy by then.

jokono

Last time I was talking about the loan I was hoping I will get it paid before February's pay day. I managed to make enough extra money these last couple of months that after the extra payment I'll make with December's pay and the DD going out on Jan 4, I will only have less than a cuple of hundreds left to pay. I am very confident I will manage to pay that befor the end of Jan.

The only debt I will have left then starting in Jan 2023 are the two CC which are on 0% until Jan 24 and May 24. The plan is to pay £100 each per month and save everything else. I have started a new spreadsheet for 2023 for tracking/setting up the budget and savings. I have ditched the debt tracking! I have the 2 CC in the budget sheet but I don't feel I need to track them closer than that.

I am finishing the year wiht just over £12k debt. At the end of 2021 my debt was £26.6k and at the end of 2020 it was £35k. I am so close! I started a sheet for savings, complete with a chart. ❤️ Based on my current numbers I will have £900+ to save per month. I might start giving myself an allowance now but I don't feel I need it yet, I'm happy saving it all.

EssexHebridean

That's incredible work making so much headway over the past year - well done you! 

jokono

Thank you EH, I feel very proud of how I managed to turn things around. I can't understand past me, spending loads on credit cards without even the tiniest thought that it wasn't mine and I would eventually have to pay it back.

I was paid today - early, but that's not an issue. It is my second year not dreading the 5-6 weeks until the January pay. All my pots have been topped up, including the weekly spends one, so I'm all good. 

I have asked for a settlement amount and settled the loan. After making a few more small overpayments I realised there was no point witing until January for the DD to go out. I still need to find £130 for it (I used this from another pot) but I have £125 coming from a bank switch and I'll top that up with prolific earnings. 

jokono

Not sure I'll be back before the weekend, I hope everyone has a lovely holiday season! 

jokono

I've been off this week and it has been amazing. We slept late, chilled loads, watched xmas films, played some games and took dog for lunchtime walks. I am not looking forward to going back to work but in a way I am missing the routine. 

I might have mentioned this before, but since this summer I started eating a starchy based diet after discovering calorie density and 'the starch solution'. It was a big shift for me as I was always going low carb when wanting to lose weight. Anyway, it has worked amazing for me as I am a carb lover, I can live on beans, potatoes, rice and bread, so now I can do this knowing that it is also a great way of eating for good health. Amazingly, I haven't put on weight while stuffing my face with all these carbs. 

The author of the starch solution has all ebooks free at the moment if anyone is interested:
https://www.drmcdougall.com/product-category/ebooks/

I'm looking forward to reading the 'program for women', I have noticed my periods being less painful since going full plant based and I'm interested to see what other benefits there are, especially around (peri)menopause.

p.s. this month I had loads to chocolates and lebkuchen and other xmas treats, I need to wean myself off😅

jokono

Happy New Year! Here's to a better, happier one for everyone 🍻🥂

I didn't drink last nigth but I stayed up until after midnight and this morning I got up early to go for a run with a friend, so I feel a little hangover. 😆

I signed up for the yearly yoga with Adriene 30 day program, I have started it every year but never went past day 15 or 16. Just printed the calendar and most days will be under 30 minutes, so this migth be the year I complete the challenge. That's the plan, anyway, 30 minutes are doable in the morning if I drop off Child2 early enough.

Spent almost an hour on the phone yesterday to open a first direct account, I want to take advantage of their 7% regular saver and, because I previously had an account with them, I couldn't just open the account online. Starting with January pay I will save the maximum amount in:

- First Direct 7% - £300
- Club LLoyds 5.25% - £400
- NatWest digital saver 5.12% - £150
- Wealthify ISA - £50 - I opened this in June last year with £50, there was an offere here on MSE to get another £50 after a year, I thought I might as well try. I never added to the first £50 but will start this month
- LLoyds monthly saver 4.5% - the max monthly amount is £250, but this won't be paid from my salary. I will have £100 a month from salary in months with 4 weeks and the rest will come from extra ££ like prolific or vinted.

In addition to this I will pay £100 each to the 2 CC I have, aiming to be debt neutral before the end of the year.

I will also get a raise in March, should be about £2-300 extra take home. I will probably divert some of it to that second LLoyds account, and maybe start giving myself an allowance, or start to save more towards fun things like days out.

All savings will most likely go to a new to me car when the leasing ends in Oct 2024. Not sure what I will do with the regular savers above when they (not all but most) mature in Jan next year. Plenty of time to ponder. Was also thinking of starting new regular savers in Sept this year so they mature just before we need to get the new car, and pay only the minimum on the existing ones for the last few months.

jokono

I've been very focussed on paying debts for the last 2 years+ and I am starting to feel burnout. Since I am now in a position to start saving - yes I still have 2s CC but they're on 0% and they are getting paid little by little - I am going to start going slower. I will try and spend more time doing things for myself and with the boys. That should be doable if I stop doing all the surveys, mystery shops and other time consuming money making tasks. Spending less time lurking around here might help too! 😅

I don't have an exact plan for that yet, will give it some thought, but I will start with Adriene tomorrow