Debt free by 40

SueP19

We had an air fryer for years, loved it. 

I used to cook all sorts in there, chips, roasts, quiches, cheesecake, mince pies, sausages rolls, bacon, sausages……..think mini oven 

jokono

I asked for a final statement for the loan I paid off in Dec, just to see how much interest I saved in paying it off early. The total amount of interest without any overpayments would've been £2,134.60, but based on my calculations I've only paid £1,425.52, saving £709.08. Roughly a third of interest saved by paying it off in 22 months vs 36. That's a lot of money saved but also a lot of money paid in interest. At least it's gone!

I kept up with the  yoga challenge, I'm actually up to date as well and only 8 days to go. I still have to force myself to start it, and still happy once I've done it. I will try and do yoga 2 times a week starting next month, along with some running and maybe weights/ strength sessions.

Today is my first full fast day in a very long time, it's going ok so far. Had lots of water and tea, I might have a miso soup as well before the school run.

enthusiasticsaver

Good work on the loan being paid off early. Only just read your diary and I wondered why you weren’t focusing on the loan given the interest rate was 19%. 

jokono

enthusiasticsaver said:

Good work on the loan being paid off early. Only just read your diary and I wondered why you weren’t focusing on the loan given the interest rate was 19%. 

The loan was consolidated into a 6.7% one not long after I started debt busting so it wasn't as bad, and I had lots of BT cards to deal with so I focused on them until last summer. Now I only have to 2 CC with 0% ending next year, I am paying a small amount monthly and save everything else. 

enthusiasticsaver

jokono said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

Good work on the loan being paid off early. Only just read your diary and I wondered why you weren’t focusing on the loan given the interest rate was 19%. 

The loan was consolidated into a 6.7% one not long after I started debt busting so it wasn't as bad, and I had lots of BT cards to deal with so I focused on them until last summer. Now I only have to 2 CC with 0% ending next year, I am paying a small amount monthly and save everything else. 

Thats good.  I haven't read the whole diary so must have missed you getting the lower rate loan.  If the CCs are at 0% that makes sense to save until the BT offers are up. 

leftatthetrafficlights

Well done on the loan!!! 🙌🥳 that's an excellent saving! 

Great work on the yoga too 👍 my plans seem to be constantly de-railed this month so I'm giving myself the rest of this week to recover from the chaos then starting on Monday 😉 

Vegan substitutes can be stupidly expensive- I buy them sometimes if they are on offer or ys but would never pay full price for them...I make my own seitan which works well in lots of ways and is cheap to do but needs a lot of ingredients to get plenty of flavour into 😳 I tend to keep it pretty basic then mince it to use in bolognese/chillis etc. 

jokono

I don't think I've ever had seitan, but in general I'm happy without substitutes. I'm eating a lot of starchy veg (hello potatoes ♥️), rice and beans and that's what I love, so I don't feel like I'm missing out. I spice things up sometimes with tofu or tempeh and a vegan cheese pizza once in a while  

Today is the last day in the budget week and I have £51 left. I do not intend to go to the shops today, would be amazing if I managed to squirrel that away in the slush fund. Speaking of, the slush fund was looking really healthy so I ordered some running and casual shoes I wanted for a long time, I got them reconditioned so much cheaper than buying new. I basically paid for two pairs the amount a new pair would cost. They're arriving today, I hope they fit well!

I've also ordered some glass frames to try out. I started wearing my glasses more and I would like to have different styles, maybe even a pair of sun glasses. A want, not a need, but that slush fund is still looking good (especially if it goes up by £50 this evening) so I am going to splash out. 

Tomorrow is pay day and I am looking forward to starting my savings mission with 3 new regular savers.

MissRikkiC

@jokono You cleared the loan so much earlier, how nice to learn of the interest you saved paying! Do you intend on overpaying at all on your CCs? Or can you pay the minimums and clear before the 0% runs out. Asking because that’s all I have left now too, but to clear before the 0% runs out I need to overpay a lot! 

jokono

@MissRikkiC I have 2 cards and minimums are under £60 each, I will pay £100 monthly. The £11k balance is split almost 50/50 and one of them will start bearing interest in Jan 24. The plan is to move that to a new natwest CC with 0 transfer fee or similar and use the savings to buy a new to me car towards the end of 2024. I think this makes more sense than overpaying the CCs and then getting a loan for the car. But plans might change, all I know is I will save hard over the next year and a half.

The shoes arrived and the running pair fits well, the casual ones seems too big. I have ordered school shoes from the boys from the main website (not the reconditioned one) and ordered a smaller pair for me as well - luckily in the sale but not the first colour I'd pick. I'll decide which size to keep after I get to see how they both fit.

Only 3 of the 4 test frames were delivered and I'm not smitten with any of them, I'll keep looking.

MissRikkiC

They’ve got to be worth it I think else it won’t feel as good spending on them right? 

Thanks Jokono, I still need to do maths around mine tbh! 1 of mine ends Jan 24 so I need to have it done and dusted by end of this year, I was thinking of over paying but there is a lot of stuff in the house I want to get done and so might instead transfer it. The idea of it being gone is tempting though.