Debt and Budget (Reset) plan

shell16

bigbeff said:

Don't give up, I think we are all re-evaluating location of funds at the moment. I know I need to look at mine trying to at least pay off CC before electric goes up!

Thanks @bigbeff
I'm not giving up, still going to be paying credit card debt monthly above minimum and surveys cash will also be sent to debt. I think I'm just being very cautious ⚠️ 

The £385 that I will be better off in December will hopefully mean I can relax a little, and pay more to debt, that's the hope anyway 🙏 

Thankyou for stopping by and commenting 🙂 

Shell x

sunshine_raincloud

Sounds like a good plan Shell! Better to be cautious and not end up in more trouble as a consequence. I'm thinking of looking through my numbers and doing the same thing. I definitely will not be paying my debt off as early as expected as keeping my head above water comes first! 

shell16

Afternoon !

Just a quick update from me.  I'm not sure if I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about the plans being reported in the press and on the news about the energy crisis now we have a new PM.  I quite like the idea of the Freezing energy price cap to the current £1971 a year BUT I think it will come back to bite in the future somehow?

Something needs to give now, I'm on this debt free journey and all the hard work i have put in to have to reduce payments substantially and see my DFD zoom off into universe and not really see an end in sight is extremely demotivating.

On a couple of positives, my Lloyds usual payment of £114 got paid as the reduced amount didn't go through in time, £25 to Virgin rather than my usual £117 and my usual £55 to Sainsburys all gone out in last week or so.  Plus Prolific is ramping up again on surveys and just cashed out £5.53 (Have £4.94 pending) plus £3.13 save the change to my Lloyds CC.

Hope all having a good day, off to get some bits from Ald!, in work tomorrow, then budget reset day is on Thursday for my cash.  Currently have around £37.50 still in cash and hoping to divert the notes tomorrow evening to my EF and change to Penny challenge....fingers crossed!

Thanks
Shell x

Keedie

I think your plan sounds really sensible @shell16, and with all of the demands of the cost of living, rethinking the budget and splitting your sinking funds into those categories and priorities. I've had to do the same. And drip feeding the sinking funds gets frustrating as you feel like you're making no progress, but when you snowball it like that, you get a better sense of achievement and actually have funds to use. I've set up a spreadsheet to track mine, and it will need to be tweaked as time goes by, but I feel better knowing that I have a plan in place.

The energy increases and cost of living in general is really scary isn't it? I've reduced debt to just over minimum payments at the moment so that I can build a surplus/sinking fund to help with energy costs and I'll build it up as much as I can until December and then I'll reassess it all and see how much I can overpay towards debt from January 2023. As long as you keep making your PADs, the overpayments will still make you eligible for interest free offers as you need them

Keep going, you're doing amazingly well.xx

shell16

Thankyou @Keedie 😀 

Those sinking funds need building up quickly.  If price cap is frozen I will be able to continue with my CC overpayments as I have been doing. Last time I properly looked at it all, I was on track to be Debt free no later than July 2023, if something isn't sorted my forecast predicts 2026 😭

Like I said I'm cautiously optimistic that Liz Truss comes up with something to help everyone out.

Shellx

Nonnadiluca

Looks like the people getting help are those who pay a lot of tax , ie high earners and people with big energy bills. Those of us on a low income who won't spend over £2,500 on our bills won't be helped at all by lowering taxes and freezing the price cap at that level.

Keedie

Wow that's a big difference in debt free dates @shell16! But I think being cautious now whilst the cost of living crisis is so up in the air isn't a bad thing, as things will eventually settle and then you can blitz the debts. You have to take the path that is kindest to yourself.

shell16

Just thought I would post here after todays announcement.  Although its not fantastic news for the majority of people, this is 'ok' for us as a family.  Next 12 months with £400 credit will be £2100 for the year and then £2500 year after.  Much better than what we would have been paying if no intervention at all, so for that I'm truly thankful!

I have raised my DD's back to the levels they were, back to normal from next months payments so fingers crossed Im back on track to hopefully be debt free by July/Aug 2023. Im going to continue with the snowball of my sinking funds/savings and I will be concentrating on at least 1 fund per month until fully funded.

Cash Budget reset day for me today.  Managed to put away £35 from last week, £25 to my EF (Now at £307)  and £10 to my new monthly savings challenge for my 2nd EF.

For me, happier today although I do feel for all other families where this isnt the news they had hoped for.

Shell x

Snwps

shell16 said:

Just thought I would post here after todays announcement.  Although its not fantastic news for the majority of people, this is 'ok' for us as a family.  Next 12 months with £400 credit will be £2100 for the year and then £2500 year after.  Much better than what we would have been paying if no intervention at all, so for that I'm truly thankful!

Do you use the average consumption of gas & electric these figures are based on? I think its 2900kwh electricity and 12000kwh gas per annum. I use more electricity so will still be purging where I can to keep the cost down. I'm eagerly awaiting the actual kwh prices which will take effect from 1st October to really calculate what my costs will be. It is still a help though.

shell16

Hi @Snwps

I live in a town house so Im aware its over the average consumption but based on my usage the current DD payment I make should take account of that.  If not Im certain its well within our families affordability unless we have a beast from the east situation again over winter!

We had a smart meter fitted in April this year for our electric (gas still hasnt been fitted!) and we are using below what we used last year, only using gas for hot water, cooking on hob.  Ive recently invested in an air fryer rather than use our oven, not so long ago our fan died on the oven, its still useable but takes ages to actually heat up and cook things.  So far on the air fryer its a big thumbs up in terms of how long we are cooking for and because of that the costs being much reduced.

We are being very, very careful at the moment and trying to put into place practices to help reduce/limit use of energy as much as possible.  My OH turned all the radiators on our ground floor to frost stat only and also debating whether to buy a really thick type curtain coming up the stairs to keep the heat in on the main living floor and upstairs in the bedrooms.

Im cautiously optimistic I can now carry on with my debt free journey.  Situations like this just make you think more and with the hope that you were not in debt in the first place as things would be alot easier!

Shell x