20K to Debt Free by June - Finally Debt Free 27/06/23

LittleMissDetermined

Enjoy your night out! If you can't do it at Christmas then when can you? 
LMD x

LeeXenon

Good morning everyone,
a cheeky Prolific win today and a £5 PAD to CC1 as a result.

LeeXenon

Good morning everyone,
Natwest Myrewards win today so a £5 PAD to CC1 to celebrate.
This is going to be my last PAD to this CC before it's cleared, I haven't yet decided if I should close the account down or not. The snowball is about to get bigger!

LittleMissDetermined

Well done! I’ve left all my cleared accounts open for the time being. Will decide once it’s all gone which ones to keep.

LeeXenon

I've come to realise that it's been a full 12-months since I commenced my debt-free diary.
I've decided for that reason to write up a bit of a comparison / progress report based on where I was 12 months ago, here it is in summary;

CC1 Was £3,916.58 - Now £530 (£3,386.58 Paid)

CC2 Was £7,352.29 - Now £4,140 (£3,212.29 Paid)

HP Was £9,655.98 -  Now £5,703.18 (£3,952.8 Paid)

Overall then: £20,897.85, Overall now: £10,373.18.

All in all, since 12 months ago I have paid off £10,551.67 worth of personal debt. (Average: £879/mo, or £22/day)

I'm extremely proud of myself for this achievement, and I would have been nowhere near where I am now if I kept making the £100 PCM payments for each card. I'm not sure where in my head I decided that was OK, because it certainly was not when I was in a situation where I could have paid more ....

LittleMissDetermined

This is a wonderful post. It sometimes really helps to take a step back and realise just how far you’ve come along your debt free journey 
LMD x

LeeXenon

Thank you LMD. Early payday for me (Thank you Monzo) and another milestone reached it would seem.
£530 to CC1 (Cleared !! )
£450 to CC2
£329.40 to HP Loan

£1,309.40 debt paid, total has gone from £10,373.18 to £9,063.78!

I might even enjoy a beer to celebrate, I'd definitely be a month or two behind if it wasn't for Prolific, I wonder if there are any other sites worth signing up too that pay out just as well?

LeeXenon

Good evening everyone,
it's been a fair while since I've posted on my DFD, simply because I don't really have much to report!

I've definitely been a bit more "spendy" than usual, and so this month I am very limited with what I have left for spending for leisure etc. These last few months may prove a bit more tough, fingers crossed there won't be any set major set backs.

I've been toying with the idea of ordering a new phone for a few months, in the end I've just spent £50 or so on a new battery and parts needing replacement, going to be whipping the heat gun out and giving it a go when the parts arrive. This should give me another year or two with my trusty Note 9 which other than the battery is a fantastic phone!

I think the choice between a £50 one-off or ~£30 monthly payment for 2 years is a wise one that I should appreciate when my debt free date rolls around. So close now, can't afford any slip ups and need to put the debit card away I think!

LittleMissDetermined

Great MSE choice in replacing the batter on an otherwise functional phone I am in Month 21 of a 24mth contract and at almost £70 a month it's a real pain!  Especially as I've had some shocking customer service in that time! I'll be switching soon and going sim only for a while until I have saved up to buy a handset outright. 
LMD x

LeeXenon

LittleMissDetermined said:

Great MSE choice in replacing the batter on an otherwise functional phone I am in Month 21 of a 24mth contract and at almost £70 a month it's a real pain!  Especially as I've had some shocking customer service in that time! I'll be switching soon and going sim only for a while until I have saved up to buy a handset outright. 
LMD x

Sorry for the very late reply, glad to see you're almost out of contract - That'll be a great help for you!
I'm with Voxi at the moment (Personal preference), it meets my needs at least .. MSE recommends Lebara which was good and has good service, but I found myself maxing my data with those.

In terms of my debt busting, I'm finding myself stressing about my debt free date and whether or not I'm going to hit it, I've had a few expenses crop up, we've decided to get some work done in the house (albeit minor) I didn't factor this into my spending at the start of the year, so it's come out of a pot I was relying on for my final car payment.

I'm still hacking away, although I do feel I may be a month or two late and might have to reduce some of my upcoming card payments from £900 to £800 or so to give myself a little bit of flexibility.. (Household bills have increased for us approximately 10-15%)

I've already booked Annual Leave for later this year, with the intention of rewarding myself and my family with a week away somewhere nice - I honestly can't wait, time seems to slow down now we're this close!

Hope you're well and enjoying your holiday