Getting FIREd up 😀

South_coast

Thanks both 😀 It's so easy to get bogged down in the minutiae, so it's nice to take a step back some times and give a nod to how far you've come - especially as in my head, it doesn't feel like I've achieved very much since I paid off the mortgage 3.5 years ago, but clearly I have🤦‍♀️!

South_coast

LOL, I'm just flicking back through my diary to look for something and seen I was excited in April 2023 that petrol was 138.9p. It's recently been 128.9p for weeks and weeks - until I decided I needed some, that is, and it went up to 130.9p overnight 🤦‍♀️!

Baileys_Babe

A few weeks ago the same thing happened to me with the petrol prices, to rub salt into the wound I had been regularly updating friends and family with the local prices, as the usual cheap garage in the area had been more expensive by 4 - 5 p a litre for a while. 

South_coast

Still waaaaaayy cheaper than it was a few years ago though 👍 (Which genuinely makes no sense at all to me, as I would have assumed all the instability in the Middle East would be pushing it up 🤷‍♀️?)

South_coast

I am simultaneously caught between wanting 01/01 to hurry up so my ISA matures and I can have a fun time paying off some of the debt, and wanting time to slow down as I am back to work 02/01 and this break seems to be racing by 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

TallGirl

I’m exactly the same just want to plan and shuffle things around but I know 2/1 will be here really soon. 

Jessy103

Agreed, do not want to go back to work but still want the money! I think I'm too old for a sugar daddy now 🤣

LadyWithAPlan

Those 3 yr savings figures are fabulous! Well done 
Are you planning to keep on stoozing or just want to get the ccs all paid off ?

South_coast

Thanks all 😀!

I don't really consider myself to be stoozing any more, LaPlan. With what I owe far outstripping what I have, I've definitely tipped over into common-or-garden "being in debt" territory. 

The current plan is: 
1. Fixed-rate ISA matures on 01/01, bringing with it c£430 of interest
2. Use this to clear the Barclaycard in full (doesn't expire until the end of March, but I am playing the long game in hoping it will free up a decent balance transfer offer)
3. Also pay down the cards expiring July 25, January 26 and March 26 to 69% of the credit limit (apparently it's a black mark if you've used more than 70% overall, so I'm playing it safe even though two aren't due for ages)
4. Also use whatever's left over (should be about £1900, if my maths is correct) to pay down the April 25 card (currently at 70% of the limit)
5. Continue to pay any free money earnings off the April 25 card 
6. Sit tight, and hope I start to qualify for some decent balance transfer offers 😬

If I get an offer from Barclaycard, it will be snapped up for the April 25 card. If so, then that will be a set-and-forget for the foreseeable, as I think they were offering something like 26 months at 0% with a 2.6% fee and a 1% minimum monthly repayment. Unfortunately though, that card has the lowest limit, so it won't make much of a dent, meaning the April 25 and July 25 cards will still need assistance from elsewhere. There's the opportunity to shuffle balances between the existing cards, but with a 5% fee and only 12 months 0%, I don't really want to be doing that too many times. So in essence, concentrate on steps 1-5 and wait and see what happens for now....!

South_coast

Current balances: 

£3,471.71 due March 25
£10,580.75 due April 25
£12,163.12 due July 25
£5,050.94 due Jan 26
£10,038.60 due March 26

So it's this spring/summer which is the real pinch point. Once I'm past that, I will feel a lot more relaxed 🤞