Taking charge of debt

Lemonade_budget

Just read your diary and you've come such a long way! You've done amazingly well, well done you

vampirotoothus

Hi, have you checked what deals your existing lender will give you? Mine allowed me to go onto a 10 year fix, no product fees, or early repayment charge and no credit check (Coventry). It's worth a phone call to find out. Good luck with your plans V x

sunshine_raincloud

Thanks @savingholmes @beanielou @Lemonade_budget @vampirotoothus

Appreciate the comments! 

Yes crossing my fingers for a quick and easy sale of the house but know it has the potential to be the complete opposite! 

Will assess how I am feeling once I reach the point where savings amount matches the debt. I know I would make a small amount of money from the interest on my savings as my CC is on 0% but just feel mentally drained knowing debt is there so the sooner I can fully get rid of it the better for my mental health I think! 

On that note... £100 birthday money sent to CC this evening.

Total debt now £2300 with 31% total amount left to go! Will be down to £2000 in next week or so when regular amount of £300 comes out. Then will try to make a couple more small payments from envelope challenge on top. In fact might do one of those now as I am due to do one this week... withdrew 32+3 so paid another £35 bringing total down to £2265, which is 30.6% remaining!

beanielou

You will soon be in the £1k's 

savingholmes

Not sure if I wished you Happy Birthday!

Well done on the payments. I get the release that comes with being debt free. It's real.

sunshine_raincloud

@savingholmes thanks for the birthday wishes. 

Just got back after few days away and caught up with everyone's diaries. Seems like everybody is really starting to feel the cost of living crisis now and starting to seriously think about planning for the winter. I am also starting to worry quite a bit particularly with my drop in income. I think I'm definitely going to invest in thermals and new hot water bottle for this winter to try to limit my heating use as much as possible. Managed another freezer food NSD today but need to head to the supermarket tomorrow. Will make sure to pull together a good meal plan for the week. I am going to try to eat more vegetarian meals to bring costs down, whilst also being healthier and better for the planet. I have £30 left in my spending budget for the week so that should be more than enough. Still haven't been paid for an extra shift I did so need to chase that up on Monday. I have signed up for another one in a couple of weeks as well. Going to try to do as many as I can but at the minute they are getting snapped up quite quickly! 

No news with regards to changes in balances or anything like that.
Regular £300 amount will come out on Monday. 

I hope that everyone is well. 

savingholmes

I found an electric blanket really helped me reduce my heating. One that's soft like a throw. HB have one for £30 at the moment 

sunshine_raincloud

Thanks, I will look into it. To be honest I often spend most of the winter under a duvet on the sofa anyway!

Decided to do my envelope challenge for the week a day early. Withdrew 24 + 42 so £66 sent to CC bringing total debt to £2199, which is under 30% of my total starting amount. I also transferred a few more pounds to my holiday fund so that is currently £357. Hoping to have £500 saved by mid-September, which is when we go away. I have been doing some calculations and if I use some of my savings to pay off my debt I might be able to have it all gone by the end of September. I don't want to push myself to pay too much though before the holiday so I'll wait until I'm back and then see if it is possible. Every little bit extra I pay off now will be less I take from my savings so that is good motivation. I should still leave myself with around £500 EF and then I'll be able to top my savings back up again over the next few months with the £300/month that paying off the card will free up. I have also set up £1/day to be sent to a savings pot for Christmas after seeing the thread on the DFW challenges page. I won't have very much for this year but I think it is a really good idea! Anyway that's the current plan.. let's see what happens. I was also too lazy to go to the supermarket today so another NSD! Only my second for August but good to get started with them. 

Hope everyone is having a nice Sunday 

savingholmes

Great progress. Love the envelopes idea

Squirrelz92

Wow you are storming through this debt @sunshine_raincloud! So happy for you 🎉 Great idea with the £1 a day to your Xmas fund. I would love an electric blanket but with already owning three normal fleece blankets I think I shall have to pass this year It's scary isnt it not knowing what state we are all going to be left in after winter. Really hope your house sells quickly so you don't have as much to worry about with the SVR and energy increases. Are you looking to buy somewhere smaller or are you planning on renting? x