12 months of hard graft to become Debt-Free.

Humdinger1

@RandomOne you are welcome! It's easy to listen to negative partners; I know you know this but he does not define you.  Give yourself a pat on the back for your light bulb moment; many people would have buried their heads in the sand...most of us need a huge defining moment to get on top of debt and you've had yours, no? Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

RandomOne

Thank you @Humdinger1 yes this is definitely my huge defining moment!

I need to make paying off this debt my 1 and only goal for 2023, everything I do, every penny I spend, has to be with this in mind. I can't be trapped in this marriage for any longer than necessary. I'm going to pick up overtime at work at every available opportunity, and hopefully, this will all make a difference to how long I am stuck here.

Anyway, enough about my marriage woes! 

Today will be a no spend day. I did my food shopping at Aldi yesterday for under £50 for the week and am so pleased with that. It's definitely getting tougher though! I am going to have a look on the OS board for some cheap recipe ideas today. 
I have some work to do today, which should take up most of the day.  

powerspowers

Cheering you on RandomOne, this time next year you will be debt free xx

RandomOne

Thank you so much @powerspowers i appreciate the support  

RandomOne

Afternoon

I've spent a few hours looking over my budget and need to re evaluate how much of the £1700 will be going to debt, and how much will be going to an emergency fund.

I've also read only about something called 'sinking funds', do any of you use them? If I understand correctly they are virtual little pots of money that you deposit a set amount into every month in order to cover any big unexpected (or expected) costs.

Off the top of my head, the 'sinking funds' i think I'll need are

Car repairs
Christmas & Birthdays
Pets

So here is what I think I am going to do:

Weekly money from job 1: will get straight towards debt
Monthly money from job 2: Will go into Sinking funds and emergency fund...although I'm not sure if these are the same thing.
Monthly rent from adult children: Will pay my half of the household bills (my husband pays the other half)

This means I'll still be paying £1300 towards debt each month, but I'll also be saving a little in case of emergencies into these sinking funds. 

What does everyone think? 
Can you tell I'm new to budgeting  

joedenise

I think you need to have a separate Emergency Fund.  I have various "pots" for lots of different things.  I use a single bank account and keep track of how much money there is in each "pot" using YNAB but a spreadsheet will work just as well.

enthusiasticsaver

RandomOne said:

I'm back and I've made progress. 

Total debt is now:
Barclaycard £5222.79
2nd Card £2794.33
3rd Card £2439.83

So my total debt is now £10,456.95

I should be about to pay off £1700 per month as of January. Not including interest means my debt will be paid off in 6 months. So it will probably be 10 months when I include interest. That is fine with me. I might even be able to do it sooner.

My marriage is in serious trouble and I need to leave, but cannot afford to. My husband knows this, we have tried several times to make things work, but he has said I'll never leave because I can't afford to and he is right. I NEED to leave. 
I'm safe, he isn't at all violent or anything like that, but I am incredibly unhappy. In order to leave him and be able to survive financially, I need tp pay my debt off. 

Moving on...my new job pays weekly. I've not had a job that pays weekly before. So what I've been doing is saving my wages for 4 weeks and then making 1 lump sum towards the debt every 4 weeks. Is there an alternative to doing it this way, or would it be better to just make the weekly debt payments? I'm thinking that the interest might be lower if I do it weekly? 

If you are being charged interest on a daily rate as many credit card companies do then I would pay it weekly.  Even more so if you will be tempted to spend rather than reduce debt.  Unfortunately debt issues hold people back in other areas so I would make every effort to get shot of it and put some savings behind you so you can leave your husband if you are unhappy.  Read @kakiste diary which is a masterclass in sorting out her debt so she can leave her marriage too. 

RandomOne

@enthusiasticsaver thank you, I'll head over there and have a look at her diary. Yes, I am definitely going to pay it weekly, as I know that I'll end up spending it throughout the month if it's sat in my account. 

@joedenise I am awful with technology, but could do a written form of a spreadsheet to keep tabs on how much is in each 'pot' in a single account. 

Today I haven't done any food shopping, which is great for me. My main issue with money is wasting so much on food shopping. I think for some reason my unhappy marriage has manifested itself as an addiction to food shopping. So every single day that i avoid the supermarkets is a bonus. 

I've meal planned for the week, so I shouldn't need anything other than bread, milk and eggs. Next week I'll do the Christmas food shop, and I don't want to go overboard this year. I want to save as much as I can instead. 

CRANKY40

You'd be surprised at how many of us with debt issues also have issues with overshopping and/or other addictions. I've recently finished paying what I owed but I honestly can't fit anything else in my freezer. The tins and packets cupboard isn't quite as bad as it used to be be but it probably wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny either. 

bekah89

Good luck! Cheering you on. I’ve recently started doing payments a day, definitely makes a difference. You’re in a really good position to get debt free by this time next year, will be amazing 😃