Washing Away My Debts By 2024

Squirrelz92

I have spent sooo many hours on this forum reading such a brilliant collection of people's debt free wannabee diaries and I have never felt more inspired to tackle my batch of debts head on instead of waddling on by every month paying off the minimum hoping that one day they will simply vanish.

My current debts are as follows:
Halifax CC - £3013.80 0% interest until March 2023
Virgin CC - £2321.74  0% interest until January 2023
DWP - £766.56 0% interest until paid providing DD stuck to
Mum - £1300

Total Owed - £7402.10

I have never really had any trouble keeping on top of amounts owed, but over the years emergencies have arisen and since purchasing my first home in August 2020, instead of using any spare money to pay off outstanding debt, I used it to fund some renovations matter how small. I do keep up to date regarding transferring CC balances across to another 0% deal as my credit score is decent, so this is a bonus. 

I live with my partner and we both work full time; him in construction and myself as an accountant so we both earn a decent salary. I have two children aged 9 and 7 We also have the family pooch and an ex-racehorse (my lifelong hobby). 

Me and my partner keep our finances separate so he will not be contributing towards my debts just as I have not aided him with his. Sadly he accumulated almost £10k worth of debts across multiple loan companies and shopping websites and after struggling with the back breaking APR % he opted for an IVA. He finishes this ins Jan 2023!!! He cannot wait for this as he will then be debt free! So happy for him! I want to be the same so we can then both start saving for our own goals, him being a deposit towards our first house together and be being overpaying my mortgage for maximum equity for when we decide to start looking for our joint home.

I have looked into multiple different ways to start in paying off what I owe and with me not having to pay any interest on any of the balances, I think the snowball method may be best? I am concerned however with both my CC's running out of 0% early next year but I am hoping that I can transfer the Halifax balance to Virgin on a new CC and vice versa. 

The guilt of owing my Mum hurts a lot as I have never been one to ask to borrow money as I have always done so well with finances alone so this is one I want to sort asap also. 

The DWP is to pay back what was overpaid to me in childcare by the government last year so this has already been set up for DD to take 24 monthly payments of £31.94. I could have opted for a much longer payment schedule but decided against as I don't want it hanging over for too long!

I switched to Starling Bank as I love the idea of having so many different 'pots' to automatically transfer all the bill money into on top of having other saving pots to aid in over-paying past the minimum payments on my debts. 

Hopefully having this diary will bring comfort to me knowing I am making progress no matter how small! 

Bizzywizard

Hi,

Good luck with your debt free journey.

So you have 8 months (June-Jan) on the Virgin CC, thats £290.25 a month (rounded up) and 10 months (June-March) on the Halifax CC thats £301.40 a month (rounded up).
Total £591.65 a month for 8 months. I have not included your DWP and Mums money.

I would also consider asking the DWP to payback the money over a longer term as long as its interest free, better the money in your pocket than theres! I am assuming this can be changed of course.

Have you considered working your maths backwards?I cleared my debt this way.Cira £19k of debt.

You have not done a statement of affairs, so I do not know what your earn or other outgoings. 

I worked out what it was to clear MY debt in the 0% months as I was very concerned I would not be offered any more 0% cards. Hence working my maths backwards. It was hard work, but its paid off asI am noe debt free.

Can you put £600 to your cards each month (rounded up), so you set up the direct debit for the correct amount each month? And hide the cards away or best of all cut them up? Does this leave you enough to live on with what remains? You say you earn a decent salary.

If not have you consered selling items on ebay/marketplace, no spend days,no booze months (say its a health drive), surveys pay about £10 a month but its free, switching bank accounts for the switch bonus. I switched from paying 10 months for coucil tax to 12 months (call them up to change it), so my account looked about the same each month. Car boot sales, any money goes to the debt.

Forget overpaying your mortgage until your credit cards are gone for good.

I'm sure you Mum won't mind waiting till next year to pay her back. Then set up a standing order where it goes out each month, so you don't miss it. Parents want to help, so let her.

If none of the above appeals, pop up your statement of affairs SOA and I'm sure others can help.

Hope this helps.x

Bizzy

Squirrelz92

Hi @Bizzywizard, thanks so much for reading

I have thought about paying off my CC's first as I figured they are currently the biggest and hurt the most! That plus I had the initial pipe dream of clearing at least the Virgin CC before the interest starts in February. 

I shall add my SOA to aid both myself and others. It's annoying because my purchases/expenses seem to have fluctuated so much these last few months with so many different instances that are out of the norm that I have had to fork out for. What my current SOA is showing is that I have more disposable income after everything than what I have actually had these past few months.

Lucky for me I don't drink or smoke so sadly cannot partake in such saving events, nor do I have anything of value to sell I do have some children's clothes that I could try to sell as I suppose every little helps! 

Squirrelz92

[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 2

Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 1647.58

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 140

Other income............................ 678[b]

Total monthly income.................... 2465.58[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 313

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 35

Council tax............................. 111

Electricity............................. 73

Gas..................................... 50

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 42

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 60

TV Licence.............................. 0

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 28

Groceries etc. ......................... 200

Clothing................................ 30

Petrol/diesel........................... 200

Road tax................................ 3

Car Insurance........................... 31

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 17

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 217

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 69

Buildings insurance..................... 15

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20

Haircuts................................ 10

Entertainment........................... 150

Holiday................................. 0

Emergency fund.......................... 0

Stable Rent............................. 200[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 1874[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 450

House value (Gross)..................... 138000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 3500

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 141950[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 92901....(313)......1.79[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 92901.....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Halifax........................3013......26........0

Virgin.........................2322......25........0

DWP............................766.......43........0

Mum............................1300......0.........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........7401......94........-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,465.58

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,874

Available for debt repayments........... 591.58

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 94[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 497.58[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 141,950

Total HP & Secured debt................. -92,901

Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,401[b]

Net Assets.............................. 41,648[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com. 

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]

Squirrelz92

Well, its raining here and I'm drenched to the core after the usual morning routine of tending to the neigh neigh at 5.30am. It's a good job I enjoy the early morning rises and soaking in the peace and quiet before the hustle and bustle begins!

Yesterday, I trialled setting up a faster payment option to my Halifax CC from my Starling account as there didn't seem to be a 'simple' way of transferring extra funds to make a dent. Anyhow, I managed to send across £5 as a tester and aloh and behold, 6 hours later it decided to show up as being received (panic over)! So I am now at £3008.80. This is bugging me so I am definitely tempted to throw another £8.81 at it so I am in the £2000's ... I shall update if I decide to do this later on.

I have been continuing to read more diaries and it's safe to say that a lot of you guys swear by cooking in batches and planning meals for the week to save on purchasing additional unnecessary items on the weekly shop. This may be something I need to look into doing as it certainly makes sense to do so! We have such a busy schedule over here and I feel guilty for never cooking enough. In all fairness the kids do love the good old-fashioned beans on toast or chicken nuggets and chips once or twice a week. I might have to make a list this evening of what meals to make in bulk and see what items I already have in the house so I need not purchase again at the weekend. Has anyone got any tips for cooking in batches?

The usual activities today: Drop kids of at breakfast club, work 8.30am to 5pm, pick up kids from afterschool club, tea and then house chores! No beloved horsey this evening as it's my part loaners turn so I get some extra time to catch up on what needs doing at home.

Have a good day folks

Bizzywizard

Hi,

Me again.

Thanks for posting your SOA. Just a couple of things stand out  - your mobile seems very high at £60 is this for a few phones or just one? I finally got my husband to change his EE phone(out of contract) to Three this morning, saving £12 a month, he was paying £20. Its a small saving but every little helps. See the mobile sim deals on the main page.

So after paying your debts you have under £500 remaining. Have you considered saving £50 a month on the Help to Save government scheme? This is a saving scheme where the government gives you extra money in the end to save a max of £50 a month for 4 years. See the main site for info (Martin Lewis says it the best saving scheme out there). The scheme closes in September 2023. I'm using this to save for my daughters university fund.

I do my batch cooking with a slow cooker and does us for 2 weeks, stews, and sausage cassorol...but we have these more in the winter. So I'm not much help on this one.

Regarding paying off the debt- once you start paying off in larger sums, it becomes addictive to pay it off, hence you wanting to be in the 2's.

One thing I forgot to mention on my first post was an excel spreadsheet. This has all the direct debits and standing orders, salary amounts and the dates when everything comes in an out. My DD used to include the credit card DD's, I changed the dates for the credit cards which really helped once I had done my spread sheet, this is also part of the reason a made the coucil tax over 12 months and not the standard 10.

Squirrelz92

HI @Bizzywizard, hope you are well

My mobile bill used to be £24 as my contract ran out and I was happy with my phone. However my family (All iPhone users) have finally converted me. This is a new contact phone for 3 years, £30 paying for the handset and the other £30 paying for the package. I know its a hefty amount and I do feel guilty every month for deciding to buy it a few months ago but it was something I had been eyeballing for a good while. Luckily I am able to pay the handset off whenever I want so I think once my above debts are paid off I shall start paying this off alongside getting my emergency fund going.

I didnt actually know the government had a saving scheme going at present! I shall definitely have to look into this as I also think my partner could do with some extra incentive.

It really is already becoming an addiction, and a healthy one at that! I did end up paying the £8.81 so my new balance for the Halifax CC is now £2999.99 

I think I am going to do what you have advised and try and change my council tax payments to 12 lots of slightly reduced amounts to keep a regular expense each month.

Regarding the spreadsheet, I think this is a great idea! I did move banks to Starling for this very reason as I have a pot for every single expense that I have. On the day I get paid, it distributes specific amounts of my salary into each pot so I know that whatever is left in my current account is then purely food/diesel/disposable money. This massively reassures me and helps keep me on track as I love organisation. The evening before my salary goes in, I disperse any remaining money in my current account to where I see fit. This will now be thrown at my debts.

I am going on holiday to Turkey in 16 days so I need to keep a little back for spending (all inclusive so wont need much other than for the odd banana boat ride!). 

Also need to account for 2 lots of £200 for horse transport in the next six weeks so ponio can have her treatment at the practice. Sadly insurance doesn't cover this so I cant claim it back.

Squirrelz92

Yesterday was a NSD for me even though I had a fair bit of activity in my account. Every week my pots automatically transfer £6 to my dog groomers pot and £13.35 to my farrier pot. This allows me to have the full amount saved when needed without the worry of dipping into the current account My big fluffy pooch costs £55 every 10 weeks for a full groom and the neigh neigh requires specialist shoes with her injuries to her legs so needs must!

I have just changed my council tax payments from 10 months of the year to 12. Thought I would be saving £11 a month but that has been brought down to £7 as dummy over here didn't pay May's council tax bill when switching current accounts! Oops! This amount has now been added to the rest of the months making the saving a little less so, but every little helps right?

It's Friday! I always treat myself on a Friday to a subsidised cooked breakfast at work during first break as I never buy anything from the restaurant during the week and god its sooooo hard! I love the sausage rolls! So three sausages and some beans it shall be for me this morning at 10am for £1.80. 

Sadly I shall have to spend around £50 (always fight with the pump to try and get bang on £50!) on diesel once more. Since starting my new job three months ago my fuel has rocketed and it hurts! I have read a few diaries that have mentioned looking into an electric car to significantly reduce this weekly cost but I dont think I'd be able to afford the sort of car I need for my lifestyle (biggg boot for the dog/5 seats/decent horsepower for hiking/biking/towing equipment).

2 weeks to payday... desperate to pay off some more of the CC but I don't like to in big chunks in case I need the money before the next salary comes in. 

Cleaned the fridge freezer last night as I was in a cracking mood after feeling optimistic all day about wiping out this debt once and for all. How sad am I? Also made a start on taking pics of all the kid's clothes that they don't want or don't fit and advertised them on the marketplace but no biters as of yet. Looked into flogging them on Vinted or Fleabay but the postage costs really confuzzle me! Has anyone any experience?

Squirrelz92

Mixed bag over the course of the day. So my £1.80 breakfast turned into £2.55 as they finally had my favourite energy drink in the restaurant and I hardly ever have them. That then accidently happened again at lunch ... the urge for chocolate and another energy drink was too strong! Another £2.55 spend. Considering that almost everyone else at the company I work for purchases both their breakfast (full English averaging at £3) and their lunch (again another £3), in the grand scheme of things I do very well with my packed lunches and boxed up weetabix, honey and banana! Shall not be too hard on myself for this reason.

I have heard good things about this food app called 2Good2Go and I found a local shop near where I live providing these 'Magic Bags' full of leftover food for a fraction of the price compared to buying at full retail price. £3.50! Picking this lot up around 8pm this evening. No idea what to expect from it with it being my first bag but I shall report back on here!

The £150 council tax rebate hit my current account this morning and after much deliberation, I opted to put it into my emergency fund. This brings my EF total to £250. No doubt this will get wiped out and then some come July when my car goes in for its doctor's appointment but at least I won't have to put all of it onto a CC. 

Spent £50 as predicted on diesel after work alongside popping by the agricultural shop as normal after finishing work early on a Friday to buy my usual two blocks of shavings for the horsey. 

My current account is standing at £340.43 for the moment but this will be short lived as I need to do the weekly food shop tomorrow. I definitely need to sit down and plan what meals we will consume next week and take a look to see if I already have some useful ingredients lying about. I read off another debt free diary that they are encorporating more 'meat free' meals into the weekly shop to bring costs down. God knows that this will definitely benefit us as we tend to eat 3-4 fresh meat meals per week as standard. Baking potatoes, I am coming to get youuuuuu!!!!

Bizzywizard

Hi,

Well done for changing your council tax to 12 months, its a small saving, but better that the monies in your pocket than the council. Plus this will help your budget more as the same amount of money will be going in and out each mont.

Regarding holding onto your money and staying in the black is great, before paying a chunk off the credit cards, I used to do this 2 days before payday. So my bank account still looked healthyish. Hence my spreadsheet, with dates of everything. 

An emergancy fund is always useful - as long as you are not paying interest on your credit cards.

Regarding the 'Help to Save' is for working tax credit and other benefits (you have a couple of kids so I suspect you get a small something). This is only for the person in receipt of this benefit and per familiy, so your partner won't fit the bill, unless he has a child and is claiming seperatly(I beleive). I found this addictive to, so my £50 goes in around the middle of each month and I don't miss it. Just looking forward to the extra £1200 from the Government after 4 years waiting!

I keep being sent email deals from Tesco and Sainsburys.. ie spend £60 and get £10 off...not sure how I got them...its just where we shop. So could be worth looking at on line.

Best of luck

Bizzy

Squirrelz92

Happy Monday!

Well the weekend disappeared as quickly as always. At least there's a bonus knowing this working week is only 3 days with the jubilee so its not as depressing as a standard Monday. 

My account currently stands at £227.43. A good few spends this weekend, some that were necessary, others less so but still had to be done.

Saturday I ended up purchasing a rocket launcher toy from Amazooon after 15% off for £13.59 as the version my grandma bought for the kids broke within two minutes of use Such a great toy so I had to replace it with a sturdier version! Because of this toy, we visited the park twice at the weekend for a few hours a time! Great time killed doing something for free with this toy, football and the park itself. 

Sunday consisted of spending £27.61 at L*dl after trying out the meal plans for the week and cross referencing any ingredients needed against what I already had in my cupboard. Saved quite a bit doing this but perhaps not so much at the next shop with stripping my cupboards and needing to buy all ingredients next time round.

I also had to pay a lady from the yard £40 in fuel as she transported my horse to the clinic and back a few weeks ago and said I would pay My tyres needed a pump so that cost £0.50 at the station and then my council tax bill has gone up this year so I have had to pop an extra £20 in the tax pot ready for when it comes out on the 1st. 

Thanks @Bizzywizard! Luckily all my CC's are 0% until Jan 2023 so for now it doesn't hurt too much. Will still try to put away money into the EF but its so much more attractive to want to chip in towards paying off a CC! Choices choices!

Aah sadly I do not qualify for the Help To Save as we earn over the threshold in our house even though I have two children . Never mind.

Managed to get my childcare for free for the next 3 days (blessing!) as a well established holiday club has branched out and set up a new location in our area and has offered some local schools with working parents 3 free days as a tester to help encourage using them for future holidays! This is great as its worth just under £100. Need to weigh up the pro's and cons of using this club in the future vs our current holiday club that we have used for the last 3 years in order to get the best VFM.