Washing Away My Debts By 2024

Squirrelz92

Well it's another day, another dollar over here

After spending a significant period of time reading @LittleMissDetermined DFD (superb reading and what an inspiration), I have been inspired to start the trend of PADding! From what I gather, you make a payment everyday no matter how small into a 'pot' or straight to a CC to aid clearing it off faster as well as the regular monthly payment.

I am focusing on the Halifax CC for the time being and have so far made extra payments of £19.26. I also had my regular minimum payment of £30.14 come out on the 30th, so my new OS balance for HCC is £2964.40. My Virgin CC remains the same balance as stated in my opening post as the minimum payment will not transfer until the 13th June.

I have received notification today that my pet insurance has received a claim for my Dog Molly. I had to make the heart-breaking decision to let her cross the rainbow bridge just over a week ago after finding out she had liver failure The initial tests and scans amounted to £566 and with the vets requiring payment upfront, I had to take out a loan with a partner credit company. At the moment I am meant to be paying this back in monthly instalments of £31.48 but once the insurance pays out, this money will pay off the loan straight away.

I am due to receive my children's monthly CSA sum of £228.28 and this always goes straight back out as soon as it is received to pay for childcare so I can work full time. 

I am still waiting to receive a refund of £56.06 from a swimwear company but it has been almost 3 weeks and still nothing! Their customer service is appalling! No contact number, only an email to which they never respond to. I have had to resort to sending a fb message for contact. Not happy at all but there is nothing I can do At the moment I think I shall have to face facts and come to terms with that money never coming back

Under two weeks until our holiday to Turkey and everyone is getting excited! I had to spend £21.86 on family travel insurance so a necessary spend. My Dad's birthday is also on the 2nd so another £3.74 spent early this morning on a Moonpig card

Current account isn't looking as healthy as I would like at only £198, but my partner is due to send his bill contributions of £150 on Thursday so that shall make it look a little prettier.

Chicken curry for tea this evening I believe. Choices are either korma, korma or korma... They never have any madras or tikka masala

LittleMissDetermined

I thought I would pop along and have a read of your diary, we have similar amounts outstanding and similar timescales, so we can cheer each other along the way.

Having read through there are some suggestions I really echo as being tried and tested! A trusty spreadsheet will be your bible for your debt free journey and you can add in payments that are 'due out' so you can accurately track what you have available each month. I have been using mine since 2013 and updating it is the first thing I do each day. 

Secondly, meal planning and batch cooking can really save you money. Slow cooker process allow you to use cheaper cuts of meat and cook in bigger quantities for freezing. As @Bizzywizard mentioned, curries and casseroles are good, we also do chilli, bolognese and pie fillings (ready rolled puff-pastry tops ).  There are lots of slow cooker recipes online and the batch lady also is a good website for recipes to stock your freezer. 

Anyhoo, I have subscribed and will follow your progress. In terms of prioritising your debt, it depends if your mum needs the money back. I know that if it was my dad he wouldn't expect me to prioritise paying him back as he doesn't need it and his savings don't gain much in interest. It all depends on individual circumstances though so it might be worth chatting about it with her. 

Lots of luck, would be great to see you over on the payment a day thread if you fancy it
LMD x

Squirrelz92

Many thanks @LittleMissDetermined for popping by my diary and having a read!

Yes we do share roughly the same amount of debt so it would be interesting to see if I could keep up with your incredible efforts! I don't think I will have as money to throw at it all so my debt free date may linger on like a bad smell Would be lovely to think I could be debt free by December 2023 but its a big push. Working it out, on average I would have to make debt payments totalling £386.98 each month for the next 19 months to be 100% clear by the 31st Dec 2023. Wow!

Would you happen to have a template of sorts for your daily spreadsheet? You'd think being an accountant I would love to make one but I'm so sick of the sight of them nowadays I lose all inspiration for putting together another   

I do own a slow cooker and I love making stews in the winter so I shall have to make this a year round thing and start looking for alternative recipes!

Lucky for me my Mum is relatively easy going with paying her back. Of course she wants it repaid but there is no immediate rush. It still weighs heavily though regardless of her making me feel less pressured to pay back asap.

Yes I shall have to find the payment a day thread and give it a bash! xx

Tiredbutdetermined

Popping in to say hello after having a read of your diary.

I love PADing, I allow myself to round to the nearest pound each day and send the money to my savings. I do the same with any monthly costs and transfer the difference between expected and reality so it further motivates me to bring my bills down.

Squirrelz92

Thanks so much for stopping by @Tiredbutdetermined!

I have just found the main thread for PAD's and it looks like a great motivation to keep on chipping away

Thats a great idea for your daily PAD's. How long have you been doing it for? You must have made a massive dent to your debts so far! 

I can't decide between doing what you are doing (rounding down to the nearest £1), or rounding down to the nearest £5... I do have the funds to do this but I think it may make my brain a little fuzzy as my current account balance will look so much worse each month even though its not because I'm spending too much   

Might be the case where I start rounding down to the nearest £5 and then the last week to ten days before payday, I opt for your method so it hurts my eyes a little less? 

Tiredbutdetermined

I have been PADing consistently for the last couple of years. Before my ex left and we were a double income family I had a more exciting system for payments. I used to go off my balance and if it was over £1000 then I rounded the day to the nearest £10, if it were between £500 and £1000 then I rounded to the nearest £5 then under £500 the nearest £1.
I miss the impact that had but it was a bit false as I did it from available balance so was just sending my overdraft to my credit card!
I love watching my savings build now but it was even more satisfying when I used it to pay my credit card so had enormous statements with 31 payments on there. 

Squirrelz92

I can imagine that system had quite the impact @Tiredbutdetermined! What i would give to round to the nearest £10! Need to get back to passing my ACCA exams so when my annual review comes round, I can try to persuade them to give me a payrise for my achievements   

I can't remember the last time I looked at one of my CC statements as there has never been any real activity on there bar the minimum payment made. Shall be much more fun looking at all the little daily payments!

Just received notification from my bank that the ex has paid his monthly CSA so £140 of that has gone straight back out to paying for childcare. School are closed next Monday so only need £40 for next week and then the week after that we are abroad so no clubs needed that week. That leaves the following 2 weeks for all 5 days totalling £100. This leaves me with £88.28 to play with but I think I will put this into the emergency fund for now. If the kids see something they like on holiday (banana boat rides please!) then I can give them the money for it out of this Emergency fund is now at £338. I shall use the leftover pennies for my PAD tomorrow morning

Throughmyfingers

Hello there,

Just had a catch up on the diary and you seem to have got to a great start! I will he following along and hopefully we can pick up some tips from each other on debt busting with the kids!

v1nted is fantastic and the buyer pays postage and you get a label, so once something sells you can just print and send! 

How was the 2good2go? X 

Squirrelz92

Thanks so much for having a read @Throughmyfingers Yes that would be lovely! No doubt there are plenty more things I could be doing to save pennies here and there. Trying to not spend money when you have children is a daily challenge in itself but I have already spoken to my two about what I am trying to achieve so they are trying to understand why I simply now can't take spend money on trips out here, there and everywhere. Hurts knowing that they are disappointed but its short term pain for long term gain. I will still take them out to special places as once every few weeks as I want them to still experience as much as possible Just a few less sweets and ice creams!

Oooh I shall have to have a dabble at V1nted then from the sounds of it. I don't own anything fancy so it would only be bog standard clothes that dont fit me or the children anymore but it's worth a shot.

The 2good2go was not too bad at all surprisingly. I ended up with 4 large brown bread rolls, wholemeal seeded bread loaf, a pack of peri peri chicken drumsticks (raw), potatoes, mushrooms, a yoghurt and 4 blueberry muffins. Not too bas for £3.50! Starbucks always seem to be giving away a magic bag but its £5 and I'm not sure its worth the money for me as I don't want to be given a bag full of pastries...

Sadly a spending day yesterday but all for a good cause. £5 in Asda on some party food for the kids to take to their holiday club for a jubilee themed day. 

This morning my account has transferred its usual £20 to my 'birthday' pot and £3.34 PAD has been sent to the Halifax CC leaving me with £170 in the bank. 9 days until payday! My OH has been paid early with it being bank holiday tomorrow so his standard £150 contribution towards bill will be heading my way at some point today buffering up my balance to £320. Hoping for a NSD today as other than work, we have korma for tea (ended up eating chilli sausages with halloumi last night instead) and the normal trip to sort out the neigh neigh. 

Ooh almost forgot, my DD came out for my first payment to DWP to that £31.94 paid off that debt too

Throughmyfingers

It can be hard debt busting with kids but its not them its us, mum guilt! A picnic at the park has gone down just as well as a trip to the seaside. I struggle with clothes 😑 its my own doing but they have always had certain clothes and trainers, whilst I know its going to be so difficult to keep upto on my own I don't feel that they should suddenly have to be wearing much cheaper stuff because I have been stupid with money for X amount of years and now me and their dad have separated. 

Yeah maybe once in a while with the 2good2gos they seem a decent value but one of my biggest spends is food, so I would probably just keep spending £3s here and there on things I never needed lol!