The Mental Debt Struggle...

AntoMac

I’m glad you’ve come to the decision to sell the car Keedie. Weighing all things up I think it’s the right choice.
Glad your son is doing his best with his exams. That is all you can ask of him. Good also that he is appreciative of what you are doing to help him 

Keedie

Yep I've definitely seen the light with the car. I visited my friend in Kent today and the trains were suspended so I drove, but on the way back I got stuck in sooooo much traffic on the way back. A 5 minute drive was 40 minutes of gridlock traffic and I was on the verge of tears as I was so tired.

My son pointed out that I need to keep the car until he's had his knee surgery. He has a CT scan on 9 June, and then we'll hear from his consultant about pre-surgery preparation etc. Not sure when the first surgery will be, but he definitely can't be getting around on public transport after having his kneecap surgically reallocated. So depending on his surgery date, I'm gonna have to brace driving until he's back on his feet 😩.

I paid my direct debit to Barclaycard, £300 so that takes my debt down which is good. My sister has some items on my Klarna and so I've paid £45.82 for one of her purchases as it comes out the day before she's paid and she'll reimburse me. 

I can't sleep so I've been watching too many episodes of S.W.A.T on Netlfix. I've gotta bipolar mixed state coming and they're so draining; being depressed and hypomanic at the same time is a trippy and frustrating feeling. It's a bit of a struggle at the moment, but as they say, 'this too, shall pass'...

LittleMissDetermined

Morning Keedie, I am also up early and have been working over an hour now, also walked the dog at silly o'clock this morning although I'm not sure he was actually impressed by that haha. 

Good choice in watching SWAT, I really enjoyed it... it lead me to the 911s and then station 19, which then got me into Grey's anatomy but I'm still working my way through that as there are 19 seasons   

Hope you start to feel a bit better soon, is this the last week of exams for your son?
LMD x

Makingabobor2

Good plan to sell your car. Its funny how I encourage people to sell their cars, but not sure we'd sell ours. I hate driving these days with traffic like it is, plus from an environmental point of view I'd love to get rid of it. But with my 90 yr old dad & other family 150mls away, I feel we need it. Its under 3hrs in car or over 5 hrs on train with changes. Maybe one day..

Keedie

Sounds like a good rabbit that you went on @LittleMissDetermined, I might have to check those out as well. I might have to rewatch Criminal Minds, as that was always an interesting watch. I used to be obsessed with CSI back in the day as well, and Bones. 

All my buy now, pay laters are done for this month and the first few weeks of June. Paid £24.99 to Clear Pay for my son's trainers and £33.32 for sister's other purchase. I'm glad that there's nothing left to be paid until the end of June/beginning of July. And that'll be the end of it all. I can't wait to be rid of Klarna and Clearpay. 

My son's got two more weeks of exams LMD, as he's on half term now and has 4 exams next week and 5 the week after. Then he's free as a bird on 16 June!

It makes sense in your circumstances to have a car @Makingabobor2, and I wouldn't give mine up either if I lived so far from family, especially if they are elderly. I'm lucky that I can easily get to my family via public transport in London, but if the journey was 40% faster by car, then I'd do that too. 

Because I didn't fall asleep until around 5.30am this morning, I 'slept through' my alarm (and yes that's in sarcastic quotes, as I actually forgot to even set one)! My mum called me at 9.30am as my Granny is sick and so my mum had to cancel my son's tuition session, and that jolted me out of my sleep and I panicked when I saw the time as I had a mental health course at 10am to help with my recovery. My Granny seems to have some kind of infection that is making her delirious as the antibiotics are not working, so she's saying and doing some strange things. I managed to get there by 10.30am after power walking to the train station, and the God's aligned with my train times. Got shame on the way back home though, as I tried to my shuffling version of running for a train and it drove off without me 😂. I told my son and he thought it was hilarious. Such great sympathy these teens have 🙄.

Keedie

May 2023 Financial Summary

Starting Balance = £13,517.29 | Amount Repaid = £816.59 (3.62%) | Closing Balance = £13,084.13
Total Repaid to Date = £9,489.17 (42.04%)

Bank of Mum 3 (school fees)
Starting Balance = £3,050 | Amount Repaid = £100 (3.28% repaid) | Closing Balance = £2,950 | Total Repaid to Date= £1,850 (38.54% repaid)
This is the first month of the increased £100 a month payment, and I've set the standing order to increase in November 2023 to £175 a month once Creation is cleared. Once my car is sold, this will be paid to my mum to further decrease the balance and 40% of whatever I accumulate in the Freely Debt Savings Pot will go towards clearing this quicker as this is debt priority 1. If I can get £1,000 for my car, it would make a big difference to the balance by 31 December 2023, as with the normal repayments and plus the Pot money, I should be able to get this balance to under £1,000 remaining by the end of the year.

Barclaycard
Starting Balance = £7,200 | Additional Debt Balance Transfer = £2,508.43 (Revised Debt Balance = £9,708.43) | Amount Repaid = £558.43 (5.75% repaid) | Closing Balance = £9,150 | Total Repaid to Date = £2,946.23 (24.36% repaid)
I did a £4,000 money transfer from MBNA and paid this straight onto Barclaycard to lower the balance as it had a longer balance transfer duration and a lower transfer rate. I then transferred the total increased balance of £6,325 from MBNA to Barclaycard and had to pay a transfer fee of £183.43. The overall increase to my debt with Barclaycard was £2,508.43, and so although I have made a payment this month totalling £558.43 as they took April's direct debit was late, my overall debt that I have repaid has dropped from 24.90% to 24.36%. I do feel much better though, as this means I now only have one credit card and it is interest free until 1 February 2025. I've got 20 months until the interest kicks in, so I need to clear as much of this as I can before the end of January 2025.

Creation
Starting Balance = £415.97 | Amount Repaid = £125.29 (30.12% repaid) | Closing Balance = £290.68 | Total Repaid to Date = £779.32 (72.83% repaid)
I made an overpayment of £52.69 and this has meant that the balance is now going to be cleared in September 2023 instead of October 2023. I can use what would have gone to October's budget for debt repayments, to treat myself for my birthday instead. From November 2023, I will round up the value of Creation at £72.67 and snowball this to my mum as £75 extra a month (hence her payment increases to £175). It's nice to know that there are only 4 more payments and then this will another debt that I can cross off. But at least I know that as a birthday treat, I drop down to 3 creditors.

MBNA ~ PAID IN FULL
Starting Balance = £2,125 | Additional Debt Money Transfer = £4,200 (Revised Debt Balance = £6,325 | Amount Repaid = £6,325 (100% repaid) | Closing Balance = £0 | Total Repaid to Date = £7,200 (100% repaid)
The £4,000 money transfer went through and cost £200 in fees, and I sent this straight to Barclaycard and then used Barclaycard to completely clear the MBNA balance. If I had been more organised, I wouldn't have needed this money transfer and then a balance transfer to clear this debt, as I had the ability to get the money together, I just squandered a lot of time and money in the earlier part of the year. But you live and learn, right? But at least this has a zero balance, and will stay that way. I have cancelled the direct debit as I have no balance but I have not closed the card as I need it for my credit utilisation. Having less debts to think about, has really helped my mindset, even though the overall balance hasn't really changed that much. 

Sky Mobile
Starting Balance = £726.32 | Amount Repaid = £32.87 (4.53% repaid) | Closing Balance = £693.45 | Total Repaid to Date = £312.581 (31.07% repaid)
I have started a new savings pot called Mobile Madness to enable me to slowly save via cashback, rounding down my account, surveys and a small standing order, to accumulate the balance of the phones so that I can make a final settlement payment. I want to clear my handset by the end of September 2024, so that I have it cleared for my birthday in October 2024 and my son's handset by Christmas 2024 so that I don't take the debt into 2025. As the payment is £32.87 a month, I have rounded up the difference to £35 a month and have a standing order for the difference of £2.13. As the payments reduce in the final year of the payment plan, from March 2024 and April 2024, I will increase the standing order accordingly. I'll need £88.62 by the end of September 2024 to clear my handset, and that account has £30.87 in there so far. So I'll definitely be able to clear Phone A (mine) by then, and the difference in the direct debit from October 2024 means that the Phone B (my son's handset) will be cleared by December 2024. I need to do some surveys and send the payout to that account, to make sure that I hit my target, and see if I can even get rid of Phone A by the summer 2024.

Debt Free 2023 Target = £6,000
Amount Repaid = £2,788.75/£6,000 (46.48% cleared)

Debt Reflection vs Savings Focus

I'm approaching 50% of my £6,000 target of debt repayment and by the end of June 2023, I'll have hit around 54% of target. I have set aside the money for the main excursions when my friend comes to London, and the rest will be accumulated through weekly cash stuffing, and so I am not so fussed about the Great British Summer as pot, and that is no longer a focus. I will simply roll with it for summer. So my 3 main savings targets have changed.


1. Freely Debt Saving = £137/£1,000 (13.70% saved) ~ target date of 27 December 2023
This pot will consist of my sibling's debt repayments, and rollover from the weekly budget, any surplus in my budget (as I have picked a monthly budget figure that is slightly lower than my total monthly income) and any money made from freelancing once tax, NI and reinvestment is taken into account. It's grown to £137 in one month, as I moved some of the surplus from The Bills pot on Monzo into this account with Chase as it will be earning interest and I've still left just under £20 in that Monzo pot in case a bill is unexpectedly higher than anticipated. But as I check what is forecast to come out for the following month and then add money to this pot at the end of the current month, there shouldn't be anything too crazy happening. I've sent all the money for June 2023's bills to the Monzo pot already. I'd used £50 of the surplus to get this pot started. I will bank my penny savings challenge and any other cash by 27 December 2023, so that I can then redistribute what I have accumulated with 20% to spend as I want in 2024, 40% to savings and 40% to debt repayment. The debt recipient will be my mum in 2023 and Barclaycard in 2024.

2. Emergency Fund = £189.90/£1,000 (18.99% saved) ~ target date of 31 December 2023
I'll be paying £100 a month into my emergency fund and I will use whatever left over spending money I have, towards the Great British Summer account. As the 5% round-ups account with Chase ends on 29 June 2023, the money in there (currently £192.92) will go into my emergency fund. With the £100 a month, I should meet my target of £1,000 by 31 December 2023.

3. Build a Buffer = £45.88/£500 (9.18% saved) ~ no target date but 31 December 2023 would be nice
This will be my equivalent of an overdraft, so that if something happens, I will use this fund and only if it's depleted would I use my emergency fund. The aim is to keep this balance at £500, so if I need to use it, I have to replenish it. The money from the Freely Debt Saving pot will be added to this fund to help towards reaching £500. If the additional amount from that pot would take me over a balance of £500, then I will add more to my emergency fund and One Month Ahead fund which will start in 2024.

Reducing the number of things that I focus on, has been a huge benefit psychologically. I'm always stressed by my finances and make silly mistakes or have frivolous spending sprees, but I am hoping that by keeping things very simple, it allows for flexibility which will reduce the guilt and anxiety. Whilst also giving me a realistic structure to follow. I'm trying to be kinder to myself whilst still adulting, and I think I am beginning to find a better balance ❤️.

Makingabobor2

Sounds like you have some good plans in place now and really organised. I agree having less savings pots to focus on, makes it easier and less stressful. 

Keedie

Yes I think less is definitely more when it comes to easing stress @Makingabobor2.

I'm trying to simplify all aspects of my life, and having less things to save for and focus on means that I'm more likely to achieve it. I'll still have my sinking funds, but they won't really be getting going until I get back from Turkey in mid-July. As by being away for the better part of 2 weeks, I'll have more money at the end of that month, as my spending money is already more or less accounted for.

I just need to get a handle on my food budget, and start to meal prep and stuff. I'm going to brave the Old Style Moneysaving boards and ask for some advice on there. Those threads scare me a little as they're all so efficient, but I need to bite the bullet and get more in control of things.

Sun_Addict

We haven’t had a car for 10 years now since Mr SA’s brain injury and no longer being allowed to drive. I rarely miss having one. Definitely don’t miss the associated costs that is a fact. 

Re savings I’ve definitely over faced myself this year with 3 regular savers. The interest is good but it’s hard keeping up with them all. One at a time next year I think. 

It all takes time and you learn as you go along. You’re doing great 🙂

beanielou

You are doing so well