Late to the game – midway through my DFW journey

Martico

It is, yes. I go £20 per month DD, and a bigger chunk on pay. Only started it this year, so it's not a large amount by any stretch, but it feels secure. And is up 3% after a turbulent few months for S&S, so I'm happy enough.
Importantly for this switching lark, I won't face a headache if it doesn't go through one month, though I want to keep it going, of course

Martico

*by secure I mean that I won't touch it unless absolutely unavoidable, I'd like to build a longterm pot

savingholmes

Good. Sounds promising. I've had 2 lots of bank switching money so far. It all helps 

Martico

Hello weekenders!

Mid-month now and it looks like my work won’t have enough new projects to renew my contract, so I’m starting to do my CV and take a look at my LinkedIn. I hate doing this kind of thing. I’m great once I have work, can turn my mind to many things, but I’m really bad at putting myself in a shop window and getting applications in. I can do them, I can write, I’m just uncomfortable selling myself. I’m happy with interviews if any applications get to that stage, so that's something.

I was out with my best friend last night who gave me loads of good advice and support and will – of course – check over my CV before I send it off. She’s good with that kind of thing and we know each other well enough to be brutally honest if we need to be.

Onto money. CC debts now stand at £6,863: £1,359 (M&S 0% spending card till Jan 24) / £1,951 (Sainsbury 0% on balance till Dec 2023) / £3,553 (Virgin 0% on balance till Aug 2023). Other than the min monthly payments I’ve been chipping away at the Sainsbury’s CC with any Prolific cashouts. Those are averaging around £25-30 a week at the moment. Although Virgin has the largest balance and is the closest to the end of the 0% period, the min payment is only 1% of the balance, so I’m happy leaving that on minimum payments until I get a guaranteed income again. Seeing the Sains balance fall by more than the minimum is good, and means my monthly minimum payments are going down a bit more quickly as well (Total min payments for CCs are £113 per month now, compared to the eye-watering £976 two short years ago, when much of the debt also incurred interest).

This week has been far too spendy, though I’ve still got a buffer till I get paid. New tyre for the car after driving over a thick but sharp metal thing, a gig on Thursday and a night out last night all added up. Luckily my savings pots are healthy enough to get me a cheap holiday in September and then a few months to find new work. Instant access savings account is at £3,109 / PBs are £5,000.

And I’ll start on the bank switching in ten days or so once a couple of DDs have left my new “burner” current account.

I think that’s it for now. Back to the CV for me

savingholmes

Good luck with the job hunting. Sounds like you are doing well still budget wise.

Martico

It turns out that I'm terrible at keeping a diary. 

Anyway, things are good - after two months (Sep and Oct) without work, I was offered my old job back, this time on a contract until the end of 2023 with a healthy (10%) rise. That, combined with a weak pound - I'm paid in dollars - has given me a huge amount of security, as well as a week in Spain in late October once I knew the new contract was coming.

The job insecurity meant that I took on an offer of a money transfer from BC to tide me over, figuring that the offer at 2.6% was way below the rate of 5.12% in rainy day savings where I stuck it. So, my CC debt has increased, but so have savings.

I can see an end in sight to all of my debt in the first half of next year, and already have a healthy savings buffer.

Mid December totals:
M&S 0% spending card (till Jan 2024) - £1584
BC 0% (till June 2024) - £1930
Sainsbury's 0% (till Dec 2023) - £904
Virgin 0% (till Aug 2023) - £3287
Total CC debt - £7,705

Savings and premium bonds (much of which be blown in Jan by HMRC) - £10,357
S&S ISA for the long term, which I'm slowly building up - to accelerate once the CCs are gone - £976

So things are good, I'm on course to both save and spend more on the house by around Easter I reckon.
Prolific Academic has been great for chipping away some more (around £85 per month) at the CCs, as has my energy payment holiday, as I use less than £60 per month in energy.

Onwards and upwards! Will see if I can update within three months next time...

enthusiasticsaver

Good news on you getting your job back.  What is your plan re the debt now?  Are you just planning on clearing it within deal period? 

Martico

enthusiasticsaver said:

Good news on you getting your job back.  What is your plan re the debt now?  Are you just planning on clearing it within deal period? 

Thanks! Super spreadsheet a-go-go tells me that I need to overpay by £611 (£511 excluding BC) per month across the four (three) of them until their respective deals run out. Luckily I've got capacity to overpay by quite a bit more every month while still saving, now that I know I have the work, so that's what I'll be trying to do. I know they're on 0% with long terms and I could scrimp a few quid in savings, but I'd rather just get them off my back now.
Happy to keep the one that's 0% till mid-2024 at minimums throughout next year, that one can wait.

Edit: that means that the VG, SB and MS ones should be paid off by June, well before sell-by dates.

savingholmes

Great that you got your job back and a nice raise - which will have helped cushion your time off. 

Good you have a plan to clear the debt within the 0% window.

bekah89

You’ve made great progress and great about your job! I used to log everything on a spreadsheet I need to start doing that again so I can see where everything goes!