The Final Bite of the Cherry- Journey to Clear £66k

outoftheviciouscircle

I feel like I haven't really checked in properly all week, so this may be long.
The Virgin card being gone feels like a weight of my shoulders, we have been paying £649 a month off that since January and while I would love to snowball it and start paying £849 a month off the Sainsbury's, I feel we need to add a little fun money into the budget starting next month. We may not need all £300 of it and anything extra will go towards this to hopefully pay it off before September 2024.
Prolific and MS money will be going towards the tax bill for the time being so paying off debt is going to slow down for the next few months. I am about £40 short of my £217 target for this month but haven't fully spent the grocery, fuel and work expenses categories from this month so will take from them at the end of the month.
I am working in Scotland for 3 weeks of August, travelling up on a Sunday, coming home on the Friday. Between fuel, dinner and parking I have worked my expenses out to be in excess of £700. Theres no way I can budget this in advance so I am going to put this on a different CC to what I usually use and pay it off as soon as the expenses get paid to me.
Good news, DH got the FD bonus of £175 yesterday, we have put this towards paying the FIL back as that was what it was always intended for and that has taken the total debt figure into the £52k's. I can't wait to see this drop into the £40k's. It feels like ages since the beginning number changed.
Today I have a haircut booked and a small MS. I'm also going to pop to Asda for a few bits and pieces as 1 more shop this month and I get £5 in my cash pot. I need a few bits so it would be silly to not get the £5 when I'm so close.
Today is also the end of my cheap utility fix. Today will be the last day I get up and see my smart meter only on 41p. I intend to get all the washing done today, chuck the dishwasher on and do anything else that uses electric that I can!!!
Wow, I think I've gone on long enough now. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Jrcoal5

Congratulations on clearing the Virgin card feels so good to get rid of a debt off the list!

outoftheviciouscircle

@Jrcoal5 it feels really good and has really got me thinking about how I want to go about paying off the rest of the debt....I'll get to that in a minute.

How is it Sunday already. It feels like the weekend goes so quick and this is my last 2 day weekend for the next 3. I'll be leaving my midday for the next 3 Sundays and making my way to Carlise so the journey to Scotland isn't as long on Monday morning. My colleagues are all doing the same and staying in the same hotel. That will be nice as we only see each other maybe twice a year with us all being based in different corners of the country.

Onto the money, as soon as I wrote yesterday that snowballing the debt was not an option, it got be playing with the figures. I have worked out that I could be down to just owing my mother  £20,000 by the end of December 2024 if we can continue as we are for another 17 months.
Sainsbury's would be clear in April (5 months early)
FIL would be clear by August ( Could use the £849 that would be getting paid to Sainbury's per month plus £800 holiday savings as we would have had holidays by then.
Laptop- September the DD comes to an end anyway as 36 payments made
Kitchen- Will have around £7000 left on it by September, Snowball all these payments and it will be gone by the end of September

Use survey money, MS and any other extras to pay ex employer and TV. Should easily have enough to cover this by next December.

This leaves the £20k to my mother. If you've read earlier in my diary you will know my mother does not really want me to overpay this as my sister owes the same and should anything happen to her the debt stops there and she wants us to have the same. My thinking is to still work at getting rid of this debt by putting the £20k in a different account, having a SO set up to pay £200 once a month and just forget its there. That way it's paid but its not if you see what I mean.

We are going to attempt this until our holidays next year as things are tight until then anyway but we are going to put the extra money in savings rather than pay directly off the debt so its there if we need it. Wow that was long but it seems like a plan.

outoftheviciouscircle

Todays plans are to

• Walk the dog, I'll take a tub as I saw some blackberries that my mother would love when I walked yesterdays
• Clean the house
• Look out for surveys
• Make a Lasagne for dinner
• Watch the F1
• Sort out my expenses. I don't want to fall behind with these as there will be so many this month.

Have a great Sunday!!

badmemory

And if you can put that £200 into a regular saver they tend to pay more interest so that would be a double win.  Sounds like a plan.

outoftheviciouscircle

badmemory said:

And if you can put that £200 into a regular saver they tend to pay more interest so that would be a double win.  Sounds like a plan.

So true, I am putting money I intend to pay to debt eventually in a First Direct Regular saver at 7% at the moment. It won't be a lot of interest at the end of the year but its around £158 I wouldn't have had.

Jrcoal5

Wow sounds like a brilliant plan! I also borrow from my mam (nothing owed currently) usually when we need a new car, always pay her back but it’s a joint account and she’s never bothered.  The way I see it is I can’t borrow it again unless I pay it back. I really hope one day I can offer the same to my children but I had mine young so I’m not there yet!

Anything made in savings is a bonus as if your debt is all on 0% your actually better off saving it to get the interest and then paying it off the debt just before the deals ends, I do find it hard to let the money go though 😂 I like looking at it 😛

outoftheviciouscircle

Monday!!
I have quite an easy week at work, a lot of admin to get done this week so will spend quite a bit of time at home which is good as I'll barely see home for the next 4 weeks.
Yesterday was a productive day. I went through the entire freezer contents and put together 4 meals for this week. I have picked up MS for dinner 2 days. I think there are only 5 items on the shopping list to complete these dinners and they are nothing major so should be a cheap grocery week.
I bought all my birthday cards for the rest of the year on Funky Pidgeon. Found a discount code, so they worked out at £2 each. About the same as what I would pay in the shop but it does look like I've put effort in and everyone always looks forward to opening my cards.
I got paid for a MS today, I've just used that to fund the internet bill for August, I'm just allocating money as it comes in and any left over will go straight to debt repayment.
Well I better get a move on. Have a great day!!

outoftheviciouscircle

Good afternoon.
August 1st already. I know from my many years in food retail that we have officially hit Christmas Chocolate month. Them tubs of sweets will be piled high at the door of the supermarket before we know it.

Being 1st of the month also means a few DD have gone out so another £251.88 off the debt today. With my new plan, progress will seem slow but I'll still be chipping away at it. Prolific has been really good to me today (WFH has obviously gone well  ) £18.28 of surveys today, although not all have paid out. I have about £15 ready to cash out but I think I'll let it build. I have a few MS lined up in the next few days so when they pay all that will be going in the 'spare for debt' category. When theres a nice amount in there, I will decide on the best plan of action.

I've been on my new energy tariff for 3 days and my smart meter hasn't updated so I have no idea what I have used and its driving me nuts. I know they be be putting my DD up and I'm okay with that as I've been saving the amount they initially reduced the DD by.

I spent £4.85 on some bits and pieces needed for dinner and a bottle of milk, tonight is burgers and chips. DH is in work until 7:15 so something easy was needed.

Right, I'm off to continue stalking Prolific!

outoftheviciouscircle

Good morning, I've treated myself to a little lie in this morning. I'm WFH again today and haven't got a massive amount to do so I can afford to take it a little easy.
I was reading the MSE email last night and saw the section about this new current account that has high interest and a £10 Amazon voucher for signing up so I think I'm going to get myself and DH one of those today, I also have a small MS. I've been thinking of locking into a 1 year fix with my current energy provider, from reading MSE expert its below the current price cap and lower than any future predictions. The standing charges alone are £50 a year cheaper. This is all new to me so I don't know what to do.
Expenses were paid into my account today so they've been distributed to the categories that need. some cash in YNAB. Just my 2nd job income to come in on Friday and I should have a picture of where we stand for the month. I need another £1000 and my pay will be around £900 so I need to find £100 but that covers my tax repayment too.
Well I better get up, I suppose theres treating myself and taking the mick!!