Journey to reduce my £30k debt to Zero by 24th December 2024

MakingMoves

Hi Sarahwithlove,

Thank you and so sorry for the delayed reply...I got all caught up in the summer holidays...trying to work and keep with the little lady and have not long got back from a little week down the caravan then trying to sort all uniform, basically I have been slacking a bit on check in

Thank you, you have a good point my loan figure showed the amount if I pay early and it runs at 17% interest which is added on over time until paid off due to end in 2027 but I plan to clear it before then. This did get me thinking about saving on interest and checked all my cards/loans for APR. my credit cards will be at 29% in 2025 so I need to clear these first and then focus on the loan. My card offered me a money transfer with 5% transfer fee on £3k for another year to Aug 25. I did take that and pay off some of the loan...which saved me £850 interest for the price of £150. I will be updating the figures in my signature with all amounts due showing pay early separately so its all clear

Hope you have a fantastic Bank holiday weekend honey!

MM x

MakingMoves

Good Afternoon all,

Yesterday was payday and I've updated my YNAB and made all my minimum payments- cc1-£30, cc2-£349 and loan- £163  I have also brought DD's school uniform, shoes etc and will aim to make an additional payment of £1000 on cc1 once I have had my car MOT'd next week and can be sure there's nothing wrong with it, that I need to pay out for *Fingers crossed*   

I'm heading out shortly but will update with my September budget later tonight. Just wanted to quickly update whilst I have the chance...Happy Saturday, have a good one!

MM x

Sarahwithlove

I'd keep making payments on the loan as it what's currently charging you interest and it sounds like you get balance transfer offers so you'd be able to transfer the cards again at a lower interest rate than your loan. 

MakingMoves

Sarahwithlove said:

I'd keep making payments on the loan as it what's currently charging you interest and it sounds like you get balance transfer offers so you'd be able to transfer the cards again at a lower interest rate than your loan. 

Hi Sarahwithlove, Thank you so much, you are right, Its the one that's costing me the most... I think I was nervous that the other cards wouldn't get paid off in time and the higher interest would begin...but thinking about it, there's no reason I cant clear the loan first and the credit cards before the interest comes in and if it did there's a good chance I'd get another 0% transfer *fingers crossed* Thank you lovely!

MMx

MakingMoves

Good Afternoon all,

So I've stuck to budget so far and had only one unforeseen spend- A new car key which set me back £100. My MOT hasn't yet been done but if all goes to plan and I have no problems I still think I can pay £1000 to the loan. I took a 3% fee cash transfer on CC4 and paid £2400 to the loan. Plus additional payments of £130. Saving interest of around £650 (after cash advance fee) The credit card will need to paid back in 3 instalments of £824, but saved interest and brought that loan down to £2974.51

This weekend will hopefully be a low spend one, MOT will be done next Saturday so I will have a much clearer idea of the budget after that. Here's my budget for September: 

Balance Remaining (min debt payments made)		£  2,750.00
Broadband		-£       26.00
My Mob		-£         8.00
Mums Mob		-£         4.95
Council Tax		£             -	Paid
Rent		-£     725.00
Car Tax		-£       16.62
Car Insurance		-£       56.00
Life Insurance		-£       52.36
Electric		-£       80.00	Approx. from last month bill
DD Hair Braided		-£       50.00
Charity Giving		-£       20.00
Petrol		-£     100.00
Food		-£     200.00
Gifts/Birthdays		-£       20.00	Birthdays upcoming
Beauty		-£       50.00	Contact lenses etc
miscellaneous		-£       50.00	for Buffer/ unforeseen costs
socialising/personal spends		-£       50.00
Transport& Parking		-£       20.00
MOT		-£       50.00
Expenses total-		-£  1,578.93
Balance Remaining		£  1,171.07	<<To be paid towards Loan

I have also worked out a rough payment plan to pay off the debts:

No.	Month	Loan	CC2- 20/02/25	CC3- 01/01/2025	CC3-06/02/2025	CC3-11/07/2025	CC4- 30/11/2024
	Aug-24
1	Sep-24	1307.00	19.00	100.00	200.00	50.00	824.00
2	Oct-24	1139.13	186.87	100.00	200.00	50.00	824.00
3	Nov-24	-	1326.00	100.00	200.00	50.00	824.00
4	Dec-24	-	338.13	1911.87	200.00	50.00	-
5	Jan-25	-	-	1919.33	530.67	50.00	-
6	Feb-25	-	-	-	2450.00	50.00	-
7	Mar-25	-	-	-	1419.33	1080.67	-
8	Apr-25	-	-	-	-	2500.00	-
9	May-25	-	-	-	-	369.88	-

I just need to focus and stick to it....Today is going to be a no spend day- If we don't leave the flat, I
 won't spend anything lol! Chore day, making lasagne, play with bubs and a movie tonight....Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

MMx

Sarahwithlove

Sounds like a good plan. As you have a 0% with a long period on it have you considered taking a bit longer and building up some savings/Emergency Fund for future? 

Scott_Weiland79

MakingMoves said:

Evening all,

Hope you are all well. So I've put together a list of debts and have decided to attack it using the snowball method. I'm a sucker for small wins, so I'm hoping it will keep me motivated. I've also put together a budget for the month, I haven't included my universal credit payment, I think this will be my last as I wont receive it once bubs stops private nursery. This should hopefully cover my car insurance that's due at the end of August. I also havent included any funds I get from my daughters dad as its irregular and I never know how much it will be.....So here goes:

Debts	(Paying off using Snow ball method)	#
1	Credit Card 3		£107
2	UC advance repayment		£400
3	Emergency Fund		£1,000	<< Not Debt but incl as I need a baby emergency fund
4	Tax-HMRC Repayment-due31.01.24		£1,009.9
5	Nan IOU		£2,150
6	Loan		£7,223.3
7	Credit Card 2-0% til 01/05/24		£7,420.6
8	Credit Card 1-0% til 01/04/24		£10,865
	Total		£30,176
Income
	Salary		£3,157.91
	Money Left over		£629.00<	Remaining from last month
	Income:		£3,786.91
Expenses
	Nursery Fees		-£ 871.00
	Credit Card 1		-£ 822.13	<£322.12 min plus £500 overpayment
	Credit Card 2		-£  73.71
	Credit Card 3		-£ 107.00	<Paid of Debt 1
	Loan		-£201.00	<Min Payment
	Tax-HMRC Repayment-'24		-£  25.00	<paid to saving not due yet
	UC advance repayment		-£  95.91	<Paid to saving account not due yet
	Internet		-£  27.51
	My Mob		-£ 7.95
	Mums Mob		-£ 4.95
	Council Tax		-£ 92.00
	Rent		-£725.00
	Car Tax		-£ 15.50
	Life Insurance		-£ 52.36
	Electric		-£ 65.00	<Approx from last month
	Now TV		-£ 2.99
	Amazon Prime		-£ 8.99
	Amazon Kids		-£ 4.99
	Netflix		-£ 6.99
	Baby Stuff		-£ 40.00	<spend for days out with bubs
	Money Box- LISA		-£ 20.00
	Charity Giving		-£ 35.00
	Petrol		-£ 80.00
	Food		-£100.00	<cupboard pretty stocked so for top ups
	Gifts/Birthdays		-£50.00	<Birthdays upcoming
	Beauty		-£50.00	<Inc Contact lenses
	Clothing		-£ 50.00
	misc.		-£ 50.00	<Unforeseen costs, will be used to paydown debt if remaining
	socialising/personal spends		-£ 80.00
	Remaining		£  21.93

Your SOA looks quite good but I can recommend minor tweaks only 2-3 really.

Now TV		-£ 2.99
	Amazon Prime		-£ 8.99
	Amazon Kids		-£ 4.99
	Netflix		-£ 6.99

Could you maybe cut 1-2 of those your spending 288 py on tv packages could a saving be made here by binning one or two of these? Saving potentially 10-12 quid

 

Charity Giving

-£ 35.00

I know charity is important and my other half will murder me if she sees this comment (she is a fund raising manager for a leading charity) but 35 quid pm to charity i would cull this till your debt free objective is met. 420py on charity.

Next sorry but the clothing bit see if you could cut that down to say 30 from 50 thats another 20 quid off debts.

I know its tiny tweaks but culling the charity/paying less on clothes and binning say one of the tv packages that could give you an extra 50-55 to go off debts. Small tweaks trust me can make a big difference I know its penny pinching but if you want debt free faster needs must. I work for a financial institution and i see clients regular in financial difficulty but they are pay 50-100pm to charities its madness, dont pay to charities if your trying to clear debts.


Just look at these figures 

Say you had a credit card and owed as an example:

£9000 and the APR was say 18.9% and you paid say 200pm it would take till November 2030 to clear it and the interest would be 5709 pound.

If you paid 250pm those figures are Jan 2029 it would be gone and the interest drops to £3832

300pm it would be Jan 2028 and 2907 interest.


Have a look at this tool I hope it helps 

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/credit-cards/calculator/

The only other thing I would look at if your on a mission is boosting your income, survey sites are a great way to bring in an extra 50-100pm I bring in regular an extra 75-150 pm depending on work commitments from survey sites/cashback sites/receipt sites cashback from my Chase account. 


https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/boost-your-income/

Littletinks

Morning @MakingMoves your determination and hard work is definitely paying off - well done you’re doing great 😊. I agree with the above poster, there may be some very good reasons why you want to support these deserving charities, but if you can hold off of paying these for a little while it will help reduce the interest you are paying else where. This seems (at least on paper) like an easy win. Once things improve then obviously you could go back to donating if you so wished. The charities wouldn’t want you to be struggling else where, to pay them hun x