Small Business, Big Debts

OldTimer2023 · 14 November at 6:30AM

Update time again, folks, and I guess this will be the penultimate update of 2025!

	LBM Oct-23	Nov-25	Repaid	Repaid %
Loan (MBNA)	£12,263.16	£6,310.31	£5,952.85	49%
Bank CC	£971.95	£0.00	£971.95	100%
CC1 (Bcard)	£0.00	£0.00	£0.00
CC2.1 (Halifax)	£7,375.50	£6,336.77	£1,038.73	14%
CC2.2 (Halifax)	£1,470.00	£0.00	£1,470.00	100%
CC3.1 (Virgin)	£12,388.88	£8,348.64	£4,040.24	33%
Bounceback Loan	£48,315.97	£33,488.36	£14,827.61	31%
TOTAL	£82,785.46	£54,484.08	£28,301.38	34%
Challenge Total	£34,469.49	£20,995.72	£13,473.77	39%
Emergency Fund	£1,000.00	£700.00	-£300.00	-30%
Credit Score	582	615	33	"Good"

Yet another month with no overpayments, but I'm still chipping away (as usual) - and I managed to get £700 back into my Emergency Fund this month

Sooo it turns out that my end of year Bonus won't be quite as big as I was expecting it to be... which means that I was perhaps a bit premature declaring 'victory' over my Challenge Debts by March/April 2026 on my last post.

I am however feeling confident that I have a really good chance of getting my Challenge Debts paid off by the end of 2026 - so that is the new target that I am getting laser focused towards.

I've also been doing a spending experiment this month, to force me to become a bit more intentional with my day-to-day spending - which has had good results so far! I could sense that I had gotten a bit leaky with eating out, small treats etc, so I need to get back on track there.

In the background to all of this, we are currently in the process of expanding the business to a new location, so by the end of 2026 I'm hoping that a) my Challenge Debts will be paid-off and b) my underlying Income/Net Worth will have (at least) doubled.

So, as usual with me, it's a bit more 'jam tomorrow' - but if I can just knuckle-down and focus on my debts for one more year then by the end of 2026 the ship will finally be starting to turn around.

On that positive note, I'll sign-out here and go catch up on other diaries.

Sending my best to everyone,
Old Timer

Humdinger1 · 15 November at 5:02AM

Doing brilliantly @OldTimer2023! Keep going love Humdinger xx

OldTimer2023 · 18 December at 8:21AM

Good morning everyone,

Time for my final Debt-Free Diary entry of 2025!

	LBM Oct-23	Dec-25	Repaid	Repaid %
Loan (MBNA)	£12,263.16	£6,110.31	£6,152.85	50%
Bank CC	£971.95	£0.00	£971.95	100%
CC1 (Bcard)	£0.00	£0.00	£0.00
CC2.1 (Halifax)	£7,375.50	£6,261.77	£1,113.73	15%
CC2.2 (Halifax)	£1,470.00	£0.00	£1,470.00	100%
CC3.1 (Virgin)	£12,388.88	£8,248.64	£4,140.24	33%
Bounceback Loan	£48,315.97	£32,900.74	£15,415.23	32%
TOTAL	£82,785.46	£53,521.46	£29,264.00	35%
Challenge Total	£34,469.49	£20,620.72	£13,848.77	40%
Emergency Fund	£1,000.00	£1,000.00	£0.00	0%
Credit Score	582	615	33	"Good"

Couple of nice round numbers in there this month. Total Debts 35% paid off, Challenge Debts 40% paid off - and my starter Emergency Fund is back up to 100% (£1k)

My bonus cleared this morning so hopefully there will be a bit more to update on next month, but for now I am celebrating clearing £13,824 off my Total Debts (incl. £6,865 off my Challenge Debts) in 2025. That works out to £1,152 of my hard-earned money going towards debt payments each month - and this is precisely what is motivating me to get even more intentional for 'one big push' in 2026!

It is just about feasible that I can clear all of my Challenge Debts by the end of 2026, so this is the Big Goal that I am going to be working towards next year.

I feel that my budgeting is going pretty well these days, and I'm still leaving a bit of flexibility for a few treats in 2026 too, but I just know that it's going to feel so good once the debt snowball starts to build and I get that first Credit Card knocked out, hopefully around June time, all going well.

Right, I'm going to leave it quite brief this month as I know everyone is busy at this time of year.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas the happiest of New Years.

Take care all,
Old Timer