10,000 steps, 1 step at a time.

Aimingforthegoodlife

Steps gone are still an amazing achievement! Slow progress is still progress, sounds like you have some good things to look forward to

13thlegion

209 steps this month. Result of some budgeting success and using pots as they are supposed to be used. CC debt down to £9,209.92. Nearly at start of diary levels. Soon I’ll sit and work out yearly totals and this will feel good as the joint loan is much lower and I have paid off a lot of debt this year, just needed to use some more along the way.

Not using debt for smaller things anymore. Wedding went great, and Christmas is all in hand.

Currently have a bank switch in process. Some issues getting it started but all resolved now. Once this is through, I’ll hop around any others bank offers I can. This makes 3 switches this year so far and I reckon I can do another 2 soon. This earner will close to me then as I’ll have done pretty much all of them and will have to wait until I’m eligible for incentives again in a few years.

13thlegion

Only 93 steps this month but it is Xmas and the car just had it's MOT. Bank switch is complete so going to move onto the next one as soon as the DD have come out. 

It was the 12th December I made the first post. A whole year already!

Here is a sort of annual update. As my pay day is the 27th of the month ‘January’ for me starts 27th December. So, I have some figures for a whole 12 months of pay days to show the journey.

Win - Paid off £7050.70 from the CC.

Not so win - Increased debt on CC by £7245. See posts above and some TLDR below

Current CC debt is £316.88 more than this time last year. £194 is balance going up and £122.88 from transfer fees.

CC debt now £9,109.43 – Fixed monthly payment of £100 as a minimum. This is not contractual minimum but the very bottom end of what I pay off each month.

Take home pay now £2443.26 per month.

Loan has dipped below £5000! This will be paid off in full August/September 2025. So overall debt amount is going down.

 

Lots of wins as well in behaviours and admin.

Breakdown cover is now paid annually not monthly, and I’ve haggled to keep the price down.

Car insurance moved to annual in February and planning on keeping it that way! I put a generous amount in the car pot towards it each month.

Once again, no CC for xmas spends! Need this pot to stay healthy coming out of festive season as all the household birthdays happen between new year and end of March.

Holiday was had without resorting to debt. Repeating the pattern for summer 2025 of saving for it well in advance rather than chuck money off the CC only for it to go back on.

In many ways has been a tough year to get through for the wallet. Lots of bigger emergencies – so no £500 leftover for the year if you saw that target at the very start.

Dishwasher packed in start of the journey replaced on a store card and paid off in full a few months into the year. Chimney taken down followed by a complete roof re-felt and batten and repair tiles paid for with 0% card hence overall increase. Downstairs flooring had to be replaced after a leak in a central heating pipe. Car has been a car and had to have several things done throughout the year, including £700ish of work just last month to get through the MOT. Both paid for without debt. Dog has been unwell and needed emergency surgery. He’s not that old and the insurance covered it with the excess paid in cash.

Overall, I’m coming out of the year owing less money across all debts combined. Behaviours have stuck and very excitingly I still have £1,937.46 in my saving pots with it likely to creep up above the £2,076.30 I had after December 27th payday last year.

13thlegion

Another year down. I’ve been much quieter on here but still a full year of life and adventure. As ever a lot of wins and some steps backwards or sideways.

First the figures.

Total Debt: £12,653.09

Made up of:

Santander CC £2,220.95 0%

Chase CC £8,153.80 0%

MBNA CC £2,278.34 0%

Total paid off in 2025 £5,091.04

Total added in 2025 £8,634.70

Plus, the loan was completely paid off in August, 36 months instead of 60 months saving over £1000 in interest.

Why?

First the good news. I was able to sell a lot of stuff on eBay in a big clear out in the first half of the year. This let me pile loads against the credit cards and really get the balances down. In some ways this felt really good as I was paying it off. In other ways it was sickening as if I was debt free I could have used this money for other purposes.

In a fit of cleverness, I opened a 0% purchases card with Chase, used that for my holiday spending, and then used my holiday pot to clear another card. First taste of stoozing, avoided the transfer fees, but not something I would rush to do again. The joint loan is gone so I have more cash each month for paying CCs.

But the bad – as the stoozing doesn’t explain the jump in balances. A sister passed away suddenly, but not unexpectedly (not the wedding one from last year). Unfortunately, she left no will, had prepared nothing, and as it came to light, a whole lot of unpaid bills, and debts. Most of those issues have been sorted properly. The debts disappear. However, I have fronted the costs for funeral etc on the 0% purchase card. Over the space of 6 weeks, I drove several hundreds of miles across country between where we live. There is a good chance that I will get this money back as there is a small pension pot (which is not considered part of the estate) that, if the trustees agree, should go between us as the 4 surviving siblings. We are all going to use it to pay the funerary costs. If it doesn’t go that way we’ll need a new plan.

Advice for everyone. Have your things in order, and easily findable, in the event of the worst.

So where does that leave me?

All the chaos has meant I have not tracked everything on my spreadsheet as I wanted. I have used it to plan everything at the start of each month. I just cannot do a full 12 month’s detailed breakdown like I had intended. There is always next year.  

My original ideas (see start of this thread) of 2026 being my debt free year are gone. I’m still in a very lucky position, and life is comfortable financially. But what has shifted is a real desire to have a solid safety net and cushion.

As the past 2 years have shown, a £500, or even £1,000 emergency fund is not enough to address all eventualities over time. It is certainly good enough if you go hell for leather Dave Ramsay style and get out of debt fast. My life is a little too hectic for that approach to fully work, I think. As despite paying off so much over the past few years, the balances have not gone down.

What I need to do is start stacking up cash reserves to make sure that the balances on the CCs only ever go down.

With this idea I have set up my CCs to pay small amounts, just above minimum, whilst I save a bigger emergency fund. This means I can avoid all spending on CCs. If I change my mind on my approach, I can just pay off a big chunk from this reserve.

To end this post on a high.

The savings pots continue to work. Xmas, birthdays, holidays, cars. All have not needed debt to happen. This is such a great feeling and really helped out over the past few months.

....................
The below was meant to be posted at the start of January. It is out of date now but I have included it as I intend on doing a similar breakdown for 2026. See figures as they compare with the similar list earlier in this thread.

Based on January 2025 figures (so 27th December-27th January)

Income:  £2443.26

2 adults, 2 children, 2 cars.

My half of Mortgage, gas, electric, water, home insurance, pet insurance, kids savings, TV license, broadband phone and tv package, council tax, etc. £547.50.

Bills I pay:

Life Insurance: £10.01

Food and groceries: £500 (up from £450 last year)

Car fuel: £50

Car insurance: £0 (down from £19.34) – I’ve switched to annual so the money goes into the car pot

Breakdown cover: £0 (down from £6) – as above

Mobiles: £36.99 -1 sim only and 1 contract (up from £20). I can go back to sim only for me on 4th May 2026. My daughter’s phone has lasted well but probably will be upgraded to a new handset this year when it finally dies.

Spotify: £19.99 - family plan and still used constantly. (up from £17.99)

Ring: £9.98 (up from £6.98)

Netflix: £10.99

Spending money: £50 (down from £100) - used for any entertainment, pocket money, hobbies, or if we need to buy anything.

Saving pots:

Emergency Fund: £0 – This eats up anything left over as a priority debt as it does get used. Still one of the best things I started doing.

Xmas and Birthdays: £80 – This amount per month works out sustainably to cover the year.

Dog: £30 (up from £10) - He’s getting more expensive! His kennels when we go on holiday now come from this pot, and we’ve had to use his insurance this year so want to have the excess covered here

Car: £80 (up from £50) – maintenance plus annual insurance and breakdown cover. Emergency fund has topped this up recently.

Holiday: £247 (up from £167.50) - £122 of which goes with the bill money to my wife. This will pay for the accommodation already booked end of July.

Dentist: £40 (up from £30) – Still have bad teeth from past neglect

Phone insurance for daughter: £0 – previously paid annually and now cancelled the renewal as the phone is 4 years old.

Guitar lessons for daughter: £0 – she self learns by ear now!

Disney+: £5 (up from £3.40) – still share a login that is paid annually.  

CC overpay pot: £306.16 – to go above the minimums* I have set.

Cash in pots right now:

Emergency fund: £500

Xmas and birthdays: £176.10 (all shopping and posting done for 2023!)

Dog: £33.96

Car: £521.39

Holiday: £361.76

Dentist: £149.70

Phone insurance: £60

Guitar lessons: £545.46

Disney+: £40

CC Overpay: £1.44 (emergency fund needed topping up after a vet visit, we lost the cat)

Chase roundup: £186.49 (this will be moved into holiday fund on 27th December and restart)

Total cash: £2576.30

Loan repayment: £300 including overpayment (this is my half)

CC repayment: £100 (down from £290) – with the overpayment flex this is often more than the £290 I was paying off per month last year.

Total debt payments £400 (down from £590)

13thlegion

Early payday for December. We are a small business that closes for two weeks over the Xmas period so early payday is for admin purposes. I’ve tucked it away in a savings account until the 27th but all these are accurate for when I move it all to where it needs to go.

Based on January 2026 figures (so 27th December-27th January)

Income: £2,640.08 after tax, NI, student loan and pension (up from £2,443.26 last year)

2 adults, 2 children, 2 cars.

My half of Mortgage, gas, electric, water, home insurance, pet insurance, kids savings, TV license, broadband phone and tv package, council tax, etc. £530 (down from £547.50)

Bills I pay monthly:

Life Insurance: £10.01

Food and groceries: £500 - same as last year this works for now

Car fuel: £50 - averages out a little less but it’s a good round number

Car insurance: still £0 – I’ve switched to annual so the money goes into the car pot

Breakdown cover: £0 – as above

Mobiles: £53.84 (up from £36.99) – as of this month gone from 1 sim only and 1 contract to 2 contracts. I can go back to sim only for me on 4th May 2026. My daughter’s previous phone has lasted well she’s kept it for 5 years so she’s had a new one for Xmas.

Spotify: £19.99 - family plan and still used constantly.

Ring: £9.98

Netflix: £12.99 (up from £10.99) considering cancelling this now Friends is leaving.

Spending money: £100 (up from £50) - used for any entertainment, pocket money, hobbies, or if we need to buy anything. Back up to my target number as £50 was tight.

Saving pots:

Emergency Fund: £333.66 (usually £0) – Final top up to £1000. This will have anything left over as a priority debt as it does get used. Still one of the best things I started doing.

Xmas and Birthdays: £327.17 (usually £80) – This amount per month works out sustainably to cover the year. Done great this year decided to start with the target figure of £960 as an artificial zero. Which will help as all the big family birthdays happen between Xmas and end of March!

Dog: £10 (down from £30) – He’s got a nice little buffer so this can come down for now.

Car: £70 (down from £80) – maintenance plus annual insurance and breakdown cover. Again have a little extra in this pot so can cut a little here.

Holiday: £250 (up from £247) nice round number. We have enjoyed several trips, some necessary like funeral, so this number works and stops us using a credit card for them. We will be booking our summer holiday soon probably a Eurocamp again.

Dentist: £30 (down from £40) – Still have bad teeth from past neglect

Phone insurance for daughter: £5 (up from £0) – paid annually and worth it! New phone has restarted this.

Maths tutor for daughter: £30 - Pay termly buts save monthly. Her GCSE exams are this summer so will stop after that.

Guitar lessons for daughter: £0 – Gone and not coming back

Disney+: £0 (down from £5) – Cannot share a login anymore so this is gone.  

CC overpay pot: £0 – for now

Cash in pots right now:

Emergency fund: £1,000

Xmas and birthdays: £960 (all shopping and posting done for 2023!)

Dog: £103.22

Car: £454.50

Holiday: £1,211.52

Dentist: £267.01

Phone insurance: £65

Tutoring: £180.85

CC Overpay: £0

Chase roundup: £0 (this was moves into holiday fund on 27th December and restarts)

Total cash: £4,242.10 (up from £2,576.30)

Loan repayment: £0 (down from £300 including overpayment) it’s gone!

CC repayment: £289 (up from £100) – previous years this has been £290 and it was often that with overpayment. My “minimums” are not the CC minimums

Total debt payments £289 (down from £400)

 

Overall, very happy to be stacking cash. Things and life can be paid for (barring a very large emergency) without resorting to credit. And there is plenty of wiggle room to increase payments towards the credit cards if wanted.

13thlegion

Some good news. The pension trustees have decided to give us surviving siblings the small amount in late sister's pension. 

This is a huge impact on me as we've agreed to use it to payback funeral costs were built up on credit card balances. So around £6000 will soon be wiped in 1 go for me. 

Currently this doesn't change my plan for this year too much. I still want to get a decent pot of cash stacked so that I don't have to call on credit for any reason. I could use this windfall to do that, but the clearing the decks of any funeral costs will really help clear the deck emotionally. So all remaining debt is "mine" if that makes sense.

Humdinger1

A huge step forward @13thlegion! Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

13thlegion

Humdinger1 said:

A huge step forward @13thlegion! Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

Thanks @Humdinger1

Once it all goes through I'll reset my 10,000 steps to begin at the lower amount. 

In more good news I'm getting a small pay rise in work. This will go straight to the cash stacking and not onto a lifestyle creep. I can't help but feel it is another example of where keeping a budget - meaning a plan on what I will spend money on not a limit - is so helpful. I can see that everything is already accounted for and 'paid' on paper in a way that I'm happy with. So I'm not tempted to blow the increase.

13thlegion

Update on figures.

My debt now stands at £6,189.60. Each step in the 10,000 reset to 62p. I'll count everything saved in steps, and being small I'm sure I could find a couple down the back of the sofa!