Taming £12k

FrugalAspirations

The balance on two of my cards has come down over the past few days.

DDs for CC1 and CC4 came out today, making them £1,381.13 and £4,783.14 respectively.

I tooled around a bit with the idea of applying for a new 0% card today, but decided I need to really sit down and properly, properly work out my expenses in a monthly sense. This is because, for example, some things only apply in term time (after school club, most activities) or only in the holidays (holiday clubs) and are paid maybe termly or quarterly (or, in one case, every 6 weeks, but not for the same amount each time) so working out what that really means on a per month basis is trickier. That's a project for the weekend.

I've taken on even more overtime, which I need to go steady with a bit because I don't want to burn out. At the same time, though, the money is needed!

FrugalAspirations

Following on from my last entry, I've been working on a meticulous budget for childcare costs that is almost done – just need to check there's nothing regular/obligatory that I've overlooked. I've broken it down into nursery fees, wraparound care for the older one, regular clubs and activities, and holiday care. It took some maths work, but we got there.

DDs for CC2 and CC3 have come out, making them £1993.91 and £4089.70 respectively.

Aimingforthegoodlife

It does take some brain effort to work it all out doesn't it, well done on sitting down to work it all out! Some nice movements already with the payments going out, lovely to see it going in the right direction! Keep up the great work

FrugalAspirations

Not been very active on here as I have been super busy with work, but I have some BIG NEWS

CC1 has been paid off in full

I just got paid and I had actually done more overtime than I thought. So I've been able to pay off the bill in full and keep some money as a reward to myself for the hard work I put in to getting the money in the first place

 So I will need to redo some maths and where I'm going to point various payments (and how) but it feels SO GOOD to have one less debt hanging over me!

in_need_of_direction

well done you, maybe not in actual debt terms but you're a quarter of the way there!

MFW2023

Just de-lurking to say brilliant - well done you! 

enthusiasticsaver

That is brilliant.  Well done and I have subscribed to follow the rest of your journey.  That is a massive chunk of the debt gone. Under £11k.

Well done on budgeting for the childcare.  Just think how much you can save towards a house once the debt is gone. 

FrugalAspirations

I have been a bit quiet of late, I know. Been rather busy and also had a couple of rather spendy months: Easter, visiting my newborn nephew half way across the country, a birthday every single weekend for 5 weeks from end of April, a hen do, and a wedding.

I've not gone into any further debt for it, but any extra money I did have went on that rather than paying down debts.

With that out the way, however, there have been some changes. The biggest one is that I got a promotion and have recently received my first pay cheque from that. The wage increase was over 10% as well, so not a meagre amount!

The second is that CC4's interest free period was coming to an end in July, as was part of CC2's. So I opened a new 24 month interest-free credit card and transferred all of that over. Obviously, that has the somewhat annoying effect of increasing my debt due to the balance transfer fee, but it's still better than it would have been once CC4 and CC2 started charging me interest.

So now my situation is as follows:

CC1 - £0,000.00 (cleared, 29 February 2024)
CC2 - £1,066.87
CC3 - £3,928.55
CC4 - £0,000 (closed, 3 June 2024)
CC5 - £5,543.49

Current outstanding total: £10,538.91

I must say, it's really gratifying to come back here and look at that total compared to the old total on my signature (£10,866.75). It's still chunky, but it's £327 less than it was when I last updated, despite the balance transfer fees!

The interest free period on just over two thirds of CC2 comes to an end in November. So that's the one I'm going to target to try to reduce it as much as possible, after clearing the fee from CC5.

I think at this point also I can round up my repayment amounts so they're a steady amount month after month.

I'll try not to leave it 4 months before next checking in!

FrugalAspirations

No big news, other than I have changed the payment date on all my cards to 1st month. This is because I want everything square as close to payday as possible – currently they're all coming out mid-month, which is annoying and makes it hard to have in mind how much money I actually have in my account after all bills are paid.

Next step is to round up my monthly payments. That will mean £30 on CC2, £40 on CC3 and £150 on CC5. For some that's an extra couple of quid, for others it's an extra couple of pence, but I guess it all adds up eventually! It also makes things more predictable.

Aimingforthegoodlife

Great move on getting them 0%, will be well worth the fee! Liking the idea of rounding up and definitely approve of moving the date, makes it so much easier when all money goes out together!

Huge congrats on being rid of CC1 and getting a promotion! Woohoo!