Busting this debt before 40

Middle_Aged_Guy

Huge congratulations on becoming debt free, amazing achievement!

I'm not sure you realise just how inspiring your debt free story is to the rest of us on this forum. 

I am on a debt free "journey" ( hate that phrase   ) myself and you have really inspired me, so thank you for that

Cara_

Congratulations. I hope you have some thing planned to mark the occasion - you deserve a treat.

honeybee1234

I wanted to add to the many comments already - CONGRATULATIONS! You've done amazingly, well done! 

Chocolatefund

Nearly the end of August.  Where has the time gone.

Lots of money stuff to talk about.  Grab popcorn.

A while ago I closed the Te$co savings account and the credit card.  Now the loan is paid off, when I went into the app it said ‘You have no associated accounts’. Or something like that.  Awww…for so long I was staring at the app for the loan it’s kind of sad.  But it’s not, and I can now see it as a new beginning!  So the Te$co Bank app is well and truly uninstalled!

I went ahead and got accepted for two more credit cards to get their cash backs. £35 for an H$BC one and £17 for a S@ntander one.  They are both now tracking on Topc@shback, so that should come my way in a couple of months.  Totally didn’t realise that S@ntander is who my mortgage is with and the card showed up in the app pretty quickly, at least thats one less app to have to faff with.

Did the bank switch to Barc1ays which completed a couple of days ago.  Got a text message saying that I have qualified for the switch bonus.  Yay!  Should come my way in the next 10 days.  Good lord their app and IT in general leave something to be desired.  Bl***y earned that I tell you.

I used the National Lottery as one of the direct debits for the bank switch.  Lo and behold I won £10, but the account details are still showing as the old 1st Direct details that I switched from.  Hmm.  I guess I’ll wait and see if it gets to my Barc1ays.  Or maybe it’ll get lost in the ether.  Who knows.  

I purchased some smart lighting, and it’s awesome!  Got two smart bulbs, a smart plug, a hub, and a small lamp for £215.  A little more than the £190 I got from my extra shift money, but it was totally worth it.  Will definitely be spreading them across my house in the coming months.  Was even able to buy them through Topc@ashback so thats another £10 pending.  Win.

The most exciting money news this month.  I’m getting a tax refund!!

Back in April I filled out an online form for higher rate tax relief for my SIPP contributions.  Also as I got on the ball with sorting extra shifts on the higher tax bracket, it turns out that I did overpay some tax.  A whopping £1157 is coming my way in a few days.  Super thrilled with that.  Did ring HMRC to check my progress and the guy I spoke to was able to sort it out there and then.  Just goes to show it never hurts to ask. 

Feeling very burnt out at work, and the intense debt busting and long time house renovating probably hasn't helped.  I have decided to hold off some of the smaller house projects for now, and instead go on a holiday come October/November.  Not been on a non-work related proper holiday for years.  Currently scoping options on where to go and what to do.  Lots to think about.

Payday in a couple of days.  Will do the usual great monthly money shuffle and see what the finances look like.  it’s going to be the first month with no debt payments coming out.  Still very surreal.

Rhyddid2026

Fab update.
I'm trying the Barclays switch, my first one. I had a Barclays account years ago though and it's showing on the app history so I might not qualify. Worth a try!
You really deserve that holiday, you've worked so hard.

Chocolatefund

@rachmac3 It’s definitely worth a shot, you never know!

I’ve been looking at a few holiday options.  Problem is the places I reeeaaaaally fancy are, Canada, Dubai, Singapore, Thailand.  Places that are not cheap, haha.

Been dong some brief back of the napkin numbers.  Don’t think I can do what I want without either, digging a bit into my emergency fund, or putting some on credit card.  I could also free up some money by not putting away into my SIPP and ISA for the next 3 months, but then I wont hit my financial goals for the end of this year.  Doesn't sit well with me.  Feel like I worked very hard to get debt free quickly and the thought of credit card debt goes against the new me.  At the same time, I’ve potentially got a good two and a bit weeks off, so want to make the most of it.

Got time yet to have a good think about it.

Chocolatefund

End of August update.

Been a bit difficult mentally to keep on top of my spends, but I’ve managed to backtrack everything.  I certainly haven’t been as focused this month as I have been so far for the year.

Food = £213 yay!
Petrol = £70 yay!
Eating out/Fun = £ 103 could have been better.
Misc. = £110. Included a birthday present and some health treats from H&B.

Total spends = £496.  (Plus £215 for the smart lighting)  I’m not entirely sure this is right.  Theres £451 on the AmEx for this billing cycle and the rest is from the debit account, so the numbers add up.  Think it’s just the feeling of not being on top of it as much.  Shouldn’t be too hard on myself.

A few posts ago I mentioned a relative in financial trouble that I was told they no longer needed money.  Turns out that they still do but it’s not a high as previously thought.  Sent them £500 to keep them going while they finalise their settlement.  This will come back to me in the future, but not going to count it in my numbers.

The £10 lottery win did find itself into my Barc1ays account after all. Yay!  And the HMRC refund is now in my account!  Wohoo!  

I’ve changed the sinking fund into the holiday fund.  Aside from Xmas there are no more big annual spends now till next Aprils car service.  Now my emergency fund is at a decent level, I’m not concerned with a large sinking fund for the time being.

Will do the great monthly money shuffle tomorrow on the 1st September.

Chocolatefund

Autumn is here and where the heck has the time gone?

2/3rds through September and the finances are looking good.  Currently £386 on the Amex, plus about £60 on the debit card.  Some of that was spending £70 on two tickets for a cat convention.  No regrets.  It was an awesome event with lots of cat therapy.  10 days to go till payday and a big food shop was done this week which I am hoping will last me.  Will definitely have to fill up the petrol tank soon though.

Got hit with a nasty £60 parking fine for overstaying by 20 min.  OUCH.  That’ll teach me to pay more attention to the time.  Perhaps the passage of time part of my brain needs a kick up the a***.

Didn’t post my monthly money shuffle nor my savings accounts so here goes;

Emergency Fund now sits at £3,674.  The odd Naffwest round up is definitely helping to creep this up.  It’s very satisfying to see.  SIPP is now at £4,375 and Stocks ISA is at £766.  Can’t wait to get more momentum rolling on these come the new year.  It feels really good to see these numbers go up.  A couple of years ago I had none of these savings or investments.

The holiday fund currently has £2,850.  Got a couple of weeks booked off work next month.  Still not decided on where to go yet.  Got too many ideas floating in my head and spending far too much time on the internet.  Will probably see if I can get an awesome last minute deal.

A new bank switch offer has surfaced from L1oyds which is my next target.  I’ve moved a direct debit to come from the Barc1ays account which already still has two direct debits coming from it.  Once that comes out on the 1st Oct I will do another bank switch.  Mwahaha! *rubshandstogether*

Come payday I’ll be able to put a chunk more in the holiday pot.  Maybe a little more in the ISA.  I’m itching to see it a nice £1,000 mark, haha.

Back to the internet travel daydreaming.

Rhyddid2026

That emergency fund looks very healthy, well done!
I hope the holiday search is going well. 

Chocolatefund

Well…It’s been five months since my last post. And I have a lot to talk about.

At the end of 2025, my life took a nosedive. Hit breaking point at work and the stress and burnout finally got to me. Had family that ended up in hospital, and to top it all off,

My car got stolen :(

Yes…that same car that I spent over £3k plus on maintenance earlier in this diary!!!! grumblegrumblefumeing

But you know, the money side of it didn’t bother me nearly as much as the emotional toll. I consider myself a car person, we are very much car people in our family. I loved that car. Bought it brand new back in 2017 and would have kept it till the wheels fell off. The police did find it four weeks later, but ultimately had to be scrapped. R.I.P my trusty Honda.

Just before last Christmas I was able to move to a new location for work at a different unit. And it’s already been so much better. Less stress and much better enviroment. My family are okay and I’ve got a new vehicle.

Now, I have to make a confession. I totally could have bought a much cheaper vehicle. Instead I bought a brand new car on finance. Completely anti MSE. It was absolutely more of an emotional decision than a mathematical sense one. Definitely fell into the ‘shiny new thing’ syndrome to make myself feel better about what has happened.

Saying this. I do absolutely LOVE my new car! New work location means that I will be working away for the week, and commuting home on the weekends. As long as I can keep this new vehicle for as long as I possibly can I’ll get my value out of it, especially since it’s a hybrid with a nice 7 year warranty. It’s a good peace of mind since I’ll be spending much more time on the road going forward.

So now, I’m technically back in debt again. To the tune of a £23,000 bank loan for the car. I feel a little shameful writing this as I made so much effort to get out of debt last year. But what’s done is done. If I can debt bust once, I can do it again.

Perhaps I should start a new dairy. ‘Busting this debt before 42’??