Busting this debt before 40

Sarahwithlove

Good luck, I like chase as you can't spend it if you don't have it. 

Chocolatefund

As long as I pretend that my pots have a fully electrified tall fence complete with barbed wire surrounded by a moat full of alligators. 

WinterWarrior

Chocolatefund said:

As long as I pretend that my pots have a fully electrified tall fence complete with barbed wire surrounded by a moat full of alligators. 

I actually need this…a small electric shock every time I steal some sinking fund money might work! 

I have my main bank account and then Monzo for pots, but I’m terrible at leaving them alone. I’m wondering if a chase account for spending money might be the answer? 

Chocolatefund

I've got my main account with N@twest which is where my bills come out, and my emergency fund and sinking fund is there too.

Then I have Ch@se which is for spending. I have my small Xmas pot here, but once Christmas has come and gone, I think I'll just stick with it being spending and just have my sinking fund.

I chose not to sub divide the general spending. Keeping it simple. Think if I had actual pots for all the categories, food, petrol, etc. it would drive me nuts if I had to take from other pots.  

Something I've learned while being on these forums is that everyone has their own little system.  It's been great to pull ideas from others and try them out.

Scott_Weiland79

Sarahwithlove said:

Good luck, I like chase as you can't spend it if you don't have it. 

I still cant get over the concept of buying wine/chocolate/alcohol and getting cashback for it. Its like getting rewarded for bad choices.lol

Sarahwithlove

WinterWarrior said:

Chocolatefund said:

As long as I pretend that my pots have a fully electrified tall fence complete with barbed wire surrounded by a moat full of alligators. 

I actually need this…a small electric shock every time I steal some sinking fund money might work! 

I have my main bank account and then Monzo for pots, but I’m terrible at leaving them alone. I’m wondering if a chase account for spending money might be the answer? 

What about hiding the monzo pots or having their saver pots that take 24hrs for funds to come out? I find that makes me hesitate as to whether or not I really need to take the money from it. 

If you are struggling then putting your spending money into another account is always a good move.

Chocolatefund

A little end of week update. Having family around tomorrow so I might not have the time to do my usual Sunday update, we will see.

Have managed a decent low spend week;

4 NSD. Yay!
£22 Uber.  Eeessh... Had a night out where the food and drink was provided for. I footed the uber ride back home for us.
£10 for DIY. Picture hooks and adhesive for this kitchen backsplash which has lived in the hallway for weeks as I have been too lazy to put it up.  If I have to do another weekend of DIY I'm going to cry.
£62 weekly food shop. A bit higher then I would like, though some of it is alcohol and goodies for the visiting family.

Had success with V1nted with £45 coming my way. Going to send that to the sinking fund, might as well have it working some interest for me.

In other money news, got an email saying that my tax code has changed, uh oh.

I knew I was straddling the 40% tax bracket. Logged into my HMRC account to discover that I did waaaaay more extra shifts this year then I thought. I'm also due a pay rise which kicks in at the end of the month with backdated pay to April...Hmmm...

Spoke to someone for a good hour and came up with a solution. To reduce my personal allowance slightly on my main salary and tax the extra shifts at 40% going forward. 

Kinda stings. Its almost like I got punished for working too much! I did a salary calculator with my new tax code and it will eat up some of the pay rise, but I should be still be better of by about £80 quid. It is what it is.

Intrigued to see what September pay slip will be like...

Cherryfudge

I'm no expert but I wonder if you might be able to divert some of the extra into pension contributions before it hits your bank? Or make a temporary increase to mortgage payments? Those are just things that come to mind and of course you would need proper advice if you considered either option.

It's amazing how extras add up so it's as well you have taken note and done something about it.

Chocolatefund

@Cherryfudge.  I have the option to purchase Added Pension on my main salary which I was going to do next year.  The rise means I would have pension off a lot per month to bring my main salary back down to the 20%  Something which I have chosen not to do right now as I want to blitzkrieg the loan first.

Once the debt is cleared. I probably won't to as much bank if any. Then I can look at the added pension.

Chocolatefund

Another end of the week.  Can't believe the first week of September has gone already.  It'll be Christmas before we know it.

Sunday spend with £37 in petrol and top up milk. 

I logged into my loan app to find that the overpayment I did has given me a £304 interest rebate adjustment, wow...is this right?

That brings my loan total down to £18,476.  If I can keep up these overpayment amounts, then I'm going to use this as motivation! 

Another £15 form V1nted coming my way. My mum has been very supportive of my debt free journey and has given me some of her clothes for me to sell. Got a fair bit more listing to do.

I'm down to £195 in my spending account to last me till payday.  I've no plans next week, so I'm going to challenge myself to a no spend week. Never attempted it before, but since I overshopped freezer stuff I'm going to give it a shot.