Paying off £37065 unsecured debt by July 2027 while continuing to travel this amazing world

Nintud

teapot2 said:

Hi Nintud we had a similar thing to your coin in a moneybox in Scotland called 'handseling' where if you gave someone a purse as a present it was good luck to put a coin in it.  Also applied to giving some money when there was a new baby.

Not sure people still give purses as much now that a lot of folk have their money on their mobile phone?

I sold a purse last week and sent it with a coin and a note. I still keep a purse in every handbag!

Thanks for increasing my vocabulary with handseling!

I’ve just checked my bank account and seen that I’ve paid over £200 to Very in the past 3 weeks. It would be amazing if I could pay that extra amount to debt all year. I’d pay off Very, the Nationwide CC and my Santander OD by Christmas. My car loan would be finished too. I’d then be able to pay around £650 OP to Santander CC until August 2026 then add in the other loan and pay that CC off by March 2027. The MBNA may then take another year to pay off. It’s longer than my hoped for debt free date of August 2027, but I have to remember that I’m doing this while still travelling, and the trips I have planned are biggies.

There is the possibility of taking a lump sum from my pension in November and just clearing the lot, but I’m not sure how wise it would be to do that.

biggerpickle

I don't think taking a lump sum from your pension is a good idea as you should probably preserve as much pension income as possible - I know from hard experience in my family that having to support a parent financially due to their pension (mis) planning is tough and non-negotiable, especially when on top of supporting children and paying down debt. 

RelievedSheff

Any money you can leave in your pension is a bonus. 

LzzyIsGod

I'm in awe of your Vinted sales (please don't let me purchase any though!)

Nintud

LzzyIsGod said:

I'm in awe of your Vinted sales (please don't let me purchase any though!)

Consider your Vinted account blocked 😆

The £4 offer hasn’t paid (yet), but I’ve made another £3 sale and posted out two parcels from yesterday.  It’s only small amounts (mostly), but it’s clearly adding up.

Shame my living room looks like something out of an episode of Hoarders while I’m debt busting!

MFWannabe

What a great feeling it will be though to have smashed the debts while massively cluttering 👌

LzzyIsGod

Every pound counts! Each is a little step towards the end goal

Nintud

MFWannabe said:

What a great feeling it will be though to have smashed the debts while massively cluttering 👌

I’m still ‘rewarding’ myself with small mortgage OPs when I’ve made a few sales.  I know it’s counterintuitive to how debt snowballing works, but it’s a small celebration of nibbling at the expensive debt elephant, and it’s better than buying something to mark a debt goal. Plus, I get five hits of dopamine; one for the sale, one for the payment, one for paying Very, one for making more space, and a bonus hit for a tiny peck at my mortgage.

Pecking at the mortgage is keeping me on track as much as nibbling at the debt is. I know the debt would go down faster if I sent the mortgage OP to Very (every £1.46 counts!), but I also know that “buying” one cm of my home at a time is scratching the itch to spend (I’m an emotional spender). I have a mortgage repayment book, and I take a disproportionate amount of pleasure in filling in each payment line 😆

Nintud

LzzyIsGod said:

Every pound counts! Each is a little step towards the end goal

It absolutely is, one step at a time will get me to my destination, and you to yours too.

Admittedly, I’m taking time to look at the scenery with my travels!

Speaking of which, I’m heading across to Spain in 3 weeks time. I started packing yesterday 😆

Nintud

Back at job no. 1 today. The early morning was a shock to the system!

I woke up around 3am. Couldn’t go straight back to sleep, so I got up, packaged some Vinted parcels and ‘quietly’ loaded the dishwasher and washing machine.  Went back to bed at 5am and woke up in a fuzz at 8.30 when my phone rang. Non-stop work since then and on my coffee break now.

£8 made in Vinted sales and £23.82 from payments sent across to Very. Interest has been added to the Very account, just under £10. Hoping to clear the debt by next statement date, then it will be minimal interest left to pay in February.

im going to total up my debts on pay day (15th), hoping to see an impact of all this self-restraint.