Hopefully debt free before Mortgage renewal in June 2026

Tezzadp

Weekly food shopping day today. Total spent £29.52

No direct debits today

Debt payments

Hastings loan daily payment : £1.87 (Total paid so far this month* £134.39 (including £23.10 interest) - leaving a final payment of £79.41 in July 2027 (28 monthly payments) = Balance outstanding now £2156.98

Tezzadp

..............................

VAP_Driver

It’s funny how, once you’re on your debt-free journey, you resent spending money on things that are necessary, such as the weekly shop. And yet, you used to spend a lot more on frivolous things that were a lot less necessary, without any thought or guilt.

Well, I certainly did, anyway.

Tezzadp

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Debt payments

Hastings loan daily payment : £1.88 (Total paid so far this month* £136.27 (including £23.10 interest) - leaving a final payment of £76.90 in July 2027 (28 monthly payments) = Balance outstanding now £2155.10

*This month refers to 28th Feb to 30th March (the day before pay day)

Tezzadp

..............

Tezzadp

VAP_Driver said:

It’s funny how, once you’re on your debt-free journey, you resent spending money on things that are necessary, such as the weekly shop. And yet, you used to spend a lot more on frivolous things that were a lot less necessary, without any thought or guilt.

Well, I certainly did, anyway.

I totally agree with this. i find myself not wanting to spend money on literally anything just so i can pay more towards my debt. I hate it when i have to spend money now.

The problem i have is when i get out of debt. i cant seem to live without being in debt, i think im kind of "addicted" or used to living in debt and having my mind occupied or worried/stressed with trying to work out "how im going to pay my bills at the end of the month", or "how im going to pay this all back" or "will my money last me this month?". Ive never had any kind of money saved up and ive always lived in debt, im now in a much better way than i have previously been in financially. I know how to make my money last and how to spend within my means (maybe i will go into my story more at the end of this journey when/if i get debt free again), but i used to live very close to the edge of not having money to pay the bills and borrowing money from Peter to pay Paul. It was like one big puzzle in my head that was constantly on my mind all day every day, trying to figure out how to get thru the hours/days/weeks/months/year.

Then all of a sudden if i become debt free, all of that puzzle and information and jumble in my head is gone and i dont know what to do with myself. i know it sounds a bit silly really, because most people would say, surely you would feel relieved and free from the worry? well yeah, you would think i would, but i have lived with it for about 25 years constantly so it feels normal to me. I feel like i HAVE to spend any money that i have, i dont know what to do if i have any spare money. im simply not used to it. This paying off my debts and becoming debt free is the easy part for me, ive done it for years and years, paying off debt. The hard part for me will be when/if i get debt free, actually staying out of debt and not spending all my excess money at the end of each month, that will be my real test (more on this part of my story when/if i get to the debt free stage this time around). Im looking forward to it with slight apprehension. 

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks for all your support folks 

Tezzadp

.....................................

RedLipstick

The hard part for me will be when/if i get debt free, actually staying out of debt and not spending all my excess money at the end of each month, that will be my real test

Depending on where your money is going, maybe start thinking of it as stealing from your future self? When you spend money, you are giving it to someone else. It's not your money anymore. You work hard for the money and when you spend, you are basically handing it over to someone in a matter of seconds. You may like to look into the concept of "pay yourself first". It's very easy to get in debt but saving can get very addictive as well when you start and put your mind to it. I remember my beginnings when I've tried to save £28 per week, joined some random challenge back then and set up a direct debit. It was tough, all that money sitting there for no reason while there is a fantastic deal at some shop! Read few finance books in search for motivation, at some point something clicked. Few (extremely frugal) years later I now have my own place in a beautiful city, chunky "FU" emergency fund, building second EF and paying down "orchestrated" 0% debt I could pay off in a couple of mins from savings. Only recently started working on my pension contributions though. But the threat is real, and I totally get what you mean when you say staying out of debt will be a real test, it is. 

One thing I remember I've read somewhere years ago, and it became my mantra was that no mattress will give you a better sleep than a chunk of money in your account. You're doing amazing, keep at it and in no time you will be posting fabulous updates on saving challenges as well!

VAP_Driver

If I can take you back to when I quit smoking, I had tried unsuccessfully (obviously) several times previously. Where it went wrong was, after a few months, I mentally thought that I’d successfully quit, and so I stopped trying to. Then, when a moment of weakness came along, my defences were down and before I knew it, I was back on 20 a day.

What changed the last time is I told myself that I’m still a smoker. And I am. I just haven’t had a cigarette for a while (over 14 years and counting). And that seems to have worked, so far at least. I’m never going to give up giving up.

You might want to apply the same logic to your debt free journey. Once it’s all paid back, don’t see it as the journey’s end, or that you’ve reached your destination. Just keep rolling, and applying the same determination and focus as you have been doing. In its simplest form, getting debt free is just making numbers on a screen, or a spreadsheet, change. The thing is, so is saving. It’s just that one is a negative balance, and one is a positive- but the process is the same. If you can move between the two without losing any momentum or making any significant changes to your approach, that might work out well for you. You’ve already got the habit.

Just keep rolling.

Tezzadp

Not long until lump sum day and payday now

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Debt payments

Hastings loan daily payment : £1.89 (Total paid so far this month* £138.16 (including £23.10 interest) - leaving a final payment of £74.46 in July 2027 (28 monthly payments) = Balance outstanding now £2153.21

*This month refers to 28th Feb to 30th March (the day before pay day)