Let's get this sorted then!

doingitanyway

Yes, but you have the bonus of feeling smug because you are limiting the impact on landfill

jwil

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81866121#Comment_81866121

I agree, there's a huge environmental benefit to fixing things!

Rhyddid2026

I agree @doingitanyway and @jwil , I'd just like to feel smug through choice rather than necessity 😆

New job started, absolutely no different to my old job at the moment, except I was a little more joyful at 9am thinking of my increased salary. Still not heard from HR about increasing my pension contributions, still not had my change of circs letter.

My DD for NW2 credit card has gone out, but it's not showing on my cc account yet, annoying. Anyway, I've paid £400 off it through January and another 115 has left my account today towards it, just not showing in my updated signature.

1st milestone for 2026 achieved – debts plus student loan is now under 60k

2nd milestone achieved - I've got my emergency fund back up to £1,000 (split between a pot, regular saver, and premium bonds).

I've almost paid off 25% of my starting debt, roughly £8,500 paid off.

I'm watching Mark Boyle on Ben Fogle on Yutoob, living without money or electricity. It's looking more tempting than ever 😂

PennysIntoPounds

Fabulous achieving 🥂

Just look at the difference in those totals. Not just the mathematical difference, but the first one reads 'uh-oh, heading into really quite difficult difficulties here' and the second one reads 'yeah just give me a little time with my head straight and making extra efforts here and there, I can do this 💅'

Rhyddid2026

Thanks Pip. I do know I've done well, I just have to make a conscious effort to remind myself sometimes or I start moping that I should have done more. It's been tough, but I've still had some takeaways, cheap breaks, and a massage. This way is definitely more sustainable than my usual tactic of going all in then cracking from the pressure. Now to see what I can do on my new increased salary, with the ultimate aim of being able to go back to a less managerial role for less pay in a year or two, safe in the knowledge that my debts are perfectly manageable ☺️

jwil

25% of your debt gone is amazing!

Rhyddid2026

HR finally got back to me about increasing pension contributions. They started by saying "congratulations but we had no idea you had a promotion, we've had no paperwork about it". So that was encouraging!!!

Anyway, I think I was expecting a conversation, but instead they just said "sure, tell us how much" and now I've realised I'm just basing this on reading/hearing that this was a sensible thing to do and using an online calculator to check how much it might impact my salary. Now I'm scared and I've realised I don't actually know anybody that is sensible/knowledgeable about pensions in real life. It seems a bit weird that I just tell them a number (I'm guessing a percentage?) and that's it. I'm not even sure how much of a percentage they take now as I can never seem to get the figures to add up.

So just to check with strangers on the internet - increasing my pension contributions now I've had a salary increase is definitely the sensible thing to do, right? As long as my take home pay is not less than it was before due to the increased contributions?

🤔

Rhyddid2026

I reached out to a friend's husband who was the only adulty person I could think of. He informed me he was not actually that adulty about pensions, but he's arranged for me to visit for lunch on Saturday and invited their son who is adulty in a financially savvy way (it's his job) l. Son insisted he wasn't a pensions expert, and was informed we just needed a financially aware adult for a quick chat 😂

vampirotoothus

Hi most companies have a contribution that you pay and they will match, so I have always put mine at the highest I needed to, to get the most out of them, if you see what I mean.
Well done on the promotion. V x

doingitanyway

I agree with @vampirotoothus I always went to the highest % the organisation would match. Then I went up by my % pay increase whenever I could