Isca’s debt free diary

Isca82

Hey, thanks for clicking! I’m in my mid forties, mum of 2 (15 and 11), married and work part time. 

We took a loan out in August 2024 to upgrade our car and for a couple of others bits and pieces. We have around £12,700 outstanding. We can make unlimited overpayments and are keen to do what we can to reduce the amount of time we are paying it off for! 

Current plan is to make and save money to make quarterly overpayments. I plan to use this diary to keep track of what we do and how much money we can save. 

We are also changing how we manage our money this year and are trying to keep a handle on groceries, takeaways and incidentals. 

I will find some figures and update on another post. I wonder what we can achieve with a bit of focus! 

Isca82

My outstanding balance today is £12,715.02. We are due to pay it off in August 2029 but this is what we want to bring forward. Our loan (Tesco) has the full interest added at the start of the loan period (September 2024). This means we that every time we make an overpayment, a corresponding Rebate Interest Adjustment is made. 

I made a £20 overpayment at the weekend just to check how it all worked and that resulted in an adjustment of £4.74! I think it could be addictive to keep track of the interest savings as well as the overpayments. I will try to keep track on here and in my signature (when I remember!).

We plan to make an overpayment each quarter, so I will be tracking how much each quarters payment will be. So far I have £35.22 aside to pay on 31st March. 

I will also keep track of other money bits and bobs here as although they might not directly affect the loan, they do all contribute to our finances being under control.

this year we have decided to move a weekly amount to our Starling account for ad hoc spending. Within this we are allocating a some money for groceries and some for petrol. So far so good but we have a weekend away coming up which will be our first real challenge of the year.

vampirotoothus

Hi, if you can make overpayments at any time, then I suggest overpaying as soon as you can, no matter how small, unless  the account you are saving into has a higher interest rate? If the loan is higher then that will be best. Good  luck V x

joedenise

Another who would make overpayments as soon as you can.  I reduced our mortgage quite a bit by just rounding down our bank account daily.  Better to reduce your balance as soon as you make the payment rather than waiting and only paying quarterly.

Isca82

vampirotoothus said:

Hi, if you can make overpayments at any time, then I suggest overpaying as soon as you can, no matter how small, unless  the account you are saving into has a higher interest rate? If the loan is higher then that will be best. Good  luck V x

joedenise said:

Another who would make overpayments as soon as you can.  I reduced our mortgage quite a bit by just rounding down our bank account daily.  Better to reduce your balance as soon as you make the payment rather than waiting and only paying quarterly.

Thanks both for your thoughts. As I was writing the posts yesterday I thought ‘I’m not sure this makes sense’ so I am glad you took the time to offer advice. Of course, as you say there is no point in waiting. So today I have made an additional payment of £35.22. I look forward to seeing the interest rebate which I think shows the following day.

I am waiting for £25 from my bank account rewards to come into my current account and then that will be another payment I can transfer. We usually get £5 per month, so I will probably cash it in monthly going forward and send it across. It had been growing because I hadn’t wanted to cash it in until I knew where it was going (paying this debt down was a fairly recent decision). 

In other money saving news, I found a couple of vouchers while sorting out a drawer. One Amazon voucher which I have added to my account so will cover any small purchases for the next couple of months I hope. The second  is a one for all voucher which I’ve had for a while and the card had actually expired. I phoned them and they are sending me a replacement voucher which is great news as that’s another £50.

We have a weekend away this weekend for my birthday, so there will be some spends there. There seem to be a lot of restaurant offers floating around plus I have some birthday offers so I’m hoping we can keep on track.

Isca82

The £25 bank rewards arrived so that has now been transferred to the loan. My payments so far total £80.22 with an additional 18.94 coming off the loan in interest rebate. So almost £100 off the loan this week. Very happy with that and I can see how this will get addictive 🤣

We need 2 meals out while we are away this weekend. Currently thinking Pizza Hut for one (25% off blue light discount) as it’s a crowd pleaser with the kids. And a hungry horse pub for the other. That also has 25% off food and then I have a £30 voucher from Christmas which should reduce spends nicely. 

Breakfast is included as we booked on a premier inn offer before Christmas, so just tickets for the space museum and a couple of coffees to pay for on top.

Isca82

Back from a great weekend away. We had 2 nights in the Premier Inn with free breakfast - kids absolutely love a buffet brekkie and managed to eat plenty! Friday evening we stopped for Pizza Express on the way. Using our rewards apps, which included a free Birthday meal for me, plus spending a voucher we had, we only had £17.40 left to pay for the 4 of us. 

Saturday night we went to a Harvester and again I had a free main course for my Birthday, plus a gift voucher to redeem, so that left us with £37 to pay for the 4 of us. So I am very happy with that and it has meant that we managed to fit all our spending into our usual budget, and didn't need to use any from our holiday savings. 

Our day out at the Space Centre was paid for from my Birthday budget and we have free return visits for a year so will definitely go back again later in the year. 

We did buy coffees out twice and its amazing how the costs add up! Now the kids are older they want interesting drinks and snacks, and the price of drinks is crazy in places like Starbucks. We don't do it all the time though and its nice to have a treat.

Looking forward to the end of the month and hubby and I having a sit down and discussing how this month has gone. I think its gone really well so far, and I am feeling so much more in control. 

In less good news, I've come back feeling exhausted and with plenty of catching up to do on jobs around the house. So I decided to do an online food shop for this week instead of having to find the time to go. Lesson learnt, its cost me a lot more money and I am expecting a random selection of stuff to turn up later. Meal plans, and lists are what I need to keep me on track. I have also realised I forgot dishwasher tablets to have had to order some on Amazon for next day delivery as we only have 3 left and I don't have time to go shopping for them.