Busting this debt before 42

Chocolatefund

So after much thinking and number crunching I now have myself a new MacBook Air.

I tweaked my spreadsheet around to see how much I could afford while still being able to overpay the loan and keep putting money away in my SIPP, ISA, emergency fund and sinking fund.

Apple had a very tempting offer of £30 something a month at 4.9% interest over 3 years. But my stomach churned at that idea. A little digging shows that they do 0% interest over 12 months, so that what's I've gone for. The laptop is £125 per month. I debated about paying it outright with my shiny and/or emergency fund, but decided to take advantage of the 0% offer.

It's too easy to get into debt. It felt far too easy to apply for that finance. I realise that I could have gone for something far cheaper, but I do absolutely love my new laptop. So much better to have a bigger screen and a proper keyboard to type on. Didn't realise how much I missed having a laptop.

So my debt has technically increased by £1500. Sounds a lot for a laptop. Went for the bigger size and increased the ram spec due to the ram shortage in the world at the moment. Things are not going to get cheaper. Will update my signature to keep me accountable.

Almost at the end of March. It's not been a good month spending wise. Will calculate the damage over the weekend and do an end of month round up on Tuesday payday.

Chocolatefund

So I've done a thorough end of month round up for all my spending in March and it's not pretty.

Food £200 yay!

Petrol £436 *cry. (Curse you rising fuel prices!!)

Eating out £213. To much travelling lunches.

Misc £242…

Total month spending £1199. £550 over my £650 monthly budget. I've broken down exactly how this was spent. £115 for birthday present, taxis and a round of drinks. £70 mother's day present and lunch. £108 for a work trip. £70 on Am@zon for accessories for my new phone and laptop. £63 eating out and £194 on petrol that I'll be able to claim some of it back at least.

Eeeeeeshh...

On top of this. Without getting into detail, I made a massive blunder at work in which I'm liable for the damages. 😭 £510 out of my emergency fund...(Don't ask)

So, I've taken the £550 overspend out of a combination of emergency fund, to round it down and the shiny fund. And after the great monthly money shuffle the accounts are now looking as follows;

Sinking Fund: £700

Shiny Fund: £1000

Emergency Fund: £2000

The SIPP has £6800 and the ISA has £1450. Both down at the moment due to the stock market. Looking at it overall it's not as bad as it could be. Gotta keep reminding myself that this is what sinking and emergency funds are for.

Right...now the bad stuff is out of the way I'm going to put the good stuff in a separate post to make myself feel better damnit. (Grumblegrumble)

Rhyddid2026

Looking forward to the good stuff post!

Chocolatefund

Thanks @Rhyddid2026 and indeed there is lots of good stuff to talk about!

£700 overpayment has gone to the loan and the outstanding balance is now £19,886. Officially under the 20k mark. Very pleased about the progress and now 19 payments to go!

In mse style, I've had a good look at all my monthly bills and I've made progress in getting them all reduced.

Gas and electric from £135 down to £125

Water from £21 down to £18

Renewed my broadband which was £44 and is now £24 per month.

A new SIM only contract taking my phone bill from £15 down to £8

Cancelled a subscription bringing them down from £14 to £8

Combined that's £46 a month saving going forward. Well...the council tax has gone up by an additional £7 a month, but I'll still be £39 better of. Going forward I'm designating April as the financial tooth comb of bills. Makes good sense as April is the start of the finance year.

Speaking of the tax year. I've generated a report from my SIPP provider and for the year, I've contributed £2,450 to the pension. I've filled out the tax relief form online and I'll be due back £615. Last year it took a few months and a phone call to HMRC, so will keep an eye out.

I've got a couple of electronic bits to sell at the Cexy company and next week I'll put some work claims in. I've seen on the news that car finance scandal thingy is finally going ahead and that's going to be exciting as I've got a confirmed DCA on my old car.

So overall, a rubbish end to March, but an exciting start to April. Lots of money stuff to look forward to.

Onwards to the new financial year!

Sarahwithlove

what car did you go for in the end? I really want a new one but have avoided temptation so far. How is the new laptop? is it getting alot of use? I find some things are just much easier on a laptop then on an ipad.

Chocolatefund

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81948929#Comment_81948929

My new car is a Kia Sportage. I would have kept my old Honda till the wheels fell off, but alas, fate had other ideas for it. I do love my new car. It's very different in its own way. I did look at getting another Honda, but thier prices have just gone up so much I might as well buy new. My family and I are very much car people though, so I understand why a new car wouldn't be worth it to some.

My new laptop is great. I can run some programs on it that my iPad can't. An iPad is great for the day to say stuff, but you can't beat a bigger screen and a proper keyboard.

Speaking of the laptop. The first loan payment doesn't come out till the 20th. After that, I'll be able to change the payment date to the 1st to align with all my other outgoings.

Chocolatefund

Financial brain bump #2

I'm having thoughts looking at my spreadsheet of outgoings and I'm debating simplifying my accounts.

Currently I have been putting money away as such per month;

£150 - Emergency Fund

£100 - Shiny Fund

£100 - S&S ISA

£150 - Sinking Fund

£300 - SIPP

£700 - Loan overpayment

The shiny fund I will stop using past May when I've been on my London trip. My thought process is perhaps I should leave the emergency fund at 2k, stop putting money in the ISA and divert those two amounts into the loan overpayment to clear it quicker. Definitely want to continue the SIPP contribution for the tax relief and hit that 10k goal at the end of the year.

Feels like looking at this I am trying to do too many things at once instead of focusing on one goal. Going to have a ponder over the Easter weekend and have a think.

lucielle

My thoughts for what they’re worth. Keep the SIPP and shiny fund and divert all other payments to the emergency fund. Once that hits 2k focus on a different pot.
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ArtyJ931

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81950028#Comment_81950028

after reading this I went and simplified and merged some of my pots. I’m new to pots and have been yo-yoing around creating and merging and deleting pots for the last couple of weeks. It got a bit unwieldy yesterday so I simplified them again.

Who knows what today will bring 😂 100 pots by the end of the day each with £1 in lol

RhiBi

I’m in the same boat (or pot) as you, I can’t decide if I’m spreading everything too thin, and then think I’ll dump it all in the emergency fund which has a higher interest. The problem with that is that I don’t like moving it out of there to pay for things that should be in other pots!