Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Cost of living

Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Best approach to clear debt & save up

7 replies

Hdkatznahtw125sgh · 15/12/2023 01:52

I bought a house in the UK last year and have built up some debts. Whilst I earn a good salary, I am looking to emigrate abroad in 18 months - 2 years so need to save up at least £5,000, if possible I would like to overpay my mortgage also.

the debts are as follows:
£350 on a credit card 29% rate - £44 payment. I am currently overpaying this to clear it first.
£4200 on ikea 0% finance - £168 payment (84 x2). Fully paid off in 2.5 years, will go down to £84 a month in 18 months.
£2400 on 0% credit card (covered tuition fees) (19 months remaining at 0%). I am unsure of the minimum as I overpay this as standard - currently £100.
mortgage is £250 pcm/34y.

my income is 2.5k after deductions pcm and I have a second bank job (started recently) which currently earns 4-600 pcm, max possible would be 1k.

I have 1,200 in an emergency fund.

Ive been following the Dave Ramsey method and paying off the highest interest debt first. If I tighten my spending and increase my bank shifts I can bring non food / bills / living income to 1.5k -2k a month.

I have around 4k of home improvements to do to be able to rent my house out when moving abroad / sell it down the line.

Does anyone have any advice how to tackle the debt and be able to save also. I am willing to be lean but also want to make the most of my time in the UK / with family in the next 18mo -2y. I would rather be debt free but saving is of equal importance. In total I have just under 7k of non mortgage debt, 1.2k in savings and need to save as much as possible to cover the house, mortgage and emigration fund.

thanks

OP posts:
CurlsnSunshinetime4tea · 15/12/2023 04:43

i much prefer the snowball method.
i would take some money out of the savings (say 200) and totally pay off the 350 cc debt.
then i would focus hard on the 2400 one, all the mean while keeping up with the ikea repayment plan.
personally i get a lot of satisfaction once something is paid off vs the slowly diminishing amount owing on multiple debts.

nannynick · 15/12/2023 05:36

Dave Ramsey method is to pay the smallest value debt first. So your £350 one.
The debts with the 0% interest I would set your own minimum payment, using formula:
debt value / (months remaining -1)
That will then ensure the debt is repaid before the end of the 0% period.

Doing as much work as you can is great, as the more income you have the better.
You have the starter emergency fund, a bit higher than £1k so no more towards that.

Track everything you spend. Be on a really tight budget, no it is not nice but it does get as much debt repaid as quickly as possible.

If you need it, Meaningful Academy has a free budgeting course called Financial Foundations, which follows Dave's principles.

Stay motivated. Use the Ramsey Show podcast/YouTube to hear the success of others, plus to reinforce the principles of paying debts smallest to largest.

You are already on your way to changing your money mindset. You are going against the grain... so some people will say you are weird. Weird is good.

nannynick · 15/12/2023 05:45

The IKEA loan sounds like it is really two loans, so split that up in your debt snowball.

Debt Payoff Planner app can be useful to see how quickly debt is repaid. You enter in the debt, the APR, the minimum payments, the amount you can pay, and it will calculate time to pay off based on snowball
method and avalanche method. Free version is fine. Android and iOS: www.debtpayoffplanner.com

keely79 · 15/12/2023 05:46

I would take money from emergency fund and clear 44% credit card immediately as you won’t be getting any interest on the savings that is anywhere near that amount. Then use what you were paying on the credit card to top up the savings. On the 0% debts - if you have the discipline not to touch the money would actually be better to only pay minimum on them for now and put money in an isa or similar with tax free interest as then your money will make money for you while sitting there (every little helps) and be available to repay the balance at the end of the 0% periods.

BarbaraofSeville · 15/12/2023 06:40

Just pay off the £350 debt. Then increase your income as much as possible, which it sounds like you are doing, but there are ways of getting extra bits of money like transferring your bank account, selling things you don't need etc.

Then spend as little as possible, question every expense as lots of small savings add up to a larger pot.

Have a look at this and do everything that is relevant.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

If you can earn more by doing bank shifts, can you do some over Christmas that pay higher rates?

When you get out of interest charging debt, let the 0% debt run it's course for now and put all your money into the best instant access account you can find, so you earn interest, which is free money while your debt is costing nothing. You can also use this to pay for your home improvements and pay down debt later if you want to cut costs or it starts to charge interest.

youveturnedupwelldone · 15/12/2023 08:30

It doesn't sound like you have the means to do all those things at once so I'd prioritise which order you want to

Pay off your debt
Overpay mortgage
Save up to emigrate

And make a month by month plan.

For the debt, I'd definitely as a starting point get rid of that high interest £350 when you next get paid. Then I'd move on to the tuition loan - work out the max you can pay per month and pay it off asap eg if you pay £500/m including the minimum pyt it'll be gone in 5 months. Then do the same for the ikea loan.

MikeRafone · 19/12/2023 09:44

along with paying debts

budgeting, having a very strict budget and then that will allow the few occasional flexes to enjoy time with family.

grocery shopping on a budget, making a meal plan and sticking to it
packing lunch for work, using your slow cooker for busy days doing bank shifts
fuel in car accounted for every trip
making sure you have the best deal on electric and gas and keep costs low
getting the best deal on phones and internet etc
Using the 2 council tax free months to overpay your debts to reduce interest

small things like that will add up to a meal out as a treat with family

New posts on this thread. Refresh page