Becoming debt free in 2018

[iammeegan]

I've decided to make a plan to become debt free in 2018.
Money and debt give me terrible anxiety which means I bury my head in the sand and it's become out of control!
So starting in the new year and I'm going to stop spending and start paying everything off.
I would love some support and people to help motivate me.
I have already worked out that I can be debt free in 14 months with some serious cut backs and forward planning.
I'm currently on mat leave but will be returning to work in March which will allow me to pay off more each month

So would anyone like to join me?

Thanks for that Twinkledag so that quick even though I'm paying interest as well, that really is a massive difference. I really do need to have a look at TalkinPeece spreadsheets but I don't often use a PC mostly a phone or tablet and I don't think they download on them or at least not as well as a PC.

myway
They are googledocs with no macros - you should be fine to open them on any work or public computer .... just follow the link in the spreadsheets thread

Another good day for me yesterday. I had a croissant which cost me less than £1.50 and that's all I spent all day.

@TalkinPeece - I have a savings account which has now matured. It has around £1200. Should I put this all on my credit card to get the balance down or should I save this as an emergency fund?

Ooh, tricky.
It depends what ready cash you have for things like the washing machine breaking down !
Half and half ?

And well done on another frugal day ;-)

We have zero cash! I have a credit card with nothing on it with a £15,000 limit which could be used in emergencies but I really don’t want to add to the CC debt.

And remember I told you we are sleeping on a mattress on the floor so we do need a bed!

All my kitchen appliances are new so probably will not need replacing for a while? Which reminds me, I must dig out all the guarantees and fill them in!

I have worked out that we need to overpay the credit cards by £644 a month to pay £1,000 off the debt each month. £500 I transfer from the joint account on payday (which we can do easily with a bit of mindful spending – or not spending perhaps the expression should be!) and I try and make up the other £144 from shaving a bit off the family budget/food budget/etc although this month I made £150 from switching accounts so I am easily covered.

Maybe I should keep the savings money and use that on the months that I find it difficult to raise the £144?

59p spent today on a bread roll with lunch :D

twinkle you're doing so well!!

Me and Ds1 were suffering from sickness bugs from Thursday, both better today bit ds2 has come down with it now and DH has just text from work that he's unwell!

That's meant I've not spent anything for 2 days and will only be nipping out later for a good stock up!

Still trying to get out the OD!!

I'm doing ok but really only a few days in as got paid on Tuesday.

DH is desperate for a new car so that's motivating him. I said if we can hammer the debt down as much as possible this year we can breathe a bit with the repayments and look at getting a car on finance.

That's a good idea! We got a bit screwed over with our car last year! Over the space of 2 years we had most of the major bits replaced as they wore out (was an oldish car) so thought we were good for a few more years but... No. Started making funny noises and was going to cost lots to repair properly so we got rid and had to have finance for a new (second hand) car. I don't drive but we couldn't do without one as DH needs it for work.

It what's we plan on clearing after OD and credit card!!

twinkledag
I would NEVER buy a car on finance
and my last car cost nearly £30 k
I buy two or three year old cars that have had the niggles shaken out of them
and drive them for 100,000 miles
seriously, new cars are an utter, utter con
my big car cost the original owner more than £2 per mile in loss of value
my smaller car cost me 1/4 list price at 3 years old
and will last me 11 years like its predecessor

posh cars that are two years old are a really good buy
as they are built solidly

@TalkinPeece - do you have to buy older cars cash outright?

We've never had a new car, waaaaay too much money!

We've just had a Nissan x trail and it cost us £3000. We got it on finance as we had no spare cash and needed a car. They tool our old one as part exchange so got £500 off the asking price which was more than we could have sold it or scrapped it for!

Took not tool! X

twinkle
I have always bought cash
the recent big car was part funded with a Zopa loan
(4.8%, no penalty for early clear)
but you can get HP on most second hand cars through dealers
these silly new rental / borrowing deals are atrocious IMHO

big car was £43k new ~ we bought it at 8000 miles for £30k
nuff said

I sell my worn out cars on ebay

Thanks both!

We'll see how we are in a few months and then take it from there. Really want to take a big chunk out of this debt first before we can think about irZ

*it

Right, I've name changed before I start talking money, I'll try and catch up with this thread and I'll download the spreadsheets. I've an unexpected day at home and it's about time I did something about this debt as I know it's over 10k now. We manage, but we're not making any inroad thanks to interest and the fact we waste a lot of money. I'm determined I'm having a big holiday for a big birthday in a few years time and right now all I can think about is the debt and how we'll never afford it.

Welcome @mustdust!

Welcome MustDust
THe spreadsheets are a good place to start as you have seen on the other thread.
Talking about the debt helps too as it makes you confront it.

Thank you @twinkledag

Credit cards are done, all of them allowed me to change the DD to a fixed amount online, and I can see exactly what I owe in one place now using the spreadsheet.

Well done @MustDust! How much are you paying back a month and when will it be cleared?

talkinpeece thanks for the advice on the other thread. It's good to have a plan. Even at the silly interest rates I'm on it, and if i can get some 0% deals I'll be even further ahead but at least it's going now.

The spreadsheet has told me I've reduced the term to around 4 years instead of over 30. A real eye opener was discovering one of my card's repayment terms was interest plus 1%, that's designed to really screw you over, plus that interest is around the 30% mark from what I can work out (2.52% a month) so that one is getting some extra attention as soon as I know where I'm up to.

I need to move on to budgets and spending next, then I can see what's going where, which should mean I can pay some extra off.

Well done @MustDust, feels good when you take control doesn't it?

It's a new budget week for me! And happy to report that we only spent £70/£100 of the family budget and could've easily spent less tbh!

Spends today - £4.50 on DS's lunch and £2.70 on a coffee. Walked to and from town so saved £3 on bus fare

It does, I've got a lot more I could do but it's a start at least. The fact we don't budget properly is an issue as we can't see where we're wasting money. Sounds like you're really on it twinkle

I've started a budget of £100 a week for family spends. Before that we just spent money willy nilly. Taking the money out physically every week definitely helps. And I've banned DH from using the debit card!