Anyone want to join me on getting debt free?

[2026debtfreeme]

I thought it might be nice to share this journey together as it can feel quite lonely.

We had an awful couple of years financially, genuinely due to no fault of our own (house moves falling through, ripped off by a builder, you name it, it happened). It left us in quite a bit of debt. We are now totally settled and tackling the debt. It is mainly all together.

I earn £50k a year and my husband similar. We have 2 children. We have about £5k in savings but need this for any issues such as cars breaking down etc. We have a mortgage.

We can pay about £500 a month extra off our debt iver and above normal paynents.
In the last 4 months we have cleared the £2000 on my husband's credit card 😀

I will get the exact figure but I have about £12k loan in my name and £1900 on a credit card.
We don't have an overdraft and there is no other debt, so at least it is 'neat'. I'm going to pay off the credit card first, and then the loan.

Thankfully we both have good credit ratings, no bad debt or anything so this feels achievable, if not horrifying figures.

I want to keep a running monthly record of my debt disappearing.

Anyone want to join me?

Now off to get the exact figures...

@puffylovett the first question on this episode of Martin Lewis's podcast discusses making a budget. One of the things he highlights is that often we miss so much from budgets and that is where they fall down. You might factor in the monthly payments for a car and the petrol but miss off the car tax, insurance, breakdown cover, MOT, service, and routine repairs. He suggests doing budgets over a 3 month period to account for the irregular costs and it helps you think about things that are coming up to help spread costs so you don't get the same hit to the accounts on a single month.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0mfc2fn?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Could you add a delay between earmarking money for paying off the credit card and actually paying it off so that it breaks the credit card habit and cycle. Pay the minimum amounts of the credit cards and move the overpayment to an instant access savings account (get the interest paid monthly, it won't be a huge about extra but every £ helps). Don't put the account details on your phone somewhere accessible. Use this for the emergencies but try to be quite strict with when. Pay what is remaining at the end of the month or every other month off your credit card. It might help you track how much each month you are needing the extras. If it's always about the same amount, you might be being overly optimistic about how far you can make the budget cover so reduce the amount you over pay by a similar amount.

Psychologically if you can see that the debt is generally trending down even if it's slower at time rather than this up and down topsy method will give you a boost and feel more in control. Reducing the total by £4k is still a good achievement although I can see how deflating it can be to see the discrepancy between your payments and the reduction. It will also start the shift from credit to income being your back up. Baby steps.

@puffylovett I could have written this myself! DH credit card was supposed to be for car stuff and holidays.... It definitely has more than that on it. Between us we have about £8,000 on credit cards, but also need about £4,000 to completely finish our decorating after a loft conversion last year.

From Jan our holiday and cars pots will start again. DH has worked out the yearly costs (including random repairs!) plus an extra £600 as an insurance excess if we ever need it.

So our monthly budget will be going into pots and only the minimum will go on the cards. (whatever the minimum payment is in Jan we will set that as the payment for the year). We figured we won't stop using the credit card for random stuff if we don't stop using it completely. So it will take longer to clear the debt but hopefully will stop us using the card. Anything extra that comes in like top cashback goes onto the cards or decorating pot. We also don't have a decoratoring monthly budget as it's not a long term cost. Plus DH is due a tax rebate which will be used to repair my car after I drove into a bollard! And go into the decorating pot which will cover most of what we need.
It's going to be a long slog but once the cards are gone we will build an emergency pot for stuff like broken dishwasher and a pot for more expensive spends that are over say £100 that I can't afford out of my monthly budget. I will share my pots in the new year when I have exact figures for how much I need for decorating and credit card debts. We still have a couple of things to go on the credit card (DH car service and a weekend away already booked) so I don't yet know the total I'm going to owe.

We also already have four months worth of pay in a savings account from DH redundancy payout last year. We want this to be six but we want to prioritise the above.

Thank you, that is really very helpful.
I do have Monzo pots for all our monthly outgoings that I have been tracking, so things like fuel / haircuts / paintball / pet costs etc so I am partially doing the above. And all tax / insurance / bills are on monthly direct debits already.
perhaps I need to review what we’ve spent on cards over the last few months really carefully.
i think it’s things like ds starting a new school so needing a full new uniform and equipment (about £800 total - that only lasted 3 months as he’s now home schooling - facepalm) and we have spent about £800 doing up the downstairs loo ready for Xmas. We’ve been waiting for 14 years and it was utterly minging and broken and we have a houseful at Xmas. And actually, we’ve had to spend quite a bit on psychiatric care and support for ds. None of which could be predicted.
So there’s reasons for all of it, I think, and when I think on, we’ve definitely spent less on cards than we have previously.
but it does highlight that I have an old car and no emergency fund or other sinking funds. I think I’m just so desperate to pay the debt off that I don’t think logically about anything else, it’s been hanging over our heads for so long now it really gets me down :(
I think when I’m off at Xmas I’ll sit down and do another complete overhaul and perhaps try what you’ve suggested - make the payment at the end of the month rather than the beginning, to try and gain back some control.
thank you

Welcome! First off, don’t beat yourself up … we’ve all been there (and beyond!) at some point, myself included.

From my experience, your budget is absolutely key…so focus on nailing that - if you have some time off over the festive period grab yourself a Baileys and start working through it. If you can, download 3-6 months of all bank accounts and credit card statements and start listing from there.

Also list all of your debt, especially your interest rates, and start planning your debt pay off journey.

@puffylovett one thing to check is whether your 0% cards are 0% on everything or just the balance you transferred because that will be costing you if you are paying off and then putting more on.

One question to keep asking yourself is "if I didn't have the credit card would I be spending this now" some stuff will be I absolutely would find any way possible to afford it and as long as you put a plan in place the credit card might be appropriate but if the answer was "I'd have to find a way to make do without or do it cheaper" then that's what you do now.

Could you sell some of the uniform if it's not going to be used? Uniforms are eye wateringly expensive! I know I periodically keep an eye on second hand uniforms for my daughter way ahead of when we need them and put them to one side.

My aim is to get rid of £3000 by the end of the year.

I get £400 a month "pocket money" that is just for me to spend on me. I plan to direct as much of that as I can but equally I'm committed to paying for the gym etc. and I'm in the fortunate position that it's not urgent to get rid of although it's expensive. So it's a balance between paying it off and living.

I am trying to clear £4200 from a credit card. I’m paying off £1000 in January and then £400 a month thereafter, so I should be clear by August / September time. 😮‍💨 It’s gonna be a tough 2026 financially, but I’m committed.

My biggest weaknesses are clothes. I don’t have kids. But we want kids, so hence trying to clear asap and start saving again.

We have a mortgage and are due to renew in June, so I’m hoping the mortgage rates remain low so we can save a bit of money there.

I've just read back over this, are you paying your car insurances spread over 12 months rather than in one go? This can be a really expensive way to pay for your car insurance as it's essentially another loan and often with eye wateringly high interest rates (25-40% APR is relatively common).
If you can't afford to pay for car insurance in one go it's one of those situations where actually it might be more cost effective to put it on your credit card at 0% and set up a direct debit each month to pay at least 1/12 of it off the credit card each month. Ideally you would want to be able to pay it off in 6 months or less and then continue to pay that same amount into a savings account so that when the next renewal comes up you have the money set aside already to pay it in full.

What is it about clothing that makes it your weakness? Exploring this might allow you to think about what buying clothes does for you and hopefully you can find ways of getting these needs met within your budget for this year so you get a bit of pleasure too!

Hello people! Checking in before Christmas. It sounds like loads of people on here are making real strides in bringing their debt down.

Im still finding it a massive slog and a worry to be honest. My weakness is stuff for the kids. They have had a difficult trot of it for many reasons and I have always got them decent stuff for Christmas. It’s a hard habit to break. This time I have been better at budgeting but definitely not cut down enough there…

on the plus side:

• I’ve cut out all alcohol and that is saving a little bit each month
• I’ve moved several insurances to cheaper products
• I’ve been rigorous about getting cash back/ employee rewards discounts where availble
• I’ve earned an additional £400 this month from side hustles but that was bloody hard eork
• I’ve asked my really difficult and combative ex for more child maintenance because he pays considerably under the going rate for complicated and largely insurmountable reasons

In January I need £2k of work on my house, essential cannot wait safety stuff, which is a blow, plus £350 car repairs where someone hit my car and scarpered. My excess is … £350.

It does feel a bit two steps forward, two steps back at the moment. I do put money for house maintenance into pots and average them for my budget but I just don’t earn enough to put adequate amounts into the car and house maintenance pots.

My reels are full of people living off grid in tiny homes 😂, the algorithms are sending me a message …

Can you add your debt to the mortgage? Will probably be cheaper and take the pressure off a bit. Nothing to stop you from putting the money you were going to pay into savings etc.

That’s a good idea actually. I’ve never thought of doing that. Our mortgage is due for renewal in June. How would I go about adding it to the mortgage? My worry is my debt will affect affordability and good rates that’s why I’m trying to clear asap.

thanks for the suggestion - it would certainly take the pressure off. X

So if you owe £10k on cc and want to remortgage for £100k, then you ask to borrow £110k and then pay the extra £10 straight on the cc.

Okay, gotcha. I’m gonna talk to my DH about it. In the mean time, I’ll try and get my debt down to about 3k by the time we remortgage 💪

Very good question, and to be perfectly honest, I think it’s linked with self-esteem, identity, lack of purpose. We are struggling with infertility so I think shopping fills a bit of a void for me. I don’t feel I can work on it properly until I clear the debt and start from scratch.

Adding unsecured debt onto a mortgage … hmm. Not sure that makes loads of sense personally. You will pay back loads more over time unless your existing credit card debt is on a really high interest rate. It’d be better to get your unsecured debt moved to interest free credit card or even a bank loan on a shorter term than a mortgage.

having said that… I can 100% see the attraction of lower monthly payments. I don’t think we see mortgage abd credit card debt in the same way. Mortgage is seen as ok, credit card debt is taboo.

I am also doing this - have more debt at about £9800 across two credit cards, but I am paying off at £400 a month and slinging any extra money made via Vinted etc at it too. I've paid off nearly £5k this year already.

I have them both on interest free deals, and I have another two cards with zero balance that I can use to move the debt when these 0% offers are done.

It probably will take me more than next year, but 2027 is the year I'll have no CC debt 🎉

Actually no…that is an extremely bad idea and definitely not one I’d recommend to anyone, especially not for the sake of £10k.

Have you done a full income/expenditure budget then worked through it to see what you can cut from expenses/what can you do to improve income?

Yes, I’ve done that. I’ve cut back as much as possible and from Jan, I won’t be getting manicures or pedicures or skin subscriptions. I’m going bare essentials. I’ve even considered cutting the gym membership but have to look after my health & wellbeing while working. I’ve applied for a potential promotion at work as well. I’ll likely get a bonus in Feb. I think it might be worth doing an interest free credit card with the remaining debt but I’m worried about applying for anything in the lead up to a mortgage renewal or only being accepted for a credit card limit that’s too low.

I hate unsecured debt.

Best of luck to you lovely!

It is generally not a sensible move to add debts to mortgage as whilst the rates are often lower than short term loans you are paying them back over longer loan periods.

A £100,000 mortgage over 25 years at 4% will cost you £528 a month and £158,284 over the life time of the mortgage assuming 4% for the whole term.

A £110,000 mortgage over 25 years at 4% will cost you only £52 more at month at £580 but over the lifetime of the mortgage you would now repay £174,113 so the extra £10,000 on the mortgage would cost you £15,829

If you got a £10k loan at 6% for 5 years you would pay £193 a month and over the life time of the loan you will repay £11,699!

Rates are picked from best deals for respective loans and not necessarily the rates you will be offered

Debt free 2026 has arrived! Happy new year everyone.

I've got my numbers. £2,874 left to save to spend on the decorating / furnishing (I have really cut that down to the minimum needed - taken out things like us getting a bigger bed and new bedside tables) and £8,745 needed to clear the debt - this is including our predicted spend for our two days out and night away starting tomorrow and the car service.

I don't think we are going to fix the car yet so DH's £3,000 tax rebate will all go to finishing off what is needed for the decorating and then we can throw anything that comes in at the credit cards, then fix the car later in the year! I guess my new target will be to get to a point of being able to fix the car before the end of 2026!

Happy new year!

I’ll be honest - I have taken out a £12k loan today. The interest rate was at 5% with a monthly payment of £240.

I have paid off my PayPal Credit account at £4800 (25% APR!) and will close the account.

also paid off my Next account and closing that. Paid off my overdraft. Going to wait for my direct debits to move from my credit cards tomorrow and then I will pay off those. I will still have about £2k debt (plus the loan obviously) but at a much more manageable APR.

This will spare up well over £1.5k a month that was going on debts. I can also over pay the loan with no charges which I will focus on doing once I’m square elsewhere.

I don’t know if it was a batshit idea or not but it seemed better overall to reduce my monthly payments. I will be closing all the accounts except for one credit card.

@1AnotherOne I can completely understand why you've done that. Much more manageable. Who knows if it's the best idea but if it helps you then it is for you! Sounds like it was all over the place, that would have driven me mad trying to keep up. That £2k will be paid off almost instantly with that £1.5k! After that with the set £240 a month you could save some with the rest?

Yes definitely that’s the plan. Then overpay the loan 🤞🏼