58k in debt to frugal living..

A question about : 58k in debt to frugal living..

I'm not new on here, but I'm starting a new diary as I keep trying to be a more regular poster, so new start and all that.

You'll see from my signature that we had a hideous amount of debt which bit by bit we have paid off and are nowleft with just under Ј10k to clear.

A few years ago, we both got made redundant in fairly quick succession, had twins and moved to the coast in search of a better quality of life (not necessarily in that order). Our income subsequently went down by three quarters.

Whilst we now live a more simple life, money is tight (isn't it for everyone these days) and we desperately want to kick the last of the debt, but have very little spare cash to throw at it.

Hopefully with more regular postings on here and a bit more focus, I can make a bigger difference through the coming months and years. I'm sick of debt now and for the first time in my life, I want to be debt free, bar the mortgage. (that's the next goal)

Things are a little crazy of late and it's been hard with no family around us to manage young twins, me returning to work which I was determined to do. Childcare cripples us and I long for next July when we make our last payment to nursery.

Anyhooo, I would love some support of people of similar journeys and I promise to post more.

Best answers:

• Hello!
  Well done for starting a diary. We can all do this together!
• So, it's half term and we are planning a fairly quiet, low key (frugal) break. I'm off work this week (lucky enough to work term time), so it's me and the little people.
  Plans today are baking, modelling clay and then off to Tesco to collect an order. I am slightly nutty about getting all my Christmas present shopping done as early as possible, so I probably have 5-6 more left to get and I am done!
  December is birthday month is our house for the little people and DH, so we like to have a chilled out month celebrating those and Christmas..
  What's everyone else up this half term week?
  Thank you for all that have popped in so far. x
• Wishing youluck for your DF journey - looks like you have already achieved a lot!
  We have a family loan of 7000 to pay which we are determined to start doing in November (getting married this weekend so money been goingo towards that in meantime!!!!)
  I will follow your journey with interest x
• Oooh how exciting! I hope you have a fantastic day ellesbelles!
• Hi debtfreeoneday!
  congratulations on the new diary! I will subscribe! Currently waiting for baby number 2 (any day now) and have a toddler so have little people to entertain too. On maternity leave till Sept next year and then will have nursery costs to pay as moving further away from family hopefully before Christmas. Attempting to pay off debt whilst on statutory maternity leave so hopefully we can share frugal tips!
  look forward to following your journey!
  Crunchy x
• Exciting times crunchy! Hope the house move continues smoothly as well.
  These little people are expensive aren't they?
• Today is all about baking which I never got round to yesterday! Carrot muffins and halloween fairy cakes.. Apart from that I don't intend to venture anywhere in the car, but will get out for a walk with the littlies if the weather improves a bit.
  DH and I have just agreed this morning not to buy Christmas presents for each other but to knock a little bit off the money we owe to our 'bank account' - we are not overdrawn, but we both upgraded our phones recently and 'borrowed' money from our savings pot, so we pay this back over a period of time - I know phones are expensive and a luxury but we do very little in the way of spending on things we don't need, don't go out or treat ourselves very much at all since we starting tackling the debt, so our phones are our one vice!
  Interestingly, I opened an Experian credit report account recently (got Ј5 cashback for doing so) and cancelled in the free trial, so no cost to me. My credit score was 991 which I think is pretty good, but the report showed Ј110 of outstanding debt to npower - so yesterday morning was spent on the phone to them to get that removed which it should be today. I don't know where that came from, neither did they.. but interesting to look at the report - must get DH to do that as well..
  Happy Tuesday folks..
• Wednesday already - half term is flying by!
  Weigh day for me and I lost 3lb this week, so 30 in total now. Really pleased as I didn't think I would lose at all this week!
  Weather is still looking dreary.. not much in the way of plans today.. need to go to Tesco later to collect a few Christmas deliveries... apart from that a day of playing and crafting with the kids!
  Going to investigate moving energy suppliers today.. tried to do it a while ago and it didn't go through as npower hadn't changed the status of our meter.. assuming they now have, so will see if I can find a cheaper deal..
  Also thinking about our TV / Broadband - we need broadband as we both work from home at time... but wondering if we could without the TV licence and not have the TV package.. anyone any experience with this?
• Used MSE's energy check thingy and have swopped for a saving of Ј30 per month and Ј15 cashback..
  Also spoke to BT and could save Ј5 if we drop the TV package and Ј12 if we drop the TV licence. DH seemed quite up for this and suggested we pull the plug on the ariel for a month to see how we fare.. would be a savings of Ј17 a month.. doesn't seem a lot to have TV to hand, but we rarely watch anything live..
  Ј17, plus Ј30 and that nearly Ј50 a month saved..
• Ј50 a month = Ј600 a year!!
  I have been saying for over a year now that I need to change our broadband, TV and line package... really should do as I reckon a new package will save us Ј30 a month = Ј360 a year!!
• I know Nat! Scary how the figures can multiply.
  So next on the list is our water situation - we have a tank in the front garden where all our waste water goes.. it fills up stupidly fast and costs us Ј400 a time to empty it - in 6 months, we've had to empty it three times (it was full when we moved in) - that's a crazy cost on water.. we're trying to think of ways we can divert waster water elsewhere.. obviously the loo will have to continue to go in there, as will the dishwasher (but this is a very economical one using a bowl of water per wash).. which leaves us the washing machine and the bath.. need to get our thinking caps on with this.
  Had a long talk with DH tonight about using our money smarter as there are few areas where we can make a big difference, he's probably 50% on board.. he thinks we don't have spare cash as it is.. need to keep working on him..
  Didn't go to Tesco as figured I would save the petrol as I have to go that way tomorrow.. trying to get DH to think in these terms is hard..
  I used the selling technique of 'you can retire earlier' if we get rid of the debt / mortgage quicker! Maybe I need to keep reminding him of that?
  Day at hospital tomorrow which I'm not looking forward to at all..
• Hospital done, thank god and all was well!
  Spent Ј2.40 on car park charges, but for the first time in ages have some money left out of my monthly spends - only Ј3, but it's better than having nothing!
  So in TV news, we turned the TV ariel off tonight to see how we fare for a week - sure we will be fine.. and hopefully next week I cancel both the TV licence and the TV package, though need to check if we are in front or behind with our TV licence payments as sure they do 6 mths in front, 6 mths in arrears?
  7.83 in my cashback account ready to withdrawn, so will do that and chuck that towards the loan overpayment..
• Update time.. have had a fairly productive week in terms of pennies!
  Another loan payment made, so it's down to Ј9,682..
  Really chuffed that I picked up a Ј15 off Ј60 spend for Tesco.. so I've managed to get most of our Christmas dinner effectively free!
  I've had my first day off my diet in three months today as my WW subscription has ended, so treat day after losing 30lbs and tomorrow I will sign back up tomorrow using DH's top cashback so I will get another three months free and here's to another 30lbs hopefully gone over the next 3 months!
  Have a great weekend all!
• Well done for all your hard work so far you have come such a long way! now subscribed x
• Been AWOL for a week as it's just been so busy with work!
  Nothing much happened on the debt fighting front.. except a renewed attempt starting with me determined to think about every penny we spend and get into major saving / flinging every spare penny at debt mode.
  One exciting thing is that a house boat has come up for sale near us, something we have always wanted to do.. but a scary concept.. however with equity in our house, we could be mortage free in 5 years which is a nice thought.. just have to book to go see it!
• Another 2lb gone in weight loss this week which I'm chuffed about - 1 more pound to get to 2.5 stone loss!
  Signed up for delivery saver tonight for 12 months on the food shop.. and after something being damaged last week we got Ј5 off this weeks' shop! I know it's maybe money we could save by not having it delivered, but I stick to a budget this way and we live 15 miles from the supermarket, so what I save in petrol, budget and time and not having to do the shop with three year olds in tow makes that Ј6 a month so worth it!
  Have decided to set up a separate account to save money towards additional payments towards the loan and move across pounds and pennies when I can.. Thinking I will do so every Friday and go to the nearest Ј5 in our bank account - it will soon add it.
• Hope everyone is having a nice christmas..
  I've been sooo busy, I've not been in here for a while, but 2015 goals updated. Currently trying my hardest to get a weight loss in Christmas week and then really get back on it weight loss wise.
  Been thinking of my focus for 2015, and whilst most of that is about making debt repayments and doing what I can to get us towards being debt free, we have a bit of work that needs doing to the house and well, life goes on doesn't it.. for me it's about doing things as cost effectively as we can and savings pennies where we can.
  I am really determined to spend 2015 focussed on money throughout and will be in here waaaay more often.
  I got a letter from our loan company recently saying because they failed to tell us about our ability to make repayments earlier, they are refunding some Ј500 of interest to us. I plan to split this a between the loan repayment, the emergency fund, the house fund and smaller amounts between our holiday account and our car account.
  Thanks for reading..
• Happy Christmas. When you say you have a tank in the front garden for your water waste, do you mean you have a sewage soak away tank? If this is the case and you have had it emptied 3 time in a year, then it may have a problem. We had a similar tank in our old house that serviced 3 properties, and it only needed emptying every 18 months or so - when it worked correctly. Good luck with the last of your money debt busting
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