2 years & counting.....

A question about : 2 years & counting.....

Hi

I've been a lurker on this very inspiring site for a few years now & I have finally decided it's time for us to join in!

We are a family of 4, me, the hubby & two young kids age 6 & 2 and a dog.

Currently we owe around Ј17k in unsecured debt plus our mortgage, which we're hoping to start tackling in a couple of years time on the MFW site once we have reached our 2 year target to become debt free

I've decided to keep this diary so that I can keep a record of our progress so if things get tough (which they may do from time to time) I can come on here and get advice from you lovely people!

So, here's to the next 2 years and I'll do another post later on to explain our situation a bit further

Rosie D

Best answers:

• Well, a bit about our situation....
  We have 3 loans & a credit card. One loan finishes next July, one finishes October 2017 & the other one in February 2018 so as you can see we'll have to get overpaying to reach our 2 year deadline.
  The first one we are going to tackle is the credit card, and I'm hoping this will be paid off by March 2015, then the money we use to overpay that will be used to start saving up in the offset account that's connected to our mortgage. The reason for doing it this way is because we aren't allowed to overpay on any of the loans, so we will save up and pay off the smallest one first & so on, plus it will save money on the mortgage too - win-win
  I am a big fan of Dave Ramseys Total Money Makeover, I'm reading it at the minute for the second time (bedtime reading - sad I know lol)
  Rosie D
• Good Luck Rosie,
  You sound really determined so I am sure you will manage. I look forward to reading about your progress.
  **subscribes**
  Have you completed a SOA to see where you save money to put towards the overpayments?
  Bedhair x
• Awww thanks for the welcome bedhair & moohound, its good to think I won't be waffling on to myself lol
  I will definitely give Mr Money Mustache a go moohound, anything that could help is fine with me!
  I will definitely keep everyone updated with our progress.
  Rosie D
• I've had a good look at our finances today & have allocated some accounts to different categories of our new budget.
  We've never done this before and it feels good that we've allocated certain amounts of money to each one, that way we'll know there's money there for kids clothes, stuff for the house, Xmas etc, rather than just sticking it on the credit card and wondering how it's going to get paid when the bill comes in!
  I've allocated Ј500 per month to pay to the debts, so when it's pay day on Friday I'll start by paying some off the credit card
  We're starting to have a good clear out of all the clutter in the house which is already making it seem much bigger and this seems to be good for our well being. Maybe we won't need an extension one day cos it'll feel like we've got a bigger house Lol
  Rosie D
• Loads of luck on your journey x
• Hi Rosie D,
  you seem to be very focused on the journey ahead. I do love the piggybanking method (set accounts for set purposes)
  #subscribing
  Good luck
  DB
• Looking forward to Friday as it's payday & we can begin sorting this mess out, I'm feeling so determined that we are going to beat this in the next couple of years & then looking forward to becoming a MFW, yeah!
  Looked in the entertainment account & there's still Ј90 left, which is brilliant for us cos we're usually sat waiting for payday to come! Also there's plenty in the misc account, which is used for Xmas, clothes etc & that will be topped up again on Friday, so I'm feeling ok about Xmas coming this year!
  Took the dog for her booster yesterday & vet found that she's got an ear infection so that was an extra Ј15 for some drops, but because we had the account set up it just came out of that instead of going on the credit card, and coming back to haunt us next month when the bill comes & we'd forgotten about it!
  Rosie D
• wow you do sound very focused you have about the same level of debt as me - so I will be following your progress and cheering you on!
• Well today is payday & I've just sorted out the finances for the month, yay! (Do I sound sad? Ha)
  I've paid Ј500 to the credit card today so it's lovely to see the balance going down! Also paid Ј200 into the Xmas/clothes account & Ј350 into the entertainment one, plus there's Ј70 in there left over from last month so we've got a bit more to 'play' with this month.
  It's really good having this diary to write in cos it really keeps me really focused and I can't wait for next month now to do it all again!
  Rosie D
• Not sad at all! It all sounds great x
• Aww thanks to everyone for all your positive comments, I'm still feeling really fired up about getting rid of this debt, and with the length of time it's gonna take, that's a good thing!
  Homemade chilli for tea, which for a saturday night is good for us as we'd normally have a takeaway, so lots of pennies saved, ker-ching!
  It's really strange because we've now got the entertainment fund, so we know it's there to spend, but I've found myself thinking aww not really bothered about that & wanting to hold onto it instead.
  Rosie D