My Debt Diary

Small goals are helping me to pay off my debt

September 7, 2018

No matter where you look nowadays goals are everywhere. Body goals, money goals, life goals. Everyone is ambitious and wants you to know what they plan to achieve in life. Now I’m not knocking that, I appreciate a big burst of motivation on a Monday morning. The truth is however, that when it comes to my debt free journey I find that small goals are helping me to pay off my debt.

Big goals are great, but not for everything

When I first faced my debt all I could see was the total. That one big number. It was like a huge barrier staring me in the face and I really struggled to understand how I was going to tackle it. £16,814.49. That’s a lot. That’s more than I made working self-employed from home last year.

Ambition and goal setting is everywhere now, and while I do find that motivational, it’s not always realistic. Many highly paid Americans share stories of fighting their debt total with over-payments of thousands of dollars a month on social media. I would love to be able to pay off so much each month, but it’s just not possible.

What’s important to remember here of course is that salaries in America are proportionally higher than in the UK and many Americans are paying off huge sums of student debt, which doesn’t translate here. 

As I began to follow the #debtfreecommunity I realised that firstly I was not the only one in my position and secondly the was entirely possible for me to tackle, even on my low income. When I began to document my journey through My Debt Diary it was a challenge to be so open. Admitting the reality to myself was difficult enough, but now I was planning to share it with strangers?!

Over the last couple of months I have slowly become more comfortable with my debt total. Not because I’m happy to have it, but because I can see beyond that one big number now. My total can be broken down into two loans and two credit cards. Beyond that, it can be broken down into monthly minimum payments. The progress I make with it is also personal to me and my budget. No one else’s.

Small goals are helping me to pay off my debt

Once I got my head around these things it made it so much easier to figure out how I would handle my debt. I made a plan to save my emergency fund, figured out a budget and began tracking my progress every two weeks. Each of these steps has been taken one at a time and gradually.

Personally I have found the Total Money Makeover to be the best guide and it really helped me to get started in understanding what I needed to do. Dave Ramsey’s use of the term Baby Steps for each stage of his financial plan resonates very well for me. It confirms that the process takes time and should be handled in small amounts.

“What’s the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” – Dave Ramsey

Now that my emergency fund is in place and I have a budget that works for me, I keep things simple. Every two weeks I write my debt payment progress report. I check my numbers and make a note of where I am now in my debt free journey and how far I’ve come. The percentage of “paid-off” debt slowly increases and that in itself is motivation enough for me!

To help my debt journey along I am also taking a note of my spending on a daily basis. This makes me more conscious of where my money goes and more accountable for when I choose to spend it. I’ve found that “extra” money for over-payments doesn’t just come from making more money but from saving more too.

And that is it. That is all I am doing.

Of course, working hard is a priority. I want to ensure that my income is strong so that I am able to cover all my debts and more, but this is covered in my budget. There are no big goals set in flashing lights on my journey. No huge milestones are outlined. I will definitely celebrate my progress along the way but for now the steady progress is what I need. My focus is always on the next two weeks.

At the beginning of the month I set my goals for September. My priority now is to pay off my first credit card. The total balance due is just under £350. That’s a tiny portion of my £16k+ starting total, but it will feel like a big achievement to me and that is what matters. That is what keeps me going.

 

My Third Culture Kid have written a fantastic post about SMART goal setting with some brilliant advice and techniques. Click here and go and have a read!

 

small goals are helping me to pay off my debt - pinterest

10 Comments · Debt Free Journey, Goal Setting, My Debt Story

My goals for September 2018

September 1, 2018

We are now in September and it is time to set some goals for the new month.his is the bit I get excited about. I love making plans and writing lists. It always gets me motivated to get a move on and take action. Here are my goals for September 2018.

Charlotte from CharlotteMusha and myself will be hosting a monthly linky for you to share your goals. You can find all of the information at the bottom of this post. We’d love to have you join in through your blog or via Instagram!

 

You can read my goals for August 2018 here.

My goals for September 2018:

 

Pay off my Halifax credit card.

This is a repeat goal from last month but this time it’s going to the top of the list. There is just under £350 left on this credit card and so I know I can definitely pay it off and cut it up in September. It was my first credit card and the one that started it all for me, so I’m very excited for this day to come!

Try out “no spend days”.

This is something I’ve seen other money bloggers talking about but I’ve never tried it myself. No spend days are just as they sound. Days when you don’t spend any money. These will be especially helpful on days when I think about popping out to the shops but don’t really need anything.

The idea is that you track them as you go and set a goal for a certain number throughout the month. I’m going to set myself a goal of 20 in September. I’m not sure how realistic this is, but I’ll give it a try. All going well, they’ll help me save more money.

Have a clear out.

More specifically I want to clear out the “stuff” cupboard and list anything that might be suit for selling on Ebay. We all have that cupboard at home that we put things in “just for now” or to get them out of the way when we have guests, but then we never do anything with all that stuff! I know I have a lot of toiletries that I could do with using for a start, so that will save me money alone. Then there are the piles of art supplies and crafty bits. It’ll be interesting to see what I find!

Grow my Etsy business.

If you read my post last week about how I earn an income from my sofa, you will know that I have an Etsy shop. I do get regular sales in my shop but the income I make is very small. Naturally, I’m keen to change this. I’ve reading up on Pinterest quite a lot over the last couple of weeks and I think this is the way to go in terms of marketing and increasing traffic. My shop sells digital wedding products, so I feel like Pinterest users are my ideal customer.

 

So there they are, my goals for September 2018. I’m finding four goals manageable. They help keep me motivated and focused, without being overwhelming!

 

Monthly Goals (and updates) Linky

Do you have any goals for the month? Join in with our monthly linky and share your goals for this month!

An InLinkz Link-up


my goals for september 2018 - pinterest

14 Comments · Goal Setting

Did I achieve my goals for August 2018?

August 29, 2018

We have reach the end of another month and it is time for me to look back at the goals I set and reflect on how I have done. The month has disappeared so quickly and I was worried that I had run out of time. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised when I finally sat down to reflect on what I had managed to accomplish. So did I achieve my goals for August 2018?

My goals for August 2018 were as follows:

  • Complete my emergency fund
  • Put £1000 into debt payments
  • Pay off my Halifax credit card
  • Be more frugal
Complete my emergency fund

Pull out the balloons and confetti guns, I have completed my emergency fund!! OK, so it’s only baby step one of many, but I am so delighted that it’s done. I can now relax knowing that if anything goes wrong during my debt free journey I have a safety net ready to catch me. It won’t set me back and I can continue to improve my finances instead of going back to the beginning like I have in the past. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this post on emergency funds.

Put £1000 into debt payments

As for my second goal of paying £1000 into debt, I haven’t quite achieved that yet. Instead, I have paid in just over £500. That’s still a huge amount and I’m really happy with it. What’s better, work is picking up for me. The last ten days have been very busy work and it looks like it will continue so my total payments towards my debt should definitely increase. You can follow my progress in more detail with my debt payment progress reports. 

Pay off my Halifax credit card

Unfortunately, due to invoices still being processed, my credit card isn’t quite cleared yet, but I am so so close! This was the card that started it all for me and so I am very very keen to pay it off completely and enjoy the moment where I get to cut it up and throw it away for good. Honestly, I think I could have it gone in a week or so. I’ll make sure to keep you posted on my Instagram. If you don’t follow me over there already, here’s the link.

Be more frugal

On Monday I wrote a post about the Five Frugal Things I have done this month. So I would say this one is definitely a success. You can read about them all here, but I’m going to tell you about my absolute favourite. My fiance and I went to the cinema for 70p last week. Yes you read that correctly. We combined some Natwest rewards points with our 2-4-1 deal that we get through our insurance and voila, only the booking fee was left. We’re doing the same tonight (I’m writing this on Wednesday). It’s such a cheap way to spend the evening, especially when full price tickets would normally be around £10 each!

 

All in all I’d say I’m pretty chuffed with my efforts. I’m finding that setting the goals alone is making a big difference to my progress as I have more of a focus. Also, I don’t want to embarrass myself by having to come back at the end of the month to tell you I’ve achieved nothing. That certainly helps too.

I’ll be setting my goals for September on the first of the month so keep an eye out for that post!

Did I achieve my goals for august 2018 - pinterest

Leave a Comment · Debt Free Journey, Goal Setting, My Debt Story

My Goals for August 2018

August 1, 2018

We are now in August and it is time to set some goals for the new month.his is the bit I get excited about. I love making plans and writing lists. It always gets me motivated to get a move on and take action. Here are my goals for August 2018.

You can read my goals for July 2018 here.

My goals for August 2018:

  • Complete my emergency fund. Last month I set the goal to save £500 for my emergency fund. As of today I have reached £364.11 so I know I can definitely complete it this month! You can read more about my emergency fund here.
  • Put £1000 into debt payments. So again referring to last month I set myself the goal of paying £1000 towards my debt. I was way off on this one as work was slow and I was focusing on my emergency fund. Work looks like it will be picking up in August, so I’m going to keep this goal and see how I do. I’ll adjust next month depending on how I get on!
  • Pay off my Halifax credit card. If goal number two goes well, I will be able to say goodbye to credit card number one for good. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be updating you with a cut up card and a confetti canon as my first debt disappears!
  • Be more frugal. This one is a little vague at the moment because frugality is not something I have personally explored much. I do however follow a lot of blogs based on frugal living and I have been inspired to make more of an effort myself. Ideally, it will help me to save more money to put towards debt.

So there they are, my goals for August 2018. I’ve kept it simple again with just four. I think the fewer I set, the more focus I can give to each and the greater chance I have of achieving them all!

You can find more of my August goals on my lifestyle blog Sunshine and Rain.

I’m taking part in the  Monthly Goals Linky hosted by Charlotte over at CharlotteMusha.co.uk

goals august 2018 - pinterest

8 Comments · Debt Free Journey, Goal Setting, My Debt Story

5 Tips for a Debt Free Christmas

July 25, 2018

Every single year Christmas happens on the 25th of December. You’re giving me a funny look aren’t you…yes Emma I know when Christmas is. Well the crazy thing is that so many of us reach the first of the month and begin to panic about how we will manage to afford it all. With the extended gap between December and January pay days that many of us face the pressure is on!

So many people across the UK, and the rest of the world, go into a large amount of debt each year to cover a holiday that should be enjoyed, not worried about. The January blues then take on a whole new meaning when you have a credit card to pay off. Follow these simple steps to prepare for the big day and allow yourself to enjoy a debt free Christmas!

1. Start planning now

It might seem a bit mad to begin speaking to family and friends about Christmas in July, but this is the best time to figure out what you’ll be doing on the 25th and across the festive season. Figure out important things like who will be hosting Christmas dinner, which friends you will likely be meeting for a Christmas lunch and which members of your family (that you pay for) will have Christmas parties and nights out with work.

These are all inevitable costs, so thinking about them ahead of time will allow you to plan out a budget far in advance. If you are hosting you will of course need to set aside a larger amount to cover the cost of all the food and drink, however if you will be a visitor this year you may just need to cover the cost of an item or two that you plan to take as a contribution to the day. Then there are the presents. Don’t forget the presents!

Nothing needs to be booked in the diary, you just need to get an realistic idea of what you will be up to during the holiday season.

2. Set a budget

Use the information you have collected from your early planning efforts to now figure out a budget for Christmas. It might be as simple as taking your list from step one and marking an estimated cost next to each item. Add these all up and now you have a rough idea of the cost of Christmas.

This budget will be great for two reasons. Firstly, it lets you know exactly what you need to set aside, save up or earn between now and December first in order to be fully prepared. Secondly, it may act as an eye opener for you. You might find that in fact you’re not at all happy with your normal spending habits during the holidays. This is a perfect opportunity for you to make some changes and help your finances!

3. Save a little each month

Taking the total that you calculated in step 3, make things more manageable by breaking that number down. Divide it by the number of months left, or the number of pay cheques before Christmas. Maybe you would prefer to work with a weekly figure, do whatever works for you.

To give you an example, let’s work with months and use a simple total. As of today June 25th there are exactly 5 months until Christmas. Say that I have calculated my budget and it looks like Christmas will cost me about £1000 this year. Divide that by 5 and we are looking to make or save an extra £200 each month in order to cover the cost of Christmas ahead of time.

The Fugal Cottage have started the Christmas savings challenge. This is another great way to save a small amount each week instead of trying to find all of the money you need for Christmas at once!

4. Earn some extra money

Once you have your broken down monthly or weekly cost, you may decide that your normal pay cheque won’t quite be enough and you’d like to earn some extra money each month. There are a number of simple ways to do this.

If it is possible in your line of work, asking for over time is the most straight forward way to earn more. If, like myself, you are self employed, is there a way for you to find more work? It might mean pushing your normal working hours into evenings and weekends for a while, but if it helps you to have a debt free Christmas it’s certainly worth it!

I have mentioned survey sites before a number of times on my blog so I won’t go into too much detail, however Prolific Academic is a website that I recommend over and over. If you ever find yourself with spare time in the evening you can complete surveys as you watch TV. Perfect!

Selling unwanted items on Ebay and Facebook is another great way to make extra money. We’ve all got things at home that we can make some money from. Whether it’s unwanted furniture, some items of clothing that we never wear or toys that the kids don’t play with anymore. Have a look and see what you think might help you reach your target for the month!

I’ve written a post before about Ebay selling and survey sites with lots more information here.

5. Spread the cost

We all like to fill our homes with special treats and wonderful gifts for our loved ones at Christmas time, however if we choose to buy everything at once the hit can be scary, for us and our bank accounts. In the same way we have broken down the cost of Christmas with saving, it is a good idea to spread the cost with spending.

Whether you are able to begin buying gifts in January or picking up food items with long shelf lives in July, purchasing items throughout the year allows you to break down your outgoings instead of dealing with them all in the one month. I’d definitely recommend keeping a note of your spending somewhere so you can make sure you are sticking to your budget. It’s also a good idea to make a note of where you’ve hidden the gifts that you’ve bought. You don’t want to find those on December 26th!

Nicola from Mum on a Budget has written a great post about planning for Christmas that includes a Gift List Tracker.

There is so much more I could say on this topic alone so I will be adding another post on spreading the cost of Christmas next Wednesday. I will make sure to link it here once it is live!

 

There is pressure on us all to have a perfect Hallmark card Christmas every year. It is important to remember that the holidays are about spending quality time with loved ones, not the things that we spend our money on. Whether you choose to have a simple dinner for two or go the whole nine yards bells and all, I hope these tips help you to enjoy a debt free Christmas!

5 tips for a debt free christmas - pinterest

7 Comments · Budget, Christmas, Goal Setting, Money Making, Money Saving

Finance Book of the Month – The Total Money Makeover

July 16, 2018

As part of my journey towards becoming debt free, I am making it a priority to educate myself about money. I want to have a better understanding of handling finances, financial mindsets and many other useful topics. My favourite way of doing this is reading. This is a part of my journey that I’m particularly keen to share with you as I believe you could get a lot of value from it. Here is my finance book of the month.

Finance book of the month – The Total Money Makeover

This week I would like to begin by sharing a book I have mentioned many times before already. A lot of you may have already read this, especially if you are also on a debt free journey, but I want to share it none the less.

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey is what I would describe as the most effective and most sensible approach to debt payment. The book provides you with a straightforward method to handle your money. It is easy to read and to understand. When you are already in stressful situation, possibly even a full on panic about your finances, the last thing you need is the confusion of unfamiliar words and complicated guides.

Dave’s money makeover system is made up of several baby steps, set in a specific order, that help you handle and control your money. He begins with building your emergency fund. I spoke about this here earlier in the month. He then progresses through debt payment, further saving, preparing for retirement and so on.

The Total Money Makeover is not the sort of book you read once and forget about. You will find yourself referencing it again and again. It will be relevant even once you are in the habit of handling your money well. I have just read it for the third time myself. As the title suggests, Dave’s intention is not to help you find a quick fix for your money. The steps guide you into healthy money habits that you will keep for life.

You can find The Total Money Makeover here on Amazon. (This is an affiliate link. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to use it. Thank you!)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1595555277/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1595555277&linkCode=as2&tag=mydebtdiary-21&linkId=b5421f231e544a87201db271924def21

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1595555277/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1595555277&linkCode=as2&tag=mydebtdiary-21&linkId=b5421f231e544a87201db271924def21

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

I absolutely encourage you to begin reading (or listening to audiobooks) as part of your debt free journey. Not only do you learn something as a result, but it also allows you some time to switch off from all the other goings on in life and just focus on the book in hand, literally.

Claire from The Money Freak reflects on her own experience of discovering Dave Ramsey and his method in her blog post here.

 

Finance Book of the Month - the total money makeover - pinterest

4 Comments · Finance Book of the Month, Goal Setting, Money

My Goals for July 2018

July 2, 2018

My first goal setting post!!

This is the bit I get excited about. I LOVE setting goals and making plans and writing lists. It always gets me motivated to get a move on and take action. What I would say though, is that I do often find myself losing motivation and chopping and changing my goals quite often too and so this is something I need to bare in mind and try and try and tackle. Here are my goals for July 2018.

My goals for July 2018:

  • Save £500 for my emergency fund. Anyone who has been in the #debtfreecommunity for more than five minutes will understand the importance of having an emergency fund. Add to this the unpredictability of being self-employed and this is a vital first stepping stone for me!
  • Put £1000 into debt payments. I want to make a good start on my debt payment this month. Once the emergency fund is in place, the first £1000 is going straight to debt!
  • Find one new income method. As you will have seen if you read my Starting Point post here you will know that I currently only make money from my freelance work and through Prolific Academic. I want to diversify my income so this is an important one this month!
  • Take time to nurture my mental health. The main focus of this whole journey for me is of course money and debt payment. What I have recognised however is that I need to pay attention to my mental health if I want to remain motivated and productive. I’m not sure what I will be doing yet and how I will be looking after myself, but it’s something I want to spend some time on. This is definitely a topic I want to explore in more detail in a future post.

So there they are, my goals for July 2018. I’ve kept it simple with just four. I think the fewer I set, the more focus I can give to each and the greater chance I have of achieving them all!

My Goals for July 2018

You can find my lifestyle blog Sunshine and Rain here, where I chat about my more day to day, non-financial goals.

This post may contain affiliate links.

Leave a Comment · Goal Setting, Money

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