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My Goals for December 2018

December 3, 2018

December is here, the final month of the year and my favourite thanks to Christmas, far too much chocolate and lots of time spent with friends and family. It scares me to realise how quickly time is passing and so I continue to set myself targets, both financial and personal, to help me maintain focus as the days flash by. Here are my goals for December 2018.

You can read my goals for November 2018 here.

My goals for December 2018:

Earn another £100 of side income.

Last month I set myself the goal to make an additional £200 of side income. I was on an absolute mission and after getting stuck into surveys on Prolific Academic and selling some personal items on Ebay I smashed that goal. December is set up to be a busy month with lots of plans for Christmas and so I’ve set myself a lower goal of £100 to suit the free time I will have.

For some, £100 will not be a lot of money. For me, it will mean covering the cost of two dinners. I am very lucky to have two close groups of friends who I make a point of seeing every year. This does mean however, that I have two expensive nights of dinner and drinks to pay for. This extra £100 will cover these and allow me to focus my lower income on my bills. If you’ve been a reader for a while you will know how important this is to me in order to have a debt free Christmas.

Keep spending to a minimum.

This goal might seem like a bit of a cheat as I don’t have to do anything as such, however December is always such an expensive month for me and as such I’m making it my goal to only spend on necessities. I don’t need any more decorations or clothes for nights out. Our kitchen cupboards are always well stocked without all of the extra Christmas themed treats. The gifts I have chosen for everyone are enough and I don’t need to keep adding to them just for the sake of it.

I don’t mean to be a Scrooge of course. Christmas is my favourite time of year and I will enjoy every ounce of it. My celebrations will just be more budget friendly than usual.

Make an additional £100 payment to my credit card.

If you read the results of my goals last month you will know that debt payments were very low. My work load has dropped quite a bit, which it always does over the winter months, and so I don’t have as much income left over to pay towards my debt total. Never the less I want to continue to make some progress on my credit card debt.

To keep things manageable I’m setting myself a goal of £100. It’s small but pushes my debt total down which is what matters. The smaller my total is the less interest I have to pay too!

Make my tax payment.

Over the last couple of months I have been working hard to save up my tax payment which is due in January. Lesson learnt, starting January I will put the money away with each invoice that comes in instead of leaving it to the last minute! Now that I have saved what I am due it’s time to make the payment.

Tax returns are stereotypically tedious so I am setting this as a goal to ensure that I don’t put it off. Ideally I’ll set aside some time this week to get it sorted out, but worst case I know I need it completed by the end of December. As much as I hate the process it will be a big weight off of my shoulders going into the new year.

Have you set yourself some goals for the month? Let me know in the comments!

Did I Achieve My Goals for November 2018?

November 26, 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. So did I achieve my goals in November 2018? I feel like I could write the a very short answer here. No. No I didn’t achieve all of my goals. I have made some progress none the less.

My goals for November 2018 were as follows:

Boost my side income
Begin a sinking fund for next year
Clear another £500 of my second credit card
Finish saving my tax payment

Boost my side income.

My intention, my hope, was to make an extra £200 this month from side hustles in order to combat the lower amount of freelance work that I always get during the winter months. Well I am pleased to say that on the 24th I smashed this goal and I am still adding to it. Considering this has been quite an unsuccessful month goals wise I am so pleased that this one has gone well.

If you have debt yourself, or you have had debt in the past, you will know the stress of limited funds at Christmas. This £200, although it is not a huge amount of money, will cover my Christmas shopping and ensure that I can still pay my bills without even having to think about using my credit card. That is priceless. Both Ebay and Prolific Academic have played big roles in my success with this goal. I highly recommend both if you’re trying to boost your income!

Begin a sinking fund for next year.

With the help of my extra income total, I have also been able to add a small amount of money to my savings in preparation for next year. With our wedding, honeymoon, my hen do, a friend’s wedding and hen do, two big birthdays and many other things along the way I’m sure, there will be a lot to pay for.

Saving a small amount of money each month now is going to make such a difference to my debt progress and my bank balance. It also ensures that I won’t be panicking and scraping together money at the last minute. So far I have put away £50 which is a good start.

Clear another £500 of my second credit card.

Unfortunately I was nowhere near reaching this goal in November. In fact, I was only able to pay £100 towards my credit card this month. I’m definitely disappointed as I was hoping to clear the majority of my card before the new year. With £2277 still left on it, this won’t be happening.

On the plus side, I paid in more than the minimum amount and I was able to make the payments towards both of my loans comfortably too. This is a world away from the way I handled my finances when I began my debt free journey. At that time I was scraping together the pennies and pounds and in a constant state of panic. That difference alone is something to celebrate!

Finish saving my tax payment.

It hasn’t been possible for me to complete my tax payment goal either. My earnings just weren’t high enough. Thankfully I have been able to add a small amount to savings and don’t have too much further to go now. Another £250 in the pot and I’ll be ready to process my tax return, so this will be the focus of December. Once that’s completed I’m sure I’ll feel a big weight lifted as of course there is a deadline. Then I can return my attention fully to my debt free journey.

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

Financial Book of the Month – The Slight Edge

November 19, 2018

As I make progress towards becoming debt free, I am making it a priority to educate myself more 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. This month I would like to share The Slight Edge.

Finance book of the month – The Slight Edge

This month, I’m sharing a book with you that is not specifically based on finance, however it has everything to do with each of our financial journeys. Let me explain.

The slight edge is not just the title of Jeff Olson’s book; it is an attitude to life. It encompasses the principle that small daily habits, both positive and negative, have a long lasting effect on our lives. Throughout his book, Jeff conveys the importance of having an understanding of these daily habits and the power they have in determining whether we are each on the road to success or failure.

As an example, consider eating habits. An individual can make the decision to eat healthy food or unhealthy food. If they make the choice to eat a healthy diet for one day, this may have no real impact on their weight or fitness. However, if they eat well every day for a year we all know that this will have a very positive impact on all aspects of their health.

By the same note, if an individual chooses to eat a very unhealthy selection of food one day they will see no instant impact. Eat an unhealthy diet every day for an entire year however and they will definitely witness it having a very negative impact on their health and wellness.

Daily Debt Habits

We can of course apply these same principles to debt. Say we decide one day, to pay £10 towards our debt. It feels like it has very little impact. What if we turned that into a positive daily habit and paid £10 towards our debt each day? We might not see much of a difference in our totals after a week or even a month. However, one year down the line our debt total will have been reduced by £3650. You don’t need me to tell you how incredible that would feel.

For the benefit of your debt journey, I think it is also healthy to recognise the negative daily habits which have led us to this moment in our lives. For myself, it was snap shot borrowing decisions and the “oh I can pay it off later” attitude which resulted in my debt total. Instead of looking to the future and the impact that those decisions would have, I put more emphasis on my need for money now, in that moment.

Maintaining Progress and Success

Whilst many of us are able to grasp the importance of positive daily habits at a basic level, it is the next point that Jeff makes that has really stuck with me and that I will be taking forward in my own financial journey once I become debt free. Jeff explains that in life the majority of us sit on a sort of rollercoaster of success and failure.

As we work towards a goal we adopt positive habits that we know will help us to get there. Using a budget, tracking spending and using the debt snowball are all great examples of this. Once we reach our goal we celebrate our achievement, as we should. Then, however, we fall out of practice. When we do this, we are at danger of going backwards and falling into negative habits once again. There is a key point here in our journeys where we need to remind ourselves of the incredible impact our positive habits have had on our lives, and keep practising them despite having already achieved our initial goal.

I could go on for many more paragraphs talking about The Slight Edge and it’s incredible message. I encourage you to read it, absorb every page and really take on board Jeff’s advice. You are entirely capable of reaching success. It just starts with one positive habit today.

You can find The Slight Edge 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!)

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 your debt and all the other goings on in life and just focus on the book in hand.

You can read my previous Finance Book of the Month post here.

Debt Payment Progress Report 8 – 19/10/18

October 19, 2018

Every two weeks I will be sharing my debt payment progress report with you. I’ll share my new debt total and some of the things I have done to make this happen. It will help me record my journey and it will also help me to stay motivated!

Debt payment progress report – my new total!

As of October 19th 2018 my new debt total is £15,020.18 (My starting debt total was £16,814.29)

That means that in the last two weeks I have paid off £208.72. My new total debt payment to date is now £1794.11, which I have calculated to equate to 10.6% of my debt total. (I should note that I have paid in more than this, however some money has gone straight to interest). The following debts now remain:

Loan One £6883.18
Loan Two £5759.59
Credit Card One £0 (still makes me so happy!)
Credit Card Two £2377.41

As the weeks go by I can really feel my debt payments picking up speed. Not only have I been busier with work but as my debt total goes down my interest payments go down with it, making it easier to battle each month. It feels like yesterday that I was crossing the £16k mark and paying off my first £1000 so to be inches away from reaching £15k feels incredible.

I’ve noticed a change in myself as well as I’ve been making this progress. Firstly, mood has lifted a great deal. Being able to cover all of my payments without stress (thanks to my budget) has removed all money related stress. Of course my emergency fund helps a great deal too!

My spending habits have improved too. Whilst in the past I wouldn’t have thought twice about picking something up in the shops that was “just a tenner”, I question every purchase now and as a result I am spending a lot less. No spend days are helping this a lot too of course. You can read about these in my goals for the month if you’re not sure what they are.

When I first started my debt free journey I wasn’t too sure where to find this momentum that everyone was talking about. I didn’t get the “excitement” of paying off debt that everyone in the debt free community kept talking about. It’s debt for goodness sake, how can you be excited?!

I get it now. I’m driven with momentum and the excitement of becoming debt free and it feels wonderful!

You can find my previous reports here.

Finance Book of the Month – The Meaningful Money Handbook

October 15, 2018

Finance book of the month – The Meaningful Money Handbook

Published just one month ago, the Meaningful Money Handbook by Pete Matthew is brand new to the finance book world but it is already being received very well. The main reason for this is Pete’s approach to talking about money. He discusses everything in basic terms, ensuring that everyone can understand and absorb the information that he is sharing.

The book follows a structure of three main topics: Spend less than you earn and clear debt, Insure against disaster, Build up your savings and invest wisely. The intention is that if you follow the advice on these three topics in the order that they are shared you will ensure a secure financial future for yourself and your family.

Pete lays out all of this knowledge that he has gained over his years in the financial industry, all the while ensuring that you are taking a sensible approach to handling your money and doing things in the right order. Whether you’re at the beginning of your money journey and starting from zero, or have achieved debt freedom and are ready to delve into the realms of investment and security, this book has something for you.

What I love about Pete’s approach is that he breaks each topic into manageable chunks and then writes about them in a way that makes you feel like you’re chatting to a friend about money. There are no textbook style breakdowns or over the top inspirational speeches that seem to pop up in nearly every book nowadays. You don’t feel like you’re being lectured. It’s just straightforward advice.

Spend less than you earn for example, is broken down into subheadings such as budget, spending less, getting out of debt and so on. It’s not complicated. It’s a simple common sense approach. Even better, there is no judgement conveyed in the book. You’re facing a mountain of debt? OK, let’s fix that. This is exactly the sort of writing that I need. A style that makes me feel supported and encouraged.

The book’s layout also allows you to dip in and out as you make progress with your finances. Often it can be overwhelming to take on so much information at once, especially if you have little to know understanding of healthy money habits. Instead, taking on one point at a time can be a more digestible approach. Then you can return to the next step as you adopt new habits and find yourself making progress based on Pete’s advice.

You can find The Meaningful Money Handbook 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!) Pete also has a podcast which I would definitely recommend, called the Meaningful Money Podcast.

You can read my previous Finance Book of the Month post here.

My plan for retirement while I pay off my debt

October 12, 2018

My Debt Diary is a place for me to share my debt free journey. I update you every two weeks on my progress and share tips and advice as I build my own financial knowledge along the way. It is very much about what is happening now and in the short term. But what about the long term? I am very focused on my mission to pay off all of my debt, however I have to think about the future too. Here is my plan for retirement while I pay off my debt.

My savings amount will be progressive and will grow once I am debt free. Of course as I am currently focusing all of my money into my debt payments right now, it can be hard to find the funds to put away into savings at the same time. None the less, the sooner I have my plan for retirement in place the better.

My plan for retirement

The first thing that we tend to think of when it comes to saving for our later years is of course a pension. As I am self-employed my pension is not something that is set up for me automatically. Once I began making some money through my freelancing work I knew it was time to see what my options were.

For some people, looking for a pension will mean studying all of the numbers and percentages on offer in detail, looking through every provider available. For me, it meant asking for some recommendations and choosing the provider that scared me least. Some financial advisers might shake their head if they read this. You should go for the best rates I’m sure, but we all need to take our own approach.

What I really wanted was a platform that allowed me to pay in easily and keep track of my total. Knowing that I would want to increase my contribution amount as my debt total went down, the thought of having to make phone calls and apply for changes with forms and things was just not on. I need to be able to click a few buttons and know exactly what’s going on.

I currently pay £25 each month into a private pension with Nest. (I’m not affiliated with them, but so far so good). This is of course a very small amount, but it is adding up quickly. Since I started earlier this year, it has built up to £229. If I continue with this, it will grow to give me £1500 per year when I retire. That wouldn’t buy me very much of course, but that’s not the point.

The important thing is that I’ve started and now the compound effect can begin to work. I plan to increase my pension contribution to £150 per month once my debt is paid off. Whilst there are many ways to save and invest money for the future, setting up a pension was a priority for me. I will put other things in place once I am debt free, but I wanted to have a pension in place for my own peace of mind.

Do you have a plan for retirement? What have you got in place?

Victoria of lyliarose.com has written a great post about why you shouldn’t rely on a state pension and I definitely recommend you have a read!

Your Debt Diary – Laura from @ljsdebtfreejourney

October 10, 2018

When I first began following the Debt Free Community on Instagram I was drawn in by the stories everyone would share about their debt free journeys. I find it fascinating to read about the progress others are making and also reassuring to know that I am not the only one in my position.

Your Debt Diary is a guest blog series by money bloggers and members of the debt free community for My Debt Diary. Each week someone new will share their debt story. This week Laura from @ljsdebtfreejourney shares the ups and down of her debt free journey so far.

What stage are you at in your debt free journey right now?

I started my debt free journey in June 2018, so still relatively new. But I have learnt so much in that small amount of time

What is your debt total?

I started at £14,003 exactly, currently at around £13,800. It pains me to put it down on paper, such a massive amount of money and not much to show for it in my life!

What is your “why”?

I am a cliché, I guess I was never taught the right from wrong. My parents always had debt as long as I can remember, I never thought anything bad of it – that is until I found myself there. It all started at 18 with a store card, unlimited clothes, it felt amazing. Then came credit cards, nice car, nice holidays etc. I moved into my first rented house at 18, bought lots of house things and lived the free-spirited teenage life.

Then 3 years ago I met my partner, and for the first time in my life I didn’t want nice things anymore. I wanted to be able to see a future with my partner, our own house, a dog, children, see parts of the world. And I couldn’t see the future. All I could see was the sheer amount of money I owed and no way out. Having to spend more on cards each month, just to be able to get through the month because of how much interest I paid. Something had to change!

Are you following a specific plan or method?

I hadn’t up to now. My main focus was learning the ways, how other people were dealing with their journey. I switched most of my credit cards to 0% and took out a personal loan with the rest at a much lower rate. I seem to have adopted the Dave Ramsey plan without even realising it. I’ve already started sinking funds for things, de-cluttered the house and used earnings from surveys to start my emergency fund. This seems to be working this far so most likely the method I’ll carry on with.

What challenges have you faced along the way?

My biggest challenge has been getting my partner on board. He’s very black and white in the way he thinks, he’s never had debt, he works hard for his money but never lives beyond his means. Sometimes he doesn’t understand how I got to where I am and whilst I’m not after any sympathy, some support is needed. Over time, as I’ve learnt my ways and started to make progress he’s come on board a little more. Now I feel much more comfortable to discuss it with him and he’s been quite encouraging at times. My only other challenges are myself. Allowing that inner spender to come out and trying my best to keep her down!

What are you doing to speed up the progress of your debt free journey?

I put a lot of time and effort into the little things to help now (cashback apps, survey sites). In doing this and putting that money away, I find my salary doesn’t get dipped into anymore. This means there is more money left for snowballing on top of my minimum payments or planned spends instead of using the credit card. It really is amazing how clearer things become after a bit of organisation!

When do you plan to become debt free?

I originally said 5 years, but as the days go by I can hear that biological clock ticking away in the back of my mind – This is my motivation for doing my upmost to make this much sooner. Fingers and toes crossed, but we all know this will only go away from hard work, not luck!

I’d like to thank Laura for today’s post. Please make sure to visit her on Instagram at @ljsdebtfreejourney.

You can read last week’s post here. If you would like to share your story with Your Debt Diary please leave a comment below with your email address or Instagram and I will get in touch. You can find me on Instagram here.

How I paid off my first credit card

October 8, 2018

A couple of weeks ago I finished paying off my first credit card! It had been a goal of mine for over two months and I cannot describe to you how good it felt to phone my bank and close that account. As soon as I hung up the phone I did a happy dance around the kitchen. I’m not joking. Be thankful you didn’t witness those moves. For many people starting out on their debt free journey, getting rid of that first debt total might seem like an impossible mission. To help motivate and guide you, here is how I paid off my first credit card.

Figured out my debt total

Of course, this is the dreaded first step. Before I could begin paying anything off I had to face my debt total. It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t pretty and my anxiety rocketed as I checked each number and added it to the calculator. It had to be done though. In order to understand how you are going to become debt free you have to know what it is you are dealing with.

My total came to £16,814.49. You can read my Starting Point post here. My smallest debt, my first credit card, was at £586.02. If you follow Dave Ramsey’s baby steps and the debt snowball method you will know that this would be the first debt I would focus on paying off. But before I did that, I had a few other things to put in place first.

Created a budget

The next step was to figure out where all of my money was going. I did this by coming up with a budget. Once I knew where my money was going, I would be able to tell it where I wanted it to go. I feel like that is the major difference between getting into debt and getting out of debt for most people. Setting up a budget gave me control over my outgoings for the first time in a long time.

As my income is irregular I had to do things a little bit differently. My total monthly earnings change constantly, so I had to come up with a budgeting method that worked for me. You can read about it here.

Set aside an emergency fund

Next came the emergency fund. This is such an important step and one that should not be skipped. I understand that for most people, by the time you reach this stage you just want to get started on your debt payments. You have to be patient and wait a little bit longer while you save your emergency fund.

It took me around three months to save my emergency fund, which felt like forever at the time. Thankfully I haven’t had to use it yet, but it gives me such piece of mind knowing that I’m covered if anything goes wrong or my income drops drastically in the coming months.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about you can read my post on emergency funds here. In very simple terms it is a pot of money for emergencies, just as it sounds. It’s greatest benefit is that if somewhere along you debt free journey something unexpected happens, such as a car breakdown, you remove your risk of going backwards with your debt progress. No credit cards are needed to make the payments, you have an emergency fund instead.

Focused my over payments

Now we get to the fun stage! For those who follow the Dave Ramsey method, this is where the debt snowball kicks in. Whilst making minimum payments to all of my debts I threw every spare penny I had at my smallest debt, my credit card. This change in the way I handle my finances has made the biggest difference for me. Before I started to focus on becoming debt free I used to pay a little bit of a card off, then a little bit of a loan and so on. Now, I concentrate all of my over payments on my smallest debt.

Some of these over payments came from money “leftover” once I had completed my budget for the month. A lot of it came from things like selling unwanted clothes on ebay and completing surveys on Prolific Academic (my favourite side hustle) too. Everyone will find something different that works for them.

The beauty of using this focused method is that you see much quicker progress with each debt that you have and your momentum really begins to build!

What’s next?

If you have read my goals post for October you will know that I am now putting all of my focus into my second and final credit card. Using the same method as I did for my first I will put everything I have into clearing this total. Even better, I now have the money available that was going into my first credit card (a minimum payment of around £60) which means I will be able to pay this card off even faster.

Whichever method you find best suited to you during your debt free journey, having focus and understanding of your money are both key. You have to know where your money is going and you have to tell it what to do. Take control of your finances and you will make progress towards financial freedom!

Your Debt Diary – The Navigatio

October 3, 2018

Your Debt Diary is a guest blog series by money bloggers and members of the debt free community for My Debt Diary. Each week someone new will share their debt story. This week Nele from The Navigatio talks about starting out on her debt journey after graduating from university recently.

What stage are you at in your debt free journey right now?

I’ve only just graduated university, which puts me right at the beginning of paying off my student loans. It’s scary but hopefully I can find a good way to pay it off as quickly as possible.

What is your debt total?

During my time at university, I had to take on a part time (20-30 hours) job in order to pay for rent/food because I wasn’t entitled to a maintenance loan (due to me being an immigrant). I’ve always found it a little bit annoying, cause working so many hours on top of doing a degree in your second language kinda sucks! But in hindsight I’m very glad I didn’t add maintenance loan on top of my tuition loan. Three years of university added up to 27,000 pounds – which isn’t too bad when I look at friends who have to pay back 50-60K because of their maintenance loans.

What is your “why”?

I hate the idea of owning the government money, especially because I’m an immigrant and the way people look at immigrants. Plus, I’d love to be financially comfortable/stable as soon as I possibly can! Which means, not having any debt!

Are you following a specific plan or method?

Currently I don’t have a game plan set up yet, I’m just trying to save as much money as possible. As soon as I’m back in the UK (after my big travel that I planned for graduating university) I’m going to start looking for a full-time job that hopefully allows me to start paying back my student loans slowly but steadily.

What are you doing to speed up the progress of your debt free journey?

I have been doing a lot of research on the stock market, especially on how to gain passive income over certain stocks in the form of dividend. I’ve invested a bit of my savings into that and now I simply have to wait.

Another way I’m trying to make money in order to pay back my student loans is my blog! I run a lifestyle/travel blog over at www.thenavigatio.com and all the money I make from adds, sponsorship and donations goes straight to a separate PayPal account that is purposefully made to pay off my student loans!

I’d like to thank Nele for today’s post. Please make sure to visit her blog at The Navigatio. You can also find her on Instagram at @thenavigatio and twitter at @TheNavigatio.

Failure can happen on your debt free journey and that’s OK

September 17, 2018

Whether it’s a blip or a major set back, failure can happen on your debt free journey. From using your credit card on something you know you shouldn’t have to needing to spend £1000 on your car repairs, it happens to all of us. The important thing is that you learn from it and ensure that you do everything you can so that it doesn’t happen to you again.

Reasons we fail on our debt free journey.

There are so many things that can make us feel like we have failed. From personal experience, lack of planning can be the most common cause. When you’re in the midst of throwing everything you earn at your debt payments it can be so easy to forget about extra costs in life. Of course, we’re all aware that birthdays, Christmas, Car MOTs and many other things cost money, but as they are not weekly or monthly costs we can often lose sight of them.

When I first began to face my debt this was something that caught me out on more than one occasion. With an irregular income from being self-employed and the desperation of trying to cover all of my bills and fees, I was often left short when it came to going out with friends or covering Christmas gifts. At my lowest point, I went to the ATM to withdraw £20 to cover a dinner, only to find I had -£35 in my account. I had forgotten about a bill that was due to be taken from my account on that day and there was nothing I could do about it.

Of course, this is not a mistake that only those in the early stages of their debt free journey make. Several months into my own I feel like I am on top of things. Then earlier this week I realised that in January my tax bill is due. I’ve been so focused on my debt free journey that I’d forgotten to ensure that money was set aside. Thankfully it is not a huge bill, just over £1000, and I will be able to save for it in time. Unfortunately I will need to slow down my debt payments until I have that money set aside as a result.

What can we do to avoid them?

Use an emergency fund.

If you’ve never heard of an emergency fund before, take a quick look at this post and then come back. Once you know and understand an emergency fund, it doesn’t need any more explanation. Have one in place and if an unplanned expense arises you will be ready to deal with it.

Use a budget and stick to it.

You need a budget. It’s as simple as that. At the beginning of each month, sit down with a calendar and get familiar with your money. Everyone in the family who contributes to the pot should be included. Know where your money is coming from and where it is going. What events do you have coming up? Are there any big expenses expected? Should you be saving a little extra than normal? Planning ahead this way will definitely save you from hitting crisis point.

If, like myself, you have an irregular income read my budget for irregular income post. When your income is uncertain it can be tough to prepare for unexpected outgoings. On top of my budget and emergency fund, I now keep a float of £500 in my current account. This helps me combat potential slow months and ensure my minimum payments can always be made.

Use sinking funds.

Sinking funds, no they have nothing to do with boats. They are essentially saving pots with names. Whether you choose to use separate accounts, have money jars in the kitchen or just keep a note of what is going where, the idea is simple. Instead of having general savings, allocate portions of your savings to specific things.

Let’s use the money jars as an example as often something physical is helpful. You might decide that over the next year you need to save for a family holiday, Christmas, birthday presents and car repairs. You allocate a jar to each of these and decide how much each will need. Now every time you put money into savings you divide it appropriately between the jars.

How does this help you avoid bumps in the road with your debt? It removes the surprise of irregular costs. You won’t be caught out by something unexpected arising because you already have a fund ready and waiting to cover it.

Track your spending.

Over the last couple of weeks I have started to track my spending whilst tracking no spend days. Each evening I make a note of all of the spends from that day and of course if there are none, it counts as a no spend day. This might sound ridiculously simple but it has had such a positive impact on my spending habits!

Within just a couple of days of starting my efforts were already having a positive impact. I managed to avoid going to the shops for snacks, picking up a few unnecessary items on amazon and getting a takeaway. As you are forcing yourself to be more conscious of where your money is going you take a second to consider it first. Try it and see what happens. Set yourself a challenge to have X number of no spend days in one month and see what impact it has!

Remember, failure does not mean that you are no longer able to tackle something. It’s difficult to face, but it can teach you so much. Take each hurdle that you face as a learning opportunity and keep going. Keep working hard. You’re doing an amazing job and soon you will be debt free.