Sarah FinnanAfter clearing her debt, personal finance blogger Ellie Kistnen from Dublin and her husband are on a mission to pay off their mortgage by the time they turn 50.
Things changed when I turned 27. I realised I had to be grown-up and start managing my finances. That was the start of me facing up to the €7k of debt I had run up on my credit card and using cash envelopes to put money aside each week so that the cost of my rent and bills was spread out a little more evenly throughout the month.
We eventually got the mortgage and then, without even noticing, I realised that I’d run up another €3k on the credit card! Once I cleared off that debt, I was empowered to save more. I opened up a joint bills account for us, which I added to as soon as I got paid. Then I set up lots of different sinking funds including one for car insurance and tax, one for entertainment and one for holidays.
I couldn’t believe it when I discovered that if we paid just €100 extra each month, we could save over €60,000 in interest payments.