Thread for supporting each other during debt repayment?

[Inforapenny2]

I’m not sure how successful this will be, I remember a thread quite some time ago where people would list their debt and encourage each other with paying it off. I’m hoping this can be one of those?

I’ll start. I have £6,500 on my credit card. Some of this belongs to my partner for a recent holiday we have booked. I want to have this at 0 by the end of the year, but that might be wishful thinking!

No other debt. Usually really good with money but I’ve let things spiral after some recent life events, diagnosed depression/anxiety. The debt doesn’t help! It is manageable though.

I am getting a bonus next week so I am hoping to pay off a small chunk then.

I will update every month. Anyone want to join?

@LoveMeNot6 I am so pleased to hear that things are going well for you. An excellent idea to take on more shifts to pay for what you would have ordinarily put on your credit card.

You have reduced your debt by loads, well done! And how excellent that you managed to close one too.

I, too, am really pleased with my progress so far. I paid off £400 after my last pay day, and so far I haven’t added anything to my credit card. I’ve had a low spend month and I’ve been budgeting well which means, if anything, I will be able to pay off a further £200 (hopefully) before my next payday which is next week. Really pleased!

@oObyeOo
@SeasideRock
@Insidelaurashead
@Marshmallowbrain good luck with learning to drive!
@MessyNDepressy

sorry I’ve only tagged a few as I’m on my phone and it’s difficult to go back. How are we all doing?

All good here @Inforapenny2 . It's mid-month and the omens are good so far. Another £500 of the debt, and it is looking like I will finish the month with a (little) bit to spare. This is good as August is always a high-spend month for me.

I am currently on target to have the whole lot gone by this time next year.

I also sigend my new contract today which means that from next month I calculate there will be another £220 ish coming in plus mileage. I haven't decided what to do with the extra yet... probably a mixture of spending a bit, saving a bit and put a bit more to debt repayments.

Hope all is well with everyone else. There are some great ideas on here - thank you all.

i would like to join
loan 10.143 that was to make our un useable garden , useable .
3.032 cc
1206 cc
755 Next
Total 15.136 .
Would like to see this gone in 24 months . So £630 per month needs to be allocated to this .
For us its manageable but still a dent in our available funds .
Looking forward to being apart of this group .

Morning all.

Another month in and I’ve managed to pay another £500 down and I think I’ll get to the end of the month with a (little) bit over. Which is a result because summer holidays are always expensive.

New salary kicks in in September, which I’m looking forward to!

How are we all doing today?

Hope it's okay for me to join? I reached lightbulb moment yesterday.
We were completely debt free but decided to get our kitchen redone late last year. We had 9k saved up to get it all done. That spiralled to 17k due to lots of structural issues which were uncovered and couldn't be left.
We also had to buy an automatic car so my husband could carry on working due to his health. It was a case of he gives up his job or we buy an automatic. Thankfully we seem to have bought a really good reliable car so I'm glad we didn't buy a banger.
At the same time, work uncovered an overpayment which they want back so that's meant my salary has decreased by 250pm. At the same time the mortgage has gone up by 250pm plus food costs etc.
So, long story short, here we are back in 12.5k of debt.
I'm now changing jobs which will mean my wage will go up by a few hundred a month. My husband is also looking for a better paid job but he can't just take anything due to his health. It has to have a lot of WFH.
We also have an autistic son who requires a lot of care so I didn't want to increase my hours too much (I'll be doing 32 hrs).
Phew, that's my life in a nutshell. A few years ago we would have added the kitchen renovations to the mortgage but the interest rate is so high now that I definitely wouldn't do that now.
We should have it paid off by next summer hopefully then we'll be doing mortgage overpayments.

Sounds stressful @Grimg We’ve needed a new kitchen an bathroom since moving in 10 years ago but just can’t afford it and the stress of being in too much debt would tip me over the edge I think! Great that it’ll only take you a couple of years to pay it off 🙂

I’m currently down to £2481.77… only £50 down from last month as I’ve realised that trying to pay of £300 a month is just not sustainable, esp with summer hols now here.

I found I was paying £300 off but then going £200 in to my overdraft at the end of each month 🙄

I’m on 0% until April next year, £50’s above the minimum so I’m going to just let it tick sound and try not to think about it. Then transfer to another 0% next year.

@SeasideRock well done for paying off an extra £500 and (hopefully) still having some leftover at the end of this month!

Your plans with your extra income is a good idea. I would do the exact same.

@pavillion1 welcome! Well done for writing it all down, that in itself is brave. How are you getting on this month?

@Grimg welcome! Wow, to spiral from £9k to £17k is quite something. Glad to hear you got a good car. Sorry to hear that your husband has difficulties with his health. Keep us updated!

@oObyeOo Well done for being £50 down. You’re right, there is no point paying off £300 to then go into your overdraft by £200. I don’t have children so I don’t notice the impact or expense of summer holidays but I can imagine they are extortionate.

Payday this morning for me. I woke feeling positive and driven to have another low spend month, in August, to tackle the debt.

August is a very busy month for me with plans every weekend. I paid off a further £400 and put £400 in my savings this morning.

in hindsight I could have perhaps put the full £800 towards my credit card but my savings were quite low and it was making me anxious, plus my credit card is 0% interest.

Either way, I am now down to £5,600. Edit to say I didn’t spend at all on my credit card this month, which I’m really proud about.

Just checking in to see how everyone is?

I’ve had a very very spendy month so far but managing not to spend on my credit card, and I’ll make sure I don’t either. How is everyone else?

Hello, I'd like to join in if I may. I've read the whole thread and it's so good to see people making dents in their debt.

We are currently paying back my grandma £1,000 a month 😣as she lent us 40k to buy our first home. I am so grateful as without it we'd still be stuck in the rent cycle (our 2 bed house went up to £1900 a month!! We pay £1500 now for a mortgage on a much bigger house instead) but the repayments are so high, she needs the money back though so I'd never miss a payment. We've got 24 months left. Every month I feel like cheering when the payment goes out as I try and think of it as one step closer to freedom! Obviously we're lucky to have two incomes so we're able to make the high payments but it is really really hard. My car has just died so we're struggling to make it work with one car but absolutely can't buy another in any way (although she offered to give us more money to add on to the debt, I'm reluctant as we still have 24 months left and the last 16 have been really hard).

Also have 2.5k on an overdraft but can't squeeze anything out at the moment to pay it off so paying £50 a month in interest which is frustrating when the total doesn't go down.

Not a great start . I should not of thought about doing this at the start of the summer holidays .

@HarrietWorries welcome to the thread! Please keep updating. It’s lovely that your gran lent you the money to buy your home but £1,000 per month repayment is an awful lot. This sounds ridiculous, and may not work for others, but try not to think of it as having 24 months left, but rather 24 payments left. It always feels like much less in my head when I think about it like that for some reason! Ignore me if it doesn’t work for you of course.

@pavillion1 keep going! Summer holidays must be tough

Can I join? I got into a LOT of debt post divorce and being committed to a doer upper mid being left. I took on way too much debt to make the house even remotely habitable for me and DC, but of course the intention had always been for that to be a shared cost. I’m not talking nice furniture or anything, it was a house with no kitchen, no flooring, etc!

Anyway I ended up in more than £50k debt in addition to the mortgage and found myself in tears on the phone to PayPlan when it became too much. I won’t say it is a magic wand but having now paid nearly £20k off, it make it easier to have creditors off your back and for someone to be managing it all on your behalf.

Anyone who is struggling, do consider speaking to someone as it was such a huge relief and they were kind and human to me.

That’s great! Well done.

I didn’t go in to my overdraft at the end of July for the 1st time in ages so sticking to the £50 repayment for now.

August has been speedy so far due to dentist appointments and an issue with the car, but so far I’ve managed to pay it without using cc 😊

Would your grandma agree to a 3 month extension so you could pay your od off?

Summer is really tricky with kids.

I hear what you're saying, 24 payments sounds better than 24 months which feels long!

@oObyeOo I'm sure she would but I hate the thought of asking for more. Sounds like you're doing well at the moment, staying away from the cc and od.

@Johnnyfartpants welcome to the thread! Poor you, sounds like you’ve had a tough time, but well done for paying £20k off. Keep going!

@oObyeOo well done for not going into your overdraft, that’s excellent. @HarrietWorries i agree with @oObyeOo, if you’re struggling a little and don’t want to ask for 3 months, can you at least ask for 1 month and save that £1k instead? Or ask for 2 months of paying £500 instead? You’re doing really well.

after a few too many drinks on Saturday I accidentally spent £30 on my cc. I didn’t need to, but the card is with the same bank as my normal debit card account so it was an accident. But that’s ok I’ll just pay off an extra £30 now.

otherwise no spending on my cc and I get paid next week so hoping to make another dent.