Becoming debt free in 2018

[iammeegan]

I've decided to make a plan to become debt free in 2018.
Money and debt give me terrible anxiety which means I bury my head in the sand and it's become out of control!
So starting in the new year and I'm going to stop spending and start paying everything off.
I would love some support and people to help motivate me.
I have already worked out that I can be debt free in 14 months with some serious cut backs and forward planning.
I'm currently on mat leave but will be returning to work in March which will allow me to pay off more each month

So would anyone like to join me?

Much as dh doesn't do the money stuff, he also doesn't waste money like I do, although he does drive me nuts with phone calls like "howdens need paying" as he's bought loads on account then wants it sorted on a random day instead of planning in advance. That can really mess a month up when I'm sorting a £300 bill I wasn't expecting.

mustdust
are the howdens bills home or business ....
if business, download a copy of VT cashbook and take control

twinkle
once you switch out of wasteful mode it will shock you all around ;-)

talkinpeece for home, we're renovating a money pit house. He'll buy the stuff when they have an offer on, so for example the doors for every room when they're half price, but that's a lot to then pay out when the bill comes in.

@TalkinPeece - 1 week down, 99 to go 😩

Yesterday was a low spend day, £2.50 in wilkos for fabric conditioner and a small tube of suncream, them another £2.50 in Lidl for mill, kids toothbrushes and toothpaste.
I'm working today and have everything we need for tea so shouldn't need to spend anything today!

Good work @mumming!

I spent 59p on a bread roll to have with lunch and was supposed to be going out for dinner tonight but it's been cancelled! Saves money!!

Yay no spend today!!!

I usually meet my friends for a coffee and some brekkie on a Thursday morning but they're going to come to mine instead. Will pick up sausages (79p Lidl ones) and cobs (4 cobs for 59p) tomorrow! Xx

Well done on the no spend @Mummingainteasy! Tomorrow's food sounds nice

I am trying to overpay the CC by £644 a month. So impatient to pay it off so today I paid £161. Figured if I do it weekly it gives me motivation as I see the numbers go down quicker plus doesn't impact my savings/overpaying pot too much of an emergency crops up.

I opened 2 Halifax accounts and got the £75 cashback; they've also offered £3 a month if you transfer 2 DDs and pay in £750 a month. So I've set all that up today.

Last month a consultant took me out for lunch so I paid today. Might be able to claim it on expenses. It was just under £24.

Also paid £1 for chocolate for the work treat tin.

Apart from that, doing well!

Getting on well here, trying to spend these lovely sunny days in the garden and at the park to save going out and spending money. Stocked the freezer with lollies from Lidl rather than going out for ice cream!

I have a couple of trips for ds1 to pay for in the next couple of weeks but they're not expensive (£20 for a weekend camping trip with Beavers and £10 for a school day trip)

Paying some of my studio bill today which is almost gone now!!

How is everyone else getting on?

I've not started with budget, saving or making any cutbacks yet, but will make a better plan when I get some time. I'm just glad at least I know when this debt will end instead of being stressed with the uncertainty of it, even doing nothing else now I'm in a better position than I was 2 weeks ago.

Well done @mumming and @mustdust! Feels good to be in control, doesn’t it?

We had friends over for a BBQ so did spend more than we should’ve this weekend but within budget.

£100 weekly family budget still going really well, next month I am going to reduce to £80.

About to overpay the credit card again with £161!

I know it sounds facile but the old phrase
"look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves"
is utterly true in debt control

once you start to enjoy the more frugal options in one way, the whole thing cascades
and you end up a tight wad like me
and the debt clears and then saving for stuff in advance becomes gradually easier

Finally looked at our outgoings properly and then our incomings and we are short my about £200 per month every month. Not sure where to go from here.

DH thinks a consolidation loan is the way forward, I don't and even if I did I'm 99% sure we wouldn't get approved anyway.

I've said about selling the house which should wipe out all the debt I'm sure it's probably not as simple as that though and DH is adamant that selling the house really is the absolute last last resort.

Really need some help.

mywayalltheway: Do you have cable, if so get rid of it.
We have no debt, mortgage paid off and living debt free for the past 5 years.
Got rid of our cable, don't miss it and I love it.
We have the cheapest cell phone plans
Do not eat out unless it is absolutely necessary
We buy lot of fruit and freeze them: bananas, mangoes, strawberries.
We buy the large tubs of plain yogurt and blend with the frozen fruits
The house should be the last thing to sell, where would you live?
You would be at the mercy of the renters market, do you really want that?
Maybe you could get rid of the land line for the time being and stick to the cell phones?

Thanks majorie25 yes we have sky so definitely needs to go, we do unfortunately have mobile phone contracts which we're tied into at minute so not much we can do about that, and the idea of getting rid of the land land and just using the mobiles is definitely a good idea we very rarely use it anyway but I'm not sure if we'd lose the broadband doing that so something I need to check in to.

If you can separate the broad band that would be good.
You could get Netflix which is a lot cheaper than cable.
Before your cell phone contract comes up for renewal, start looking at other plans. You obviously going to need more minutes in the evenings.
I make a lot of use out of What Apps by calling my friends in the Caribbean, Australia (you need Internet) for that. But think of the money you save speaking long distance and not paying.
Go to matinees instead of the expensive movie nights
If the kids are bored: cook up some chicken, french bread, butter, bake a cake, drinks and drive to the park, spread a big table cloth and have a picnic if the weather is good.
Take some cards, a ball, monopoly etc and have a family day out - real cheap.
I know exactly where you, been there and it is not nice. Now I am debt free (especially the mortgage part) and its the best feeling in the world.

finally,after years and years of debt, made it to just having the mortgage left! 40K. Am now going to try and reduce the remaining term as if we make overpayments we get charged..grrr. We currently have 12 years to go but are in our mid 50's so need to get that reduced.
No loans, no cc's any more.

What did you do to get rid of the debt dementedma to get you to where you are now and how long did it take?

Haven't posted in a week!

We are sticking to the budget and actually have £266 sitting in our account with payday next week! That's never happened before! Considering we have overpaid the credit cards by £322 so far I think that's pretty good :)

Thinking we will reduce our weekly budget by £20 a week next week, down from £100 to £80.

myway it feels like we have been in debt most of our lives to be honest, due to low paid jobs, unemployments, kids! etc.
When we hit rockbottom we turned to Payplan and set up a debt repayment agreement over 6 years. Should have done it sonner, they were wonderful. That cleared the backlog of outstanding stuff. then I managed to get a better job, and recently, a better job again so more money coming in. We lived pretty frugally - second hand car (needed for work), no holidays etc.
This year my dh turned 55 and drew down some of his pension and that enabled us to clear the last bits and pieces.
I am starting to feel now I that I am living rather than existing, which is nice. Best of luck to those plugging on - it's good when you get there!

dement can you not pay anything over on your mortgage.... we had a few and could pay 10% a year before charges x

I'm going to join if I may. Although I don't expect us to be debt free by the end of the year, it will help me focus on reducing drastically what we owe!

Having been debt free it was horrible to find ourselves in that position again. An extended career break for me, not being careful enough with money (mostly a family holiday every year, we don't spend much on 'things' generally -we just have six kids between us) and one credit card that cost us £56 a month in interest was our downfall.

On the plus side we have recently started the PPI process on old accounts from previous marriages and so far have been returned £15,000 which is just astonishing. I'd definitely recommend doing it. The Which website is really straightforward.

Thanks to that we now have 'only' £14000 to pay off. The issue for me is that I have always had 0% credit cards (the £56 a month one was my husbands). But the 0% is going to end sooner than we can pay all the balances - hence me now being in a small panic.

I was late with a payment on a 42 month 0% card so it reverted to a huge APR and I transferred the money to another 0% rate - but on a much shorter time scale - April next year! If anyone has 0% cards don't ever miss a payment!

The 42 months was my buffer to get back to work once the children were settled properly in school. I was going to give it 12 months from last September when the youngest started.

So fast-forward to now - I'm trying to get back into the workplace and have been since last November when I had the missed payment hiccup. It's been a real struggle to find work, so I'm starting my own business which feels a bit mad but also like something I have control over.

Anyway, congratulations if you read this far. Quite cathartic to write it all down. Hope to share all your success stories suring the second half of 2018. Good luck everybody!

Quite cathartic to write it all down
And welcome aboard

There are no magic billets - other than the standing order trick

Phones and contracts .... do you NEED to be talking to people on the phone all the time ?
Really?
All of my family have PAYG
and I spend around £7.50 a month
all surfing is when I can get wifi
messages are when I can get wifi or when I have free texts every other month
and paid texts the other month
calls - its nicer to meet people and natter over a cuppa

paid TV - seriously - freeview has 57 channels ....

spending less is about choosing what you want more
and its SO WORTH IT to know that you are in control

Hi all, sorry I haven't been around, had a busy time at work leading up to a business trip away.

Moneywise, it all went slightly Pete Tong - being busy meant I didn't get the weekly family spends out, which turned into spending on the debit card and not keeping track of what was coming out of the account. I ended up buying a few dresses for my business trip - but luckily I sent them all back and wore what I already had.

I had to buy a couple of essential items on the credit card BUT I am still down on last month's total as I have so far paid £967.40 off the cards since I started on 24 April; one card is down from nearly £11,000 into the £9,000 bracket WHOOP!

I massively overspent on the food budget for April so that needs looking at in May.

I took out the family spends money today - aim is to drop this down from £100 a week down to £80.

Back on track and trying!