A support thread for people paying off debt #2

[moneyworries9]

Hi all... hope you manage to find the thread?

The last one seemed to be such a success 😃 I will be honest and say that I haven't cleared as much as I would have liked but I know if I hadn't been on here, the debts would most likely have increased rather than decreased. I currently owe

£3,355 - loan
£1,600 - credit card

We do have some cash in our bank accounts. I'm in the process of paying for driving lessons so have about £1,000 in our current account, most of which is to cover that.

On the plus side, when I started the other thread, I had around £2,500 on my credit card and £3900 loan so I'm taking baby steps in the right direction.

The other thread was a huge source of support and motivation for me and I hope that this one will be for many others.

Feel free to give a quick summary to introduce yourself

@ale, very exciting! sounds like you've really got a handle on it. It's a good feeling.
Hate to admit, I remortgaged to clear debt and do some home improvements, then my debt built again. But now I'm bringing it back down. I wont do it again. Lesson learnt! Are you sticking with us on the thread?

Yes coffeechoc I will definitely be sticking with this thread!
It will keep me focused and hopefully stop me straying off the straight and narrow!

@ale I'm also sticking at it.
Can anyone help calm my nerves?
So, regular food shopping trip annon my way home go past a garage. See a car for sale for near on the exact amount of debt I have left and really hit home. I don't know why it has taken me so long to get to the lightbulb moment. It kind of made me panic/realise. Although I know I've done really well since Christmas I've still got the same amount to go.

Could you think of it as halfway there? You've made amazing strides since Christmas and by next Christmas your debt will be down to X.
I, too, think "oh I've only paid off £x and I won't be debt free until x time" BUT it's more paid off than previously and there's a plan in place.

Could you try a mantra "I'm working on my debts and the figure is dropping every day/week/month"

I just checked back to make sure and coffeechoc you've paid off £5000!!!! That's just fabulous! I think you might use your little wobble at the car price to keep you on the straight and narrow, but you're doing so well

@turquoiseLagoon. Yes I've paid off £5000. I've worked so many hours and sacrificed a lot for this. I've just worked 8 days straight with no day off. I'm tired. It will slow up. Yes I was previously thinking that way but when I saw an actual car for the same price to go it hit home!! Still, we are in a better place than we previously were and it's not going to happen overnight. Thanks for the encouragement. I'm sat alone feeling a bit worn down, hence the wobble I think..

Coffechoc
Think long term.
How much are you throwing at your debt every month?
How many months will it take you to clear (add 20% for the unexpected)
So which day will you be clear

and then you'll be enjoying half of that amount every month
and putting the other half into savings
that will make you financially secure for the rest of your life

thank you @TalkinPaece.
How is everyone getting along?
I'm doing ok. Pay day next week and will pay another lump sum. Still a way to go!

I'm in a holding stage atm. Got money set aside to pay on the cc but holding onto it until I hear about my job for next year. Curse of fixed term contracts.
I'm wishing time away as each month I'm closer to paying it off but I want it gone now!
Still it was 1731 in March and is 1500 now so that's progress.

Just had to buy a new fridge
and will have to eat what can be saved out of the freezer over the next two days

I thought I had it under control now it's close to imploding on me

Ooh can I join in as a new thread member?

Just managing to get things under control and I need an ongoing thread like this to keep me steady and remind me not to splurge £500 on something I don't really need and undo all my good work.

I sat down and made a plan back at the end of March and have been sticking to it so far.

Debt back in March was circa £13k across 3 credit cards, mostly interest bearing so throwing money away.

I signed up for a new card which is solely for day to day spending and has a DD to pay off in full each month. Not counting anything on that as real debt its just normal expenditure.

Have managed to juggle things about on the other cards so now the remaining debt is all on 0% deals with DD repayments set up - £6,000 on a deal that ends after 10 months and the rest of a deal that ends in 18 months.

The plan is to pay off a 10th of the former each month so that should be clear by the time the deal runs out, and just the minimum amount on the other. In 10 months time I will switch over to paying off the other one.

I can do this and be debt free by Autumn 2020. So long as I also stick within budget on day to day spending and live within my means. The only card in my wallet is the pay-off-each-month-in-full one. The others are hidden.

I am not doing great at this. Current account has dipped into the red by £100 at the end of the month which is fine once but if my outgoings including debt repayments are £100 more than my income that's no good. Plus we were wanting to get some kittens later in the summer and that will put up outgoings. And I suspect the washing machine is on its last legs. And I was hoping to get a new set of good crockery when its our 15 year anniversary in summer. And various other bits and bobs that I just want. And if I wasn't being good about paying down the debt this wouldn't be a problem I would just have all the nice things and let the debt keep slowly creeping up.

So yes. Must keep focused. Must not spend unnecessarily. I do not need all the nice things I like. I hope this support thread helps. Will try to log steadily decreasing numbers regularly.

So I think it’s time I tried to clear my credit cards. Currently around £5200 on two card.

I have this week cancelled all services I was not using (Spotify, YouTube premium, Audible as a start)

Once November comes we can get a better mobile contract as it’s taking £160-200 a month

2 phones and 2 data plans for iPads

Looking at things I think I could easily do £250-300 per month.

I just have a massive habit of seeing and buying.

Two months ago my income went down by £475 and that's had a really big effect.

I'm not sure how much I owe around £17000 due mostly to legal bills sorting out the problems that my ex caused. And then it all stared up again, just before my income went down, so I have more legal bills that I'm just not facing.

ATM, I'm robbing Peter to pay Paul and it's messing me up. And being a alone I don't have anyone I can turn to. Since my ex was removed by the police, I've been overcompensating with the dcs too, which causes more problems.

My first task is to line up all the debt, sort out the amounts and then start calling them. I just feels like hard work, on top of hard work of work , dcs, school & childcare.

Sorry for the pity party, I need to get over it to start sorting all this mess out and pull my head out if the sand.

Oh yeh! I have a tendency to over spend on bits and bobs that don't really improve our quality of life, like yesterday I decided to give up smoking, so now I have a vape I don't really like, nicotine gum and a packet of bloody cigarettes. The DC's ask for stuff and I have difficulty saying no because they are messed up.

Finally, I don't have the money to divorce my ex either and I feel resent towards my lawyer as I feel they gave given me poor advice.

Mah! my life eh! I just want to crawl under a rock and for all this to go away.

I've been watching this thread (well the first one) since before Christmas & it's really given me the push I needed to sort our finances out so thank you. I've never actually posted!

I started off in January with balances over 3 cards & DH and I both have a loan each, overall we pay out £800 a month just on loans & credit card repayments.... realising that came as a massive shock.

Both loans end early next year so I'm keeping those as they are & focussing on getting rid of the cards, so far we've cleared two and down to £7000 on one.

I've set up a standing order for £25 each week, kept paying the £200 which was the minimum payment then each month & I pay £100 off it each time I get paid monthly (two jobs). Another tip I found on here was rounding down my current account to the nearest £10 each day & transferring that to another account, so if my account has £85.45 in I move £5.45 elsewhere then when that account gets to £50 I pay it off my card.

It's tough going at the minute seeing how much money is just literally vanishing but I love getting my monthly statement to see the total dropping an hopefully by spring we should be clear from everything and be on an even keel once more.... cannot wait for that day to come!!

We're all doing fab 👏

Higa
New crockery is an utter waste of money.
If it still works keep using it.
My crockery was a wedding present - to my grandparents.

Kittens - sort your own responsibilities out before taking on more.

pink
Data plans for ipads is mental. Use wifi.
My mobile bill is less than £10 a month. If it cannot wait till I'm in wifi, I should have said it when I still was.

disney
What your kids need far more than any stuff is your time and affection.
Do not buy them things, give them undivided time and attention. That will sort their heads faster than anything money can buy.
On the last thread we talked through doing free things with kids. RE read that bit.

And TBH why are you still racking up legal bills.
I ask my lawyer what I need to do, I do 90% of it, she tweaks the last 10% and my bills are far lower than the other side are paying

PS for everybody who fritters money

• remove all cards from internet accounts (amazon, ebay etc) so that you cannot single click shop

also try to get into the habit of NOT buying straight away.
Put things in your basket, then go and tidy up a bit or have a cup of tea and then decide if you really NEED that thing
before hitting pay.

TalkinPaece

I agree they are for work half the time and needed when no WiFi in the middle of no where. They are £8 for two, which is a deal they can't give me again and they don't know how I got it.

This is a great tip I do it all the time with Amazon

also try to get into the habit of NOT buying straight away.
Put things in your basket, then go and tidy up a bit or have a cup of tea and then decide if you really NEED that thing before hitting pay.

Going to do the rounding down tip and increase the monthly payment

pink
but what are you doing that you need two lots of data in the middle of nowhere on ipads?
and if its work, then the business is paying, not you.

I travel in areas with no phone signal and regularly work in places with no wifi or phone signal
so I do what I can when I'm there and reconnect when its free

Hiya, I've just found this thread and found some great tips, I've just got a 0% transfer cc (waiting for it in the post) which I plan to use to make a dent in the 4K I owe over 2 cards . (Which Dh doesn't know about, and I'm not telling and no holidays or anything coming up so no reason to not start reducing it)

I've started using cash and only taking £1-2 extra than I think I need so I can't buy things for the sake of it. Will get there eventually!

@Noonemournsthewicked, I think it's a common feeling. I'm wishing my life away until next payday so I can pay another lump sum. I'm not even feeling much happiness in doing it either as I still have a way to go.
Hope you're lucky job wise.
@TalkinPaece. I hate it when 'life' gets in the way of your plans. Hope you're feeling brighter. We just need to keep it going.
@disneyspendingmoney. I hope you're ok. You can get this under control and put a plan in place.
@RulesForResults welcome to the thread. Yes it will take time but we will get there.

Disney - things will get better. It sounds like you're having a really tough time right now but nothing lasts forever. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and we are all here to support you in managing the debt in the best way you can.

Teller that sounds like you've made great progress with your debt. Just think of all the extra disposable income you'll have once the debt is gone!

Rules that must be a little stressful to have debt that your husband doesn't know about. Hopefully it won't take you long to shift as I'm sure that'll be a big weight off your shoulders.

All is going okay here. We have the new car. Just waiting to return the leases car next week. We are anticipating they will charge us for some damage to the paintwork which will likely not fall under general wear and tear. We have decided not to pay to repair it before handing the car back in the hopes that we might get lucky on the day but the chances of that are probably pretty slim.

We now owe £1,200 on our credit card. Which is £400 less than when we started the thread. We also have our loan, which includes the car loan and also incorporates the loan I already had. In total we will repay £18,000 on that and don't make the first payment until August.

We have our standing order set to pay £200 per month on the loan between July and December so the loan will be gone in December and we also have £50 per month going into the "rainy day fund" so that should have £400 in it by the end of the year. The plan is that in January we will really buckle down and get saving. DH will probably be deploying with the army for a few months early next year which should give us an extra couple of thousand. Our plan is to have £5k saved by June next year. I'd love it to happen but I do have a bad track record for setting financial goals and never reaching them. I've tried to be realistic about this one so we'll see.

Hope you are all getting on well ☺️