The "Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2012" challenge

forgottendreams · 21 November 2011 at 2:26PM

Hello

Really looking forward to pay day to make a little dent in the debt!!

Was wondering, for the people on monthly pays - what do you do to spur on debt payments though the month...

Also, how do you prefer the payments made... does anyone pay little amount to thinkgs like cc's and storecards? e.g saved £2.50 --> paid to barclaycard ? Or would the c/cards and banks charge you for making such a small payment?

The reason im asking is money burns a whole in my purse!! I can keep money in my purse all week, and i know what i want to spend it on (payment of some sort) but it never ever gets there.... before I can make the payment by the end of the week i've spent it!!

Any suggestions and advise is very welcome

Choc-addict · 21 November 2011 at 2:28PM

Please can I join in?? Although is it ok to put me down for paying of 1/2 my debt by Xmas 2012 as currently stands at 29,979.60 and think that's too mammoth task so 50% would be fantastic and any more is a bonus!

I would like to pay off £14,989.80 by Xmas 2012!

kerri_dfw · 21 November 2011 at 2:36PM

welcome forgotten-dreams, choc-addict

There are challenges for things like "pay a debt a day" where you throw something at a debt each day, even if it's pence (I've still to do this one, it's going to be my new year challenge).

I am part of the sealed pot challenge that means you put your spare coins in there and I also save any £2 coins. With that my £25 a month into buffer and rounding down my online balance to the nearest £10 I've got enough for my car tax this month yay!

mf0u1098 · 21 November 2011 at 2:41PM

forgottendreams wrote: »

Hello

Really looking forward to pay day to make a little dent in the debt!!

Was wondering, for the people on monthly pays - what do you do to spur on debt payments though the month...

Also, how do you prefer the payments made... does anyone pay little amount to thinkgs like cc's and storecards? e.g saved £2.50 --> paid to barclaycard ? Or would the c/cards and banks charge you for making such a small payment?

The reason im asking is money burns a whole in my purse!! I can keep money in my purse all week, and i know what i want to spend it on (payment of some sort) but it never ever gets there.... before I can make the payment by the end of the week i've spent it!!

Any suggestions and advise is very welcome

Hiya forgottendreams, I'm exactly the same when it comes to frittering money away! I find that doing the sealed pot challenge or virtual sealed pot challenge has helped me focus with the small amounts in my purse. No, c/cards and banks do not charge you for making extra payments, I think only fixed loans and mortgages do although mortgages sometimes allows a certain % or overpayments per year, I'm not an expert though by any means!

If making small payments a few times a week will help you then that's great! I still trip up sometimes with frittering but I'm finding out what works for me. Another great challenge is teh NSD (i.e. No Spend Days) challenge. I've got a target for 15 out of 30 days not spending. It really focusses when and where you spend your money.

I hope this helps! Oh and I earn a bit more during the month from selling things on Ebay and Amazon although I know other do surveys and there are always competitions you can enter through the forum as you never know if you can win free cash! xxx

mf0u1098 · 21 November 2011 at 2:46PM

Choc-addict wrote: »

Please can I join in?? Although is it ok to put me down for paying of 1/2 my debt by Xmas 2012 as currently stands at 29,979.60 and think that's too mammoth task so 50% would be fantastic and any more is a bonus!

I would like to pay off £14,989.80 by Xmas 2012!

Welcome to the team Choc-addict:j:j:j, I will add your name and total to the 2nd post!!! xxx

kerri_dfw · 21 November 2011 at 3:03PM

I'm going to update my first post with a list of challenges to give people ideas, will have to be when I get home from work this evening though.

Mf0u has asked me to setup a weekly challenge for everyone... I will post the challenge on Monday lunchtime each week. Then it will start each Tuesday at 1am and end Tuesday 12:59am (I get confused by midnight timings.)

So this weeks challenge will be:

No buying sweets or chocolate:

This is going to be a tough one for me, but an excellent one to start with as we'll probably all stuff our faces over Christmas with the stuff. So.... this week I challenge you that when you want to buy a bag of sweets or a choc bar, you put that money towards a debt. Whether it's 35p for a bar or £5 for a tin, whenever you're tempted pay it off a c/c or overdraft

*depending on credit companies you might need to save this all up until the end of the week until you can pay it off due to minimum payment limits, please always check if there are charges for overpayments. Have fun!

[Deleted User] · 21 November 2011 at 3:21PM

Hi I have been using MSE for a while now and think I need to join a thread to help me, I am in deep ****, my debt is £40,000, I am really ashamed and hate myself, I am not going to go into my history too much, I only have around £200 spare a month, and have joined numerous survey sites, which are going well, I am spending £400 on grocerys for 2 adults , 1 child and a dog, so thats gonna stop, looking at freebies and coupons, I dont think I will clear this by next year, but I really am gonna give this a damn good try, I want my life back.

0/40,00 21/11/11

forgottendreams · 21 November 2011 at 3:27PM

Thanks mf0u1908 and kerri_dfw

The sealed pot challenge sounds good. I was actaully going to start it last week when i joined this challenge - I had £8 in my purse to throw in the pot and start me off.... was going to set myself £1 a day and by the end of the year i could pay off my overdraft....

But guess what happened..... Yip - thats right..... I spent it

Anyway, not to worry.... I will start it soon

Im going to get my self in gear and start ebaying.... i HAD loads and loads of lovely things I kept meaning to list it on ebay(never done it before so I guess the initial listing was a bit daunting)
Ended up giving it all to friends/charity... but im glad at least it went to some use.

Got plenty dvd's and cd's i could list and Im sure i could give the cupboards a bit of a de-cluttering with things weve forgotten we even had.

Edit: Oh and I love the NSD's

I could give that a bash to

lulalolly · 21 November 2011 at 3:29PM

Welcome fairyface, and well done for facing up to your debts.
There's no need to be ashamed here, we are all in the same boat.
You have already identified an area of over spend and joined this challenge so you are on your way, that's the hard bit. So keep it up :-) .
x

his_missus · 21 November 2011 at 3:36PM

kerri_dfw wrote: »

So this weeks challenge will be:

No buying sweets or chocolate:

:TBring on the challenges! :T
This should be a doddle for me as I don't tend to buy sweets or chocolate often. Now I've said that, I'll probably have cravings all week

Fab idea, cheers xxx

The "Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2012" challenge

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