My Debt-Free Plan...HOOS and the Case of the Incredible Exploding Oven!! :-o

Head-Out-Of-Sand · 29 December 2008 at 3:05AM

GAAAAH I just wrote a big long post and got right to the end and I LOST IT!! Probably a good thing though as it had gotten WAAAY too long and boring...I will "gist" it now as I'm tired and slightly angry with my computer!!!

Ok...general theme being...I got into debt in uni as a skint and naive student...have been "servicing the debt" since then (left uni in 2005) and generally getting nowhere...

I houseshare at the moment but it's not ideal for me as I'm somewhat neurotic & am getting older and grumpier and need my own space. I would also really like to adopt a rescue cat but can't do so while I have housemates due to allergies and the fear that they will come back drunk & let it out into the road or frighten it. Plus there is the very real possibility that if some thieving b*&$£" steals my food one more time I may end up in jail for murder. Which is not ideal. But on the plus side will probably be cleaned more often than our place.

The house is currently owned by me and my parents - the mortgage is in their name as I was a student when we bought it, but I have full responsibility for covering the entire mortgage. To do this, i have two lodgers. For a long time I was earning less than £900 a month, which when you are single and in charge of a household (and being strangled by large credit card/overdraft payments) doesn't go far.

However, I got a job about a year ago and my monthly income increased by £500, but I didn't feel any better off and made no headway on my debts. I joined MSE forum in April 07 because I wanted help getting out of the bank charged spiral, which I did, but left it at that.

I read the Paul McKenna book "Change your life in 7 days" and at the time, I didn't give much thought to the idea that you can have a "poor mindset"...i.e. your way of seeing things keeps you in a poverty mindset and prevents you from escaping your debts. However, looking back now I see how it meant that despite the massive increase in my income, I still had the mindset of "I'm skint, I'm strangled by debt repayment, I may as well just enjoy the little I have left for me", so was spending an obscene amount of money on utter crap.

This is my SOA;

Income: £1400
Rent from lodgers; £600

Mortgage: £600
Council tax £125 (will be around £80 from April 09)
Elecy/Gas: £72
Water: £28
Insurance:£27
Virgin TV, Home Phone & Tinterweb: £45
TV Licence: £11
NHS Prescription Prepayment: £10
Mobile Phone: £36
Gym: £24
Credit Card Repayments: £150
Overdraft interest: £52
Evil Moneyshop "carryover" fees: £96

Total (before food, fun & other stuff); £1276

So WHERE THE HELL is the other £724 going?!?! I'm so embarrassed at how much I spend with NOTHING to show for it!! Outrageous! And that spending on NOTHING is what means I can't afford to live by myself and give Snufters a home (that's the name I've picked for my rescue cat

), and why despite earning a good wage, I have to put cleaning rotas on the fridge for people to ignore, ask supposedly responsible adults not to steal my food or use my toothbrush and put up with masses of men's undies drying on my radiators!!! Argh!

I'm considering giving up my gym membership as despite good intentions I don't go often enough, I live between three parks in which I could jog for free and I got a wii fit for christmas so can hula-hoop and snowboard my way to a smaller bottom instead!

My debts are listed in my signature and this is how I'm hoping it's going to go...

Jan 09: £400 off MoneyShop loan
Feb: £200 off MoneyShop, paid in full, account closed, do a little dance; £200 off Monument Card
March-August: £450 a month off Monument Card
September: £500 off Monument Card, paid in full and CLOSED!! Do another little dance.
October-December: £450 a month off RBS O/D.
Jan 10: £350 off RBS O/D. Paid in full and CLOSED! More dancing. £100 off RBS Visa.
Feb-Mar: £450 off RBS Visa.
April: £200 off RBS Visa, paid in full, kept open for Section 75 purposed but KEPT IN SAFE, NOT IN PURSE!! £250 off Natwest O/D
May-August: £450 a month off Natwest O/D
September 2010 - £400 off Natwest O/D...paid off in full...overdraft reduced to £200 (for emergencies)...DEBT FREEEEEEE :rotfl: :money: :beer: Mucho bailar!!! :j

So...that's the plan...it's going to be tough BUT I'm so excited about the prospect of not having these debts hanging over my head any more. Plus I'm using every little thing that annoys me about housesharing as motivation to pay off as much as possible!!! (there is a lot of scope for motivation here!)

Sorry to bore you with the long post, (although you're lucky, the first one was longer!) but I thought if I commit this to the forum I'm making a statement to myself that I DO intend to do this.

If things go to plan, I will be able to give my Snufters a happy home in 22 months time, which would be just lovely! :snow_grin

I will be adding to this post monthly to update what I've managed to pay off and how I've got on with controlling my obscene and pointless spending.

Here's to a thrifty 2009!!

HonestBob_2 · 29 December 2008 at 3:14AM

All the best with meeting your targets. It's good to do things in bite sized chunks. And dancing just adds to the pleasure!

I look forward to following your progress

Edited to say, I love the name Snufters!

Head-Out-Of-Sand · 29 December 2008 at 3:19AM

Thanks Bob!!

You'll have to keep an eye on the thread to check up on me, don't let me off with it!! Wow, I never thought I'd be excited by the prospect of paying off debts!!

And yes, LOVING the name Snufters...it is my main motivation for getting to the point where I can afford to be home alone! My mum & brother have both got rescue cats recently and I would LOVE to have a cat, I would give it such a good home and a lot of love, but I can't be selfish and do it now because my living situation is not ideal for a cat.

When I finally get Snufters I will post a picture up!!!

LilacPixie · 29 December 2008 at 3:24AM

How about you keep a spending diary to find out exactly wherethe £700+ is going. I did that and about died.

You do realise that in 22 months the mens undies will be replaced by a demanding feline that will take over your life??

Head-Out-Of-Sand · 29 December 2008 at 3:33AM

Ha ha I'd take a demanding feline over random undies anyday!! :eek: And I'm guessing the cat wont steal my butter or use my toothbrush! (I'd be quite impressed if it figured out how to do those things though!)

I did the "money diary" this month, and it's on total rubbish - expensive food I buy as a treat, meals out when really we could just go for coffee, or I could cook, taxis, random luxury items I don't need or use...the most galling being face creams (boots P&P...damn you, Horizon!!) which cost me £35 and I had a horrible allergic reaction to and had to give away! etc etc etc...i'm absolutely ashamed of how much I've been wasting, it's horrific. But no more!!

I've decided to take the approach of the "consumer-anarchist" and not be manipulated by the consumerist puppet-masters anymore. I intend to fully embrace the downsize challenge, food rationing is the way forward - I can get my meat, veg, fruit, rice & spuds for a decent price in Aldi & Asda smartprice, and my expanding waistline will appreciate the reduction in choccies, biscuits, takeaway and other such junk as much as my bank account will!!

I have also already started piggybanking - I have an old solo card account with Natwest into which my allowance will be going every month. My switch card will be snuggled up in the safe next to Mr. RBS Visa (Mr. Monument was massacred in a recent lightbulb moment...)

LilacPixie · 29 December 2008 at 3:44AM

Possibly but mine has an unnatural love ofcheese and bizzarly porridge.

Head-Out-Of-Sand · 29 December 2008 at 3:53AM

Ha ha brilliant, a porridge eating cat!

Well, we discovered my mum's cat has something of a marshmallow fetish after I forgot to hide them at Christmas!! That can't be part of a healthy feline diet, surely?!

moo2moo · 29 December 2008 at 4:49AM

If you find Wii Fit too annoying, especially when it points out that you've neglected it for several days, try Raving Rabbids TV Party which involves you downhill ski-ing on a Wildebeast and has done far more for my bum and stomach muscles than Wii Fit has but then it is lots more fun. Well right up until the postman walks past the window and sees you wriggling around on the floor like an extra from Ghostbusters fighting off an imaginary enemy.

Snufters (v. cool name) will be right at home sleeping on top of the undies on the radiator. Will save you a fortune in premade cat radiator hammocks. A giant pair of Y-fronts will be just as effective.

Head-Out-Of-Sand · 29 December 2008 at 11:49AM

Ha ha thanks for the tip, will ask for that one for my birthday!

I've used my parents' Wii Fit before, got on fine except for when I put on weight, it told me off and then gave my Mii a pot belly! I cried!!! :undecided

Head-Out-Of-Sand · 29 December 2008 at 5:10PM

Okay...just gone through last month's bank statement and the mystery of how I overspend is beginning to unravel...

£278 spent in Tesco and Asda in 1 month...

£65 spent on meals out in 1 month...

I suppose the greatest mystery is how i only have 2st to lose!! :eek:

Just jiggled things about on the snowball calculator and I may even be able to shorten my DFD to May 2010...it just keeps getting better!!

Caroline73_2 · 29 December 2008 at 5:18PM

Good luck with it all - it sounds like a fab plan!!!!!!

I will watch with interest!

My Debt-Free Plan...HOOS and the Case of the Incredible Exploding Oven!! :-o

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