Becca's Debt Free Journey

becca2008 · 14 September 2008 at 3:57PM

hello! this is my first post on the boards, so i apologise for the length in advance! not even sure if i'm posting this in the right place!

i've been working hard for a while to clear my debts. all of my credit cards have been cleared and my only remaining debt is a loan, which i took out last year for £7k. i pay £140.72 a month, and it's down to £6754.56 with exactly 4 years of payments left.

i want to pay it off by next April. including this month, that's 8 months to pay off 48 months worth of loan...

my SOA looks a bit like this:

income: £1017

rent: £150
loan repayment: £140.72
mobile: £25
LoveFilm: £12.99
Cineworld Unlimited Card: £11.99
food: £200 (average)

total outgoings: £540.70
left over: £476.30

each month, i put £500 into my savings account (6.5%), and put money from that back into my current account if/when i go overdrawn.

i know that £200 for 1 person (i buy my own food and let everyone else in the family fend for themselves) is a *lot* of money to spend on food each month. but a lot of that is eating out with my boyfriend or take aways, which i'm not having anymore. i can easily get my shopping budget down to £100 a month - probably lower. so far this month, i've only spent £25ish on food.

i also know that the lovefilm and cineworld card could go, but i don't smoke, i don't drink and i very rarely go out - i've already told the boyfriend that we can't eat out or have takeaways anymore - so i don't want to get rid of those.

£150 per month may seem very low for a 24yr old living at home, but -without going into detail - my mum is the reason i got into debt (i took out the loan to help her) and she owes me a fair bit of money that i don't expect to ever get back, so i pay the £150 a month and buy my own food and everyone's happy.

i'm also learning to drive at the moment - i take money for lessons out of my savings account and when i pass my test, i intend to get myself insured on my mum's car rather than buy my own, because i've managed for 24 years without a car, so i can manage without my own car after passing the test too!

so other than cutting down on my food expenditure, does anyone have any suggestions as to how to make enough money to clear my loan by April 2009??

becca2008 · 14 September 2008 at 4:00PM

forgot to add that i have a Nintendo DS (with 6 games) and a Nintendo Wii (with Wii Sports and Wii Fit) which i'm thinking of selling... but part of my really doesn't want to, and the other part is waiting til Christmas when i can hopefully get more money for them!

and the reason why i want to clear the debt by April 2009 is that i'm applying to go to uni next September and, if i get in, i want the loan paid off and 4 months of savings in the bank because i'll be spending 3 years living on an NHS bursary and reduced maintenance loan.

Becca's Debt Free Journey

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