Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

Bobarella · 26 April 2017 at 11:36PM

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

I "found" three more things to list on ebay yesterday and I sold two of them within a few hours so I'm really chuffed! I have paid another £40.66 off my MBNA debt. I'm revising my aim for May, I want to get that first MBNA tranche under £200 (currently £298.57).

Also had a chat to my husband about a hotel we booked for 2 nights for an event later this year, after much discussion we decided that we would just go to the event on the day and not spend the weekend there. It would have cost us a lot of money (over half the cost of our Morocco holiday!) and frankly, we'd both rather save that money. I cancelled the booking yesterday and received the deposit refund back on my Barclaycard today. That means the most expensive tranche of Barclaycard debt is now at £103.56 and will definitely be gone with the May direct debit payment :j

I'm going to hold off updating my April debt totals until the end of this month just in case I get another ebay sale. I do have a handbag to list so fingers crossed!

Sounds like a good decision then.

GeorgianaCavendish · 27 April 2017 at 12:12PM

Lau0707 wrote: »

I sweep daily, sometimes if theres 61.58 for example, i will sweep the £1.58 over too I've done it for years and love doing it !! Definitely worth it! I love following your journey x

I can see how sweeping would get addictive! I'm feeling a bit like that with the MBNA balance at the moment, when I'm able to make an overpayment I try to round the balance down to a nice even number

GeorgianaCavendish · 27 April 2017 at 12:13PM

Bobarella wrote: »

Sounds like a good decision then.

Totally worth it, it would be lovely to have a weekend away but I think that is an activity for future-us when the debts have been paid off. Present-day us needs to focus on cheaper activities!

GeorgianaCavendish · 27 April 2017 at 12:16PM

I'm booked into a market research focus group next week. I've been applying for about 5 every week so I'm really glad to finally get another one!

kirtsypoos · 27 April 2017 at 1:55PM

I always round down to a nice even number - I'm a bit obsessive about it

GeorgianaCavendish · 27 April 2017 at 4:37PM

kirtsypoos wrote: »

I always round down to a nice even number - I'm a bit obsessive about it

I can see how it could get to be an obsession!

At least it would be a good obsession, rather than obsessively buying things

GeorgianaCavendish · 28 April 2017 at 10:55AM

OK, last working day of the month so I feel safe in doing a final debt total update ... I will include any miraculous extra debt payments I might be able to make over the weekend into the May figures.

Total debt (excluding Student Loan) is £27,593.53

HSBC Personal Loan : £12498.33
Interest rate 8.9%, 33 payments left

Credit Card Balances

HSBC £2340.1
Interest rate 21.9% Lack of movement in this figure depresses me and I find myself tempted to make an overpayment just to see it go down a bit more each month BUT I know that I need to follow the snowball to get rid of the MBNA debt first.

MBNA £1800.00
Breakdown as follows
£289.23 @ 10.9% (rate ends September 2017) (will definitely get this under £200 in May) :j
£541.28 @ 10.9% (rate ends October 2017)
£969.49 @ 10.9% (rate ends November 2017)

Barclaycard £9,733.76
£103.56 @ 27.6% Will definitely pay off this chunk with the May direct debit :j
£9,630.2 @ 18.6% Should actually see a reduction in this figure in May! :eek:

Catalog £695
Interest rate 17.9%

Furniture Finance £517
Interest rate 0%, 5 payments left

I'm looking forward to getting this total under £27,000 in May, and for hitting a couple of milestones (paying off the most expensive Barclaycard tranche; seeing a reduction in the second Barclaycard tranche for the first time!; getting the first MBNA tranche under £200 ... I'm going to throw everything I've got at that debt this month, I would be over the moon if I could clear it!).

The snail like progress towards paying off my HSBC debt gets me down but it also serves as a reality check that I need to stop me getting overexcited about payment elsewhere. THIS is what happens when I only make the minimum payment towards my debt. I just have to keep telling myself that progress on the MBNA debt is indirect progress on HSBC because the sooner I clear MBNA, the sooner I can start overpaying HSBC.

Now I'm off to update my signature!

JoJoC · 28 April 2017 at 12:57PM

Well done GC, it looks like you have a plan and I can see the motivation in your post at clearing the MBNA and attacking your Barclaycard. I know it's demotivating to see things not going down (I have that issue with little movement on both credit cards every month) but you ARE making progress. You can't see massive changes in everything so it'll help to settle for seeing one tranche of your card CLEARED!

Good luck for a frugal May!

Lumanous · 28 April 2017 at 2:52PM

Good progress! I too get frustrated about the values elsewhere so can feel your pain. I feel like I want to get certain smaller balances down just to tick something off but I know in the long run it is not financially beneficial. Just a frustration to deal with in the meantime. Hopefully will feel better for us in time as the priority figures reduce

armchairexpert · 1 May 2017 at 3:27AM

Will your reductions mean you're eligible for a zero balance transfer anywhere? Those interest rates are killing you!

Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

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