Newbie checking in

Old_iron_balls

Hi all. First time poster here so be gentle :rolleyes:

Well, after having my lightbulb moment about a month ago im about to embark on a journey I should of started years ago.
Getting out of debt :j

My status is as follows...

26 years old, still living with parents been with my partner for 5 years and hope to be in a position to buy a property within the next couple of years.
BUT.... £14,783 in debt

Ive been lurking on the MotleyFool website and more recently on here for a while.
Now its time to get stuck in and sort myself out.

I have three loans, two credit cards and owe my parents about a grand.

Ive tried swapping to a 0% card and applying for a low APR loan over a shorter period of time etc etc but no joy !
I have a two year old settled default for £400 so no low rates are coming my way for a long time.

My next payday (15th Nov) is the start of my battle.
I already make £585 min payments each month and have now budgeted so I can throw an extra £300 a month at my debts.

Im starting with the money I owe my parents first.
Then by snowballing my DFD is May 2007 :eek:

I am 100% determined to stick to my budget and where possible throw any extra I take home each month at my debts.
I work in Sales, so commission can be great one month but not so great the next.

I guess im here for moral support and will no doubt be after some advice from time to time.
Hopefully ill be able to contribute aswell at some point.

Good luck to all and thanks for reading my ramblings

Let battle commence !

newmum1

Hi there Old Iron Balls weel done for taking the first step and posting, what most people will ask is for you to post your income and outgoings and then all MSE will try and help you reduce the outgoings. hope all goes well.

Big_Nige

I see you have done some research into snowballing, good luck with it. As newmum1 says post your income & outgoings (including outstanding balances & APR's) & withinnotime at all someone will assist you, please don't be offended by the advice i.e. £50/month for a mobile to high.

Keep posting & dfd will be closer than you think.

ben500

An excellent attitude to adopt and one I'm sure you will succeed with.
Check out this thread for a little extra help without the Halifax!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=92214

And good luck the financial advice is sure to follow from others far more qualified than I.

aplayer_uk

I wish you all the best,

debt in my opinion is an addiction and facing up to is the 1st step in the right direction, i find that if you save up and buy something rather than taking hp or loans you appreciate it more than than you do taking the easy route.

I was in a whole world of poo when i was about 20 years old, i had run a small business which failed due to me being stupid, the business was good but i was living the high life.

it took me about 3 years to even decide to do anything about it.

I was constantly telling baillifs where to go and calling thier bluff on the door step, i also learnt a lot about the law at this point which helped no end

I put my head down and worked really hard i did everything possible to make money and payed off every penny i owed in 2 years, the debt was aroung 37.000 pounds.

i'm now a totally changed man, i don't take risks, i save hard and work hard, i have my girlfriend and 4 beutiful kids.

our quality of life is superb as i don't have any financial worries to burden me.

I just wish i knew then what i knew now.


best of luck to anyone in debt but you will get there and you will feel good at the end.

skintchick

Hey - May 2007 isn't that far away - only a few months behind my DFD. THink positive - it's only 18 months, just a year and a half, it's nothing.

You can do it.

Old_iron_balls

Thanks for your kind works and advice.

Had an eventfull day today - think ive saved myself £1300

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=1102649#post1102649

johannamse

I would work out your debt free date using the lowest monthly pay you normally get. It can be very demoralising when debt free dates get further away, but a great feeling when they get closer. Hopefully, you will got lots of commision and will always be adding to the debt, as opposed to feeling like you are not adding enough. I hope I am making sense.

Do you have to pay your parents back first, as I am sure they lent on 0%? Do you know that you should pay back debt with highest % first?

Old_iron_balls

johannamse wrote:

Do you have to pay your parents back first, as I am sure they lent on 0%? Do you know that you should pay back debt with highest % first?

I dont have to pay them back first but its something im going to do out of principal :A
Yes I know about the highest % first. Ive used a snowball calculator.
Just hope i can stick to the extra payments ive planned to make each month

pineapple_beach

Hi there

Good luck - that light bulb moment when you realise that you cannot carry on sustaining the lie that all is okay, is scary but empowering.... all the best!
p_b

southernscouser

You'll cetainly get moral support on here.

Really liked your post by the way and just wanted to wish you the best of luck. :T

Don't forget to check here regularly to save more money and let us know how things go.

SS