*my Diary* - Omg!

ElizabethJH

natsplatnat wrote: »

Right guys - heres the score......

I have a loan with Egg at 7.5% fixed until May 2011 - balance of £6500

I have £6500 on 0% until next August.:T

Which do I over pay? I was thinking the loan but with the economic state, do I try and reduce the 0% balance in case there is nothing but high interest rates around when it ends?

All thoughts warmly welcomed!!

Gosh - I'd never thought of that I guess the snowball always just tells you to go for the one with highest interest!! I'm sure they'll still be some 0% offers around though come August!!

Also the £20K by Xmas 2009 - I've joined that thread but I'm aiming for £8K I just don't think I could ever get to £20K whatever I did - and that's with two jobs already!! Maybe join and aim for something you could do like £10K - what with the cashback sites and budgetting I'm already suprised at home much more free money I'm going to have to throw at my bills. Have you signed up to Lightspeed surveys as well? I find that I've been getting about 1 a day and they tend to pay around a £1 a survey!!

natsplatnat

ElizabethJH wrote: »

Also the £20K by Xmas 2009 - I've joined that thread but I'm aiming for £8K I just don't think I could ever get to £20K whatever I did - and that's with two jobs already!! Maybe join and aim for something you could do like £10K

Thanks ElizabethJH! :beer:

I have signed up to the £20k by Xmas 2009 - Just £6500 to start with to get rid of my Egg loan 5 months early!! All my spare cash will be going here, so there had better be some 0% deals around in August!!!:rolleyes:

Good luck with your challenge and the NSD's in December!!

determinedtodothis

natsplatnat wrote: »

Hi! Being new to this (so please excuse my ignorance!) how do people get to pay £20k by xmas 2009? That is more than my take home pay for the year? I have signed up to some cashback sites and qype, but I think I must be missing something! I will have a look at the thread for the challenge to see if there are any tips there!

with a lot of hard graft! i'm aiming high because i will get more annoyed with myself the further away i am from my target its all in the mind with me *LOL* I'm ebaying, qudico-ing, and working over time and i've cut out sooo much i used to park at the station (£5 a day), buy about 3 tea's a day @ 75p each, chocolate every day (50p), buy lunch (£5 a day) - thats almost £13 extra a day towards my debt - over a week it soon adds up and thats also saving on the petrol which i got down to £7 a week and i'm trying to get that lower. Also i used to go shopping every week and easily spend £50 thats down to £20 and i go every other week now - this week for example i need to buy bread and cat food and I have Tesco points to cover that!

I also stopped going out as much, i go out probably Once a month now on a big night out, my friends have been pretty good and we either go round each others houses for dinner or we do go out but using the vouchers on here £10 all you can eat in La Tasca, Buy on get on Free at Zizzi's etc.. and i've got smarter - i used to have all the lights on in the house, now 1 max and some nights just the TV, the heating is on a timer and goes off just before i go to bed - i used to have it on while i was in bed which was silly really as my beds toastie anyways! i unplug EVERYTHING jsut incase its zapping electricity..

also i'm now on PAYG mobile - i get 30 free texts on the orange web and for £15 credit a month i get unlimited text, phone and facebook so i keep in touch with people a lot through that, feels less of a hardship that i haven't been out because i am up to date with all the gossip!

Basically i see it as you have to pay off £385 a week or £1,666 a month roughly to hit a target of £20k some people are doing the challenge as an "on top of minimum payments" but £20k will clear me and some so i'm including mine.

For example this month if i save using all the above cutbacks thats basic £91.00 a month, plus the £300.00 Minimum payments i've agreed to this month on my debts, plus £90 i earnt for over time this weekend....totals £484.65 ands its December 1st..

i might not make it but if i keep thinking i have to pay £385 a week out of my weekly salary and then force myself to live on the rest and its in my head i'm sure i'll get close

natsplatnat

Hi DTDT!!

Your are certainly more determined than me! I would love to really graft and clear all my debts by next December (I am soo angry with letting myself get in this state in the first place) but I know that if I go at it too hard, then I will suffer from over-doing it and give in completely!
(I am trying to kid myself really - as I think that £6500 is quite an achievable target and then I can keep going and clear some of my CC's!!?)
I am just waiting to see what I have left from last weeks wages (after clearing the odds on my Egg CC's and then I am going to lump some money onto the Loan - Payment 1 should happen today!
:beer:

natsplatnat

Hmmmm - when I budgeted for this week, I didn't look ahead to next when my out goings exceed my incomings! Oops! So I need to set aside at least £80 from this week to cover next week. Exact figure to follow - off to watch spooks - at least thats free

determinedtodothis

natsplatnat wrote: »

Hi DTDT!!

Your are certainly more determined than me! I would love to really graft and clear all my debts by next December (I am soo angry with letting myself get in this state in the first place) but I know that if I go at it too hard, then I will suffer from over-doing it and give in completely!
(I am trying to kid myself really - as I think that £6500 is quite an achievable target and then I can keep going and clear some of my CC's!!?)
I am just waiting to see what I have left from last weeks wages (after clearing the odds on my Egg CC's and then I am going to lump some money onto the Loan - Payment 1 should happen today!
:beer:

I'm just fed up with missing out because i can't afford stuff with me i think if i had a lower more realistic target i wouldn't have the incentive to pull out all the stops but i totally agree it might be that you hit 6.5 and it gives you the boost you need to carry on and you'll probably do better than me *LOL* i've just taken a meter reading and worked out what my bill will be next month - half of what it was this time last year so i'm feeling a bit smug i always lurked on here and thought some people were going over the top but it really is the little changes to you routine every day that make the biggest impact but using whats left in the kettle to do the washing up and having the heating down 1 notch has obviously helped!

I do a weekly budget although something always goes wrong - this week I thought i had a No Spend Week easily under my belt but got stung for my xmas party dinner in 2 weeks (which i had budgeted for next week!) doh!

ElizabethJH

I reckon it's best to start off with the little challenges and then when you realise you can acheive them with ease then you can up them! If you pay off £6500 you've met you're challenge if you pay more you've exceeded and I'm sure that'll feel better then falling short!!

I started off this month thinking I'll pay off my vanquis and have no new pay day loans... but now I've realised if I really work hard and budget then maybe I'll be able to get my Abbey card below it's limit and stay within my overdraft? I'm going to try and if I acheive the extra then great... if not then I stuck within my original goals and that's still a step nearer then I was last month!!

I'm going to attempt my first NSD of the month today as well - I don't there's anything I need apart from some gloves and I'm going to search my flat tonight to try and find an odd pair before getting anything new!!

natsplatnat

AFTERNOON ALL! :wave:

These are my major aims (for now - no doubt they'll change!)

KEEP WITHIN MY OD LIMIT (ideally reduce OD balance by £40 per week)
LOOK AT LEAST 2 WEEKs AHEAD WHEN BUDGETING (doh, why didn't I think of this before?)
DO MORE ON DAILY CLICKS / GET MORE FREE CASH

Good news (of sorts) both my old Egg CC's in credit by just a little, so this should cover any interest due this month (or so I hope!)

Off now for the daily clicks!:T

ragstoricheswannabe

hiya nat,
think you are doing really well and seem very motivated at the moment. I have decided too to join in some challenges (mainly the sealed pot challenge) in the hope it keeps me motivated and on the straight and narrow.

how much debt have you paid off since you started?? i found keeping it writen down somewhere i can see it regularly reminds me of why i am doing half the stuff i am to reduce my outgoings. its really sad but i love it when it comes to the time in the month when i can update it and see my debts slowly going down.

keep up the good work, will be with u all the way till we are debt free,
rags to riches wannabe
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

natsplatnat

ragstoricheswannabe wrote: »

hiya nat,
think you are doing really well and seem very motivated at the moment. I have decided too to join in some challenges (mainly the sealed pot challenge) in the hope it keeps me motivated and on the straight and narrow.

how much debt have you paid off since you started?? i found keeping it writen down somewhere i can see it regularly reminds me of why i am doing half the stuff i am to reduce my outgoings. its really sad but i love it when it comes to the time in the month when i can update it and see my debts slowly going down.

keep up the good work, will be with u all the way till we are debt free,
rags to riches wannabe
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Rags (can I call you that, or would you prefer RTRW?) :wave:

Really since I started, nothing has really been paid! The new 0% on Abbey isn't due for its first payment til Jan 7th 2009, my Egg loan goes out a little later in the month (15th), payments to separate account for the house goes twice a month, mobile phone bill is just on-going. I am hoping that I will have a pay-slip in the post at home for this Fridays wages (there is a lot to be said for being paid monthly!!) and then I can work out what I will have left from this week (next week outgoings greater than incomings) and send some money to Egg loan (not going over my OD limit ever again!!)

I will document all payments made - as I do think it would make me feel better seeing the balance come down - just need them to happen!!

Good luck with the sealed jar challenge - I have looked, but I have one going already.... my demi-john is not to be taken from (apart from changing coppers into silver when we are short at work) until it is full!! Full date? Who knows!! lol :rotfl: