how far have you come this year?

Paige

Thank you mummum2
The first thing we did was look at all the bills, shifted them around for all the better deals ect. We could not move our mortgage as we are still tied in but by spending about 4 days on the internet we swapped providers on utilities, got better deals on our mobiles and cancelled some things that were not needed like Gym membership and sky . By just doing this I saved about £200 per month. Then I tackled the shopping bills, we were spending about £750 pm but I now spend between £450 - £500. I always look on the old style forum for good tips.
We have only purchassed essentials in clothing - shoes for the girls and a new coat for me, we have made do with everything else. We have not hardly been out and cut back on buying presents for family ect.
I have sold loads of stuff on ebay, done car boot sales and put other stuff we did not use like furniture for sale in the paper.
I did a lot of extra work - mystery shopping and cleaning for an old lady as well as my self employed job as an accountant. My OH took extra work at home (he is a management consultant) So between us we managed to up our incomings quite a lot although we cannot continue with this as its exhausting !!
Basically we have watched every penny but now I am tired and the thought of continuing for another year makes me depressed but we are in for the long haul and all this work has made such a huge difference to our debts.
Paige X

mummum2

Paige, truly impressed and in total admiration of what you guys have achieved.

MM2x

embarrassed_about_my_debt

This time last year i had £15,553.15 of debt. Im now down to sub £7k so have come along way but still got the same again to go! But im alot better than i was last year, dont use my credit card anymore, apart from things that i've really needed to sort and they have been paid off asap generally within a month (so i have paid of over £10k in total i think)

Gemmzie

By the end of the year we would have cleared £12k, are credit card free and are about 1/3 of the way towards being able to get a new boiler. :j
Considering in 2005 I've estimated that my parents ran up about £15k of debt during one year :eek: I think we're doing just fine

Damita

Paid of my credit card of £5,000 So pleased!!!

Paige

What a great thread. Really inspiring to hear so many big acheivements. I think that when you start out wanting to be a DFW everything is soooooo overwhelming - you just cant see a way out. But once you gain control through facing things head on, a big difference can be made taking baby steps.
The big lesson I have gained through my experience is very slowly you can make a difference. Yes its hard, you have really bad days, you struggle, you argue with your OH and kids but once those debts are on the way out you can feel proud that you have acheived so much.
I, for one, feel really happy that we will be starting this new year in a better position that last new year.
I am just hanging on to the fact that this time next year we might be debt free !!!!! Horray.
Paige XX

Blackpool_Saver

A heck of a long way both financially and emotionally ... good post !:j

bathgatebuyer

I still had a Halifax credit card with over a thousand pound balance on it which is now no more!
I still had a Cahoot loan (which started at £8,000) in feb 04 but which was completely paid off in Feb 08;
I had a balance of over £2,300 on my sainsburys card (now £1,300);

Actually, that's nowhere near as good as I thought now I think about it.............

Keeping_Positive

Since my LBM this time last year I have cleared 20% of the £17.9k debt. I downsized the car, utilised some family savings, freecycled, ebayed, amazoned and carbooted. Also meal planned and grocery challenged and allthough alot has slipped recently such as the GC and meal planning and the summer saw a £1k set back I am still on target to beat my DFD of Summer 2014.

Being a long hauler I know it wont be a smooth ride but I am alot further down the road than this time last year.

jpwhittle

wow everyones doing so well. really hoping to be able to achieve debt freeness next year to or ar least be half way there. i cant wait to not owe anything except my mortgage and be able to do things aain but within our means. if we achieve debt freeness it gives us so much more every month. then that really will be one big christmas party lol