how far have you come this year?

chunkytfg

AmericangirlinUK wrote: »

Hi everyone... my first post, though I've been a reader of this site for ages.

Well, in response to this excellent question, this time last year I had terrifying debt and I began to get alarmed when previously reasonable cards raised their rates from 6.9% to 11.9% to 13.9% to 19.9% even though I'd never missed a payment. I had always been able to make the min. payments but the principal never seemed to decrease and I finally decided enough is enough.

I stopped charging anything then gave up my large flat, rented a small room in a friend's house instead, and compressed my outgoings to just public transport, rent and food. (I'd been used to a large place... entertaining... travel... the works.) Instead of eating out, I meet friends for free movie nights or walks or the zoo etc, use the library for books and DVDs, sell excess stuff, travel by bus if necess. instead of train & flights, no far-off flight hols, have got the cheapest mobile, bring a packed lunch to work, no frills at all. Suddenly there seems to be time to write letters & be more in touch with people. Walking the couple of miles to work & discovering local fruit & veg markets has made me a good deal healthier as well.

Living this way since March I've been able to put over 1/2 my income toward debt reduction making large payments to the highest interest cards first. I think of this whenever frustrated by living in a tiny room & thank goodness I have a job to see me through. I've made extra card payments of 1000s this year and another going in shortly which will get rid of the highest interest rate debts. Then it will be only one card at 6.9% and if I keep going this way, will be able to pay that off by next summer.

So I'm not very glam these days... but you find out who your friends are. My method is a bit extreme & probably not for everyone (it's easier as I'm on my own) but paying the debt comes first. Once it is paid I will build my emergency fund with the same amount of contributions/month then move forward.

Also as a Yank may I just say to all on this site, it's our Thanksgiving holiday today and among many other good things I'm thankful for the warmth and genuine helpful spirit seen every day here. So good to find in this cold world, long may it flourish! Thank you all.

Superb AGinUK and happy thanksgiving.

In_Search_Of_Me

Amercial girl...happy thanksgiving and well done for paying off so much! Inspirational so thank you for sharing! Appropriate that I made some yummy choc brownies eh!! Brings back memories of chicken, gravy and mash, sweetcorn with corn bread...yum!
Keep up the good work people!

piglet39

Hiya

Agree with everyone else - what a lovely positive thread. I stumbled acroos MSE when I did a search on a DCA - boy do I wish I had found you all sooner!

This year? Managed to reduce the debt a little and not had a single bank charge. That has not happened to me since the age of 18 and that was a good few years ago now!

Also - am totally straight with everyone about money including the most important person in my, DH. This is a huge step for me because it nearly finished me off big time.

This is all down to MSE and the wonderful peeps on here.

Piglet

Thank you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FieryBlondeScot

what a good idea for a thread! must come back later when i have tallied everything up, i could do with cheering up and seeing how far i have come might just do the trick. briefly i have had a lot of ups and downs this year already, split up with b/f, lost my job, lost my sense of self a bit along the way, certainly can count my good mates on one hand, gone onto benefits for the first time in yearssssss.....

anyway the first thing i can think of is that hopefully, fingers crossed, i am negotiating full and final settlements with creditors, as i cancelled the DMP in losing my job (an upside i suppose!) and will be debt free soon, still have a student loan and an overdraft to clear but will be glad to get rid f the DMP people ad their sharp intakes of breath on telling them my son gets £10 per month pocket money :rolleyes:



for those starting out on a DMP etc i know how :eek: a lightbulb moment can be, but with a bit of organisation and self discipline you will get through it. this site saved my life! :T

Claw_back_money

This thread is great reading on a cold winters evening, so many people making great progress!
We've managed to pay off £4,422. But that figure somehow masks a whole load of stuff. We've rethought our attitude to buying things, cut grocery costs by well over a third, worked out how to make do etc, learnt to cook OS (including brownies, in search of me!), and kept an eye on expenses and accounts. We've cleared one overdraft, one debt, and shifted debt around. We've increased income and moved expenses. We've also been able to have nice things though, thanks to the info here (M&S treats, Boots toiletries powered by pigsback and glitches....)

The biggest thing is, I know where our money and debt is, and where it is going, and although we've got some way to go it all feels really managable now. All down to this site, :money: , and the wonderful people who discover and share glitches etc.

Cheers all
Cbm

beanielou

Happy thanksgiving AmericangirlintheUK & thanks for a great post.

laura2481

Financially, I went backwards but mentally, in the last month things have got better so hopefully this month, and next year I should start to make a difference and hopefully next year I can come back and say 'I went forwards in leaps and bounds!'
This year I'm just saying 'small steps forwards are better than any more steps backwards'

savingholmes

Hi all - by the end of 2008 I will have halved our debts. We got a financial break (one off payment) earlier this year which meant we could pay off approx £10k. From July - Dec I've paid off £2.5K and stoozed a further £2.5K. :j We used to overspend by £1K per month - so this is a £2K swing in our spending habits. I am currently stoozing in case we lose our jobs so we can still meet all our minimum payments and mortgage even if 1 or both of us lose our jobs in the recession.

If we stay in employment on similar money, then we are hoping to be debt free by April 2010.

chewits

This time last year I was claiming Income Support as a single parent. I have to be honest and say I thought I loved being at home but knew our financial situation had to change. I owed £1000+ on a catalogue, £500 on a credit card and a few hundred on gas and electric.

I bit the bullet and went on a scheme suggested to me by my New Deal advisor and got a work placement. I hated being on the scheme - the work placement was great but we also had to spend time in a centre working on C.Vs, interview techniques etc. alongside people that really didn't want to be there and were very disruptive and I seriously considered throwing in the towel....BUT

I didn't, and 6 weeks after starting the work placement I was offered a permanent job which I absolutely love (I say permanent, they've made redundancies since I started but thankfully I'm safe at the moment). With my salary and tax credits I'm £150 a week better off once the rent and council tax are paid which I would never have thought possible. I know the tax credits will drop substantially next year as they're based on your previous year's earnings so I've made sure that I've paid off all my debts before that happens, so in effect I'll feel about the same financially. And my son seems a lot happier - it's not just the money, I think he feels more 'normal'

I couldn't have done it without this site - I hardly post but I'm always reading, especially the grocery challenges. Thank you all - and I hope 2009 is a good year for all MSE'rs

englishmac

Only just found this thread today. As the New Year arrived, we looked back not just at last year but at the previous year as well - the one when it all fell apart. We realised we are starting to live month to month rather than day to day.

2007 we were waiting for wages in the bank to buy bread and milk to tide us over to the next time we could afford to shop for more food and petrol to get us to work and back to earn the wages.

2008 we raised our payments whenever we could, cleared our priority arrears at last (although we just realised we have to pay more to the taxman than we thought - but it shouldn't take long tp do it). Despite HFC Bank's efforts to grind us down and send us to early graves, we want to stay positive. So we don't measure what we still owe, we measure what we have achieved so far. More than £20K including priority arrears paid off; £1200 less each month that passes. And we now have a fledgling social life, fresh fruit and veg most of the time and, touch wood, better prospects than a lot of people in the current climate.

I agree this is a great thread. The thing that leaps out from the posts is the positivity whatever the situation; celebrating what you have achieved even if it isn't as much as you would have liked and the determination to keep up the good work. Good luck in 2009.