Starting my 2009 New Year's Resolution now!

debtfreein2009

After having my LBM last year, our joint debt has decreased,increased and then decreased again.
It's been up and down like a yo-yo and I'm starting now as this debt has to be gone by the end of 2009.
I know it early to start our New Year's Resolution, but I figured by starting now it gives us a full 12 months to get sorted.

We've finished all the Christmas shopping and have been paid for the month on December.
We've a large bill due (next week) for approx £700 and I'm going to have to get a cash advance on my credit card.

I've set us a budget for everything and we're sticking to it. I need to start planning our meals and shopping only with a list.
There's loads I can do to try and save money, but I need to get my head out the sand and just get on with it.


THE DEBT STANDS AT :
£4940-08 Credit Card 1 - Currently 0% ending really soon
£3136-00 Car Loan - 13.6% £224 x 14 left
£500-55 Credit Card 2 - 16.9%
£7-00 Credit Card 3 19.9%
£700-00 Bill will be added to Credit Card 2 This is approx amount, so will hope for less!

Grand Total £9283.63

THE PLAN OF ACTION :
DH and I have just applied and both been accepted for new 0% credit cards.
We're just waiting for the paperwork to be done and the cards to be sent out.
CC3 will be cleared as soon as my child benefit is paid this week.

Both our new cards are 0% for 10months with a 3% BT fee.
My new card limit is £2000 will pay off CC2 (£1200) and remaining balance off CC1 (£740)
DH limit is £8700 so we're going to use this to pay off balance of CC1 (£4200) and the car loan (£3136).

Our total debt will then be split over 2 x 0% cards for 10months.
I'd love to be able to pay it off in 10 months, but I think it might be pushing it a bit so we're aiming for 12 months x £773-63!


I waffled on enough for now. Any way this is my new year resolution for 2009.


Anyone want to join me in becoming Debt Free by 31st Dec 2009?

savingholmes

Welcome to the boards. Mizmir has started a pay off by xmas 09 diary you may also want to post there....

It might help if you post an soa -statement of affairs using makesenseofcards... Then we may be able to identify areas where you are under or over paying...

~evanesco~

I'll join you, when I find Mizmir's thread. You're same as us, not debt amount, but we've been yo-yoing too. So now it's stopping. We're just going through sorting out a joint account for all the bills and salary etc, bit of a night mare, but it'll be ok in the end. Good Luck!

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the board.

Good luck with your journey. I too hope to be debt free by the end of 2009 :T

debtfreein2009

Yipee..... some more of the payments have been processed and are showing up on my accounts and the balances are now:

CC2 £306-42 (£700 to add to ccbill still to arrive, hopefully might be delayed until pay day!)
CC1 £4911.08

It's a small start but we're making progress at last. Total Outstanding debt is £9060.50. I'm going to scrimp and save and try and get under £9000 before pay day. Technically we're under because the big bill hasn't come in yet, but I'd rather include then I know the worst case! I'm going to pop over to Mizmir's thread and join up. I'm really excited that we're finally on the track to being debt free and we're going to do it this time.

debtfreein2009

I've joined Mizmir debt free in 2009 support thread so it's been set in stone that the debt's got to go! Mizmir has put my starting balance down as £9060-50 on the 1/12/08 - this is after our dec has paid off the debt in the last week on Nov.

Our sitution is slightly strange, as we live in Germany and have two sets of accounts. All my DH pay is paid into the German account. I work out what we need for the month to live on and then send the surplus back to the UK to cover our direct debits etc. After all our English outgoings there is quite a healthy surplus on paper, so in theory this spare money can be used to pay off debts. The problem we've had recently is that we use this left over money for treats and shopping on the internet. Now we've finished all our Christmas shopping, there's no need to spend anything, so it will all get thrown at the debts.

Since my LMB after pay day I've paid an extra £242-39 off our debt. I'm expecting a cheque to clear into our account tomorrow for £200 which will pay my last direct debit £25 and along with my child benefit (due tomorrow) should mean I've got nearly £300 extra to pay off the debt! Yippeee, the plan is starting to work at last. Sorry for waffling, but I think writing it in a diary is really helping keep track and motivated.


DEBT O/S NOW £8818-11 was at LBM £9283.63

debtfreein2009

Happy New Year Everyone - 2009 is here already!

My debt free journey offically start today and I'm soooooo excited that this is going to be my year! The outstanding balance today on our debts are £8585-50 so we've got to get strict to get rid of them. My DH is onboard which i going to make it easier, but he needs very little encouragment to spend,spend,spend. We've said that we're going to have 3 month of essential spending only, which will be interesting if we can stick to it.

We're not off to the best start as my hairdrier has been playing up for a few days and it's blown a couple of fuses. I use it a lot and know I need to replace it. I don't like the children going to bed with wet hair. Normally I would have gone out and bought the latest fad one, but this time I'm going purely on price so sale shopping it is!

DH has been paid for the month, but I've not transferred all his wages back to the UK yet so there's a healthy £700+ sat here in Germany which can be paid off the credit cards once the banks open. With my Tax Credits £42 and Child Benefit £125 still to pay we look like we're finally on track.