Joining the club

hypno06

Hi, and welcome aboard! My debt was a similar level to you, but as you can see from my signature it is tumbling - all down to the support, advice and ideas from these boards (oh, and a bit of hard work on my part I suppose!).

So, it CAN be done - my best piece of advice is to mooch around the boards, look on the freebies board for stuff that you can use for presents, or to keep your shopping bill down, or for free cinema tickets so you can cut your entertainment budget etc.

Look at the comps board - you never know what you might win!

Look on the old style board for fab ideas on getting that grocery bill down without being made to feel as though you are missing out on yummy stuff!

And the DFW board has a wealth of good ideas, challenges and the like to get you focused on getting that debt down quicker than you ever thought possible!

We have a challenge to pay off capital of £20k by next christmas, a challenge to make £10 a day (which would wipe out your shortfall!), a challenge to take £10 at the beginning of the year and see how much profit you can make out of it, and so on - these are the things that can make such a huge difference to your progress!

So, welcome and I look forward to reading more!

the_drifter

Thanks for all the messages of support.

I WILL do it and I guess putting it down here is to help me focus.

CSA is just the arrears - have about 2 years left to pay that. My income I put down was net of maintainance and child support.

Live in a shared flat, all electric.

hoping for a couple of windfalls along the way which I have not budgeted for, an annual bonus and some money from injuries on a car accident a few years ago. No idea if and how much on these yet so don't want to factor them in just to be conservative.

I have been discovering the late evening reductions at the supermarket which should bring down my grocery bills and come new year will try and do more packed lunches.

The comps board was something I hadn't thought about, thanks for that.

Fire_Fox

You can get just as good a workout without ever going near a gym - in fact I would stick my neck out far enough to say you can get a better workout without some gym equipment (e.g. fixed weights machines). January is the ideal time for anyone thinking of setting up their own mini gym. What you purchase depends upon space and budget but you might consider

1. Getting fitted for trainers if you are doing any high impact (running/ jumping) type activity - fitting free, trainers from £30
2. Swiss ball - less than £5
3. Mixed resistance bands - less than £10
4. Skipping rope - £2

Optional:
5. Flexi-bar - about £50 including a DVD for technique and poster for ideas
6. Basic dumbell set - instead of bands if you feel richer or have the space.

Anyone who tells you gym machines are better than using a combination of your own body weight, Swiss ball and bands or dumbells does not know his trade. Machines train you primarily in a seated position, they train you in a fixed plane of movement and they stabilise the weight for you - all totally unnatural.

the_drifter

Well 10 days into logging my spending. Guess the christmas period will distort it somewhat so I'll see were I am on the other side

Happy holidays all

pandapaws

Hi!

Happy Christmas - enjoy the next few days and then get stuck right into the money-making once you've recovered from the festivities. I totally echo what Hypno says above - the challenges are brilliant for getting your backside in gear. You could also do a lot worse than hanging around Hypno's thread as there are always loads of great money making/saving ideas there and everyone is always very friendly - great motivation!

Re the gym - if you really do get use out of it, then I'd take the contraversial stance that you should keep it. You're in this for the long haul and you're far more likely to stick to a budget if you're able to do a few things here and there that you enjoy. If you go cold-turkey you'll more likely to fail miserably, so do everything in moderation.

The other thing that struck me was the 0% deals you've got - we've been gradually switching as much of ours as possible to life-of-balance deals at decent rates. With the way the credit market is at the moment, who knows whether there'll be much in the way of 0% transfers next year, and by the time you've paid 3% to transfer every time, you're not losing much by getting onto a decent long-term deal. Might be worth thinking about if your credit rating is still good.

Anyway, enjoy Christmas, and keep posting!

the_drifter

Well managed to avoid most of the sales - figured out I didn't really need anything, though did buy a few toys for my child in the sales - I'll put those away for later.

Did manage one NSD over the xmas period, but not surprisingly on Xmas day - the curse of the internet and the M&S sale! Had a few more expenses, what with being with the family and buying bits of food here and there, but overall pretty controlled and am satisfied.

Should be in a better position come the end of Jan to rejig my SOA once I get a clearer picture on my expenditure, though still reducing that debt. Did add on my CSA arrears to make it more accurate. Was able to borrow short term from a family member which I used to pay off my loan and a CC which at least reduces my interest costs for now


Went through my wardrobes and found a few things for ebay which I stuck on at the weekend, and an old phone to send of to the Tesco phone recycling...every little helps.

Managed to eat too much and not do the exercise I intended, so I guess I'll be like the masses, trying to make up for it in Jan.

Hope everyone had a good Xmas. Hope you have a prosperous New Year and good luck with all your resolutions....may all your pennies make pounds.

the_drifter

Well all going well up until new year!

Car broke down, had extra expense of a couple of train journeys unplanned as a result. Expect the damage to be seen in there being less than expected progress in jan

Had signed up for a free credit report as I was turned down recently for a credit card. Did notice a couple of mistakes which I have gotton fixed now. Tried cancelling before xmas, but could not get through. Trial ended on friday and I forgot to phone up on Friday to cancel. Cost me £70! Trying to tell myself that getting the errors fixed on the report was worth it.

Managed to sell a couple of items on ebay, and got a few more small things still up for auction. Should bring in over £100, best case up to £150.

the_drifter

Ebay brought in £150. After postage, charges should make around £135. Still got a few more things I can stick on - just small things so only a few ££'s - so that is the plan for the weekend.

I secumbed to the sales, but only one pair of half price shoes. Though they are good quality and should prove their worth in the long run.

Thinking of selling the car and downgrading to a cheap run around, though I know it's not an easy time to sell.

Had some relatively reassuring news on the job side, which triggered my LBM. Boss was happy with my work and they had no plans for further redundancies in the near future.

Now I need to figure out how to get rid of a different type of lbs. Time to shift that christmas fat!
.

the_drifter

well been superbusy at work since NY, which I suppose is good in terms of job security. Part of my payment to mr taxman comes due at the end of the month, but just had a letter saying my taxcode was wrong, so hopefully get something back.

Christmas period distorted things abit in terms of normal spending patterns, a little less spent on food as with family, a little more on travelling. Plan to update SOA at the end of the month.

Just found the free scratchcards everyone goes on about, so started those today - now fo my big win!

the_drifter

will be revising my soa at the end of the month.

Had a good month, sold the car, got £5k. Now on the look out for somthing cheap to replace it. No change in my salary as a result of the tax code change, guess I'll see what comes in next month.

been cutting down at lunch, rationed those expensive sarnies. Next month should also see me getting some kind of loyalty bonus, so fingers crossed.

Made £45 from recycling a couple of old phones. Got a few chargers may try and sell to raise a few pounds too