Single and in Debt Part II

makeup

Sarah,

That is fantastic - I think you have done the right thing. So much better not to have masses of small debts. I know it is heartbreaking to lose your house deposit but if you are able to save £1k in a good month you will soon build up an amazing deposit.

I agree with Gwen - it is so much better to work with your own motivations. I know what you mean about savings. For me to dip into my savings it has to be something I've really thought about - so for example an end of the month emergency where I can't pay my rent or something I really want like a flight or holiday. I would never use it for things like a new pair of shoes or a meal at a restaurant.

I am sure in a few months you will totally know the difference and you will have a fab new signature :j:j

Gwen - re: internet dating. One of my best friends was internet dating and set up two dates for one day - a lunch and then evening drinks. She had high hopes for lunch date - they had lots in common and she thought he was pretty cute. The evening guy she wasn't so bothered with but figured she might as well get 'out there'.

As you can imagine, lunch time guy was nice but no spark. Evening guy she is now married to (one year anniversary last week)

I'm a great believer in chemistry and I don't think you can get everything from an email. I know a friend who dated a guy who was absolutley hilarious and sparky and lovely on email but in reality - nothing!

I'd go with Holly's excellent advice, at worst you have had a nice couple of hours with someone who you had something in common but nothing earthshattering. (who knows, he may have a super-hot flatmate/ brother/ best mate!!!!!)

I randomly ended up on a cycling forum for fixed wheel bike riders. They had a page where they have pics of themselves (and their bikes) and there were a lot of very hot guys! I think I need a bike upgrade like now.....

Paulgonnabedebtfree

Paulgonnabedebtfree wrote: »

Well done Sarah (I think) .
Regarding thge unpaid loan: Depending on the terms of the loan and when it was taken out, it is possible that there may be little to gain by paying it off early. One way to check this (if you are so minded) is to calculate how much there is left to pay (your monthly repayment times the number of months left). When you have done that, contact the loan company and ask them for a settlement figure. Factor in how much your savings would earn during the time it would take to pay off the loan (probably not much at the moment. Having those numbers in front of you will give you a much better idea of which way to jump with this.

Just to add to the above: It might pay you to keep a liner of credit open if you want a mortgage in the future. Even if you just spend a little on a card and repay in full each month. That way you won't totally disappear from credit files which may make getting a mortgage a bit more hassle. Also bear in mind that moving can be expensive so tasking on a little debt to cover that eventually may be of benefit to you. It could be harder getting a new credit line just after moving precisely because of the fact that you have moved.

Bowski_1011

makeup wrote: »

I randomly ended up on a cycling forum for fixed wheel bike riders. They had a page where they have pics of themselves (and their bikes) and there were a lot of very hot guys! I think I need a bike upgrade like now.....

You also NEED to tell us the site

RosaBernicia

Hi Sarah

I also think you've done the right thing - much less stressful to stop juggling. And if you are a saver you will get your deposit sorted in no time.

I'm rather embarrassed to admit that I have no savings and never have had any . I went straight to a grant and loan at uni, lived in London on a low salary after graduation which didn't leave anything over and then started another degree which has ended up being funded via credit cards. One of the reasons I'm paying off my overdraft first is so that I can get used to being in the black for the first time. So I can certainly identify with feeling daft for getting this far in a career and having nothing to show for it. And as the Bank of Mum and Dad is non-existent in my case (dad's pension is less than a third of my salary), I'm very conscious that if anything did sideswipe me things would get very complicated.

I think juggling partly just helps hide from the issue. That's a rather painful realisation after looking at my DFD again tonight and realising that the credit card I want to tackle will take over a year. But converting it to a loan will cost just as much in interest and leave me less flexibility, and I think I will have to wait a while before I can get it moved to 0%. But there is no real room for juggling any more and I am tired of it. So am just going to have to knuckle down and get on with it. Playing with the cards really just distracts me from the total. Sigh. Oh well. Time to just get it sorted, and I will try and be patient rather than doing the cut-back and splurge as ranted about last week!

Rosa xx

Hollyberry

Hi Sarah

Another vote here for your plan being absolutely the right thing to do. You have thought through what motivates you best, and I am so pleased that it will help you be free of those worries. :A

Here's to a fine new plan. :beer:
H x

Lula-Hula

Hi everyone, just flying by as up to my neck in work & DD1s stuff; it's everywhere :rolleyes:

Sarah - just skimmed through your fabulous post about using savings to clear the debts & all I can say is

: fantastic

I'm so glad you've done this, those savings of yours have been bugging me for a while knowing how stressed you 've been about everything fnance related.

That's such a positive leap & I think you're fabulously brilliant :A

Hope to catch up properly soon

love & hugs to all .... I miss you

lula
xx

Hollyberry

Lula!

Hope everything's going ok. We miss you too! :A

Take care
H x

eco

I agree with everyone Sarah you did the right thing you were worrying too much and your savings will soon start to grow and you'll wonder why you didn't think of doing it sooner.
I was eating baby carrots in the garden yesterday they were delicious, even better as they cost next to nothing, got a busy weekend, what's everyone else planned?

TDQO

Well done Sarah! I've been wanting to tell you to do this for ages but I figured you can do what you want with your own money.

Hmmm, I got a goodnight kiss from one of the girls that lives at the back of my house last night... she didn't leave til 1.30am! No such luck tonight tho

Flying home tomorrow, woo!

sarahb123_3

Have just logged on to internet banking and found my savings in there, was a big surprise to see that much money in there at once:D Sadly it all had to go:rolleyes:. I have cleared my larger overdraft,smaller overdraft, replenished quidco account and sent full payments to Barclaycard and MBNA. Phew. Just the loan left.

Am back to being very poor again. I have tiny savings and I still have a loan, but that's it. Will do some sums later to work out my proper outgoings. I might set up a new current account just for my outgoings so I know exactly how much I have to spend/save each month.

Have been to pay the dentist bill and had to use cc but it is the one that gets paid in full each month and my pay will be in my account then to sort it.

I will ring the card companies when the funds credit and shut the accounts, I will keep my day to day cc which is paid in full each month and earns me cashback. I will go on internet banking and close the dds for everything.

I will never get anything on credit ever again, ever. If I can't afford it I can't have it. That is how all this started, getting a credit card and feeling very grown up, spending on it and only paying the minimum dd, reaching limit and getting consolidation loans, not closing the card and building it up again, then consolidating loan and card, closing card, then getting a new one because I will of course be very sensible with it this time, on and on and on and on...

I have to stop thinking that handing over a card is very grown up and makes me look like a responsible adult and that the card companies obviously think I am a trustworthy person. They are right to trust me, but only in the fact that I can meet the minimum payments and make them lots of money in interest. When I rang Barclaycard I found out my credit limit was £9.5k:eek::eek::eek: They must have just kept on raising it (my balance was nowhere near that btw:D).

I hate paying money back, I am just no good at it. God knows how much interest I have paid over the years. I will just work with what I have. I know that if I see something I like I usually just whip the cc out, if there is no cc I will know it is coming out of my current account and that really will make me think twice, any money I spend could potentially go into my savings so I will have to think about whether I really, really want it. So much stuff here because I quite liked it, could diet into it, was too lazy to take back, forgot about etc. It didn't really matter because it wasn't my money.:o Except it was.

I do not like not having any savings. But I am planning to build it back up as soon as possible, I like the feeling of "I can put that into my savings" much better than the one of "I can use that to pay part of my cc/overdraft" etc. I am planning to be mean.:D I will be the most penny pinching, bargain hunting, freebie grabbing, voucher using person ever. :jI will save and save and save. I am one tiny step on the way to getting my house. :j