Postgrad Student aiming to halve debt in 2009

Rachhf

Today has been my lightbulb moment :idea::idea:. I decided to work out how much I owe. It's not that much compared with a lot of people, but it's a lot to me, and I want to catch it early before it spirals...

I'm studying for a masters- it was meant to take me one year, but I was struck down with a really bad case of glandular fever then felt post-viral and depressed, so I'm now in my 2nd year, and my 5th consecutive year at university!

Thankfully, my situation is much better than it could be- I was half-funded last year, and managed to pay 5/6 of my tuition fees. I also have two jobs, one of which pays me around £50 per week and the other gives me an allowance towards my accommodation, so I have accommodation from October to July for under £300.
But last summer I had to pay around £1000 in rent plus living costs, and was aiming to finish my dissertation, but I was still recovering from the virus and the work didn't happen. Consequently I am now skint and in debt, sucked into using my credit card. I do pay it off every month, but it is a mad panic to do so, and I did do a 0% balance transfer one frivolous month to delay having to pay it off.

Tonight I worked out my debt; altogether I owe approx £3540.58 :eek:, which includes my interest-free overdraft of £1800 (exactly on the limit, I have £NIL to spend until I get paid!). I earn about £4500 a year in my bar job. So, my aim is to pay off half of this debt by January 1st 2010.
Can I do it???

My next job is to do an SOA, then budget for the next few months. My priority is to pay off my tuition fees and accommodation and service my credit cards. I think I will transfer all my balances onto the Virgin 0% card which will hopefully get me 15 months at that rate (My credit rating is apparently good for a student, and my other 0% card is not the same company, so it would be OK).

I'm already starting saving money- I have no social life, other than my job in a bar, I'm really cutting down on what I spend on food and clothes etc :money:.

Amazingly, I went food shopping on Monday 16th, cost me about £16, bought a sandwich on Tuesday, then had 2 pints of Guinness for St Pat's :beer:, and only spent 60p (cash, debit & credit cards all included) from then until today (a whole week!) :T. That was hard work, and not sustainable! Need to go food shopping again now!

So the challenge begins...:mad: