My £3k challenge

yukkibear

I've started my own diary to try and motivate myself to pay off £3k.
Until last week I was debt free, but my OH's car decided to finally give up the ghost leaving us with a few decisions hanging in the air. The outcome was to get a new car, and I decided rightly or wrongly if I was going to get another car then I wanted a smaller engine for cheaper tax, insurance and parts etc but I also wanted a half decent one that would last me for a good few years.

I am now the owner of a shiny 06 plate Ford Fiesta which I appear to love more than my OH at the mo lol.

Over the last few months I have taken part in many of the challenges of £10 per day etc and have taken advantage of some great offers and worked hard at surveys etc to help bring in that little bit extra.
motivation has lacked a lot of the last couple of months, but I am determined to get rid of this loan as quickly as possible.

Now for the scary stuff. I have a loan of £3k at 18.2%. :eek:. I am aware of how high the rate is but I have a masterplan behind my reasonings for getting this rate. I didn't want a loan that I would pay a set amount to each month and it would drag on for the term of the loan. I want it gone as soon as possible.
After looking into all the options and believe me I looked long and hard, I opted for a flexi loan attached to my current account. I can see the up to date balance online when I log into banking each day.
Because I see this figure, it inspires me to chuck a bit of money at it each day, and I'm praying that this will encourage me to pay it off quicker.

I'm not going to post my SOA here as I know what's right and wrong about it from reading plenty of others on here, so I know the changes I need to make. This diary is to keep me on track with paying off small amounts as well as the regular monthly payments.

My aim = paid off by April 2010 instead of April 2012 :eek:

Feel free to pop on and read and offer any encouragement or kicks up the rear I may need lol.

Phew, that was the hard bit over.

Primula

Hi there
Good luck with paying your car loan off quickly. It's kind of..........mmh not sure what words I'm looking for........scary/annoying/b****y maddening being debt free and then plunging right in there again, been there myself, BUT if anything it makes you more determined to GET RID quickly! I know exactly what you mean in being able to see the balance day to day. My cc is with my bank and I like being able to see it every day on line and even throwing the odd couple of pounds at it is good, so good luck, and enjoy your new car. :j
Keep your diary updated too!
P
x

savingholmes

18.9% ouch. 06 plate for £3K sounds good. Hope you stay on track and pay off asap! good luck!

yukkibear

Thanks for the replies

Today I have managed to pay £70 off the loan :j
£10 scratchcard payout
£24.97 bingo win ( I rounded it up)
£35 from OH

I'm really pleased with that it's a shame it wont happen every day though. I'm quite interested, yes scared to see how much the monthly interest will be but I wont see that until next month when the payments go out of my bank.

I've got a couple of things finishing on Ebay later today, and am planning to get 5 things listed tonight, and carry on relisting the bits that don't sell, as at 99p it's not costing me anything to keep listing them and they WILL sell eventually lol.

So todays list is

- 5 things on Ebay
- parcel up 3 packages to go tomorrow

yukkibear

I've been a bit naughty today and been for lunch and some shopping. I bought dd2 some summer bits so she should be almost sorted for the summer, and I did buy myself a new bag that I didn;t need but want.
I'll put the old one on Ebay tomorrow so hopefully recoup a bit of the cash I spent towards it.

I have some auctions ending later today, a couple with bids and some watchers on things ending tomorrow, so fingers crossed for a couple of sales.
I am finding with the 99p free listings things are selling on the second or third time round so I WILL clear some of my clutter and help my fund if it kills me lol.

I worked out last night using the snowball calculator that if I can overpay the loan by £130 each month then I can see the back of it by next May. I need to aim for that figure each month to rid myself of this.
I think it's doable, depending on how much I can sell on Ebay etc. I think I need to start looking at matched betting again.

I know I have about £80 due to me from a couple of cash back sites and the tax rebate from OH's tax disc so that will all be chucked at it when it arrives.

Haven;t paid any off today though.

yukkibear

Plan of action today is to get some more bits on Ebay. I have ome bits finishing tonight with bids. :j

Between now and the 10th May I just need to find an extra £40 for the loan. I have £20 due from Quidco at the beginning of May so that just leaves £20. I don't know whether to try and eek it from my wages or use some of the Ebay sales.
I think I'm going to try and leave the ebay money to overpay next months and see if I can find a way of getting the £20 from somewhere else if not from my wages.

yukkibear

Nothing much happening on the moneymaking front today. I have posted a few ebay sales off this afternoon, but have definitely decided to hold back the money in paypal till next month and withdraw then. I'm going to see how much more I can cram into there before then.

I've listed a few more bits on Ebay tonight, so am keeping the consistency going.

Have dentist tomorrow and dreading it

yukkibear

I got a free fiver for tombola this morning and won a tenner from it :j, so that will go to the car loan when it hits my bank account.

Had two fillings at the dentist, I HATE the drill with a passion, and have to go back the next three weeks for more treatment. That's what happens when you don;t go to the dentist for 17 years :eek:

lollypopswater

Oooh good luck Yukkibear with the car loan! I can see myself in exactly the same situation next year...

Debt free but needing to replace my car. I am currently terrified with the prospect and am not really sure if I'll be able to cope with getting a loan!!

Time will tell I suppose - best of luck with paying your loan off early x

yukkibear

Lollypop, I was the same, completely against getting a loan for anything I wanted to do, but our hand was forced unfortunately.

yukkibear

Not a lot happening at the mo. I have bids on ebay items so the money is trickling in there but I wont feel like it's doing anything until I withdraw it and pay towards the loan.

Payday today so money in and then out again, but waiting on my tax credits renewal so see where I'm at properly every month as no doubt that will go down and my nursery fees are going up so am not sure how much I'm going to have to play around with until that comes through.

I am still listing at least two items on Ebay each day even though some of those are relists. I'm also trying really hard not to buy things for work each day and yesterday I managed a NSD which was nice.
I have learnt that if I buy a pack of six cereal bars (or similar) and hide in my drawer at work, they last me a couple of weeks rather than me bringing them home after eating one at work and everyone else devouring them and then I go and buy more a couple of days later.

So far so good.