How do you all do it...

Alleycat

scheming_gypsy wrote:

we've got a starbucks bar at work. A tea is 50p, if we used our own teabags they'd charge 20p for the water / cup / service and the milk is free.

Do you indulge?!

cheets99

My debt is safe, I could pay it all off if I had to, sell all my dvd boxsets, Computer system + server, tv and xbox 360.

My biggest problem was i was off sick in sept for 2 montsh and i spent alot of money to make me feel happier after my problems.

I also bought my sisters car and i never sold the car i had, so I am paying for 2 cars

Hoping to sell the car this month and bring in £1500 after finace settlement.

The thing is after being and looking on this forum I want to be debt free for some strange reason.

eBay has been great/bad, I got into the routine of buying things cheap to sell on, the thing is i got lazy and i wouldnt list the items so i was paying them off on the CC and just letting the things sit in the spare room.

but now I am getting round to selling everything I have and its alot.

I bought Steel Battalion 2 years ago for the xbox which cost £150

nabowla

Another thing to remember is that most people are already paying something towards their debts even before they have their lightbulb moment. It might only be the minimum payment but if you've got two or three cards and a loan you could easily be paying around £300 per month before you start to cut back. So, all you've got to do then is to cut the grocery bill in half, switch utility suppliers, cancel payment protection, cut out takeaways and reduce personal spending by 50% and suddenly you're throwing c£600+ at the debt each month.

sparkle_monkey

Nabowla is right for me, before I was paying £500 a month and still going out etc but after reading MSE I realised I was in a prime position to pay off even more so I got a second job (which I now live on), quit smoking, drinking, buying new clothes & c**p I don't need, taking trips etc. I've made debt repayment my MAIN priority until August, so I will pay off £1000 this month and hope that'll continue.
Bear in mind its only myself and I can get away with just paying the rent and buying food. Any amount of debt repayment is great so don't be hard on yourself! :beer:

vyvyan_2

I haven't listed my debt on my sig yet. Like one or two others have said, it's all in a major overhaul at the moment so I need things to settle a bit so I can reassess what I'm dealing with. I'm in the transitional stage of making things happen before the long slog bit. I've cancelled things, changed things, wrote loads of letters (many of them fairly strongly worded) and made loads of phone calls. I now need to see these take effect. I can then update my SOA (saved on the PC) to work out new budget. In the meantime a complete rethink on necessary spending patterns with a spending diary. I will put a sig on here soon and take pleasure in updating it whenever possible! I'm finding the best way to cope is to treat it like a business and detach myself from the emotion and fear of the future which is never very far away. I'm never very far from this site either!

wigginsmum

I'm chucking everything available at my debts. Have got the household shopping down from £500/month to £200 by being sensible and shopping wisely. Currently paying £457 to a loan, £250 to Egg, £212 to MINT, and £100 to my overdraft by not using it. I'd had a major sort out of the finances starting last November when I first read Martin's book and came on here. It means I'm not buying coffees etc, not buying clothes, not going out, and basically not treating myself to anything much, but I get enormous satisfaction from seeing the debt balances reduce, and I'm fortunate in that I get a bonus of £3k every January to whack off a card. I log everything on a spreadsheet projected out till 2011, and I carry a little book to note any daily spends and transfer that to an online blog so I have a permanent record of every penny spent. I'm selling a fair amount of stuff on Amazon starting last weekend, and when that money starts to trickle in I'll pay it off a card. Since November I've paid £5979 off my debts, but still have a very long way to go.

D&DD

Hi Gypsy mine went down by a load when I found this site and realised thanks to other posters I was paying PPI which I shouldn't have been (OH is covered thru work..) so we wrote to all involved and got that taken off the outstanding debts hence the huge fall from Jan this year.I have around 900 a month to throw at our debts but am working on finding more as I truly have the moneysaving bug now

LHM

Yeah, eBay has been a godsend...so far I've only been able to afford approx £200 per month to throw at my debt but I've made over £140 this month on eBay, I get my works bonus a week on Tuesday (approx £600 after tax) and I've been offered some overtime for the next 3 months which should earn me approx £300 per month extra after tax...I really can't wait to write those cheques to my creditors, it'll give me a real boost seeing over a grand knocked off my debt within 3 months!

Also, I've got into the habit this month of paying the odd £3.50, £7, £9.50 etc off my credit cards whenever I can...it all helps!

Keep at it! We'll all get there in the end!

Bloke_with_a_simple_life

HEllo Gypsy

I think you need to put a full SOA on here detailing the total income and expenditure for a month. Include all your debts and interest ratess & min payments etc.

By the looks of things, you are putting money into saving schemes (e.g. employee share plan) which you could put into clearing your debt - but then again, you may determine that the value of the shares in 5 years (say) will, given the tax breaks and return on investment, be greater than the Interest charges you are making.

And as for the amount you save each month - how much do you have in your savings and why not use that to clear off some debts?

Put the SOA up here - you will get some good advice form people on what can be done and get that debt free date a bit sooner.


Oh - Cashbucks @ work? No venidng machines which give free water? Sounds utterly unreasonable!

Why not bring in a flask of hot water, your own cup, make your own tea/coffee and take them home at night to wash and refill?

skintchick

Hi gypsy - could you post your SOA under another user name so your mum won't know it's you?

I'm not sure that sticking it all on your mortgage is a good idea - we tend to be against consolidation on this board.

If you have about £600 after bills then you are doing well already!

Most people on here have second jobs - can you do a Saturday job to rbing in extra cash?

Or get a lodger? I did that and it's £350 a month for only a little increase in bills and council tax.

I also rent out my garage for storage at £45 a month.

HTH