How do you all do it...

Alleycat

But as has already been explained, its not just cutting down on the takeaways which enables some people to up their payments to that sort of level. It can be a mixture of selling a second (or even only) car, taking on a second job, cutting down on their food bills, cancelling PPI, switching utility, insurance providers, getting rid of Sky, reducing phone bills via 1899 etc, selling unwanted goods on Ebay/Amazon, switching to reusable nappies rather than disposables, quitting smoking, cutting back on pub/restaurant going, selling the kids etc.

Thats a hell of a lot of ways that people can cut back on their daily expenses. It is amazing how it all mounts up and once people stop constantly incurring late payment charges, bounced cheque charges and cut the interest they are paying on their debts each month they can really clear their debts a lot faster than just coasting along or sinking as they were previously.

southernscouser

For example I was paying £10 a month for the privelage of having an account with loads of "perks" that I never used! Thats £120 a year! Or a months travelling expenses in my case!

scheming_gypsy

Alleycat wrote:

But as has already been explained, its not just cutting down on the takeaways which enables some people to up their payments to that sort of level. It can be a mixture of selling a second (or even only) car, taking on a second job, cutting down on their food bills, cancelling PPI, switching utility, insurance providers, getting rid of Sky, reducing phone bills via 1899 etc, selling unwanted goods on Ebay/Amazon, switching to reusable nappies rather than disposables, quitting smoking, cutting back on pub/restaurant going, selling the kids etc.

Thats a hell of a lot of ways that people can cut back on their daily expenses. It is amazing how it all mounts up and once people stop constantly incurring late payment charges, bounced cheque charges and cut the interest they are paying on their debts each month they can really clear their debts a lot faster than just coasting along or sinking as they were previously.

aye i know, i was just reitterating what i was originally asking rather than asking for advice for my own debt.

moozie_2

Hey there scheming_gypsy

This has been a very interesting thread so far

I struggled to come to terms with my debt for quite a while and once I finally faced it all, I could not wait to get working on reducing my debts. Following the wonderful advice and support I got on here, in my first month of my journey I paid off £1,182.50 off my debts.

Admittedly, £640 of that was minimum payments but the rest came from me re-arranging a few things, raiding my £2 and copper pots and cashing in a small ISA I had forgotten about.

I'd love to have this scale of reduction every month but I realise this is not going to happen It's quite hard to see my DFD so far ahead but that's the only way forward.

This month I doubt I'll be making much more than my minimum payments as I am working on not being overdrawn (usually by £400 2 weeks after payday ). This is important to me and once I achieve it, I will be able to pay more money off my debts. It makes more sense that way rather than pay OD rates to pay more off 0% interest debt, for instance.

Thanks for the food for thought and best of luck - you are doing great anyway :T

MLbiggestfan

Dont think you can beat the snowballing method! Throw everything you have spare (and try to cut back on day to day things, maybe earn a little more, to add to the spare) at your biggest interest debt. As soon as this is gone you have THAT amount on top of spare to throw at next biggest interest debt and so on.


credit card debt: £7983.00 :eek:
catalogue debt:£1986.00 :eek:
storecard debt:£3023.00 : :eek: :eek: :eek:

But by December this year highest credit card debt will be gone (£2385.00)leaving £120.00 a month to pay off next highest interest card.

Debt free date December 2008 (hopefully) :rotfl:

ms_london

scheming_gypsy wrote:

yeah kind of, but mainly how are they managing to find an extra £800 a month since their lightbulb moment. That's a hell of a lot of takeaways etc etc for that extra amount.

Happy Birthday for the 3rd Aug!! I shall think of you while I am jetting off to Oz :0)

I moved to London in order to find the extra say £800 a month after my lightbulb moment. I knew wages would be well paid (in comparison to those at home), and I also took on a 2nd job also - you either need to reduce your outgoings or increase your incomings - so I did both. If I had stayed at home and not decided to work/live in London, there's no question that I would still be in debt!!

Best of luck.

xx

Gerradene

I reduced my total debt by £2,219.15 last month

Firstly i got paid £500 more than usual (nice suprise!)

Secondly i followed advice on these forums and cancelled the PPI on my loan.

My first month clearing my debts has gone pretty well, there is no way i'll be able to match it next month though, i only earn £900 a month!

MrsTinks

I cancelled the PPI on my loan and took ti out with an independant provider, saving well over £2000. I changed my bank account (lloyds gold plus) costing me I think £120 a year? for benefits I never used. Moved to Alliance and leicester (got £95 cash for that too yay!). Using quidco for loads of things I need to buy and really shopping round for things and not paying for next day delivery for opting for free delivery where ever possible. Selling stuff on Ebay (sold my old mobile XDAIIs for nearly £200 as I have upgraded at the huge cost of £40). Take aways have been drastically cut and this month I managed to pay £500 towards my loan although this might still come back to haunt me (£95 for breaks on OHs car, £300 on heating oil, £? for MOT and breaks on my own car and £90 for flights to Denmark for my stepdads retirement party... ARGH! As I didn't come home for Christmas then I can't really not go home for this, but I suspect my nan will help out towards the flight tickets AND my dad owes me my birthday and christmas pressies still which is usually about £100 combined I have managed to save money on birthday pressies (I love buying for people!) by keeping an eye on various offers etc and getting cash back where possible. So instead of spending £50-60 on 2 birthdays I am going to be spending £25
Food budget has dropped too but amount and quality of food is still high Bought slow cooker which has made it less work to turn out good meals from cheap ingredients. Buying in bulk at market for fresh veg and preparing them and then freezing them ready to use
And today sold my non-running mondeo for £30 - to be towed on thursday so a) it's one worry less as it's in the way where it is parked and although I think it's worth more then I'll never get round to getting rid of it otherwise. And the damned thing is full of suff that I need to remove like speakers, stereo, spare SKY dish and boxes lol!!!

All I can say is IT ALL ADDS UP!