Whose got a debt of around £3k?

Miffi_2

The reason why I am asking is that I wondered how much you are managaing to pay off a month and when you think you will be clear of it?

I know to some £3k is a ridiculously small amount, particuarly when some people here have debts of £50k plus, but I remember looking at my debt when it was just a £500 overdraft (which wasn't that long ago) and now its a £3k debt and if I hadn't stopped, had my lightbulb moment and found this place, it would be growing and growing. It does play on my mind (haven't told oh) and I feel very guilty as I squandered it all on total crap.

Over the last month, I have had quite a few slip ups, but I am now determined to sort myself out and clear it and am very interested in how other people are tackling it.

Thanks to all in advance.

mintymoneysaver

Ours was about £5k and I reckon we will have sorted it two years from when we started, but it all depends on how much you can throw at it.
If you could throw £150 a month and not spend any more it would be gone in 20 months!

Lewby

Hi Miffi, I know that it is so easily done to let the debt mount up ( I am one of those £50k plus people). I don't think it matters whether you are trying to pay off £3k or £53k, the principles of being a DFW seem to be the same.

Once you have made up your mind that you are going to rid yourself of the debt and have worked out how long it will take you at the longest, then the challenge seems to be bringing that date closer and closer by being more prudent with the money you have. I give myself an allowance each month for 'spending money' and keep a daily spending diary. It has amazed me where my money was going and every £1 I can now avoid spending goes towards my debt.

How long it will take you depends on how much disposable income you have to throw at your debts but once you've made the committment to be debt free then it's so exciting to see it paid off. I get more of a thrill from paying off my debt now than spending money (which may seem a little sad)... in fact I've started to really resent having to spend money I don't need to! It's fun to be imaginitive about how to get the most for your money, especially when it comes to cooking low cost meals with what's already in the cupboard. It's also fun to do it without anyone else really noticing ... which I think is a challenge in itself as apart from on this site I am embarrassed about being so much in debt and have only admitted it to my OH and my very best friend.

Don't forget to allow yourself the occasional treat - today I bought Car D'Or Vanilla Icecream on a BOGOF at Somerfield for my treat and a magazine with a voucher in the paper. I used to buy 2 mags a week and didn't think of it as a treat! My DFD is Dec 2009 but I know it will be sooner than that. :T

Good Luck!

Lewby xx

Ali-OK

Hi Miffi

Totally agree with Lewby on this - it doesn't matter how big or small your debt is...the bottom line is making your way to debt freedom as quick as you can and it's a mix of minimising outgoings and maximising incomings. Use the extra money from doing this to throw at your debt.

Have a really good read through the boards here and get working on the things you can change.

Is the debt in one place or spread? If not, use the snowball calculator on https://www.whatsthecost.com to ensure you're paying the debts in the right order to minimise interest.

With Lewby on £50K and planning for Dec 09 and me on £22K also planning debt freedom for Dec 09, you can see it's not the amount but how much you pay off and getting interest as low as possible (or 0% APR is even better!)

Good luck and welcome to the DWF boards.

mintymoneysaver

It's true, however sad it is, I really look forward to the end of the month and being able to write a cheque to pay some more of that debt off.I don't keep a spending diary as such but I do have a notebook and write down everything I ever put on a credit card so there are no surprises at the end of the month.
I also have a list of my debt and cross it off each time I pay more off it.
Although I do still have a credit card I never put more on it than I can pay off it that month( it's usually around £100) which is why you don't see it on my signature.I also get cashback on it so I am now making money out of them! When I've totally paid my debts off I will only be using my credit card so that I canget interest on the money rather than them.
Roll on next wek when I aim to pay off my Sainsbury's card and another chunk off the Virgin one!

rubytuesday

Mines about £7,000 pay off about £250 a month :mad:

15lsp

i have just under £4000 debt...not including student loan. I try to pay off £600 a month my 0% apr credit card ends in august so my goal is to pay it off by then.

roversbabe

Me - as you can see from my sig, I have just over £3k of debt - £1300 on my cc, £1836 is a joint debt and my last car payment which will be paid on 1/4/06. I'll be debt free on 6th April as the dosh is in my ISA & once the interest is added to the ISA, I'll clear the 2 cc's.

12 months ago I was over £7k in debt and have paid back most of it & the outstanding amounts are now on 0% cards (apart from the car loan)

I agree with Lewby, the size of the debt doesn't matter to your DFW attitude - becoming debt free is about changing your mindset, watching your spending and taking it once step at a time.

rb

oops_a_daisy

I owe £3000 on a 0% c/card with 6 months to run and £3500.00 on a bank loan with 28 months left to pay at £127.30.

With the help from this site, money that I am owed and bonus that I am due from work I would be able to pay this lot off in 2 months BUT now Im trying to think MSE way. If I pay off my bank loan early I will save £200.00 - if I put the £3500.00 into a savings account I would make more in inerest over the 2 years so Im looking into that now. The money on the credit card is interest free so again I can keep it there and pay min payments and put the money to pay it off in a savings account and earn interest.

It would be nice to say I am debt free but at the moment I think it would be nicer to be making money from the debts

amosworks

Hi Miffi,

I had debts of several thousand which I slowly began destroying (before I found the genius of MSE) and now have about about £2.5k left. It occured to me though (after reading the bank charges thread) that I must have paid quite a lot in bank charges so thought it would be interesting to see how much debt I could wipe off by getting the people I owe money to to pay it for me Well RBS now owe me £2.7k so it seems as though I am kinda debt free already. If you have a few k of debt then see how much you might be able to claim back from your bank charges, it could quite literally slash your debt in half or clear it outright! Definitely worth investigating as you said you had a £500 overdraft so sure that you've had some penalties/charges at some point in the last 6 years

Miffi_2

Thanks everyone. I hope you didn't mind me asking, but it is interesting to see who is in the same debt as me and the way you are tackling it.

I was chatting to a friend at work who said that her boyfriend is a disaster with money. When they first met a few years ago he told her he had a debt of about £3.5k - she assumed he was tackling it, but has since discovered (they wont to move into their own place soon) that it has grown and he just keeps adding to it, so goodness knows what it is now!! Scary!