Gotta get Debt Free

Knitty78

Still plodding on. Not much to report. An extra £11.72 cleared from the credit card thanks to some ebay items. Bank account still empty but shop from grocery budget ordered online (I thought I would give Asda a go again, never know) as I binned a load of stuff OH wanted from going to Asda last week but he never ate :mad: and it's not things I would eat.

To be honest I am bored of this all already. I want to, and will stick to it, but when you are used to spending money willy nilly it's hard to suddenly stop Or at least it is for me, especially as most of my spends were on nothing (lunches, coffees, magazines) really so nothing to show for it. It's just habit really and I guess I will get used to it. I think the library think I'm a bit mad though - I've been taking advantage of being able to order books in for free so I went a bit click happy and ordered loads recently. :rotfl:Still saves me from buying them (even though I used to buy them from charity shops).

Knitty78

I'm bored so I've worked out that I'ev so far paid off 6% of the debt :money:I also had a conversation with my OH who didn't realise that when I said I was overpaying the credit card this was from my money and not from the bills money. I did ask him where he thought I could get the £300 from out of our bill money He has said he will also give me extra each month when he can which should help clear the bills a bit quicker (although he got paid today and so far no extra money has been sent my way). I know he needs to clear his overdraft though and I have told him he can do that and his HSBC card himself. Our DFD currently stands in 2013 but I really want to be debt free by Summer 2011 which is when we will be looking to move somewhere bigger. However, I am not sure that this is achieveable without me sitting down and doing some proper number crunching or being able to transfer the higher interest cards to 0% offers next year when their current 0% deals end. I am really peeved with the Royal Mail strikes. I was just getting into listing my things on eBay and I wonder if it is worth continuing as I don't know if people will look whilst they may have to wait for postage. If I do continue to list I suppose anything I get in is better than nothing but would I be better to wait? Who knows I guess.

I have written my to-do list in my diary for this weekend which also includes cooking up some meat due to go out of date (no room in the freezer). OH has plans of us going out for dinner tonight and lunch on Sunday. He, unlike me, doesn't seem to think of clearing the debts as a priority and maintains that we should have a 'life'. Unfortunately me not putting my foot down sooner means that we are in the situation we are in and I think that we should be putting that money to better use. Not to mention it's not good for my diet. Tonight we can't really get out of. His brother is in London and everyone else is meeting up. He doesn't get to see his family together very often so it would be unfair for me to say we shouldn't go. And yes, this is a we thing, it would be unheard of for him to attend without me no matter how much I insist as all the other sister-in-laws will be there. And he knows I already had no plans really as we were going to play badminton tonight.

Knitty78

I'm confused but the whats the cost website. Above I posted that we'll be debt free sometime in 2013 but I've entered some extra payments and my debt free dates stands at December 2013. Maybe I should just check in on it once a month when all the payments have gone out for the month?

Anyway, one debt down (although there may be some residual interest to filer through but I'll clear this when I get the statement). Smallest and highest interest so it's a long slog from now on it, but we had a refund finally clear into my account. Don't know if I should continue to make payments from the cards as I have been doing or stick the money in a savings account. The cards are now interest free until June next year so maybe savings account would be the best place but I think I prefer the idea of clearing the debts and not having the money accessable. Hmmmm, something to think about.

In other good news I also did enough on Toluna to get a £12 Debenhams voucher!

dallas85

hey knitty - hope you're having fun thinking of a way to spend your Debenhams voucher!

Knitty78

We've seen a dining table we like. We still have £170 on a gift card from our wedding so we'll wait to add this and then look again at the price of it (it was in the sale when we looked last weekend so we could just about afford it with the gift card and voucher).

In other news it was payday today so paid an extra £313.23 off my debts. :money: You never know, I might get to this time next month with money left in my bank account (didn't happen this month :rolleyes:). Oh well, it's a start and at least I'm not putting more on the cards.

We've also managed to stick to the grocery budget as well which I'm really pleased with.

Will do a proper update and sort my sig on the 1st November as my bills month runs from the 1st.

Knitty78

I've not really had much to update on. I've some cashback due to hit my account as well as some money made for eBay/Amazon sales. Total Debt now stands at £27723.87 so a total reduction from last month of £1587.12 (this amount largely thanks to a refund I wasn't expecting to get coming through).

I've loads more I can eBay and, as we have people coming to stay next month, this is something I'm going to focus on in order to clear the clutter as well as pay towards the debts! I also have a sofabed to sell - not sure of the best way to get this out but I think I shall start with adverts on Gumtree.

Knitty78

Yesterday I paid an additional £4.00 off OH Virgin card and today another £4.00 thanks to selling some books. I've joined the PAD challenge which will hopefully give me a boost.

Knitty78

Another month another update - I feel bad for not coming in here more often but it does feel like I'm talking to myself. Debt as at 1 December is 26,922.85 so it's going in the right direction!

I'm using bingo winnings to pay for Christmas and for a hotel we need in January. I've put the money to cover this into a savings account (just in case I don't win the whole amount) and as and when the transfered the bingo winnings clear I am putting it back into my spends account! Not something I would have done before, it's just all gone on the credit card!

I've also been slack on the ebaying - must step this up as we really need the storage space these items are using!

So right direction, not as quickly as I would like but I do know the areas I could step up.

Pinky15

Haha I know what you mean knitty when you say you feel like you are talking to yourself! I think that all the time - but if it keeps me on track then I figure its worth it lol.
I know what you mean about keeping yourself motivated I too find it sooooo hard at times. The best way I am finding to save money is too go nowhere near the shops. I havent bought anything for myself in months the only bits I got were in spring from the car boot sales!!
I keep thinking when the debt is gone I can reduce my hours and enjoy the extra money which i think keeps me going! Well done on all your payments so far 6% is a good start!!!:T

Knitty78

Update for the first of the month and debts now stand at £26,403.76.

Payments will be a bit lower for now as OH doesn't have a job (he's a contractor and we knew this was coming) so my extra payments are going in the savings account until we either need them for bills or he gets another job and I can chuck them at the cards.