My debt-free dream!

hallsy85

So, a few years ago whilst at uni, and in an unhappy relationship, i stupidly turned to buying goodies for myself with no real sustainable means to support this spending.

After a year or so of struggling to repay loans of about £7,000, with a £2,000 overdraft on top of it, i made the step of admitting i was out of my depth and sook advice. I got myself on a consolidation plan, paying back £250 a month and gradually whittling away at my debts. This was in 2006.

Now, in 2009, i'm down to about £2,700 worth of debt, of which £1,600 is a graduate overdraft, and the remaining money from the loans i owed. I've been using Churchwood Financial (thoughts/experiences with them anyone?) and have upped my payment to £300 a month.

I figure in about 5-6 months time, i will finally be debt free and able to start saving for a reposit on a flat/house. I'm 24 and this debt has really held me down mentally and monetarially, so this will be a huge weight off my shoulders.

If anyone's got any advice on staying debt-free and avoiding all those pitfalls, i'd be very grateful. I've certainly learnt my lesson about credit, and won't be buying anything if i don't have the cash in the future!

It won't let me post me SOA here, so i'll see if i can't jot it down manually in order of cost:

Income
Salary - £1,300

Outgoings
Rent - £350
Churchwood Payment - £300
Train Fare - £270
Natwest Overdraft - £100
Food - £100
Car (Tax, Petrol & Insurance) - £90
Going Out (Football mainly) - £40
Mobile Phone - £30

Total Incomings - £1,300
Total Outgoings - £1,280

Left Over - £20

Outstanding Debts
Churchwood - £1421.57
Natwest - £1600
Owed to Parents - £500
Total Outstanding - £3,521.57

Poorbuthappy55

Can't give much advice because I'm still struggling with my debts but I think you have done so well to get your debt down and that you have learned a good lesson which will probably keep you debt free in the future.

Well done!!

CaroleM_3

Hallsy, well done for getting this far!
My thoughts on your SOA is that rent is listed but no bills or insurances, is this correct or an oversight when you listed it all?

My plan is similar to yours but I am slightly futher on, i finished paying my debts off on the 4th December 2008, and am now saving my house deposit, so it is do-able,

I'm sure the real experts will be along soon re your SOA, so I will just say good luck and well done!

hallsy85

Thanks for the support guys!

Carole - the rent i pay includes bills etc, I rent in my parent's flat, so this helps keep costs down!

Inspiring to read around on the forums, and now i've seen the light as it were, i'm excited about looking forward to the future!

CaroleM_3

That makes sense, I live with my parents still and they only charge a peppercorn rent, needless to say this has been incredibly helpfull to me, budget wise.

Have you thought about joining the £10 a day challenge? I dont out of lazyness, but the things they do on that thread are amazing!

hallsy85

Sounds like a plan! What does it involve? Do you have a link? I'll get off my behind and search it as well

EDIT - not keeping to the £10 a day too well at the moment! Bought lunch today which was about £6, not ideal as it, 1. wasn't healthy, 2. a lot more expensive than home-made cheese rolls!

To-Do for tonight:

1. Buy rolls and cheese for lunches
2. Research other ways i can cut down.

Have been looking at a young persons railcard as it might save me a bit of cash, but i don't think i can use it before 9am, rendering it pointless!

CaroleM_3

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1906191thats the £10 a day thread

could you ask at the station about the rail card, and if that wont help, ask what will?

Aniya

In regards to lunches for work, it's an incredible saving to take your own. I used to pay 2.50 roughly a day, now I buy wholemeal loaf by ASDA for 50p, ASDA's reduced fat spread for 46p, ASDA's own crisps x 12 for 47p and a pot of marmite / peanut butter / whatever. I estimate it costs me under 50p per day and I get a lot more sandwich for a 5th of the money!

Good luck to you! :T

hallsy85

Thanks Aniya, it's always good to hear how people get the costs down, and i'm a big fan of peanut butter sandwichs, so this sounds like an excellent plan!

Quick update, salary came in today (paid bi-weekly), so have paid my parents the £350 rent i owed them, reducing my debt to them to £500, which i'm hoping they'll be understanding about when i aim to pay it off bit by bit. I'll also ring Churchwood later and knock another £300 off my debt there, and see if i can get a settlement figure to work towards. Chances are, by the time i've saved the settlement figure, i'll have probably paid it back! I figure with about £1,400 left to pay, thats about 4 months worth, so March 2010 is looking promising!

Will update with any news from Churchill later on today - i've also had to budget in train fare for next week, alongside hotel cost for a small weekend break i'm taking to Italy with the girlfriend. Flights paid for, just £100 for a B&B and additional costs for food - the OH is understanding about my situation, so i'm hoping she'll buy dinner one night!

hallsy85

Another quick update, i've still not heard from Experian regarding my credit report - i signed up for the free trial yesterday and was told to ring a number to finalise order, but they had no operators and just cut me off, no option to wait!

Will try again today, i'd like to see what's on there - had one about 18 months ago,but i think it should look a bit rosier this time around!

hallsy85

...and another update!

Just applied to the 3 main mysteryshopper companies in hope of earning a little bit extra cash each month - will be using it to save towards the flat deposit/future holiday!