What are you doing NEW to pay off all your debt?

dib-dab

I have banned myself from using credit cards - I would always use them at the end of the month to last me until payday - realised that this was a budgeting problem as I had never actually worked to a budget (shame on me).
So I have a spreadsheet for the whole year with regular monthly expenses and also additional expenses when I know they are coming up.
As soon as pay goes in I look at what the remainder is and put it towards debts. Then we have to live on what I budgeted for. If we run out then that's it - no more spending for the rest of the month. No more 'I'll just pop this on the credit card, it's only a tenner'...

kindofagilr

StrawberryYogurt wrote: »

eBay for me too! Trying to work in "goals" So trying to sell until I have a balance of £100 in paypal then withdrawing it so it hits my OD. We need to get our OD down from £1200 before we can tackle the rest at the moment. At the moment I am ebaying anything that is not nailed down!

We are also putting £1 a day into a pot, to open on the 1st Dec. We hope that will pay off the main of Christmas when it comes.

I am also keeping a spending diary from Monday ( pay day) and I am going write down every single little thing we spend on, including that extra pint of milk we pick up on the way back from work etc...EVERYTHING, so we can see where its all going! lol

This is what we are doing too, we have a £1000 overdraft that we need to get rid of before we can pay off CC's

I am starting Maternity Leave in 8 days, so we are hoping that we will save money cos I will be making teas from sctrach etc (whereas now takeaways are too tempting lol) and we will save a bomb in petrol me not working for nearly a year

Ohh and this week we managed to only spend £22 in asda and weve made tea every night and made baits every day and havent bought any take out so I am really proud of us so far

LeeSouthEast

Actually following a budget.... and keeping it up to date. The 'Balance' on my spreadsheet is always the balance of my current account!

aldredd

Hello, new to this part of the board, but spent the last few months coming up with a 'plan' to pay everything off..
I've finally figured out the art of budgeting - and I'm quite strict about it. I have 2 current accounts. When I get paid, I already know how much all my bills etc come to, (plus any additional payments I want to make that month) and then move all 'surplus' money into a different account. I then have a billing account which I wont touch - but monitor to ensure all the bills go out as planned - and my spending account to last the month.

I also try to be clever with my credit card. I pay a very high interest rate, and am working to pay it off. In the mean time, I've found a way to keep my interest payments down...
I travel a lot for work - I spend between £200 and £250 per month on fuel (and can't afford a more economical car). I drive as little as i can, and as economically as I can, so it usually stays around £200 p/m.

So each month, on top of the 'minimum' payment, I pay in an extra £250 (plus anything else I can afford) and I then use my CC to by fuel. This way, my interest is lower as my balance is lower for much of the month, and any fuel I don't buy goes towards clearing the balance - plus, if I need to make an extra large journey (such as visiting relatives etc), I pay for this fuel out of my 'spending' money not CC.

Hope this people a couple of ideas that have helped me!#

Oh, and taking lunch to work each day saves me a fortune, and is better for me as I take nice sandwiches & fresh fruit!

phoenix_dragon

Hi there! At Christmas, I had a lightbulb moment about my debts, and realised that if I keep only paying the minimum amount on my credit card it would a debt hanging over me forever! So, I have created a budget spreadsheet for the year, and I have also created a formula that allows me to see how much I need to pay each month in order for the card to be paid off by the email of this year, taking into account how the interest will be affected. Also, I cut down on buying ready meals, takeaways and alcohol, and buying beauty products that I really don't need.

mbaz

Hiya all

I'm doing online shopping using discount codes and a meal planner and I'm going to try and get my head round matched betting. I also have loads of books and CDs to sell. Any tips for which sites are good to sell on? They are all listed for 1p on amazon!

MsRed1

Stopped buying toiletries until I've finished the stuff I've got. I used to spend £40 on Lush products and a couple of month ago spend £124 on various oils and other body stuff:eek::eek:.

Looking into selling some of my many books.

natsplatnat

I am making lunch to take into work every day! Have managed everyday this month so far (16 working days). At an average of £2.00 spend per day for shop stuff - its a real saving!

PhilCCFC

I sold a Wii game on eBay earlier, one that has not been used for months and got £19.20 back and have just called Sky to get my package reduced from £39 to £31.20 for 3 months.

I have a load of old computer games which won't raise much so I will take them in to a local computer store to see if I can trade them in to get a present for my sons up and coming birthday.

jayss

I'm doing what I should have done in the first place keeping a full honest spending diary.

Saying No(not always but mostly).

Making more effort to bring in lunch/breakfast to work.

Not taking cash out if it can be avoided.