New debt free diary for 2010

talisker78

Ok, so the last one failed! - but then we did have our first child and i got kinda 'busy'.....

Quick intro as to our situation:

Current unsecured debts:

Tesco loan - 22,512 (5.9%) - 6½ years to go!
Capital One - 6,900 (9.5%)
Barclaycard - 5,800 (6.9%)
Bank of Scotland - 9,500 (11.2%)
Sainsbury's - 2,450 (19.9%)
HSBC - 1,670 (19.9%)

LBM was around two years ago - debt was at £60k then. Been a tough two years - but then hasn't it been for everyone lately? Was doing ok til the 'credit crunch' was announced and two of my cards APRs shot to 19.9% - not nice.

Was robbing Peter to pay Paul (ie balance transfers) for six months due to pay cut. My debt paying stalled to a minimum and a DMP was on the horizon. Then, several things happened - I became a Dad (7 months ago - how its flown) and got a promotion. Good news at last! More overtime became available - also good news. However, OH's maternity pay is running out and there is no point in her returning to work as her salary wold barely cover nursery fees. Besides, neither of us like the idea of our baby in nursery all day.

So, another LBM occurred on New Year's Day and I decided to take affirmative action. My goal is to pour as much money as I can - ebay, mystery shopping (yes, I do do it!), overtime etc. into my two 19.9% cards and free up some money to give to my lovely OH when her money rins out. She has some savings that will last around 3 months after the maternity pay runs out. So......

My aim is to raise £2,000, or as close to as possible, within 6 months. Then another £2,000 by Xmas. Its going to be damn hard, but I'm determined to make it work. I've made a reasonable start and will list my results so far in a seperate posting.

Good luck to everyone out there who is trying to survive in the current climate and keep their heads above water. We can do it though and one day i'm sure it will seem like a bad dream. At least it has finally taught me never to use credit again to fund a lifestyle I can't sustain. I learned the hard way, as many of us did i'm sure.

Hello to everyone out there in diary land - i promise to be a better 'diarist' (is that the right word?!) this time round......

talisker78

Ok, so using my great mathematical brain (hmmmm.... maybe not) I deduce that I need to earn £333 a month for six months to make £2000 by the end of June. Ok - simple enough....hopefully!

My total this month is as follows:

Recycling old phones: £47.50 (4 phones of varying age)
Overtime: £100
Mystery shopping: £28
Ebay: £132

So, for January I stand at: £307.50.....

I'm quite surprised at that to be honest, but encouraged. My loft is FULL of rubbish, although I have been surprised at what I think of as rubbish, people bid for a buy...

I plan to do a car boot sale for the bigger stuff either in February or March - when its a bit less cold and more people are likely to come out!

Its an encouraging start and i will plow every penny into my debts - no leaving it sitting around in paypal or savings accounts where temptation will get the better of me!

Anyway - its breakfast time for Abigail so porridge up the wall time. Woo hoo!

NAEFAGS

Hi
just dropped by to say hi and wish you all the best on your debt busting trip x

Cialilerin

Good luck. Good to see you have clear goals and the biggest (or smallest at only 7 months ) motivation to keep going. Hope all goes smoothly for you and enjoy every moment with your little one!

talisker78

Thank you to everyone for your encouragement.

I've had a good start. For January I raised a total of 285.98, through eBay, overtime and recycling phones. A bit down on my initial estimate, but I forgot about eBay fees! All of it has gone straight on the credit card, cause I know what I am like with money - rubbish! - so the sooner it is out of my bank account the better!

I don't anticipate February will be as good, cause I've sold most of the better items in the house. I'm now down to the 'ok' items. By March I'll be on the rubbish! I am still aiming for 333 a month, but if i am getting anything over 250 a month I am very happy!

Have to buy stair gates this month - Abigail is now sooo close to crawling, it must be any day now! Have to shop around for a decent set.

Thank you again for your kind words and support. I have messed up so many times before with paying off my debts, that I will NOT be messing up this time!

talisker78

My daughter is crawing!! She's actually acrawling!! She moved from point to another by herself! I need a lie down....

[Deleted User]

Aw, you must be so proud! Well done on your Ebaying, hope it all goes well.

talisker78

Thank you!

Its been a bit of a shock seeing her scrabbling around everywhere, not the little wriggly baby she used to be. Everyone told me they grow up quick, but I still can't believe where the last 7/8 months have gone. We have started planning ahead for her first birthday in June - seems ages away but I know it will come round quickly. Can't beleive she will be 1 this year, too strange!

Anyway, back to February and eBay. Got £100 so far, after p&p deductions. Am quite pleased about that as it has been mostly rubbish, with no 'big' items. I have four items left which i need to sell for at least £50, but I'm hoping to save them for March as my pile of rubbish is steadily dwindling.

It still amazes me what rubbish people will buy. I had an old landline phone, I made it quite clear it didn't work and I listed it for 10p. Yup, 10p. The auction ran and it sold for £4.70....I just don't get it. Not that I'm complaining of course, but it just amazes me what rubbish people will buy!

Also a bit annoyed at non-payers. sold a pin badge for £4.70. Didn't receive payment. Finally got in touch with the guy and he sent me an echeque via paypal. Thankfully i took payapl's adise and didn't send the item. Three days ago it bounced. I e-mailed the guy but have not recieved a reply so far. I mean, its only £4.70...if you don't want it or don't have the money just tell me, I don't care, I'll just relist it. I even told him i won't leave negative feedback (I'm not sure I can now anyway, i think eBay changed the rules) but to no avail. Such a pain. all this work, and for £4.70. Hardly seems worth it, bu it all adds up.

I don't think I'll get anywhere near my target this month. If I come out at £200 I'll be happy. No overtime this month so far and it looks unlikely there will be any coming up, and I can't seem to get a mystery shopping assignment for love nor money nor anything! I apply for about 20 and get accepted for none of them. Must have annoyed them somehow.... who knows!

Anyway, back at it. More rubbish in the loft to come down, clean up and photographed. I just hope it will all be worth it and I can get at least one card paid off. I'd be so happy!

Hopefully by my next post I'll be at £200. Counting my blessings...my daughter being one of them!

talisker78

God news and bad news as I approach the end of the month.

I managed to obtain some overtime this month - very unexpectedly - and have raised just over £100 with that. My paypal stands at £150 and counting. I've got a few good items ending in the next few days, so I'm hoping to hit the big £300. Thats the good news.

Bad news - my car has given up the ghost! 11 year old Rav-4 broke down on Saturday. Will cost more to repair than its worth so have to bite the bullet on that one. So annoyed, couldn't have come at a worse time. Due to the nature of my work - Immigration - I HAVE to have a car, so I've had to rearrange my shifts and be office bound til I can find a new car. Not happy.

Been looking at Toyota's again and diesels this time. Despite all the recent fuss over Toyotas I've always found mine very reliable - ran my last one (that one that just gave up the ghost!) for 7 years and did over 200,000 miles on it. It did well, bless it. Could put it up for scrappage before the allowance expires, but A) I won't get finance and I couldn't afford the finance anyway! so I'm looking at second hand again. The joy!

Pleased about my targets though - good news on that front if nothing else!

talisker78

Nearly hit my target this month - I'm bang on £300. £200 from eBay alone - a real shocker but things picked up in the last week and I've sold a lot of stuff for some decent prices. I stand at just under £600 for two months work. I'm on target to annihilate those cards.

This is the first time in over two years i've finally felt like I'm getting somewhere. Probably cause I'm being really strict with myself and putting the money straight into the credit cards as soon as it hits my bank account. I've allowed myself a treat - a £1 Easter egg from Morrisons. Yes, I know it isn't Easter, but I can't resist, sorry! I didn't think that was too bad an indulgencce though!

Onward and upwards as they say. March is looking good so far, I've unearthed some great items in my loft for eBay and I've already been asked to cover two extra days at work, so I should hopefully hit my £300 for March.

Trying not to get too optimistic, it all seems too good to be true so far. Waiting for something hideous to go wrong - the boiler will probably fail knowing my luck!! No, not tempting fate, I'm dong well for the first time in years and I'm going to keep going. I just thinking how happy I will be once I can call up one of the credit card companies and close my account. Must have faith - I can do this!!!