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D2BDF's Aim to be debt free in 2011 (hopefully!)
Determined_2b_Debt_Free
Posts: 349 Forumite
Hi all,
I've been a MSE member for a couple of years which has really helped me to reduce the amount of debt we fall into - I think it could have been worse if not for this site... but now I want to pay off the debt earlier than planned and get ourselves into a better situation.
I've decided to do a diary to try and keep track and hopefully relieve my insomnia! When I wake up in the night all I can think about is clearing the debt and ways to do it. Hopefully by writing it all down, this will get it out of my head!
So, here's my intro - me and OH are in our 30's and expecting our first baby in 3 months. We took out a consolidation loan in 2007 for £20k (I wish I'd taken more notice of this site first but hey...) and then circumstances led to needing to pay for some stuff on credit card, my lovely mum kindly lent me £5k to pay this off and I'm paying her back. I'm so keen to pay off everything early because of past history, I just don't want to be a slave to interest anymore and we need to start paying off our mortgage and building up a pot of savings. We don't have a great deal to show for our debt but there are several reasons for it, a couple of bad decisions here and there and a bit of bad luck on top of that. I'm not making excuses but I am ready to tackle it head on and just want it all gone.
My OH has had some bad luck with jobs. He works in sales and I've lost count of the number of jobs he's had in our 6 years together. It's all about targets and if you don't hit them you're out. He's also had 3 redundancies in the last couple of years. Normally he's got a job straight away but when the recession hit in 2008 he was out of work for 5 months! This really hit us hard, we have a £235k mortgage to pay off - but we never missed a payment (except arranged payment holidays where necessary) and worked hard to manage the finances as best we could.
His most recent redundancy was Jan this year and he didn't find a job til March but so far (fingers crossed) he's doing really well and we've managed to save some for when it happens again. I know everyone says you shouldn't have savings and debts but I can't do without this safety net, it worked for us before and if anything lilke this happens again we have easy quick access to make mortgage and bills payments for the first couple of months meaning we don't have to default.
The difficulties we face are his take home pay can vary vastly from month to month so it's difficult to budget. The other difficulty is me going on maternity leave and I still struggle to work out what I'll bring home myself during this time. My struggle is getting OH on board, he's not too bad but is not as MSE as I am. The good news is that when OH does well, his take home pay can be really healthy - I'm hoping he'll have a few good months which might make up for some of the inevitable bad months.
There is £3600 left owing to my mum but she's happy if I make overpayments on the loan first and pay her a steady £100 per month (up to now it's been £200 or so). The balance - £14.8k or so is on the loan. My aim is to work out by month what's come in and then pay the bills for the month - everything else will hopefully now go towards paying off the loan. I know it seems a long shot to get it clear by next year (I haven't committed to a specific month because of this) but if everything stays steady it might just be possible - even if we don't do it, hopefully we'll be a lot closer than we are now.
The things I/we have been doing so far :A
I'm hoping I will use this diary to update on my progress and get some tips and inspiration along the way and hopefully this won't be the most boring diary in the world!
Who else out there is planning on clearing their debts by next year and what have you been doing to help so far?
:beer:
I've been a MSE member for a couple of years which has really helped me to reduce the amount of debt we fall into - I think it could have been worse if not for this site... but now I want to pay off the debt earlier than planned and get ourselves into a better situation.
I've decided to do a diary to try and keep track and hopefully relieve my insomnia! When I wake up in the night all I can think about is clearing the debt and ways to do it. Hopefully by writing it all down, this will get it out of my head!
So, here's my intro - me and OH are in our 30's and expecting our first baby in 3 months. We took out a consolidation loan in 2007 for £20k (I wish I'd taken more notice of this site first but hey...) and then circumstances led to needing to pay for some stuff on credit card, my lovely mum kindly lent me £5k to pay this off and I'm paying her back. I'm so keen to pay off everything early because of past history, I just don't want to be a slave to interest anymore and we need to start paying off our mortgage and building up a pot of savings. We don't have a great deal to show for our debt but there are several reasons for it, a couple of bad decisions here and there and a bit of bad luck on top of that. I'm not making excuses but I am ready to tackle it head on and just want it all gone.
My OH has had some bad luck with jobs. He works in sales and I've lost count of the number of jobs he's had in our 6 years together. It's all about targets and if you don't hit them you're out. He's also had 3 redundancies in the last couple of years. Normally he's got a job straight away but when the recession hit in 2008 he was out of work for 5 months! This really hit us hard, we have a £235k mortgage to pay off - but we never missed a payment (except arranged payment holidays where necessary) and worked hard to manage the finances as best we could.
His most recent redundancy was Jan this year and he didn't find a job til March but so far (fingers crossed) he's doing really well and we've managed to save some for when it happens again. I know everyone says you shouldn't have savings and debts but I can't do without this safety net, it worked for us before and if anything lilke this happens again we have easy quick access to make mortgage and bills payments for the first couple of months meaning we don't have to default.
The difficulties we face are his take home pay can vary vastly from month to month so it's difficult to budget. The other difficulty is me going on maternity leave and I still struggle to work out what I'll bring home myself during this time. My struggle is getting OH on board, he's not too bad but is not as MSE as I am. The good news is that when OH does well, his take home pay can be really healthy - I'm hoping he'll have a few good months which might make up for some of the inevitable bad months.
There is £3600 left owing to my mum but she's happy if I make overpayments on the loan first and pay her a steady £100 per month (up to now it's been £200 or so). The balance - £14.8k or so is on the loan. My aim is to work out by month what's come in and then pay the bills for the month - everything else will hopefully now go towards paying off the loan. I know it seems a long shot to get it clear by next year (I haven't committed to a specific month because of this) but if everything stays steady it might just be possible - even if we don't do it, hopefully we'll be a lot closer than we are now.
The things I/we have been doing so far :A
- We've been renting out 2 rooms to students since September through our local college (this will be stopping soon for a while because of the baby)
- I've been doing some mystery shopping assignments
- Trying to reduce grocery shop using ideas from O/S board on here
- Making my own bread using breadmaker I bought with Nectar points
- Thinking twice about buying anything
- Trying to cut down on energy consumption
- Buying baby stuff second hand, have got some amazing bargains!
- Buying washable nappies from Ebay in preparation for August
- Regularly checking online banking
- Drying washing outside whenever possible
- Taking my lunch to work (still have to work on OH doing this full time though)
- Doing extra work where available like the election count
- Getting cashback on things we do need to buy - like insurance
- Using loyalty cards to get points
- Coming on here to look for tips
- Getting equipped to breastfeed
- Walk where possible
I'm hoping I will use this diary to update on my progress and get some tips and inspiration along the way and hopefully this won't be the most boring diary in the world!
Who else out there is planning on clearing their debts by next year and what have you been doing to help so far?
:beer:
Me, DH and DD (17 months) clearing our debt for a better future. Then (LBM) = £21,636.43 (Oct 2009) Now = £12128.07 (44%)
GOALS/CHALLENGES
Try to get credit card to £2k by April 2012 (was £3014.94)
PADing to clear CC 1/1/12 TOTAL: £32.00
Ditch 100 in January challenge: lost count but way over 100!!!/100
0
Comments
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Hello D2BDF!!
Shiny new diary! :j:j
Congrats on the pregnancy!! I have two girls aged 7 and 4 and am really broody!!! Though the side of me that is sorting out the debt thinks perhaps 2 is enough!!!
Sounds like you are doing pretty well. Fingers crossed OH has a few good months! I have subscribed and will keep popping by to see what you are doing. It is great reading other peoples diaries for motivation and extra ideas!!
Right gotta run as my friend is round in a sec and i need to bath the kids first!!! :eek:Orange Fairy
House Purchased April 19
CC1=? CC2=? DH CC= Mortgage Overpay = £0 Savings = £0 Xmas savings = £0 Weightloss = 0 lb0 -
Thanks Littlekel! I have subscribed to yours too - was having a quick read last night. It really helps for the motivation definitely!
xMe, DH and DD (17 months) clearing our debt for a better future. Then (LBM) = £21,636.43 (Oct 2009) Now = £12128.07 (44%)GOALS/CHALLENGESTry to get credit card to £2k by April 2012 (was £3014.94)PADing to clear CC 1/1/12 TOTAL: £32.00Ditch 100 in January challenge: lost count but way over 100!!!/1000 -
Just wanted to add the DFD (if I just pay what we're paying now) is September 2013 - shaving 2 years off this sounds so scary but so exciting!Me, DH and DD (17 months) clearing our debt for a better future. Then (LBM) = £21,636.43 (Oct 2009) Now = £12128.07 (44%)GOALS/CHALLENGESTry to get credit card to £2k by April 2012 (was £3014.94)PADing to clear CC 1/1/12 TOTAL: £32.00Ditch 100 in January challenge: lost count but way over 100!!!/1000
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Nikki's diary has just reminded me of a couple of extra things I'm doing/plan to do:
> Use up all my toiletries before buying more (I am a bit of a beauty stuff junkie I have to admit)
> Nurture my tomato plants to harvest fantastic plump juicy tomatoes! If I get a glut I'll make batches of tomato pasta sauce and freeze it.
> Get Ebaying, we have a loft full of stuff we obviously aren't using - may as well get some money back for it.Me, DH and DD (17 months) clearing our debt for a better future. Then (LBM) = £21,636.43 (Oct 2009) Now = £12128.07 (44%)GOALS/CHALLENGESTry to get credit card to £2k by April 2012 (was £3014.94)PADing to clear CC 1/1/12 TOTAL: £32.00Ditch 100 in January challenge: lost count but way over 100!!!/1000 -
Have been reading and subscribing to other diaries this afternoon, so far up to 9. Each one has something I can relate to and I've got so much inspiration! I thought only Ebay stuff I had was in the loft but now looking around, I can see stuff I don't need! Me, DH and DD (17 months) clearing our debt for a better future. Then (LBM) = £21,636.43 (Oct 2009) Now = £12128.07 (44%)GOALS/CHALLENGESTry to get credit card to £2k by April 2012 (was £3014.94)PADing to clear CC 1/1/12 TOTAL: £32.00Ditch 100 in January challenge: lost count but way over 100!!!/1000
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good luck with ebaying. This year i managed to clear my Next account balance with ebaying and it paid for the majority of my xmas last year!
I have a few things going tomorrow and then need to scour the house for some more!! Struggling to sell anymore but then i have sold nearly 300 items since november so slim picking around the house now. Haven't touched the CD's yet as i need to go to the loft to get them. This is something i want to do soon!Orange Fairy
House Purchased April 19 CC1=? CC2=? DH CC= Mortgage Overpay = £0 Savings = £0 Xmas savings = £0 Weightloss = 0 lb0 -
Thanks :-) And what an achievement to clear off a whole balance that way too! I hate clutter as well and I know this is an area that DH will happily help out with as he hates mess (although he's happy to buy lots of crap in the first place I would add)
Will start getting stuff together this weekend and with the CD's I want to add them all to I-Tunes when I'm on mat leave (if not before) so I can gradually sell them.
Good luck with yours LittleKel! Me, DH and DD (17 months) clearing our debt for a better future. Then (LBM) = £21,636.43 (Oct 2009) Now = £12128.07 (44%)GOALS/CHALLENGESTry to get credit card to £2k by April 2012 (was £3014.94)PADing to clear CC 1/1/12 TOTAL: £32.00Ditch 100 in January challenge: lost count but way over 100!!!/1000 -
good Luck with everything hope it all works out for youTotal debt Feb 2012 = £54354.11 😳
😁Debt Free and you can do it too0 -
Ive been adding mine to itunes as they sell, remember after 1st June ebay will only let you list 100 items a month then they start charging you hence my mad ebayingMARCH 2016 DEBT £25750/ £25035
EST DFD JAN 2021 (that needs to change)
NOW JAN 2019 (that still needs to change)0 -
Thanks Roomontheend (Love your signature!)
Ooh I didn't know that Herewego - thanks will bear that in mind! :beer:Me, DH and DD (17 months) clearing our debt for a better future. Then (LBM) = £21,636.43 (Oct 2009) Now = £12128.07 (44%)GOALS/CHALLENGESTry to get credit card to £2k by April 2012 (was £3014.94)PADing to clear CC 1/1/12 TOTAL: £32.00Ditch 100 in January challenge: lost count but way over 100!!!/1000
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