Debt Free by Thirty!

d3mon4ngel

I don't know if anyone else will be reading this, but it will help me to keep on track I think. I don't owe anywhere near as much as some people on here, and I feel kind of foolish for feeling sorry for myself about £5k when I can read about others who have dragged themselves out of £100k in 3 years or something.

I am only 27 but I think I've been living in debt to various degrees for the past 10 years or so. I had my light bulb moment about a week ago, when I found out that I had a CCJ on my file from Sept 2007 that until then I'd known nothing about. This was the kick up the rear I needed to get myself and my finances sorted, and I've decided that I will be debt free by my 30th birthday.

At the time of my LBM, the amount I owed and the payments I was making each month were as follows:
Littlewoods: £77.99 - £5
Rossendales: £105.97 - £10
Wescot: £204.01 - £20
Credit Card: £456.88 - £30
Car Finance: £2095 - £101.65
Family: £700 - none
Overdraft: £1000

The overdraft amount is the limit, so I'm using that to varying degrees, but last month I actually hit the limit for the first time in a few years :eek: If I'm completely honest about my debts, I also owe an ex-boyfriend £1000, and regardless of anything that has happened since, he helped me out at a time I needed it and I am determined to be able to pay him this money back. My mean side shows in that it's been over 4 years since he lent it to me, and it is way down on my list of debt priorities as he's probably assumed that the money is never going to be seen again.

So that gave me a total of £5639.85 to clear by Aug 2012.

Since joining this site a few days ago, I have started my snowball and cleared my Rossendales account. I'm just waiting for the confirmation letter that I asked for. The £10 a month I was paying on that has been added to my credit card standing order.

You may notice that the credit card balance goes up as well as down. This is due to my guilty pleasure - WoW. I know I shouldn't be using the card and that this is an unnecessary expense in my fight against the debts, but I have to have some fun or I'd go nuts! Feel I have to justify this some more... The total is £84 for both of us for 6 months, and once the other debts above the card are paid this will be the only thing that will ever be put onto on the card - I don't use it for anything else whatsoever.

Money saving steps:

1. Quit Smoking - I've switched to my e-cig and not had a single cigarette since May 7th 2010. I was smoking about 20 cigs a day, which at over £5 a pack was costing over £150 a month. My e-cig, which I've used only about 4 times since my decision to quit, costs me £20 for the 'juice' which lasts me forever it seems! I now have 3 different flavour 30ml bottles and after using the e-cig off and on for about two years have yet to get halfway down any of them! It's basically there as my safety net so that if I need my nicotine rush, I can use that instead of having to spark up a nasty ciggy and possibly start smoking again.

2. Walk to work - Not entirely walking in, but close enough. My boyfriend starts work at 7am and I get a lift in to his place of work with him. I then walk from there to my work, which takes about an hour as a gentle stroll - so nice in the sunshine This saves me £108 on train fares and £60 on bus fares per month.

3. No cable TV - We've recently moved to an area that does not have cable installed yet. I've got my fingers crossed that it's done soon though!! I've gone from having the XL TV/Phone/Broadband costing over £60 pm, to just phone and broadband for less than £20 pm. I miss my V+ and SyFy channel, but nothing can be done til Virgin get the cables laid round here so just have to make do with Freeview *sob*

My goals
I've several things that I'd like to be able to buy.

1. A car - I have a car on finance currently, but boyfriend needs it more as he is on call and could be sent out anywhere in the country at any time. I want to buy myself a little runaround, got my heart set on either a Ford Ka or I'd really like a Smart ForTwo, but that doesn't fit with my plan of a debtfree 30th

2. A holiday to the US - Got a lot of friends out there who would be willing to give us board for a week or two, but just got to save up for the flights. A total of about £1500 should be more than enough for the both of us for two weeks over there.

3. Our wedding - Last but definitely not least! We're planning on having a medieval affair complete with castle, hog-roast and plently of mead which should be an amazing day if we can pull it off

Wow... that turned out quite a lot longer than I expected... According to the above I should be saving over £300 a month, but I really don't think that money will be available as I know I have a tendancy to fritter on useless things, notably takeaways. We have decided to limit ourselves to 1 takeaway max per week and I've joined the "No Work Lunches in June" with a pledge of a max of 1 per week too. I've also started a spending diary, backdated to 27th May (payday) as best as I could, so that I can try to work out where this money goes!

Current debt balance: £5560.02
Current savings (Virtual pot): £9.85
Next target on the list: Littlewoods

d3mon4ngel

OK, so yesterday when I made my first diary post I suppose I wasn't completely honest with myself about what I owe. I also have mortgage of £89k, but the house is in the process of being sold and hopefully the mortgage payments taken over. Let me explain this better.

I took out a mortgage with my boyfriend at the time for £90k in April 2007. By July of that year, we had split up and by September he had moved out, leaving me to single-handedly pay a mortgage that had been taken out with both our wages in mind. Add to this that unknown to me, he had not paid the last two weeks worth (we were both getting paid weekly and it was easier for us to budget this way), leaving the mortgage £300 in arrears. I managed to talk to the company and arranged to pay the arrears off a little each month, so my payments were £625. Little by little the arrears were gone until I did my happy-dance when it cleared in Oct 2009 :j

Back in the black, to avoid overpayments and getting charged (which I was told they would do), I switched from standing order to direct debit. More fool me apparently... Even though I double-checked that it had all been set up in time, even going so far as to say that if it wasn't I'd pay on my debit card, but was advised that everything was set up fine and I had nothing to worry about. What I wasn't told was that as the payments I had been making had left me about £200 in credit, the first direct debit did not get taken, immediately plunging me straight back into the hole I'd just dug myself out of! :mad:

I found out what had happened just before Christmas, and simply did not have the money to pay it. I told them I'd have to sort something out after the New Year and they were fine with it. Everything was getting back on track, until Feb this year, when I got made redundant. I'd been living close to the edge and had no savings as everything had gone over the holiday season and bill-paying (damn the need for electric and gas! ). I could no longer afford the actual repayments, let alone the arrears. I signed on with the Jobcentre and filled in all the forms, only to be told that I had to be out of work for 3 months before they would help me at all with my mortgage! How is it fair that I've worked since I was 18, not been between jobs for more than a week in that whole time, and yet when I need a bit of help for a month or two, I get nothing? If I had been renting I would have had help straight away. Anyways... sorry for the little rant then... back on track now.

I decided to get out of it all, and looked at trying to sell the house. As it was bought in 2007, the current asking price gives negative equity. My ex-boyfriend does not have the money to buy out my share. I was pretty much stuck with a house I couldn't afford and seriously considering letting them repossess the house and declaring myself bankrupt just to be rid of it.

I have hopefully found a way out of this now, and I'm crossing my fingers that I haven't fallen for the biggest scam in the books. Basically, I'm giving over control of the mortgage to another gentleman who will take over the payments and lease it out for 5 years. At the end of that time, he will pay me the amount we have agreed, which is basically enough to pay off the mortgage. I'm not looking to make a profit, I just want to get rid of the mortgage.

Both me and my current boyfriend both got jobs within days of us signing the tenancy agreement for our new place. If those had come literally 3 days sooner I would have stuck with the mortgage and continued to pay that! But hey-ho, now I either continue selling my house and trust that this guy will make the payments, or I tell him I want to call it off and have to pay both the mortgage and the rest of the 6 months rent which I can't afford to do. Decisions, decisions...

ROCK ---> ME <--- HARD PLACE

Directions:
1. Tell yourself "It will all work out in the end"
2. Repeat until it's true

There are times when I really feel like just crying and giving up, but I'm doing my best and trying not to let it get to me. Yes I might make bad decision after bad decision, but things tend to sort themselves out.

It *WILL* all work out in the end! And there will be cake...

d3mon4ngel

Proving that if you don't ask, you don't get...

I've just called my credit card company up, and managed to get the interest reduced by 4% to 18.9%. They've said that's the most that they can do at one time, but to ring again in 6 months and they will probably be able to get it down more then.

If only I'd realised you could ring them every 6 months and ask for it to be looked at... I'd be down to 0% by now lol

d3mon4ngel

New approach. Continue to ignore mortgage for the time being, and concentrate on clearing the other debts.

Total debts and how they are reducing:

Littlewoods..........£77.99 - Next direct debit payment is set up to pay off in full
[STRIKE]Rossendales..........£105.97[/STRIKE] - Cleared: 02-Jun-10
Wescot...............£184.01
Credit Card..........£503.02
Car Finance..........£2,095
Family...............£700
Ex...................£1,000
Overdraft............£1,000

Current debt balance: £5560.02
Paid since last post: £79.83
Current savings (Virtual pot): £9.85 (in overdraft so none added to the pot this week)
Next target on the list: Littlewoods

Mortgage: £89,500 (and probably staying that way for a while )

d3mon4ngel

Last night I let BF twist my arm into getting a takeaway. This is the first one this week, and only cost £8, which isn't much compared to some we've had in the past.

He also ended up buying lunch yesterday because he left his HM lunch in the car and he said it was "warm, and not good warm".

So far I've managed to stick to no bought meals. Got my dad and step-mum coming round [STRIKE]later[/STRIKE] next weekend and we'll be having chicken pasta, for a total cost of £5 to feed all four of us

And quite a random thought, but for the cheese lovers out there, one of the best purchases I ever made was a "Culinare One-Touch Automatic Power Grater" for £10.99 (on offer in TJ Hughes about 6mths ago). Makes the same amount of cheese go twice as far, and grates it for you while you get on with doing something else Went looking for one for my step-mum, but they had stopped doing them! Found them on offer at Tesco Direct for only £14.99 (usually £19.99): http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.207-0069.aspx
I highly highly recommend it - it's saved us a fortune on cheese, pretty much paid for itself in the first few weeks of having it. Plus you can use it to grate other stuff of course Might post this tip elsewhere... probably won't get seen here lol

jwil

Hi D3mon4ngel,

Just found your diary. You've done really well by the sounds of it.

Happy 1st Month anniversary for giving up smoking - that's your first £150 saved!

With regards to your house - can you not get out of the deal with the gentleman in 6 months time when your lease is up? Do you have any agreement with him as to what will happen if either of you change your mind within the next few years?

I'm really impressed that you managed to reduce your credit card interest, I've never heard of that happening before!

Good luck with it, I will subscribe to your diary to see how you get on

Jwil

d3mon4ngel

Thank you for the words of encouragement jwil

Yay! Over one month smoke-free... :T it's gone so fast actually, didn't even realise. I've only had the pangs once or twice, but with my trusty e-cig for back up I've managed to stay away from the nasty cigs :cool:

The house agreement is for the next 5 years. After that time, he could decide that he no longer wants it and will transfer it back to me, though if the house prices rise in that time I can't really see that happening. The good thing about him taking over the house, is that he is talking about getting my ex's name off it for me. Something I couldn't do myself as I couldn't afford the solicitor fees etc to do it. Would be nice to get the house back all done up, in my name only in 5 years time.... Ahhhh I can dream can't I? :rotfl:

I'm sorry to report that I have broken my deal with myself, only 7 days into June and I have bought breakfast this morning boo! hiss! To make up, I've decided to decrease the number of allowed bought lunches for June by 1, meaning I now have only 2 left for this month, as I bought one today! But at £2.50 a day, I should save myself £47.50 by the end of the month (19 HM lunches).

And I would like to report that I am getting ever more confident with my sewing machine, and actually made a dress yesterday! Are you impressed? I know I am lol I sent a pic of it to my boyfriend who was at work, and he immediately rang me up to find out where I'd been on a Sunday to buy clothes when I was getting on at him to cut down on his spending hehehe.

Designer version: $190
D3mon4ngel version: £4
A clear winner ladies and gentlemen

Now I promised myself I would not buy any more fabric for the whole of June, but I think I *need* to get some to make myself this same dress in black for a party in two weeks. It will still work out cheaper than going to the shop to buy a dress. I know it sounds cliche, but "I've got nothing else to wear"... I gave all my bigger stuff away when I dropped two dress sizes thinking I'd never get bigger again (like an idiot!). Quitting smoking has added pounds to my purse and pounds to my belly

d3mon4ngel

I'm quite proud of myself today.

We went to bed last night without having done any packing up for today, and then didn't wake up til quite late. I managed to get myself up and ready, make a cup of tea and put some crumpets under the grill for our breakfast. (best before up yesterday - bought 12 for 40p - damned if they are going to waste ) I even managed to find the time to do our packing up for lunch! It was kitchen juggling at its finest I tell you

Might not seem like a big deal to most, but to me it is a big step forward. When this type of thing has happened in the past, I've just pretty much said "oh well" and just bought something for breakfast and then for lunch. Not unusual for me and OH to spend about £15 between us a day just on food! The fact that I got up late and still managed to get breakfast and lunch done at home is an amazing acheivement for me and I feel so much better for having done it.

On the dress-making front, I ordered some black material that should hopefully get here in a few days time, ready for me to make a start at the weekend. It's cost me £15 for 5m of fabric, including delivery, which should be more than enough to make one, if not two dresses from. A nice dress from a shop would cost at least that by my reckoning, and I can always see about selling the second one to friends / family if they like it

d3mon4ngel

I forgot to add, over this weekend, after making the dress, I took the time to try to find and count my (many) 'penny' jars. I found 6 different jars / containers of various sizes, and after about 1 1/2 hrs of counting found that I have the grand total of.... £35.26p!! :j

Take that Mr 'Charge-8.9p-per-£-to-count-it-for-me-machine'!!

I would also like to report that I currently have an (almost) unbroken line of pennies running from 2009 all the way back to 1971. The only one I could not find amongst them all was one from 1972... it was kind of disappointing to be honest... I'm thinking of getting them framed as an interesting piece of art "Penny Collection" by Sam... could sell for millions!! If it does the drinks are on me

PS. Does anyone have a 1972 penny? It really is bugging me! :rotfl:

jwil

Well done on making the dress! I'm so not good at things like that. I did make the curtains for our camper van, but they are ok as long as you don't look too closely, and I certainly wouldn't trust wearing them! :rotfl::rotfl:

To be frank, I'm impressed that you can spend £15 per day on food, me and DH can spend almost that on a meal, no wonder I'm overweight!

I bought a huge coke bottle money box the other day (£2 from a boot sale) it is my ambition to fill it with 2p, 5p and 1p. I emptied all my piggy banks into it with the grand total of £7.91! It has barely covered the bottom of it. I will be rich when I fill it (and there will be a shortage of copper, and no, I am not going to empty it to see if I have a 1972 1p )

Actually, there is a bag of pennies in our house that belonged to my M-I-L - maybe I'll check that one and see, I bet it's been around for a while.

d3mon4ngel

It's strange how I can go from feeling positively sunny one day, to feeling really despondant and down the next

For some reason, I really feel bad today. I think it's because I'm one of those people who wants it to all happen "now now now!" and I'm having to wait til the end of the month for payday so I can do any more payments...

It also doesn't help that I was seriously considering getting a Smart car, but since finding out about my CCJ, it's made me realise that this really really isn't an option at all anymore. There's a big difference between deciding against doing it, and not being able to do it even if you want to!

It's depressing that because of the water board not contacting me to try to sort it out, (or possibly my ex not forwarding any of the letters to me - he had my new address when I left there), I'm now stuck with a shattered credit file for at least the next 3 1/2 years If I'd have known about it, I would have paid it! I would have not had Virgin installed for another month or two, I would have not gone out with my friends for a few months... I could have made up for the £50-odd pounds easily! It just makes me so angry, but I know that all I can do now is wait it out and try not to let it get any worse.

I'm no stranger to going without. It's only in the past year or so that I have had any money whatsoever spare at the end of the month after paying bills, etc. My last holiday was over 3 years ago and that was paid for by my friend and I paid her back over several months. I'd just like to not have worries about money anymore... is that too much to ask?

Today is definitely a day of feeling sorry for myself, and I need to get a kick up the backside and get out of this mood