Back on the wagon

downnotout

I figured that it was about time that I jumped back on the wagon and continued to address my debt problems. As with most things in life that take thought and effort it is often too easy to take a back seat for a while and bury your head in the sand.

One of my first targets this year was to quit smoking, which I have finally got around to doing. So if I can quit smoking I can do anything right?

So as of today I am starting a payment a day thing again, I had some success with this last time I did it. as a bonus now that I have stopped smoking, all the money that I used to set on fire and inhale can now go into the pot.

On my debts of just over 9k I want to start paying off around £200 a month, that is £50 a week roughly or over 30 days its £6.67 roughly the price of a packet of cigarettes. :rotfl:

And I should be debt free in.............. 46 and a half months. (April 2014)
Now I know that seems a long way off, but between now and then I will have qualified as a nurse (Sept 2012) so I should be able to bring that down somewhat over the time.

I am also going to try and work out how I can bring in an extra £5 a day, maybe taking on some part time work along side my studying. If I could pay back £10 a day, I could trim my debt free date back to December 2012.

I think I have been looking at spread sheets for far too long today so im off now to make my first PAD of £6.67

[Deleted User]

Well done - it might seem like a long way off - but when you get there it'll all be worthwhile.

Just a thought....the hospital attached to you training will have a nurse bank of staff to cover staff shortages and sickness absences - you can register with them to work shifts as an unregistered nurse/carer and work shifts around your study as and when needed. The pay is quite good, and it will be added experience to put on your CV when job hunting after graduation.

You can also pick and choose when and where you work (depending on availability) - and if you have too much coursework to do, or are too busy, then you don't have to do any shifts.

downnotout

Thanks
The hospital bank co-ordinator is currently on annual leave, and the office she works out of is currently being moved to a new site. I have been told that I will need to call her in 3 weeks time, to get on the bank. In the mean time I bumped into the home manager of a nursing home I was at in module one the other day in Netto. He told me to apply to join there bank, and basically told me that he would see me right. The pay is £6.05 an hour and they do 6 hour shifts. If I did just one shift a week, that would give me the extra £5 a day. I am all in a spin now haha.

jwil

Well done on giving up smoking, I imagine if you can do that, then getting rid of your debt will be a doddle! :T

Hope the part time work pays off. Have you checked out the Make £10 a Day thread? You might find some additional ideas there for saving money and making more.

Good luck with it!

purty

Hi Downnotout,

It's my first time posting although I've been reading the DFW forums for a long time now, and it always amazes me how dedicated you all are!
Well done for giving up smoking, I'm trying to do that myself at the moment. Cut down to 1 a day now! Although I'm not sure I have the willpower to go the whole way...

downnotout

Good morning all,

I have started MSEing early this morning, £1.00 to 1st credit PAD and now I am off to help my uncle move house, so another spend free day today

downnotout

Well due to things beyond my control I was unable to carry on with the payment a day, my car died.
However I have worked that out and now I can start again, so today I payed:
£1 to 1st Credit (1601 days to go )
and
£19.05 to one of my creditors who finally gave me their bank details that rounds the amount down to £500
still feel like I have a long way to go, but every journey is comprised of singular steps, I have taken two today
Now I am off to cut the grass.. if I remember where the mower is LOL.

downnotout

I have had a very productive weekend regarding my debts this weekend. I have got a spread sheet of all my creditors, and prioritised them against the ones that are on my credit file. I have also worked out my entire income, and worked out that if I live frugly from now on I could pay back around 400-500 a month. On debts that stand at just over 9k that is still over 18 months at living harshly.

On top of that I looked through a pay slip from last year and I paid normal tax until I left (8 months employment before starting university) and I have over paid tax I think. So I called the tax office and they said they will send me a letter with any overpayment in the next 3-4 weeks. Hopefully this will be around £400 from what I have estimated. This of course will give the the chance to pay off in full JDW which stands at £425 but is listed on my experian credit file as defaulting, and one of the creditors who sends me almost weekly love letters (they are currently asking me when I am in so they can visit Im touched, no really I am).

I have also looked at the school dinner situation, it is costing me £12.50 a week in school dinners for DS. I am trying to figure out if this represents good value and whether or not packed lunches would work out cheaper?

Finally I started working out when and what I am going to pay creditors, and I am still working away on the PAD to 1st Credit (£1 a day )

downnotout

As some may know (who use the daily chat thread on the DFW board) my personal circumstances are chaotic at best, which puts a real strain on my DFW efforts. However I am determined to be debt free before I qualify as a nurse in September 2012.
Last week I had a tax rebate through the door for £431.20 and a cheque from my bank shifts for 153.71 in total this came to £584.91. Normally I would have gone out and had a bloody good day shopping, however what I did was spend £30 to take the children to watch Shrek and McDs on the way home, and the rest has been left in my account to clear the overdraft. My overdraft consists of £600 interest free (student account) authorised overdraft, and then £150 reserve, charged at £22 every 5 working days. This was added to my account maybe 12 months ago and I used it almost immediately because my car brakes needed replacing. Alas all this time later I have been stuck in a vicious cycle of my family allowance coming in on one day, only for the majority of it to be taken the next, as the charges ranged between £66 and this month for example £88. Even at £66 a month it equates to £792 which is nearly 10% of my whole debt.
Psychologically I have told myself that my tax rebate was £30 and I have now spent it!!
I have made a projection of the day to day balance of my account and at the end of the month (after another £88 fee is taken) I should be at the -£200 mark, give or take a few pounds. I fully plan to spend the month of August continuing to pay the two creditors that I have an arrangement in place with (JDW £50 and one of my old business suppliers £50) and then the rest of my debt busting budget can go onto the overdraft. I should end August with my account in the black for the first time since I took my overdraft way back in 2002!
I will then go in to my local barclays branch and reduce my overdraft to £100 and cancel the personal reserve.
Money is going to get a little tighter from here on in, due to the fact that I can no longer get any shifts on the bank at the nursing home, because both my mother (rocky relationship) and my ex girl friend both work there. Which means I need to work out where I can cut down a little more.

downnotout

Guess what? I am back again!
Just reading through my last post, what a mess I was in
I did lose my job at the nursing home, but I managed to get on at the hospital, better money and all that
The relationship with the mother is still difficult, but at least she is remarried and someone elses problem
The ex girl friend became my fiancee, and we now have a seven month old baby, and live in a nice house together
And my finances? still shot to !!!!
Having left Uni in January, leaving nursing all together, I have been working every hour god sends just to get a head.
1 big loan default and 1 credit card default have finally fallen off my credit file, only 2 CCJs and 1 default to go (December 2014 and March 2015 respectively)
I have been approved for a vanquis card, I clear the balance every month religiously, and its building up lots of lovely green markers, I have a vodafone contract that ends in August, again building up loads of green markers, My other debts, a littlewoods account that I pay every month, again loads of the green stuff
Things that are not so rosey:
£2474 - Student bursary over payment: - agreed to pay this back at £50 a month,
£400 - University hardship loan: - agreed to pay this back at £10 per week.
The bursary and hardship loan repayments, are not going to go anywhere near my credit file, as long as I stick to the agreement.

I can finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I will now continue to fill this diary until I am debt free, looking at it, 5 years to clear everything, but I have a plan,
All my debts bar the vanquis card are not incurring interest, so as long as I continue to "manage" the card, I will not pay interest on that either.

So the plan is to first manage to live without my overdraft for a month. I am currently in the black, its a 400 overdraft that I have managed to pay little bits off here and there, however I went in to branch last week to reduce the overdraft by 50, and I was told that because it is a student account, I can not reduce my overdraft in branch any more?

Second step is to clear the littlewoods account (currently £578.13) and then close the account, Now that I am getting used to paying my bills, I do not see the need for this account any more.

Third step, to make over payments on the hardship loan, to clear that before christmas.

On top of this try and book a holiday for the family, and pay for it without adding to the debt

I still need to work on the figures, but my debts are below 5k for the first time since I was able to use a credit card.

downnotout

Worked out every penny! i owe £4,030.02 - excluding one credit card that is SB and a loan of 1600 that fell off my credit file.
I am so looking forward to saving money, instead of paying back