smartbear's road to debt freedom

smartbear1

Summer has arrived.

Money saving is going well and I've paid off at least £1,000 since my last post.

I've noticed a few things creeping back into my spending like buying blu-ray dvds (only on sale cheap online - but avoid sendit they are a nightmare customer support) will submit a post about that later today. I use my 5% student discount on amazon which helps.

At the moment I'm re-discovering movies I love in blu-ray quality and its amazing. I don't buy top titles - way too expensive and i've found that even the cut price triple play digital copies still work after the alloted time period for redemption with itunes has expired. This spending on blu-ray probably means I've watched most their is to watch on lovefilm. I'm fully paid up until end January 2011 so I want to make the most of this service until then and resolve now to stop buying. The next time I feel the urge to spend something I'm going to make a penalty payment of £10 off a card.

Still threat of redundancy looming at the end of September. Ideally I would want to be debt free by then (thats not going to happen unless my lucky numbers come in on the lotteries) but if I maintain a steady average and get things as low as possible, I will be able to keep up minimum repayments until I find something again.

Into my 2nd debt free wannabe year and I'm still optimistic that my debts will be gone some day. Loving others stories - keep going everyone!

smartbear1

Not updated for ages so here goes and I feel like I'm talking to myself here....

Looks likely I will survive redundancy now, which is a good thing for paying debts and not getting into more trouble. I think my neck has been spared until end March 2012 so fingers crossed work continues & I can keep paying the bills.

I'm affected by the mortgage style student loan rate increases which means now that student loan I pay off monthly at the moment is going to take more of my spare cash.

I don't include the student loan as part of my debt free plan largely because the interest rate was next to nothing. But now its like a small credit card at 5% so I'm having to look at things. For now it seems like a cheaper rate of interest than the other cards. I can also defer if I come out of work but would need to pay something because of the higher interest rate. I will flag it and keep coming back to it.

I'm fast approaching getting under £11k with my debts so I'm excited about the prospect of that - look out for another post when that day arrives.

smartbear1

Now under the £10k barrier!! How's that for a great start to 2012?

Impressed at how much I've paid off in these past few months. No secret to it. Just using all spare cash to make payments. Amazingly proud and not far to go now until all the interest occuring debt (minus student loans) are well and truly done and dusted.

Want to be working less hours by the end of this year and watching savings start to grow. Come on 2012, I can feel its going to be a good year - no matter what life throws at me.

Check out the new signature - very very exciting!!!

Ps. Hoping tesco throws me another 0% 9 mth balance transfer deal this year just in time to give Halfiax the boot - now that would just make my year!

smartbear1

Finally Tesco down & out without paying an extra penny in interest! :T

2012 just keeps getting better. I've added Tesco to my done and dusted list in signature. Keeping Tesco card open for now for more 0% deals. Made sure any recurring payments are not attached to the card so no nasty surprises.

Halfiax sent me a 0% 9 month deal. ironic or what?
I'm already on a low interest deal with my outstanding balance. To do a credit card shuffle would cost me a few bob for each transfer.... need to have a think about that one. Prefer just to make the transfer once and pay once. It's got harder now with shuffles to get a fee free transfer. Do they exist anymore?

Doing so well at the moment. Feel really good and now really starting to focus on that new career I mentioned when all this started. I certainly feel less of a pinch now I have 3 direct debits less eating up my income.

Keep debtbusting people because it can happen. You can become debt free. You can start to pay cash (that's my dream still) and you don't have to worry so much about what happens if I can't pay. I know debt is still a worry for some - but together we can beat it and make it a little easier for everyone!

smartbear1

Sainsburys have offered me a 2.5% interest rate on all balance transfers before July lasting 24 months.

Not bad but there is a 3% fee I have to pay. Also if I'm thinking of embarking on a new career and a drop in pay, I'm not sure if I can get the balance paid off in 2 years? All sounds like so far ahead but time flies and before you know its hawked up interest time.

Anybody want to offer some advice? The loans and rates are in my signature below. Should I clear the balance of the Sainsburys card and transfer Halifax over? How much will I save?

Any help appreciated - thanks.

smartbear1

Been a long while since I posted. I'm in good money saving habits now and went back to Post Grad University for a change of career. Some of the savings I made to return to uni have of course been used for term-to-term living rather than paying off massive chunks of debt. Debt repayments have slowed down but I now find them more manageable. I intend to kick start big payments again when my course ends in a few months time.

I think I've done really well and have at least 3/4 of my big debt now paid off. Can't believe how far I've come and since being on this thread and learning good habits about putting money back and taking advatage of 0% deals, I've been able to replace electrical items and not worry about where I find the money and spread the costs. I've got a good 0% on the way from Tesco Credit Card and I can transfer balances and pay them off within 11 months. Not bad and with my expectations high of getting a job it might be worth a gamble. Be nice to get everything cleared for less interest. I'm a cautious person so will probably only transfer the highest interest balance and leave the other for another deal, another time. This makes the 11 month scramble a bit more affordable.

Of course there will always be student loans sniffing around the corner but I can manage their impact and I did my homework before taking out a student loan on the MSE website, so I know I'm only paying back one at a time. Better for me all round. Once I graduate I'm looking for less working hours as I've now become accustomed to a lower income.

Feel good about things at the moment and might be months again before I post and update. However, good to check in and whilst no one semed to be reading my posts, I found keeping a diary helpful to get me in the habit to begin with. I splash out every so often but hey life isn't all about save, save, save sometimes. Finding a good balance where I can cope with the debt and spending.

tootallulah

Oh now I feel terrible because I am and always have been reading so here is a post to say that you are definitely not alone. Great to hear that you are doing so well and that you have chosen to make the career change you were hoping for. Onwards and upwards.

smartbear1

Thanks tootallulah. I love my new life and its great.
Been a bit busy though and whilst I've paid loads off I don't debt bust like I used to. Waiting for my finances to settle into a regular income and then bam - on with the big pay offs!!

smartbear1

smartbear1 wrote: »

I've got some student debts from over 10 years ago, loan (which is deferred so im not counting that in) and a student credit card which was defaulted months after graduating and is repaid at a set amount but there is no interest to pay. I'm happy with these 2 and yes, it's still denial but they are taken care of so I'm not crying right now!!!

Finally got rid of one of the historical debts and made a whopper payment of £1,350 to get the collection agency off my back. Ok I know the debt wasn't attracting interest but no more collections - that's got to be a good thing for peace of mind!!

Old style student loan is frozen. I'm staying under the repayment threshold for sure and new loan repayments don't start until 2015. Hallelujah!! I will choose to pay off new one because its cheaper monthly than old style ones. Financially going back to University was a great move for me. Even though the role I have is temporary at the moment you got to build up and start somewhere.;)

smartbear1

Ok so time for an update. Finances starting to settle now and I've just made a great balance transfer with Virgin Credit Card.

Big shout out to MSE checker because using that first helped me to decide my best chance of success.

Balances are now transferred and I'm waiting for paperwork. I can get my head down now I have a regular income again and be banging off payments to make sure its paid off within the period. Once that target is reached then I can truly join that exclusive Debt Free and did it club.

Although with a change of car on the horizon for 2015, I might need some debt but it will be more manageable than before and it will be just the one debt.

I'm finding using an Argos Card is helping me to make purchases and spread them over a period of time rather than just leave them on a credit card and have to transfer it. Those habits have well and truly gone.

Anyone just starting out on this journey take a look and see how much was paid off since 2010? Amazing for me I have only £5400 remaining from that initial mammoth figure of over £15,000 pounds. :T I also have savings building at the same time as my debts being paid. I'm doing ok and the little penny pinching here and there has really helped. I lost some focus when I went back to Uni and had to go back to minimum payments and I've made some purchases lately, but I'm back on track now with debt free head on.

Quitting smoking has helped me so much and saved me an absolute fortune and the penny jar is worth its weight in gold. Good luck everyone else!