A Budgeteers Quest to be Debt Free & Mortgage Free By 40

DedicatedDFW

I have 7 debts in total (not including mortgage).

These 7 debts are made up of: 3 overdrafts, 3 credit cards, 1 personal.

Target 1 in my sig is an overdraft facility on which i am charged interest. This is no set amount that has to be paid in but i have always paid enough to cover the interest and as it is target 1 it gets lots of overpayments - predicted date to be paid off - March. 2nd lowest balance

Target 2 2nd Overdraft - is at 0% and should appear in my sig next month - it is my smallest balance and i have paid nothing off this whatsoever. I have money going through the account which is probably why i've not been asked to make payments but this has been at maximum overdraft amount for a long time - predicted to be paid off - March. I know its 0% and other things aren't but the balance is £250 - i've £50 of bingo referral money being paid in so that will leave £200 and it is then 1 thing paid off in full and that i then don't need to think about. Lowest balance

Target 6 3rd Overdraft - my current account. I hit the limit every single month and pay nothing at all to reducing this balance. I pay interest on this every month. Last but 1 target. 4th highest balance

Target 4 Credit Card 1 - 0% This is paid by direct debit every month and i have not made any additional payments to this whatsoever. This is the highest balance i owe on 1 account and is due to incur interest in April. predicted to be paid off - March - Hoping savings come through by then. Target 4 as i'm not making overpayments in bits and bats just hoping to clear in 1 go. Highest balance

Target 3 Credit Card 2 - 0% 2nd highest balance and will be a target in my sig next month along with my 0% overdraft. I currently make manual payments to this account - i pay a bit extra to this once a month - generally rounding payments up is all. Target date for clearing in full - May. 2nd highest balance

Target 5 Credit Card 3 - 0% and 3rd highest balance. pay manually each month and again round up the payments each time. This will be a target after the other 2 credit cards are clear so no set dates in mind for this just now - my poor wee brain can only take so much 3rd highest balance

Target 7 1 personal 0% (money borrowed from joint savings that i need to pay back ) Final target. 3rd lowest balance

DedicatedDFW

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Is it only me who feels like this when speaking to the money places ? You'd have thought i'd have stopped ringing them up after yesterday. But then i had a brainwave you see - yesterday i couldn't find out what my savings will be because it needed to be sent out to me. So it occured to me that now its been posted they would be able to tell me whats on the letter :T

So i rang them - turns out i'm right - to a certain extent - they can tell me the amount on the letter ONCE its been sent - but as it has not been sent they can't tell me :mad: Now i know they are within their time limits for sending out the information (as i've just been informed of this) But what i don't get - and the person i spoke to didn't seem to understand it either - was why the person i spoke to HAS sent out to me a useless piece of paper that they should have already sent me - so dealt with that but NOT sent me the piece of paper that gets me my money :mad: Urgh!!! You know i was going to deal with them again when my finances are better but right now i'm :(:(

Oh and the reason i'm only half right about the paper so what i'm going to get is that it is accurate only at the time of printing !!!!!!! AND that'll be helpful when they are sending it via snailmail :mad::mad::mad:

Actually, so i don't have to keep dealing with them i'm going to ring back now and find out the exact process to get my money back to me rather than it dragging on for days - the less days i spend speaking to them the better as far as i'm concerned. - Oh yes just realised something they told me yesterday contradicts what i've been told today- lovely

jwil

You have done really well this year DDFW :T :T :T

Remember that this is your diary and if you need to vent then do so! Sometimes it can make you feel better just getting things off your chest (you can always revise or delete the posts after if you want to )

:mad: indeed to finance companies, that's ridiculous how much they make you jump through hoops to get your own darned money back! Hope you get it sorted soon.

DedicatedDFW

Thanks jwil

I do sometimes wonder though if it just me who is frustrated by places like this - currently i'll be lucky to get my hands on my own money before April :eek:

In good news today though i took myself off to the charity shop which was near to somewhere else i needed to go and treated myself to a little pot that i'm going to use for flowers - a bargainous 99p - luckily i put a book back that is cheaper on amaz*n

jwil

Definitely not just you, it's ridiculous sometimes.

Well done on the restraint on the book, and yay to nice pots!

ebayqueen_2

Hiya DDFW

How are you today?

DedicatedDFW

Hi ebayqueen and everyone else too of course

Aw thanks for asking - i'm ok thanks. Probably in shock after paying over £1000 off debt this morning :eek: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Took me ages to make sure i had everything right with my little calculator and my accounts i was a very tired bean

No sooner had i got that done the post came with a bill :eek: its over £500 thought it was £400 - no such luck - but i've asked for a final bill and once this arrives it will be paid in full - sadly this will be from the savings i am chasing so less money going off the debt than i'd hoped I know really that its good this bill is here now whilst i have the savings coming otherwise it would be a struggle or going on a credit card The good news is once its paid i'll be saving around £70 a month too :T So i've been very good and asked the bank for some details on savings accounts - as i say with no pension / savings / inheritance these are things i need to think about :cool: Although i may pay off the debt in full first - we shall see eh?

I can't believe all the changes that have happened for me in this last few days - a savings account i thought was worthless due to not having any contact about it for years and ironically me being so focused on debt i never thought about this account Obviously if i'd got a letter showing £x in there i'd have requested it sooner So that is one payment i am not making now so saving on the outgoings.

Which is what i need to save on as i am now down to just my f/t job :eek: So another big change there.

Arranging to pay off that horrid bill in full when i get the final amount on it the £500 one - and saving £70+ on outgoings there

Paying off an overdraft in full (almost) (again) Almost because i need them to advise me of the interest before i can clear it and then when i have a statement with £0 on it i'll close the account :cool: And again because this is where i borrowed the money from to pay for the new boiler - so £40 outgoings saved here (i set this as my own personal minimum payment)

Planning to pay off my highest balance credit card on receipt of my savings

Starting to pay off another overdraft which i have never paid anything towards - target 2 in my sig In fact with all the savings from what i'm not paying any more i will be able to clear this in full at the end of the month too :T

And starting on my 2nd largest credit card in my sig - made minimum payments just need to clear it off!

And - resisting the temptation of small treats in order to PAD - a huge turnaround for me i must say. I *do* totally believe we need treats otherwise, for me anyway, i'd just rebel and go on a big spree / splurge But the way i was buying treats before was not in any controlled way - you know - popping extra things in the trolley or getting a magazine because its only £x and so on. Thank-you to the Lula Hula 2nd purse system i now have a purse for my own personal spends so if i want something it comes from here and thats all it took for me to think *do i really want it?*

I think all these changes will take a few days to sink in and get my head around

So in the meantime - i'll be getting on with tackling target 3 :cool: by tacking the wardrobes - again - there must be something in there to go towards my personal challenge of 30 newly listed items on the bay of e

jwil

Wow, Well done DDFW, that's fantastic :T :T :T :T :T

DedicatedDFW

Hey everyone

Thanks jwil Must admit though my head is in a bit of a whirl with it all so waiting of it all sinking in over the next few days In the meantime Target 3 can get all my focus! Really want this bill gone by the end of April

To this end i *will* be cracking on with my target of 30 newly listed items on the bay of e tomorrow Although i have decided to list 1 item for a fair bit so may have to wait for the free listing for that one - when i say a fair bit i mean £100 - not loads and loads but a decent enough sum :cool: It may not sell but its just following a conversation i had that i may as well see if i can get that for it then i am more than happy to let it go

Decided to give in to temptation and check my eb*y listings and got a couple of bits selling - they're all re-lists so all good there :T Hope some more things join them on the 'bidded on pile' and head out the door soon

Trouble is though i can't chuck all the money coming in at the mo. to Target 3 as i left everything really tight this month in order to clear the overdraft (Target 1) in full. So i need to get in £130 to cover the minimum payments to my 2 other credit cards first. I did get £92 yesterday but this went to:- £10 petrol, £42 Target 3, £24 dry cleaning and clothing repair - it *was* essential and should have been done a long time ago £10 left as a small cushion in my account - i had left nothing in there and the £6 change is in my spends purse ready for an MS

So £120 / £130 to find depending how long that cushion stays there for Hopefully do-able in the next 10days. Even if my savings do come through they are earmarked so it will be tight :eek: as i don't want my money to just fritter away

jwil

If anyone can do it DDFW, you can!

Well done on the sales, and fingers crossed you get some more soon.