Pay off as much as you can in 2011 Challenge!

phoenix_dragon

Abba1772, I'm with HSBC. The great thing about it is, by the time the payment comes through, we'll be debt free, so I can save that money. To actually have some savings...now that would be amazing.

My attitude to spending has changed dramatically recently. This time last year, although I was aware that I was in trouble financially, I really didn't do that much to help myself. Now, I think before purchasing anything - can I afford it? Is there any way I can do without it? And as a result, I actually have over £100 left from my wages, and it's the 18th of the month. Usually I'd be relying on my overdraft to get me through by now!

Deeperblue

I think the main DFW board has been pretty quiet aswell, compared to December/January time when the **** hits the fan for most people financially, as you say.

Plus, lets face it, unless your a bit weird like us and actually enjoy updating spread sheets and your snowball calculator, money saving can get a bit boring after the first 6-7 months!

phoenix_dragon

Deeperblue, I agree, which is why I try to keep it fresh. MSE fourms really help, and I find loads of interesting challenges to enter. Right now I'm signing up to survery sites and Topcashback to try and stay money neutral gift-wise this year. I'm pretty convinced I can do it!

affordmylife

hi everyone.

another £150 for me this month taking my total to £2500/£3500.

just another £1,000 and im done. i may be able to pay a little more later in the month but depends on how it all goes. the end is in sight nonetheless xx

sarahs999

I think personally we won't see people really focusing on this again until after the summer - when they realise they've not got long til christmas and still have their debts to pay. PLus people are going away on holiday and so are probably using their extra money for that rather than for overpayments (I hope anyway - no adding to credit cards, people!). Personally speaking June and July are good months for extra money for us as my DH has a lot of gigs.

kdenty

jwil wrote: »

So far we have paid off a total of:
January - £85,134.13
February - £64,015.44
March - £57,899.02
April - £69,316.73
May - £41,517.63


(total paid/total target)
£149,149.57/£1,272,023.40 =11.73%
£207,048.59/£1,337,672.42=15.48%
£276,365.32/ £1,415,509.04=15.52%
£317,882.95 / £1,456,311.04=21.83%

Just popped in to say hello and saw your figures and had a little bit of a mathematical play around and figured out the percentages paid off. Wow this is amazing.:T:T:T

I wish I had more to debt bust for you but had a month of paying lots of big bills so it went up (but only a little bit). But my overall debt is still going down. Just not always on the credit cards.

I hope in the next few months to get it down again and have an nice update for you to help with the figures.

I know I'm not around much but I'm still inspired by your thread Jwil. I have a little corner of my spreadsheet dedicated to my total on here.

kavics17

I'm still here too but only make extra overpayment twice a month so there is nothing to report really. We won't be able to pay as much this month because of extra unexpected purchases such as new bike for OH, insurance renewal, flight tickets,family visiting etc but will try our best. I just made an overpayment of £1350 this morning. I'm still hoping to pay off the debt by the end of September though it's more likely to be end of October which is still good. We are very focused but started to relax a bit more as we can really see the end of it. OH also agreed to try for a baby as of now instead of waiting till we'll be debt free:). I'm one happy lady at the moment...

2. kavics17 - £18,818.72/£24,000

cococoladebt

sarahs999 wrote: »

I think personally we won't see people really focusing on this again until after the summer - when they realise they've not got long til christmas and still have their debts to pay. PLus people are going away on holiday and so are probably using their extra money for that rather than for overpayments (I hope anyway - no adding to credit cards, people!). Personally speaking June and July are good months for extra money for us as my DH has a lot of gigs.

I still can't get my head around people going on holiday, when they have debts to pay off. Surely, it's best for the debt to be paid off and save for a holiday?

kavics17

cococoladebt wrote: »

I still can't get my head around people going on holiday, when they have debts to pay off. Surely, it's best for the debt to be paid off and save for a holiday?

Cococoladebt, we're going on holidays. But we always make it the cheapest possible. Me and my OH both work around 60 hours a week and pay every penny we have spare towards our loan. Twice a year though we go on holiday to recharge as we wouldn't be able to focus as much without having a proper break. Some people might think that holidays are extra and you shouldn't go while you have debts but at the same time you can't forget that you're a human being and can't function by working all the time. We never spend more than £500 on a break (which includes flights, accomodation, food and drinks for two) and I do babysittings once or twice a week to earn that money extra. Holidays keep me going and I don't feel guilty for spending money on them.

seasideDreamer

Having too many holidays whilst I was at uni was one of the biggest causes of my debt yet I still have loads of holidays and manage to pay all the rest of my spare cash on debts. Id rather have holidays then a few nights on the town so I rarely go out otherwise. We all need a break or three:)