Debt free by Summer 2012 (if not sooner!)

mrsspendalot

DebtFree2012 wrote: »

Good morning mrsspendalot - thanks for readinig. the initial workings out I did said I could be debt free by August 2012. this was a simple calc of what i earn - regular bills and the remainder to debt. However I started my diary too early in terms of I hadn't actually given it the thought it needed lol. After months of working a spreadsheet and life taking it's role in what i have to pay out (non essentials - i mean household things going wrong and such like) it's not going to be next year I am DF now ( I can't change the title of my diary so I have left it as it is and just hope by some miracle something will happen to allow me to be DF by then!

However i would love for you to hang around and join in with us all on our journey's. I'll pop over to your diary soon

Good luck with your DF journey.

It's still good to have a target, even if the target changes. It's better than just paying the bills each month with no idea when they will stop dropping on the doormat. When I was trying to get my own debt paid off I managed to shave about 5 months off my debt free date eventually. I found the earliest few months the hardest, then all of a sudden there seems to be a tipping point with the debt amount and it all seems easier to reduce from then on. I can't wait to reach that point with hubby's debt this time round!!! It feels like a mountain at the moment.

I'm much more focussed on it at the moment than I have been, hence the diary to try and keep me on track. I think it's because we have a baby on the way so we had to relook at finances across the board anyway. We need a 7 seater car, but there was no way I was going to take on more credit to get one. I told DH that we had to pay off the credit cards first, and then we could have a car. That seems to be the main motivation at the moment, as until the cards have gone, we are stuck with 4 kids and only a normal sized car!!!

DebtFree2012

Loads of people have said that about the tipping point - I can't wait for it to come. My cards were all maxed out so it's been hard to get away from that - every month the interest took me over the limit so I incurred charges then I couldn't afford enough to stop it happening again the next month.

I'm over that stage now thankfully and starting to attack the actual balance opposed to paying the interest alone. I can't wait to see results.

Woowoo

It's so unfair that you get charges for going over your limit when its the interest being added that causes this, its just to keep you in that cycle of debt and them making as much as possible from you.

You are winning the fight now though DF

mrsspendalot

DebtFree2012 wrote: »

Loads of people have said that about the tipping point - I can't wait for it to come. My cards were all maxed out so it's been hard to get away from that - every month the interest took me over the limit so I incurred charges then I couldn't afford enough to stop it happening again the next month.

I'm over that stage now thankfully and starting to attack the actual balance opposed to paying the interest alone. I can't wait to see results.

Woowoo wrote: »

It's so unfair that you get charges for going over your limit when its the interest being added that causes this, its just to keep you in that cycle of debt and them making as much as possible from you.

You are winning the fight now though DF

That's really tough

It's like breaking the cycle between only being able to scrape the minimum payment as opposed to being able to pay that little bit more. Glad you've managed to get past that little blip.

Luckily none of hubby's card have been maxed out, so we've not had that problem. He was just always happy to pay just a bit more than the minimum, so the debt just hasn't been dented until now. I was trying to explain snowballing to him, but he was a bit dubious. I've now taken over the day-to-day management of the debt so it WILL happen now :rotfl: He is far too laid back as a person to get bothered enough about paying it off in any great hurry. Very much just happy if the bill is paid each month. I just keep saying to him 'imagine though when that £1k a month is for us to spend, save, etc.' and then his eyes light up, so he knows it's all for the best.

Here's to reaching the magical debt tipping point!!!! :rotfl:

DebtFree2012

Been working on the SS:

Well I thought I would provide an update from my spreadsheet.
Debt was 26834 and is now 25723 so a reduction of 1111 - could i have got that again if i tried lol.
Payments made to allow this reduction total 2633.33. The interest charge has been over 1k in 4 months. That put's in it perspective doesn't it.....

DebtFree2012

Jan £ 96.01 £ 12.43 £ 94.87 £ 33.23 £ 85.03 £ - £ 321.57 Interest £ 166.08 £ 76.00 £ 321.72 £ 67.00 £ 167.63 £ - £ 798.43 Paid £ 70.07 £ 63.57 £ 226.85 £ 33.77 £ 82.60 £ - £ 476.86 Reduced Debt byFeb £ 127.94 £ 9.37 £ 101.02 £ 29.60 £ 83.47 £ - £ 351.40 Interest £ 137.01 £ 50.00 £ 100.00 £ 55.00 £ 167.63 £ - £ 509.64 Paid £ 9.07 £ 40.63 -£ 1.02 £ 25.40 £ 84.16 £ - £ 158.24 Reduced Debt byMar £ 93.69 £ 9.58 £ 104.73 £ 32.51 £ 81.89 £ - £ 322.40 Interest £ 130.00 £ 110.00 £ 107.00 £ 50.00 £ 167.63 £ 100.00 £ 664.63 Paid £ 36.31 £ 100.42 £ 2.27 £ 17.49 £ 85.74 £ 100.00 £ 342.23 Reduced Debt by

DebtFree2012

ignore the above - it didn't keep the formatting it's colums showing interest v payment each month - sickening!

What can I do now......hmmm

Kepp

I'm definitely looking forward to that tipping point!

DebtFree2012

It could be a mini celebration time - the tipping point! Something to look forward to pre the DFD which can seem such a long time away.

Tonight's been lovely so far. I put my son to bed after spending some lovely cuddle time with him, then made HM made pizzas with my little girl (she's 4) and popcorn after which was yuk but never mind, we had fun making it. Then we put the little mermaid on and she watched 2/3's of it before falling asleep. Was lovely having cuddles.

So now I need to do some ironing BORING before menu planning which I couldn't wait to do before but don't see the full appeal at the mo lol! Maybe that's wine glass #2 kicking in.

Oh and tidy the kitchen as it looks like a bag of flour exploded in there LOL

Good times!

mrsspendalot

DebtFree2012 wrote: »

It could be a mini celebration time - the tipping point! Something to look forward to pre the DFD which can seem such a long time away.

Oh yes!!!

Just looked at my snowball and my tipping point will be the end of this year when my interest payments plummet significantly ... meaning more of my hard earned cash will be actually paying off my debt rather than lining the pockets of the bank :beer: