What is the best piece of advice you got regarding sorting out your debts

IHaveNoMoney.com

The best piece of advice i got and what changed the way i looked at what i was doing with my money was to start saving some money, it was a member here who said it and until then i never saw the point of having savings when i was in so much debt but i do need an emergency fund.

Everytime something goes wrong car/washing machine etc i end up using more credit to fix/replace often paying more than i would have done had i have had the cash to buy it.

I am so excited that in three weeks i will have £80 going into a seperate account every 4 weeks i don't think we will notice the money going and once we have £500 i will start using that £80 to pay off debts knowing that if something goes wrong i have the cash to replace, once it goes below £500 i will wait until it is back up to £500 again before i start using that £80 for debts

Thgis website has totally changed my life and my perception of the debts we have if i hadn't of joined we would still be living in the clouds thinking we were coping, i am just glad we realised the mess we are in while we are still able to manage it.

Thanks to everyone with all your wonderful advice

edinburgher

Not sure I ever got any advice when I was trying to pay off my debts (too proud for my own good), but the best I could give would be either:

1. Start now!
2. Learn about the snowball method of paying off your debts
3. Pay yourself first/save something - you don't work for the bank (although you've covered this)

Glad you're getting so much from the site, DFW board is one of the friendliest there is

Mikeone

Wonki wrote: »

Most people wash far too much.

Hmm, I think I was sat behind you on the bus earlier...

nomoneytoday

It's many times harder to pay off debts later than earlier...

nomoneytoday

It's not a "credit" card, it's a "debt" card

backinbusiness

Not advice exactly but the best thing that happened for me was being pointed to the weekly email, this site and these forums.

Such a valuable, educational resource.

Got myself debt-free within 18mths, and completely re-educated re personal finance, etc.

bib

caledonian_princess

1. A spending diary, the things I used to spend money on! Well, actually I still do from time to time but at least I know what I'm spending where.
2. Clearing the overdraft, not necessarily the cheapest thing to do from an interest/charges point of view but I find it so much easier to budget without red figures all over the place.
3. Moving the cc debt to a 0% card, this alone has freed up over £100/month which is now being spent on reducing the debt not servicing it.

IHaveNoMoney.com

lots of good advice there thanks, well apart from the smelly one that doesn't like to wash

de1amo

i would write down everything i spent money on for a month--i did it with our food bill and got it down to 50pc of what it was!!--it highlighted the amount of times my wife rang in food--with my nagging she now prepares food in advance during her quiet time in the early morning!(sounds like i am a real lazy bum but my wife doesnt like the food i try to cook!)

vka1

I am so excited that in three weeks i will have £80 going into a seperate account every 4 weeks i don't think we will notice the money going and once we have £500 i will start using that £80 to pay off debts knowing that if something goes wrong i have the cash to replace, once it goes below £500 i will wait until it is back up to £500 again before i start using that £80 for debts

I like your £500 theory! I may adopt that one....

I think just siting down and working out an soa, knowing my APRs etc has been a huge help. I open every single piece of post and deal with it now, rather accumulating piles of unopened bank correspondence. I even, weirdly, look forward to my statements so I can update my balances....love my spreadsheets!

There's so much freedom to be found in being in control of your money, rather than it controlling you. I've got a long way to go though......

ladyinneed

I bank with lloydstsb and they have the money manager tool. This piece of kit is wonderful and hateful in equal measure.

the colour code all of your outgoings so at a glance you can see what % of your outgoings is going towards a particular group of things.

I was always moaning about never having any money yet when I saw this I found that I was spending around £80pm on Bingo and the lottery, neadless to say all gaming accounts have now been closed.

I found that I was spending nearly £30pw on top up shopping ie bread, milk, ciggies etc. I would have swore blind that it was nearer £15pw so now I am more mindful of what I need to last a week when I go big shopping and have altered my shopping habits to make sure I'm not spending more here than I need to.
I have also packed in the ciggies, although this is only week 2!

I have stopped using my car when I don't really need to after seeing on the money manager that spend around £80pm on diesel. I thought it was and only budgetted for £40pm.....the list of things this has opened my eyes to is endless, I really recommended this to anyone that needs a little visual reminder of where all the money goes each month.