Xmas "round robin!" A catchup & intro for all!

bellsbells

Hi everyone,
I discovered this site in August when I realised that although my debts were going down it was in a very haphazard way. This site has helped me turn my efforts into a militery style operation! I have done so much in a few months. I got a new 0% credit card and moved my overdrafts onto that, cleared and closed down my old credit card and now have a cashback cc as well. I closed a joint account that was not needed and was costing us £7.50 a month and have opened a savings account.
I used my 0% cc to buy insurance (via a cashback site of course!) to avoid paying the monthly charge and have switched gas/electricity suppliers and broadband supplier. Jan 2007 will see me paying off the last bit of my CC. I will have paid off about £1900 which includes overdrafts. My final debt is a car loan of about £3500 that is luckily 0% interest as it is a loan from a family member. My aim is to get that paid off within the year, then I will be debt free! I have been lucky as I have had extra money to throw at debts recently due to a temporary promotion at work.
Once debt free I am planning on paying back the mortgage quicker. There have been so many little changes I have made that I cannot list them all here - this post is already long enough!
Good luck to everyone for 2007.

bellsbells

Molanole

Hi all :hello:

I'm still here but posting less than I'd like. With one thing and another I have been really under pressure at work (doing 8am to 10pm days - it's a nine-to-five job) and then still having to run the household on top. As well as that both my mum and now my dad have been/are seriously ill which has meant that I've not been as committed or motivated towards paying off debt as I'd like to be.

In spite of all this I'm hoping to be under 25K at the start of January and then I'll have that much to pay off in 20 months (when my contract at work ends).

I'm gonna have a tough couple of months as my Dad is really ill and having treatment so think it will be a slow start to the year but I'll keep lurking if not posting and reading all your news.

Have a good (frugal) Christmas everyone :santa2: and a prosperous New Year.

Mola x

Ozzyfan

Hi everyone

We started a dmp with cccs in march this year & made lots of progress (thanks to mse!) we upped our monthly payments 4 times & paid off 3 of the smaller debts on top of our dmp payments. We took the decision to come off the dmp last month as we are now able to afford the full contractual payments to the 3 loans that are left, our dmp is now officially closed & normal direct debit payments are now set up from Jan 1st We have been sent payment books by our creditors which will enable us to make overpayments too.
So next year our 1st goal is to pay off our joint loan first which will also mean that I will be debt free in the middle of the year :j a bit of a miracle as I've had debt for 23 years :eek: Then we will put the overpayments in a savings account to pay off hubbys 2 loans, one of which should be paid off at the end of 2007, the other will take a bit longer, probably 2009.
Hoping to have cleared another £10k by the end of 2007

Happy Christmas to you all & here's hoping 2007 will be a good one! :xmassign:

Mirtos

Hi! :wave:

I haven't been around much over the last month or so because I quit my steady but painfully dull job for which I was stupidly overqualified to take a freelance contract which paid better and actually used my skills! Now the freelance contract has run out, and I'm temping until the next one comes along. I know it's going to be slow to start with, but I'm hoping to be working solely freelance within the next 18 months to 2 yrs. In the meantime it'll be temping a go go :eek: - which at least means that I have time to get on MSE and keep myself in check. Have managed to just about stick to my £1000 a month target (though I may fall short this month by £100 or so) but have been spending a little haphazardly while away freelancing so MUST get the discipline going.

Good to hear everyones status reports!
Wicked idea Lynz!
xxx

JAMIEDODGER

hi all. and thanks to lynz for starting the thread:)

been on MSE since may 2005 at which point i had about 10k worth of debt. being a single parent with four children and on benefits i managed in a year to pay off around 5k of it by being tight and savvy:)

started a business in august and became sef employed and came off benefits:) since which i have been paying every spare penny into the business.

so here i am some 18 months since i first joined, now sub 4k just an 1k overdraft and the rest is my loan and i will be debt free. i also now have £200 in shares asi am starting to build an hyp.

business is going very well so much so that from this month i no longer need to subsidise it and can start hammering down the debt again. aiming to clear overdraft by feb then concentrate on loan.

2006 has been a good year, 2007 is looking to be even better:)

taxi73

HI all and what a wonderful post
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you all:xmastree:
I only had my LB moment in Oct...but since then feel I've taken control..thanks to the onderl ople ore:T
Firstly I looked at my household expenses(essentials) and cut a little off there..I use quidco,pigsback and test and vote...I also use a boots advantage card(I have £132 on this ..so this is next years christmas)..Iam living out of my freezer and cupboards have done for weeks..so saved a fortune...I use the OS boards for ideas..I've changed my isa to one on the web paying more interest and opened a websaver for my tax as I'm SE ...so I'm not in the position to have to use the overdraft...I've transferred all CC debt to 0% cards...I plan to use my morgan stanley card and pay it in full each month for cashback..
My plans for 2007 is to keep out of OD...clear MBNA..£4840..0%
HALIFAX...£2,500...0%
SOFA..£2000...0%
Also at same time put some money away ..will also give up smoking feb when come back from holiday(sorry pre LB)...smoking money is coming straight off halifax card..
So god willing...I will really make inroads in 2007...and if I manage all that I'll tackle overpayments on the loans!!

Pobby

What cracks me up about ``round robin`` Christmas letters is that they are a ``fit all`We get them from people we havn`t seen in over 20 years.So for example you get``Dora is now having riding lessons`` and I`m thinking``who the f--- is Dora.``Or those from people you never really liked,always boasting.``Of course Petra and I went to the Maldives this year but Johnie couldn`t get time off from Sherbourne.It was with regret that BMW 850 series,with in car entertainment,climate control,and customised paint finish was written off this year.``Then you hear from a mate who is still in touch that it got written off because he was p-ssed after a big row with her over money---Gotta laugh ain`t cha!

crawley_girl

Great thread... nice to hear what peopole are up to and what you guys are all about.

Me, well, I'm working full-time and working part-time around my shifts. Have just had hours reduced in my 2nd job, which was sad but hey, I'll get over it. My main job is 100% safer and for that I am grateful.

Like others, I am doing mystery shopping, using Quidco, reclaiming bank charges (5 out of 6 ain't bad!) just waiting for Natwest to cave and I am keeping a spending diary. Totally amazes me to see the tat that I spend my money on.

I have a £2 saving tin and a Friday £1 tin and am saving those to stick into my rainy day slush fund. I meal plan and spend approx £30 a fortnight on food. I am 50% OS and trying hard to be 100%... I like lists and writing long lists of jobs to do keeps me from getting out and spending money!

Have had a wee wobble over the last few days in my DFW ways, but am climbing back on board!

:heartpuls CG :heartpuls

jillie1974

Hi everyone :santa2:
Well i had the lightbulb moment for us both in May when First Direct said i couldnt bank with them any more! we had been struggling with our debts for a while but this was my wake up call! since then we have got a DMP with CCCS although as my hubby was off sick for 5 weeks and only got statutory sick pay (70pw) we have not made the last 2 payments (CCCS are ok with this) but we hope to be back on track by end of Jan. we have managed to pay off £1500 so far which is prob a lot more than we would have without the DMP. Went through a dodgy patch got bit depressed bout the whole situation and not been able to afford xmas etc.. however thanks to some fabulour MSErs on varous threads i have managed to sort an ok christmas for us. have also sent my request for my bank charges to be refunded. ihave tackled Natwest first for £4376!!! and yes i'm still in shock that htey ever charged me that much!! if i get it all back wil use large portion to reduce some of my debts!!
have started saving my coppers and 5ps although its taking a while i'm going to add 10ps next! :j
looking forward to 2007 as feel this wil be the year we fully tackel our debts and get our debt free date brought forward!!

iceicebaby

Hiya all

Well I dont have any debts, except for my mortgage. It has taken me years to pay them off and have been debt free since April.

Joined here as I am finding it hard to remain debt free. I have enough incomings to cover my outgoings but the problem is resisting things in shops and getting caught in that downward spiral again. Coming on here brings me back to reality and so far have resisted!

I have taken a lot of the advice here on board and am doing things like cooking more from scratch to bring my food bills down and also switched to cheapest elec/gas/phone and other moneysaving tips. My aim is to save the cash i need to pay upfront for a holiday as I have not been on one for 8 years due to my debts. After that any spare money will be ploughed into the mortgage.

Looking forward to getting that holiday in about october 2007.