Does Little & Often Really Work? 4 July 2011 at 9:31PM edited 12 July 2011 at 6:26PM in Debt-Free Wannabe 16 replies 10.9K views

moments_of_sanity

We have a large amount of debt on CC's and are now starting to try and repay it - I paid the minimum payment at the end of last week and had £10 spare today so I paid £5.00 each on the two largest credit cards (so £5 each).

Does it make a huge difference in the long run, it certainly doesn't feel like it's making any difference as I made the payment tonight!?

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rdchick

What I'm doing is rounding down my bank balance to the nearest £5 and have done it for the past week without feeling much different but have nearly saved £40... When it gets to £500 I will lower my overdraft so I am not paying ridiculous fees!

People have made about £300 just by saving the change from their purses so I think it's definitely worth it and you don't even realise it's going down xxx

haras_nosirrah

It worked for me

3 years ago I had 3k on a credit card. I repaid it within 2 years by using little and often. I worked out that by buying lunch at work I was spending around £5 a day - every day I took my own lunch in I paid £5 off my credit card. Same If I cycled to work instead of getting the bus - would pay the bus fare off my credit card. By doing that I was paying nearly £170 a month extra off the card and it made a huge difference to me.

I still do this but now I am debt free I put £5 a day into my savings account instead. Put £9 into my savings account yesterday as didn't buy lunch at work and also worked out to my zumba wii game rather than going to the class so that was another £4 for the pot. Online banking makes it so easy to do and I am always looking for ways to save money so it goes into my savings pot. Has become quite addictive.

mrsb83_2

Definitely yes - check out the success we have on the Payment a Day thread!

foxgloves

When we were paying off debt, I squirrelled away every little saving we'd made over that month and at the end of the month, went and paid it in. It doesn't sound like much at the time but it does all add up. Even things like my tube of 20p pieces.....as soon as I knew it had got to the level where there'd be £20, it got bagged up & off it went to be paid in. If any money came our way we weren't expecting like a small cheque, that would go into the debt repayments too. Even things like if we had some vouchers for shopping, we'd use those & the equivalent money would be earmarked to go into the debts. Every single one of your regular household bills that you can reduce by shopping around or cut out because you can live without them will free up extra money to chuck at your debts. It will reduce very slowly indeed if you only pay the minimum repayments. Anything extra is going to work in your favour. We became debt free (apart from mortgage) in May and we're glad we kept chipping away at it.....psychologically, it's a boost as well.

beemuzed

Definitely would agree - every little extra really does help.

gargrave50

What else would you have done with the £10? Spent it?!

That £10 is £10 you owe less today than you did yesterday . Doing this on a regular basis will reap real rewards.........try it! WARNING: Addictive!

Gra76

Every little certainly helps. My 6yr old son is the first one to pester me for 'pennies' when I get in the door. I give him anything I have in my pocket that is a 1p, 2p, 5p, or a 10p.

He asks me fairly regularly. I don't really miss it but I recently counted his 'savings' he's made from my shrapnel and it's nearly £100 so far this year...I want it back now!

GeorgeUK

It definately makes a difference, even overpaying by small amounts although it's usually best to overpay the card with the highest balance. Have a look at the snowball calculator to see how much of a difference a small overpayment could make.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/snowcalc.html

You are not just reducing the balance by the amount you overpay, but are also getting rid of all the interest that this amount would be liable for until you clear the card.

moments_of_sanity

Thank you all so much for your posts - I will certainly be putting as much as I can towards paying the cards of and will enjoy seeing the amount of interest coming down each month! :beer:

tigermoon

Absolutely, I love rounding down the figure in my bank account to an even number by paying a wee bit off a card or my overdraft. It really all does help lower the total in the long run. And it's strangely addictive! You should give PAD a go for a while and see the difference it makes! xx