just wondering how you do it ?

piratess

Well just being nosey i think ... i am still paying off my debts by a really small amount each month, some at £5.00 some at £15.00

i was just wondering whether its the best thing to do is plod along paying a bit here a bit there or to carry on paying the little bits but also try and save some money along side and then pay a lump sum off of each to try and get it down quicker ?

any thoughts on this would be great as the £15.00 a month i am paying on a council debt of £1,200 so is going to take a while

thanks slightly lacking willpower ... kirsty xx

immoral_angeluk

Personally we save up until we have the full amount to be able to pay off the debt in full. We find this helps our motivation because we keep track and can see exactly how much we've saved and how much is left, plus the feeling off paying it off in full is a great feeling.
Saying that though we've been able to have our lightbulb moment before things got too out of hand so have been able to pay off a debt a month since october.

lynzpower

personally Id pay little and often.

I think, yes it could take forever, but its better to be making some progress than "none" however, in terms of the council tax, it might be better as its I guess 0% that you have money aside i a savings account to make the interest. However, I doubt that councils would be OK with you not paying anything off monthly, and you might get into the circle of co;llections, which from my experience with not paying council tax properly ( at all ) the letters/bailiffs and so on are excruitiatingly expensive and a waste of money.

I guess the key is will they LET you pay off in lump chunks without incurring collection fees?

pollyanna24

Our debt is not huge, but we pay as much as we can each month. Got it down quite low and it's just a credit card on 0%. Before it was friends we owed, so tried to get rid of it asap. We have no savings at the mo, but in April hopefully this will change. Although I may just start chucking all our money at the mortgage instead. Know this is risky having no savings, but I like to see the bills go down instead!

DontDoDebtKids

I'd go for the little and often approach too, but this is probably down to personal preference rather than any logical reasoning.

The reason I'd go for this approach is that it gives the feeling of action - paying off just a little bit every other day is, for me, much better than sitting around waiting for pay day and thinking about it all the time.

This approach also motivates you to find other sources of income, however small, to enable you to pay these small amounts. I don't just divide up however much my surplus salary (i.e. money I don't plan to spend) is and pay that every day. I pay as much as I can afford every day - so I use Quidco and matched betting (primarily) to generate extra income.

Good luck!

chocaholic110

I go for the little and often approach too, primarily because otherwise I get disheartened with nothing happening.

Most of my salary is paid out the first couple of days after receiving it and I would hate not to see any progress during the following four weeks. Therefore I use Quidco, ebay, Mutualpoints, mystery shopping etc to make little amounts during the month that can be paid off in this time.

hypno06

I go for the little and often as well. If I get an extra £10 for some reason, and don't pay it straight off the debt, I soon find another use for it, and before you know it £10 has gone and I have nothing to show for it.

I tried saving up and paying lump sums, but then would realise I had saved enough for a holiday.......

nickyhutch

We pay a fixed amount per month to about 6 debts. These are amounts we agreed with the creditors which would not cripple us and stop us living a "normal" life. I know it will take longer to pay them off, but I'd rather be comfortable for this longer period than absolutely broke for a year or two. As long as we'e happy and the creditors are happy, then we get along just fine.

Good luck.

piratess

I have arrangments that i pay each month i was just wondering if i could carry on paying these amounts and then if we get any spare then we could shove it into another account and then pay a lump off of the biggest ones ... we pay our rent arrears direct to the housing association so dont think i would incur collection fees ...
still unsure what to do xx

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi.. we pay what every we got spare... when we got it... some months its nothing.... some moths it might only be £5 - £10...

also what i am doing is concentrating... on paying those extras off one credit card at a time....so you do notice the diff.. over time...

do what you feel is right for you... i have no will power.. so i could not save... a lump sum... to pay off a debt....as we would spend it.....and have nothing to show for it....

but we are getting better though.... so who knows ..

Nuclear_Tom

I too am a member of the "little and often" club. I do this for quite a few reasons.

Firstly, if I have a "spare" fiver kicking about, there will be use found for it, so paying it off a debt the second it becomes available ensures I'm paying as much off my debt as possible, and wasting as little as is feasible.

Also, a penny paid off a debt, is a penny that interest won't be accumulated on. Whilst this obviously doesn't apply to 0% cards, I'd still prefer to see the debt go down. Any interest accumulated on savings would be quite small in comparison, particularly compared to high interest debts.

I get paid at the end of the month, and all minimum payments are made as well as all bills within a week after payday. I take out my "living budget" and whats left goes into the highest interest debt as an over-payment. Then I take my living budget, split it into 4 and thats my weekly budget. Its then a challenge to spend as little as possible to allow another over-payment at the end of the week!

Whichever way you choose, good luck with getting the debt down as soon as possible!