The "Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2012" challenge

camuk81

Back on the wagon for next year

mf0u1098

natlie wrote: »

Hi Pay day today - and b'day cheques to pay in so now

#023 Natlie £570.64/£9800

Hooray

Ooooh when was it your birthday natlie??? xxx

mf0u1098

Machine wrote: »

Right then guys, confession time. I have been reading and keeping up to date with the posts on here but thought I should post now again.

Last Friday was my works Xmas party and I had planned to spend (including meal) £50, key word there is planned, I hadnt budgeted as I knew I didnt have the money in the first place but had no choice I had to go.

So next day I look into my wallet and no notes left but a bit of change to which I think fair enough, but then....

... Oh no, I check my bank and realise in my drunken state I have withdrawn and spent another £20 from my debit card and another £20 from my barclaycard, meaning Xmas is gonna be even tighter now!

Also this means that the additional payments I have made to my debt now seem pointless! I know I have only myself to blame and it has made me more determined going into the new year, I just now know I have to be patient and wait til Jan now to make any additional payments.

It's ok Machine, I've overspent on my xmas pressies this year but there is nothing I can do about it now so will make sure I make an extra effort in January now! We've started this challenge at a tough and expensive time of year but at least it's making everyone think about everything they spend whereas before we probably would have shrugged our shoulders, said "ah well" and left it to build up on our credit cards...WELL NO MORE!!! xxx

Fiddlestick

Cool, so I just sit tightly and wait for a number then

mf0u1098

Fiddlestick wrote: »

How do I join this?

Do I just post my total debt?

velvet27 wrote: »

Hi Fiddlestick...I joined a couple of weeks ago, posted my debt and have been added to the list of debt free by xmas 2012 challenge. I have just paid £30 off my £2700 debt and am not sure how it gets recorded.

Added to that I am told by my children that I am PC illiterate and admit that I struggle to get around this site without their input but I am determined to pay off this debt and like to read the posts as they give me a a much needed boost!


:j

Welcome Fiddlestick and hello again velvet, lovely to hear from you :j

Each night in the late evening I update the 1st page with all our lovely new members and updated figures from our debt busting team. To make it easier for me, when you are posting what you've paid off, can you please put your number allocated on page one, and then put the total amount you've paid off during the challenge and then the amount you've pledged to clear by Xmas 2012. It would really help if you could please put this in large font and a bold colour as I go through everyone's posts and it's easier for me to update. I don't want to miss anyones great debt busting!!! :A


If you are unsure at all on how to increase your font size, change colour or put on smileys like these :rotfl: then please either just ask any of us on here or send me a message and I'll tell you how to do it my dears.

camuk81

Velvet as a bit of help click "post reply " bottom left or top left this then takes you onto a new screen choose your colour which then inserts into the text box then click sizes and pick a bigger font size. I go for 5.

Type where the cursor is flashing

It took me awhile to work it out!

mf0u1098

Fiddlestick wrote: »

Cool, so I just sit tightly and wait for a number then

Can you please tell me your amount of debt that you want to clear by Xmas 2012 please.

I'm just doing my updating now xxx

spartan59

Just a question, which has probably been answered a thousand times on the forums

I have debt on 1 credit card and 1 loan. Obviously my loan amount is reducing each month with the repayments ( I can't over pay) So my target is the credit card, however when I make a payment off my card for example £100 the interest the following month eats into that payment.

So is it better to save up a lump sum and make large payments £1000 at a time for example rather than £20 or £30 at a time? I'm not sure that makes sense!!!

Also I've worked out by christmas 2012 my loan will be halfed to £3700 so if I can save up that amount I can clear that by christmas 2012. So even though my target is £15000+ of debt I can set a smaller target and achieve the same, £3700 sounds more reachable than £8000.

Just a different way of looking at it,

psychopathbabble

spartan59 wrote: »

Just a question, which has probably been answered a thousand times on the forums

I have debt on 1 credit card and 1 loan. Obviously my loan amount is reducing each month with the repayments ( I can't over pay) So my target is the credit card, however when I make a payment off my card for example £100 the interest the following month eats into that payment.

So is it better to save up a lump sum and make large payments £1000 at a time for example rather than £20 or £30 at a time? I'm not sure that makes sense!!!

Also I've worked out by christmas 2012 my loan will be halfed to £3700 so if I can save up that amount I can clear that by christmas 2012. So even though my target is £15000+ of debt I can set a smaller target and achieve the same, £3700 sounds more reachable than £8000.

Just a different way of looking at it,

If you pay your credit card as you go along, you will be paying less interest as you are reducing the total amount owed by each payment. Also, the interest sort of comes out of the min payment so everything you pay on top of that will all go towards reducing the total. I've paid off about £100 in the last month by paying extra bits here and there.

InsertWittyName

spartan59 wrote: »

So is it better to save up a lump sum and make large payments £1000 at a time for example rather than £20 or £30 at a time? I'm not sure that makes sense!!!

Pay off whatever you can as soon as you can, especially if it will span over a statement for the CC. The lower the outstanding balance on statement day, the lower the interest applied next month will be.

Most lenders also calculate interest daily, so the sooner you can make a payment, the less interest you'll pay.