Pay off as much as you can in 2012 challenge!

fairyclicks

Hi guys!!

#88 popping in to say i paid another £100 off my mortgage today :j am now £105 in advance of payments after clearing my arrears last week

Also paid another £20 off rates arrears - will soon have them cleared at this rate

Also paid an extra £10 off my overdraft.

So £130 to add to my total making £990.14/5000 - oh soooooo close to my first £1000 might have to pay something else tomorrow to get there LOL!

DedicatedDFW

Twiggy_34 wrote: »

Hi there

I think the fact your debts are giving you sleepless nights suggests that reducing them as quickly as you can would be a really good idea. Or at least making it so they cost you as little as possible.

I don't know how long you have until your 0% offer ends, but have you looked into transferring to another 0% card so that you could continue to keep something in savings and clear the c/cards at a more reasonable pace without incurring interest? You may have tried this already - I know I tried doing it when my card started incurring interest and struggled for ages to get any of it transferred to 0% until Halifax finally agreed to give me a card for half of the outstanding balance (phew!).

I think it's worth remembering that (as a general rule) the advice is it's better to clear debts than keep money in savings, certainly when you're being charged interest on your debt. As soon as I've settled the monthly bills & payments, I always transfer "spare" money over to a savings account and if it's still there at the end of the month use that to clear a chunk off the c/card (£170 sat waiting for payday on wednesday). It means I always have a little 'cushion' to fall on if needed. Plus, the fact it's not just sitting in my current account reduces the likelihood of temptation to spend it wastefully. Also, I get super excited when I see the outstanding balance on my card go down by a sizeable chunk! :j

Best of luck in finding yourself a better job btw. I'm lucky in that my job is really secure, but it also pays a rubbish salary and I've been trying to find something which pays better or at least is more satisfying for aaaages to no avail.

Twiggy thank you so much for this advice.

Having gone through everything and really thought about things i have decided - depending on how much i receive i will 1) pay off credit card thats about to get hit with interest 2) pay off my car insurance in full rather than by monthly direct debit or credit card which would only increase my debt 3) any extra goes towards debt.

Good luck to you with job search too

Samjangi

I can't believe it! I have just sat and gone over the numbers about 5 times, just to be sure. With some balance transferring (to 0%) and some jiggling my total paid off so far in 2012 is

2733.77 :j:j:j can you tell I am a little excited!

I won't be able to keep this rate of repyment up but it is astounding how it all adds up. I keep telling myself if it is all adding up when paying it off, imagine how it all adds up (and grows!! when it is a debt.

sarahs999

Bumping this up for the final day of Feb tomorrow....come on you indebted lot, confess your sins! How much have you paid off this month? Let's beat Jan's total....

Twiggy_34

No. 103 checking in again (after my revelation about it being pay day tomorrow lol).

Just paid off an extra £190 from one of the c/cards bringing my total to: £1017/£3566

Thanks.

sarahs999

£100 and 25p paid to finish off the barclaycard. Yay! Last day of feb, unexpected early gig money.

wannabehermit

Car paid yesterday, hooray, one year down, 2 to go. So that's £83.19 to add, bringing my total to:

£698.52/£2000

wot-a-mess

No. 21 Reporting

Mortgage & loan payments off :j

£4,629 / £14,000

Needhelpsaving

Yey!!! It's payday.

I have just made various payments bringing my current total to £1264.45/£4988.75

I have just paid off the remainder of my CC, so once the payment is cleared, it's being closed - V excited . . . . simple things eh? :rotfl:

Well done on the totals so far this year!!!

mh2361

i have a similar dilema to DFD regarding an old pension, they've informed me that although there is no mvt on it and hasn't been for years , they are going to start taking a fixed charge each year. As theres only £2000 in it and I've 20 odd years to go, there'll be nothing left. cheeky monkeys (polite version for any kids listening !!). i think i may as well find out about cashing it in and paying off a bit of the debt.
btw i see post office is doing a 0% credit card through topcashback. this will extend our interest free period a bit.