The "Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2012" challenge - PART 2!!!

2012MyYearToClear

£420.00/£20.000

sharronej

kerri_dfw wrote: »

This weeks mini-challenge, announced early, is to eat out of the freezer and cupboards. You bought all that food for Christmas, now eat it all up tins, pastas, spaghetti that takes ages to cook, stews, soups made from wilting sprouts. I wonder who can have the cheapest grocery budget of the week???

:rotfl:This is exactly what I was going to suggest and let's post our spends next week - good luck everyone....we should also post our strangest meal :j

seriousDFW

mf0u1098 wrote: »

I firmly believe that lending was completely irresponsible, I went uni when they were giving out credit like sweeties and so I took the money without question as there was noone to guide me in the consequences (it seems obvious now but you move away from home for the first time it's all overwhelming to be honest and my parents never had a credit card or a loan and have never been to uni). To allow a 25 year old (I'm now 30) to have £43,073 of unsecured debt is quite frankly frightening (if you add in my student loan and 1/2 the mortgage then it was £113k of debt at 25yrs old and I only earned £16k a year!!!). It has been a noose around my neck since I became an adult BUT IT WILL BE GONE THIS YEAR!!!! :j:j:j

I am so excited!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I too am annoyed with myself and the people around me for giving me the impression that some debt was ok. We force young people to go into debt for uni, which I firmly believe teaches many that being in debt is fine. I even remember Martin when I was at uni saying "debt isn't bad - bad debt is bad". So I happily used credit (interest-free overdraft and 0% credit cards). What they don't tell you is once you graduate, this debt isn't interest-free anymore and when you start having to pay proper bills on starting salaries, it's easy for debt to spiral once interest gets added on. This was certainly my experience, and now I'm battling to get rid of debt, most of which I could have probably lived without if I had budgeted properly and not relied on overdrafts and credit cards.

I'm not saying this to whinge, it was MY actions that caused my debts, I just want to give a warning to uni students out there to be careful and try and avoid debt as much as they can, as they will be much better off in the long run.

That said, I'm feeling VERY POSITIVE about busting my debt in 2012 and I am so proud of every penny that people are posting up here that they have paid off their debt. It's inspirational - keep it up guys!!

Also: for those weight loss challengers - I have recently found out about a website called www.myfitnesspal.com
It is fantastic - it's a place that will calculate how many calories you need to eat each day to lose the weight you want to lose, and you can track your food on there regularly to make sure you stay within the limits. I will be using to hopefully tackle my weight loss, as I want a simple, calorie-controlled approach! You can download an app for your phone to track when you're on the go. If anyone has any other tools for weight loss please recommend!

sam09_2

I agree, my first credit card was given to me when i was 18, all i wanted to do was to change my account to a current account and they pushed me to have the credit card which i then used without thinking of the consequences- which Im still paying off now at 27! (Luckily managed to get it transferred to a loan to save on the hideous interest charges) My little sister is 18 now and ive told her a few times to be careful with money. Ive learned my lesson now though, to never get myself in this situation again! Will work so hard this year to achieve my dream of being debt free:)

MFWannabe

mf0u1098 wrote: »

Well, I have to say that I am absolutely gobsmacked after working out the total paid in December...

A MASSIVE...

£59,757.43!!!!

Giving the total debt paid off in 2011 a whopping...

:T:T:T £83,639.56!!! :T:T:T

This is an incredible figure given that we only started this challenge on 15th November (6.5 weeks ago...)

WOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! That's an absolutely amazing amount. Well done to you all; glad to now be part of your group!! :T

theposhbint

That's it, I've decided! I'm going to keep the mini challenge going for the whole of January

I always pay any shopping with my debit card but I'm going to try it another way and it should cut my spending right down. Tomorrow I'm drawing out £20 cash, that's my shopping budget for this month - for 2 adults, a 9yr old & toddler. There should be plenty to last 4 weeks in the cupboard/freezer etc as long as I meal plan -something else I've never done. So thats 2 new tactics for money saving. Wish me luck

DorsetGirl_2

mf0u1098 wrote: »

Well, I have to say that I am absolutely gobsmacked after working out the total paid in December...

A MASSIVE...

£59,757.43!!!!

Giving the total debt paid off in 2011 a whopping...

:T:T:T £83,639.56!!! :T:T:T

This is an incredible figure given that we only started this challenge on 15th November (6.5 weeks ago...)

Brilliant totals - well done to us all :T

seriousDFW

theposhbint wrote: »

That's it, I've decided! I'm going to keep the mini challenge going for the whole of January

I always pay any shopping with my debit card but I'm going to try it another way and it should cut my spending right down. Tomorrow I'm drawing out £20 cash, that's my shopping budget for this month - for 2 adults, a 9yr old & toddler. There should be plenty to last 4 weeks in the cupboard/freezer etc as long as I meal plan -something else I've never done. So thats 2 new tactics for money saving. Wish me luck

Good luck! I am also trying the cash strategy for the first time this month, as I'm fed of of constant overspending on food!

leikela

My first proper post on the new thread! I thought I'd have nothing to comment about but having read through everything I've realised just how much I'm already doing!

1. My phone contract ended mid-November but the same payment/tariff has been charged since. I would love a new phone but decided yesterday that I don't need one. My current phone is on the way out for sure but while it still functions I decided to downgrade to a monthly tariff slashing £14.14 (yes, the pennies count!) off my bill per month. So that money I'm putting away in my current online savings account this month and will transfer it into a CU once I've got the paperwork back.

2. In the next week I will have moved into my new house. I'm detached now and will be moving into a smaller semi/terrace (weirdly the top floor is terrace and the bottom is a semi) so that will cut down on fuel costs. Not only that, it has a working fireplace so I am hoping to use that as much as possible to heat the house up (once I figure out how to use it...!). I've also managed to cut the cost of moving by roping in my lovely friends (with big cars!) to help transport boxes instead of a removal company/van hire. So I'll be baking some delicious low-cost treats and giving out beautiful (and free!) ice mandalas when the weather gets a bit colder as a thank you.

3. Once I have completely moved, no box will be emptied unless I know I will use the contents. Anything I haven't used or kept unnecessarily will be put up for sale with the money going towards debts.

4. I have offered up my services in basic web design to my nursery so I can look forward to a reduced bill in January!!:j

5. I have started looking into reclaiming bank charges and have been through four months of statements so far. I've only been back in the country since 2008 after studying abroad so I haven't got too many statements to go through

I'm nervous about making any payments towards debts yet as I was paid mid-December (perils of working in Education, it's a loooooooong time until the next payday) so I'm transferring what I think I can afford into my 'savings' account with the same bank via internet banking and then use that to make a payment once I get paid again at the end of Jan. I've set myself a challenge to spend as little as possible and rather than shopping for things we don't need, spending some real quality time with my son. Because, after all, that's who I'm doing all of this for. It took a massive wake up call to realise that and I just hope I don't fall back into old habits.

DorsetGirl_2

I only have a little freezer but I will give this challenge my best shot. Will have to go and get grapes, bananas and milk at some point though.