A Payment A Day - The 2012 Challenge!

psychopathbabble

Happy New Year to all you PADDERS out there! Survived my first Hogmanay... I found MrS in the back room face down on the floor although he now claims he was pretending to be passed out :rotfl:

Excellent padding total for the year although the competitive streak in me says we did over half a mil in 2010 so we need to aim higher

Paulgonnabedebtfree

DorsetGirl wrote: »

I reckon they should get us PADers into Government to help us sort out the budget deficit!

Not so sure about that. If we've already had riots that have been partly attributed to spending cuts by some, if some of us ran it, there would be a few latter day Guy Fawkes* out there .
I'm not sure what to do with my debts.
The temptation is to pay everything down as quickly as possible. Obviously that would be the best way purely in terms of number crunching. However, that money will probably not be re-borrowable and I can see a van replacemernt looming in 2 - 3 years. I don't want to be in a situation where I have a perfectly viable business and no van with which to service it. So maybe putting money away into a reserve account and paying off the minimum payments could be better - much more expensive but at least I would have money towards the next van. What a dilemma.
Either way, I need to up my income - something which has been happening steadily over the past year or two.
The third way - a sort of compromise - is to pay off the higher interest parts of debts then when that is done, just do minimum payments for the rest while putting money into a reserve account for the next van. That way has become possible since the hierachy of payments on credit cards changed a year ago.
Now I know the mantra is don't have savings and debts at the same time. But we have to get real as well and calculate the odds of being able to borrow money to replace the van in a couple of years or so.
Also, I am looking at a decent increase in profits over a couple of years so must avoid being caught out on the January tax bills. For those who don't know, if you have a large increase from one year to the next, the result is that you effectively have to pay double the difference the following January plus your normal tax.
My other issue is about which higher interest rate debt to tackle first.
I know the simple answer is to throw as much money at the higher interest debts as you can afford and just pay the minimum on the rest.
Again, sometimes simple number crunching over simplifies the issues.
A couple of my smaller debts are with a company with whom I also bank. Just in case my plans don't work out and I end up late paying or defaulting, I want to keep things as clean as possible with the company where I bank. This doesn't look to be a likely scenario unless something fairly serious and unpredictable goes wrong - but I do feel a need to protect myself against the "offsetting" rules - just in case. These two smaller debts aren't my highest interest ones but my gut tells me to deal with them first.
Just needing to clarify this stuff to myself on here and thinking aloud as much as anything. In put appreciated but I think I know which way to go now.
None of the above is relevant until February because I need to focus on getting my tax bill paid by 31/1.
Decisions, decisions.

*the last man to enter parliament with honest intent

Paulgonnabedebtfree

DorsetGirl wrote: »

£40,013.88 is a great total for December when everyone is paying out for Christmas.



Thank you Hopeful for all your totting up.

I would like to thank Hopeful1 as well for being adder upper in December.
A great total too. It was distorted a bit by me posting a few months worth in there but I needed to play catch up.

sashybo

Hi all, no pad today (although hopefully tomorrow) but just want to say a big well done to everyone for the 2011 total. :beer:

I promise to try and pad more this year as was a bit sporadic last year - now have the wedding to save for as well as the debts to pay off. :eek:

Little_bit_dizzy

Happy 2012 to you all, may the new year bring everyone love, laughter and happiness.

I'm resurecting the 'Fiver Tin' so my first pad of the year is £5.00 to said tin.

sophia-abigail-mummy

Hi everyone,
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Hope a good un was had by everyone last night.
Great total for the hardest month of all and also a very impressive total for 2011.
PAD £0.56 to change pot didn't really have any change but wanted to start on the right foot for 2012 (pinched it of OH lol)
I estimate 59 days till debt freedom fingers crossed.

psychopathbabble

£1 please

Hopeful1

Paulgonnabedebtfree wrote: »

I would like to thank Hopeful1 as well for being adder upper in December.
A great total too. It was distorted a bit by me posting a few months worth in there but I needed to play catch up.

Your distortion was most welcomed

I really don't understand the "don't have savings if you've got debt" mantra. When you have debt, it only takes the slightest thing to go wrong and you're in a mess. If it's something that's unavoidable, that has to be resolved, people usually end up in more debt to cover themselves.

I think your plan to keep your bank on side and to juggle payments to enable you to save makes perfect sense. Your van is an integral part of your business success. I am maintaining savings in a credit union as I hope, at a later date they would offer a loan at a good rate to enable me to clear a debt that is very high on paper, but actually I would be able to negotiate a very good full and final on. It's all in the thinking!!

sophia-abigail-mummy wrote: »

I estimate 59 days till debt freedom fingers crossed.

Wow! Nearly there....:)

wornoutmumoftwo

I'd like to join in please. Have made a payment of £1:j

Determined_2b_Debt_Free

£4.19
for me please - I'm joining this today after seeing so many people do so well on PAD. This month will be hard but I'm going to be creative, I've just taken all the 'pence' amounts in all of my budget accounts so they all now finish with .00 - the bank are going to think I have OCD... but come to think about it, it does look better now!!