Road to Recovery - My Diary

Hope78

Thanks tealasy I've a fair few boots vouchers that I get from those sites but had negelcted them a bit so you gave me a gently reminder cheers!

Ice, thanks you've given me a boost was thinking I'd not made much progress. Get going with posting up a SOA its amazing how you can't see even simple changes for youself but others can. It did me the world of good.

Hope78

Hey Folks!

Just been updating my sig and feeling positive. Just realised that when I've made my October payments I'll be under the £40K mark which has given me a real boost! Must be a psychological thing a bit like when you losing weight and you get into the next stone down cateogy (if that makes sense). It's also been a plus to realise that this time next year one of my loans will be done and dusted and the other will have only 2 payments to make. That WILL be when I can really up the anti with overpayments to CCs as at the minute I'm £20 over on my lowest balance and £5 over on the others.

I've been doing well with Olympic Challenge. I'm using that money to buy Xmas presents though used some to buy Car Tax which was first time in my working life I didn't used a CC for that! Also using tutoring money and Change Jar money to clear overdrafts. Managed to get the one on acount I switched to down from down to -£80 so in 4 weeks that'll be gone gone gone! Thank goodness! Which means once bank charges issue is resolved it'll be pure cash for me and not sucked into Mr Nationwides overdraft. The overdraft on my new account is -£400 today which is £100 less than last month and included me buying new contact lenses.

It turns out my mum owes me some money from ages ago (which I'd forgotten about) and rather than paying me it in a wad of cash she's keeping a little diary and buying me things with it or putting a little in bank for me(shes not convinced I'd put it in the bank). She's quite intuitive and if I've mentioned buying she'll get that of if I've not said anything she'll pop some in my bank.

Well off for some luch as its bank holiday weekend here.

Cheers
Hope x

Hope78

Got another present today this time for one of my nieces. Planned on getting her a little kitchen and the one I really liked was £69.99 but shops were out of stock so in the last shop I saw a smaller model of the same kitched reduced from £59.99 to £29.99! Guess what? I bought it! Feeling rather chuffed to have just saved myself £60. Isn't it strange last year I'd have searched and searched until I got that more expenseive kitchen which she wouldn't get anymnore use out of than the one I did buy - an amazing place this forum you know!

mae

Thats what makes me smile about this site it gives people so much more awareness and kind of gives them 'permission' to see things differently.

You're doing really well and well done on nearly being below the 40 mark... Just think if you had not made this turn around you could have been heading towards the 50 mark instead!!! Scary thought eh... And as each moth passes in this direction your credit rating must be improving too so you are heading towards the day when maybe you can transfer some of them higher rates to lower ones.

So keep up the good work and I am sure you are inspiring others to make some changes too when reading your diary :beer:

lunar

Hope, just read through your diary, well done on making so many changes, and for sticking to it. its nice to have people to share the debt free journy with.

Hope78

Thanks for that folks. Until I found this site/forum debt was a really lonely place as you know none of my friends or family know exactly the extend of my debt so being able to share my thoughts and feelings here is what's helped me sleep better at night.

What a thought mae £50k I hadn't thought like that before and its just made my stomach flip and feel rather sick that I could potentially have been in that situation.

I sometimes wish I could offer more practical help to others who support me on here but I'm not really money savvy just controlling my own spending urges / searchingfor cheaper alternatives. I've neve ran my own home so things like food budgets, electricity and TV packages are things I've never had to deal with but if my little rantings help even one person to staff on focus or learn fomr my mistakes then I'm a happy girl!

My credit rating/score is something I very seldom check to be honest (once every few months). Even when I started my journey in March it was in the "excellent" category with a score in the 900s. This gave me false sense of security as if my debts couldn't be that bad to get that score. That's why I've included my car in debts total to see exactly every peny I owe to everyone. I probably should include my overdraft but it's always cleared every time I'm paid and is gradually reducing or perhaps thats me in alittle denial!

The thing I'm missing out on is having place of my own although I have every luxury at home. It's not the desire to live on my own but to have a foot on the property ladder. I've had this discussion with my mum and we're going to look into me buying their council house, not right now as I'd not get a mortgage and my mum knows why, but soon as I've got a few of my debts out of the way and a fair months of my not using an overdraft!

mae

Hi Hope if your credit rating is good why can't you apply for a 0% credit card or a life of balnce card to transfer your higher rates? I'm no expert but surely you would save a fortune in interest if you looked into this? If you look at the higher rate credit cards and then look how much interest you are charged monthly, how much of your actual monthly payment is bringing the total down?

It may be worth transfering to life of balance cards 3.9% or 5.9% and your balance would come down so much quicker.

Or have you tried ringing the credit card companies to ask if they have any better rates they can offer you before you look into transferring.

May actually be worth posting another SOA on here to see if you are still on track or if there are any savings you could stil make. Sometimes this just helps to give you another fresh boost even though you are doing well at the moment there still may be room for improvement or fresh eyes looking over things can sometimes high light things you have over looked.

Hope78

Hi Mae

When I looked at lower interest rate cards the limit available wasn't enough to transfer my outstanding balances of a card knowing myself and how difficult it is to control my spending I wasn't sure it was wise to transfer some of my balance as then I'd be tempted not reduce limit on original card and spend on it. However any advice is recommended.

Cheers Hope

mae

I know what you are saying but I have a feeling you have come along way since that 'temptation' would detract you from your goal of watching your debts reduce.

What is the smallest credit card you have? Is ECC an Egg credit card? If so could you just maybe get a credit card with enough to transfer this on an interest free or life of balance. Just think how much interest on that card alone you would save as at the moment the interest on that is 16.9%. You could then close that credit card so no temptation and you will see the balance reducing at a faster rate. Or if you think you could be strong then anything you could transfer off the HV at 23% :eek: would save you alot of money.

Maybe worth reviewing the situation as I think you are missing out on significantly reducing your interest payments thus reducing the amount you owe quicker.

I don't want to push you though as you know yourself the best.

Also would it help to realise the interest effects if you posted a list of each card with how much you pay monthly and how much interest is put on alongside it to maybe sway you to make this your next goal to get all the credit cards onto lower interest rates and watch them balances go down quicker?

Hope78

Thanks again mae didn't think of the smaller one it is an Egg Card. Will have a good sit down and think later plau post an update SOA (not sure much has changed). It might even be an option to as you suggested for Egg Card then transfer something from Halifax to the Egg Card and reduce limit on Halifax? What do you think of that?