Starting again, 1% at a time. 100 ways to make £80!

embirch

Hi all glad to see so many of you reporting excellent %s. I unfortuantley have had the month from hell and if anyone knows where to buy a money tree it would come in really handy.
I have been invited to a wedding reception from a friend from university in Newcastle and really want to go as not seen her for ages so thats fuel drinks and accommodation money to find. DH's National Insurance payment is due at the end of the month together with the car tax and need to find £330 to pay my holiday by 9 March arrgh. So unfortuately no %s for me to post but I'm plodding along with surveys and trying to get stuff together for ebay for the next free weekend.

FallenArcher

Managed to time the PO ok - although the queue behind me was massive by the time I'd finished! Luckily I'd kept enough back in my 100 ways pot to cover the postage as it came to £50.20!

embirch - you should never buy a money tree! I believe the old wives tale is that if you buy one then you'll be poor, but if you're given one as a gift then you'll get rich. Our friend gave us an off-shoot from hers in September, and although i haven't got rich I have made a significant in-roads into my debts since - maybe it's connected!? If you know anyone with one, ask for an offshoot - much more money-saving! Sounds like a lot of expenses coming up, I hate that! We have five weddings this year (so far!) Said no to three hen-dos, and yes to one (am putting aside a bit each month from the budget for this!)

Right, better get back to work!

Natterjack88

I really need to get back on this challenge! Think Im going to get myself a notepad/folder thing and have my 100 squares at the front! Then a page for each was (some will be duplicated though such as eBay and money left from wages etc!) Think I'll just do 1% of total debt as well. So £150 :eek:
We are currently saving for a car so nothing but min payments been made at the moment really want to get cracking but we really need a new car!

teaandcakeaddict

hello, I've always admired this thread but never actually followed along as I thought my debt was getting under control! Fast forward a year, and my credit card bill is a massive £3,251! :eek: All my own fault of course, we paid for a holiday on it and haven't made any efforts to pay it off since, only the minimum payments.

So, I hope I'm doing this right! Paid my first 1% off yesterday and it feels gooooooood :j

teaandcakeaddict
1%= £33.................... total paid 1/100

licious

Hi guys,

Just been trying to read through this thread and am finding it really interesting and think it is an excellent idea!

Can I just confirm that I have understood the basics though please? ;o) I'm a little confused.....doesn't take much!!

So if for example I have the following debt:

CC1 £1000
CC2 £1000
Loan1 £3000
Loan2 £2500

Total £7500 Making the 1% £75 - OK now I get that bit.

When I get to say 5% or 10%, I pay it off my debt, BUT do I break it down into the 4 debts and pay off 5% or 10% off each or the biggest first??

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I really want to have a go at this and want to make sure I'm doing it the best way possible!!

Thanks,

Licious xx

FallenArcher

Hi Licious, it's entirely up to you! Most of us pay it off before getting to 5% or 10% - it makes more financial sense to pay it off as soon as you've raised it rather than letting it build up and pay off in a lump sum, as it will reduce the interest you pay. Most of us seem to pay off and declare once they've got a percent - and some of us pay off and declare after 1/2 a % - including me (because I'm impatient!).

As for which of your debts to pay it off, again there are no hard and fast rules about this - I'd suggest paying your percents against whichever of your four debts is attracting the highest interest rate. I also think pyschologically it's nice to tackle one at a time, but do whatever suits you.

For example I've got a loan with an 8% APR, but I've been putting mine towards a 0% credit card - as I was conscious the 0% was dropping off in April and had a balance of over 3 grand.

The only "rule" I can think of is that you must still make your minimum payments to all creditors - and these don't count towards the challenge.

I'm sure others will correct me if anything's wrong there!

Come join us as a percenter

tudorfan22

my updates so far! just been paid some money owed from OH and ebay so my totals so far (and i have 2 debts - i cant decide which to pay off first as theyre both the same interest rate-ish, so i thought id just keep track of 2 lots of %)

Debt 1 (next) 30% paid off - 1%=£8.90
Debt 2 (b'card) 12% paid off - 1%=£28

thanks very much for the support, great to see the new year stats (im running a few pages behind!) and im very excited that i WILL clear 2 of my 4 debts very soon at this rate! then its on to the M&S card and the money i owe my brother! oh joy! nevermind, babysteps!:beer:

FallenArcher

Well done teaandcakeaddict - each percent is really rather rewarding! Welcome aboard. Check out Little Miss Uni Debts's post near the start of the thread for inspiration, and if you have any others let us know!

Natterjack - I have lots of fun recording my percentages - although I'm more of a spreadsheet addict! How's the saving for a new car going?

happytails

44% :T slowly but surely!

debtbegone

For some unknown reason the percent I just tried to pay off of my cc wouldn't go through :mad: so I've transferred it to my "savings" acc ready to hopefully pay off tomorrow!

I'm back on the ebaying wagon so I'm hoping for at the very least another percent before the end of the month.

Need to take another look at the list to see what else I can actually do to earn extra. Think another proper look at my spendings and a strict budget needs to be done. I should really get into the habit of doing a monthly budget, the more I can save the more I can throw at the cards!