Here we go again...

PeppermintPatti_2

Well after a few years of some half-hearted attempts at sorting my finances, the time has come when I have realised that I can't juggle things any longer.

I've got myself into a horrible payday loan cycle, and money seems to run out before the end of the month. I thought by writing down what I'm up to, it may spur me on to get everything in order. On paper, I should have enough money to pay the bills, service debts and have money for groceries left over, but it never seems to work out like that!

A rough breakdown of my debts shows I owe:

Egg Loan £558
Egg Card (through Barclays) £416
Barclaycard £1900
MBNA £3300
HSBC Card £2630
Money Shop PD Loan £750
Natwest overdraft £1375
Vodafone Arrears £1009

I am just about making the repayments for everything at £614 in total.

My aim with this diary is to clear my Payday loan by xmas and close the account so I'm not tempted to use the account again. I then hope to use the £150 that will be freed up to overpay the rest of my debts.

I hope that if I log my progress towards my £750, I might actually make it!

________________________________________________________________

Fast forward 4 years....

Life got in the way... two new jobs and a house move later, and I'm still a debt-free wannabe - although I've been working hard at it on my own. I thought I'd ressurect my diary to help me on the final stretch...

Egg Loan £558 - Cleared!
Egg Card (through Barclays) £416 Cleared!
Barclaycard £1900 £300 left - 6 more payments!
MBNA £3300 Cleared!
HSBC Card £2630 Cleared!
Money Shop PD Loan £750 Cleared!
Natwest overdraft £1375 £250 overdraft as a buffer
Vodafone Arrears £1009 cleared!

I also passed my driving test, which after 10 attempts is nothing short of a miracle :j. I've taken on the repayments on DH's car so that I've got a vehicle to drive - which costs £186 per month, but the finance finishes in March 2017 and it will be mine.

My challenge is to get debt free apart from our Mortgage (that will be the next stage of our journey!).

To do this I need to:
Make 8 x £186 payments on the car
Clear our Next account (£175)
Finish the payments on my Barclaycard (6x£50)
Clear the balance of my two new credit cards (£3750) - the cost of my driving lessons and tests - I really regret using credit cards to fund this, but I had to pass!

From September, my salary is going to be £300 less each month so I need to find some ways to cut some corners to be able to clear these debts quickly.

My plan is:

- To ask for a lunchtime duty each day (£100 per month)
- Reduce my grocery bills (reduce weekly spend by £50 = £200 per month)

This would cancel out my salary reduction.

I'd then like to look at ways to make another £50 per month to put towards debt on top of my monthly payments. I have 20 free ebay listings each month, so I'm going to have a box to put things in to list. I've joined up for swagbucks and I'm a regular Amazon Turk Worker - you get amazon.com vouchers for that, so I tend to use those for a treat every so often!

My aim is to clear all my debts in two years. Then to get started on the mortgage!

PP

PeppermintPatti_2

After reading the boards here, it also seems like a spending diary might help. So I've got a notebook ready as it is payday tomorrow, going to track exactly where these pennies go!

The other plan is to make a payment a day to my savings account, to help to clear these loans. First payment in = £2.84 - not much, but it is a start!

Finally, I'm off to spend my Sunday evening cleaning out my chest of drawers in my bedroom, aiming to find 10 things to stick on Ebay!

Wish me luck!

sistafromanothermista

:wave:
on your journey.
*subscribed* you'll get there in the end, little bits add up to big bits

Kitchenbunny

All the best Peppermint Patti! Will subscribe to your thread and agree, a spending diary is an excellent way of keeping track.

K xx

gothrockchic1

Good Luck on your journey x

please-let-me-be-lucky

Good luck PP . If you are anything like me the spending diary will be a real eye opener :eek:. I used to think I spent about £50 per week on food shopping until I saw it all written down and added up all the little top up shops - it was more like £100!!!

I'm sure you can make the £750 if you put your mind to it.

PLMBL Xx

PeppermintPatti_2

Thanks everyone, the kind words are much appreciated. I'm on the lookout for other diaries to subscribe to, it is so good to know that there are other people in the same situation.

meow5678

Good luck!

*subscribes*

LunaLady

Good luck with it all - I bet you can do it if you put your mind to it, and your diary will help you stay focussed.

PeppermintPatti_2

Well, first day of Moneysaving down... had a no spend day too!

I've put 18 things on Ebay and have got plans tomorrow to have a look at some of my textbooks and see if they are worth sticking on Amazon.

Looking forward to getting paid tomorrow, although gone are the days when I would spend a couple of hundred quid on treats 'just because'! I'm going to set aside £350 for household stuff (£70 for the next 5 weeks) - I know it is still too much for groceries etc, but I think baby steps are the way to go!

Have a nice evening everyone.

PP

bexiboo92

Good luck on your journey.

I'm in the same pickle with pay day loans and just starting my journey to adebt free life