Journey to the bottom of the debt pile

Evcakes

Hi all, new post from a new user name but an old MSEer, I’ve been debating whether to start a thread as so embarrassed to have racked up the debt. I’ve still been reading posts and gain inspriaration daily from you guys on the money saving and the debt repayments.

I’m not going to post a SOA as again embarrassingly enough both my husband and I earn a decent (not massive) wage so should know better, I’m great at saving on utilities, shopping on big items etc. but rubbish when it comes to cash flow and today just shows that as it’s my son’s 4th birthday but I can’t afford to buy a present until I get paid next week!

The focus of my journey is to pay off the debt, manage cash flow better, save an emergency fund and have enough money to enjoy the simple things in life without a struggle.

Currents debts:
Cc1 £100
Cc2 £780
CC3 £2000
Loan (max end Feb 2013) £535
o/d 1 £500
o/d 2 £1000

Total = £4015!

Shocking when it’s written down, I’m slowly working on transferring cc balances on to 0% cards and will be paying off cc1 next week.

little_pink_purse

hi
wishing you well to get too the bottom of the debt pile xx

Evcakes

Thanks lpp

Well I'm currently waiting for the statement for cc1 to drop on the door mat so I can pay this off completely, done better so far as I got paid on 22nd and have been restrained with the cash flow.

Chatted to my dh about taking on a night shift to earn some extra money, so will chat to a friend who runs a care home to see if she could get me on to her 'bank cover' list.

A good start and doing surveys etc to top up the pennies.

picasso2

Good luck.

Surveys are great. I use them to pay for xmas. I'm at my sisters this year as DD is at her dads and her eyes lit up when I volunteered some M+S vouchers that I had allocated for Xmas food.

I'm rubbish at cash flow too. My income easily covers bills yet I never have any extra left over at end of month and this month I have had to dip into savings for no apparant reason. I'm working on a £10 food budget for next week. I will be thrilled if I dont go over.

Evcakes

Well stiiiiiiillllllllllllllllll waiting for cc bill, it's late this month so if it doesn't arrive by the end of the week I'll phone as no access on line due to it being a closed account. How come every other month it arrives on time then when I want to pay it off it hides?

Had bill for elec/gas, over £100 in credit so request refund of £100 to pay other bills instead. Have been really good with energy usage despite the poor weather over the summer!

Did a car boot sale with the kids this morning, not very busy but the kids were selling their things so they could have the money they made £5 so only a small amount but they can buy some sweets/toys. Trying to teach them to be good with money unlike me.

Have a few things to sell online but will just check for the next free-listing day.

beanielou

Nearly under £4000

Evcakes

Yipee cc1 finally arrived and paid off in full, can't wait to see the next statement now that says £0.00!

So debt now stands at:

Currents debts:
Cc1 £0
Cc2 £780
CC3 £2000
Loan (max end Feb 2013) £535
o/d 1 £500
o/d 2 £1000

Total = £4815 oh bananas, just realised my initial calculation was actually £4915, no wonder I'm in debt!

picasso2

Hi Evcakes, Just popped in to see how you are doing.

DD is also learning about money now in the hope she doesnt make the same mistakes as me. As a small child she got everything she wanted and more no questions asked so she never learned the value of money.

These days she gets a weekly allowance from me which she earns by helping around the house and she sells things she doesn't want any more on ebay for extra cash. She is doing well, she likes to see it accumulate in her bank and refuses to spend it !

Well done on paying off CC1 . That must be a good feeling to see a load of zeros :T

Evcakes

Regular monthly payment on Loan has gone out so now down to £440, will let this run it's course as finishes in February 2013.

Next focus will be cc3 to get this down (cc2 is on 0%) so better to pay off the highest rate first.

Evcakes

Things are a bit slow at the moment as I don't want to use too much on debt when I have my dd birthday in the next few weeks and Christmas coming up.

I'm planning to buy a gift each week when I do the food shop which should spread out the cost a bit.

So no extra payments at the moment, but regular loan payments have gone and and the end is nearing which will free up £94 a month to throw at other debts.

Child benefit goes into the account with the £500 overdraft but I've needed to take out most of it each month, tomorrow is the last time I need to do this so every 4 weeks £134 will go in and that overdraft will be gone pretty quickly. I'll then close this account and transfer the payment to another account.

I'm still doing surveys and clicks and planning to convert to paypal rather than vouchers so I can pay off the debt.

Currents debts:
Cc1 £0
Cc2 £780
CC3 £2000
Loan (max end Feb 2013) £359
o/d 1 £500
o/d 2 £1000

Evcakes

Moaning post ahead,sorry!

I know it's our own fault for getting into debt, but just when we try to do something about it other things go wrong.

Car decided to play up again and had to be rescued last night, thankfully it was only two streets away from where we live and the garage we use is literally around the corner. But it's another expense on the irritating thing when we're almost finished paying off the loan that we had to take out for repairing it in February!

So sick of getting into a better position and then something else happens, working long hours to bring in the money for it to be eaten up again.

Apologies for the rant, will be better tomorrow x