Ultimate Challenge. 457 days / £16600!!!

startingtogetoutofdebt

Hi all, I've managed to get some good news today and managed to get a bit of casual work on Sundays, happened to be in the right place at the right time, and managed to get free cake and drink thrown in!!!

Won't be much money and not guaranteed for every weekend but every little helps pay off those debts.

Had a laugh at Sainsburys today as they rang me a few days ago about not making full repayments on my credit card and asked for extra money to get payments up to date. when I told him I was on a DMP and couldn't pay anymore he said that was find and would put a block on the account which was fine. Today I got a letter from Sainsburys telling me about special offers I could get in store if I spent on my credit card - fine example of the right hand not knowing what the right hand is doing me thinks!!!!

Christmas planning is now taking place in my house as I need to work out how to do christmas on a really really tight budget.

liltdiddylilt

Hello all...

Siouxsie - when I first started reading this thread, your credit card said £657 or something close to this. That was at the beginning of this month...!!! I cannot believe you have managed to ditch that much debt in a month and wondered if you realised just how quickly you have ploughed through it. WELL DONE YOU!!!!! :D:D:D:D

Kat, you have some serious donkey balls dangling between your legs (metaphorically of course). I don't think there is a thing in the world that could make me get on a motorbike in todays weather. No wonder winter is train season for you. I know there are amazing times to be had on a bike, but when it is wet I would be begging for 4 wheels, let alone some kind of shell around me!!

Spud, welcome!! I love when people tell me to be good. My mama always used to say 'Be good, and if you can't be good, be careful!'. Looking forward to your post later enjoy work!!

Killer - My best friend grew up in the sort of house you appear to have. That and car parts littered the place, there was a shed in the garden totally chocka with radio equipment and a mast taller than the house and I used to go in and sit under the benches to listen to all these people from all over the world talking in squeaky robotlike nonsense! Morse code - we used to play on the old MS DOS computers with the orange background with black writing and a blinking cursor. The only game was ping pong I miss those days...

StGood - well done you!!! That is called good karma. Keep on doing what you're doing!!!

Today has been a very happy NSD for me. Met a new friend for a coffee & had an enjoyable time (she paid this time ) then did a few chores & cooked a chicken korma which was gorgeous. Kiddiwink is teething badly and seems to have laughed and cried all day. Exhausting. Weather = sucky. Somehow I have managed to go awry by a couple of quid on my current account on my app, so I am off to export a statement and go through it piece by piece.... Wish me luck. Odd numbers frustrate me, being a finance bod and all... Lol. (please don't judge me for being in debt even though I work in finance )

UnaidedSpud

Hey all again,

Thought you might like a bit of back story or not

Me and the wife are expecting a baby may next year and as she is the bread winner we need to be cutting back a lot to prepare for the wife on maternity leave. We are hoping to start saving from January 2013 in preparation for her leave in may and not go back till January 2014.

We managed last year to pay for our wedding with no use of credit cards or loans or any debt and managed to get a deposit for our house thanks to help from my parents which we were very proud of at the time we were saving £1000 a month.

So time to cut back! Although we don't struggle each month and have a couple of overdrafts from our uni days we have about £500 left each month which disappears so really want to work out where it's going each month and start saving!

Starting slowly, have used the confused.com app and got my £25 last week and we are starting to eBay items to make space for the baby to occupy one of the spare rooms.

But will be happy to be along for the journey and help support the others on this road.

So be good guys!

Oh the MiL works at sainsburys ( very handy for the weekly shop) but we got a voucher for £15 off a £50 online shop which we shall be doing after we get back from visiting relatives next week.

Talk later !

UnaidedSpud

Hey lilt,

I always used to get told "be good, or if you can't be good, get caught"

My Nan always had it right though, she used to hit my Dad first and when he asked what it was for she said "that's for what your going to do next time"

Lol

liltdiddylilt

Massive congratulations on the baby Spud. Do you know what you're having yet? You've got sooooo much to look forward to.

Well done for the forward planning as well. I was in debt pre-baby & am pulling myself out of debt gradually whilst on maternity leave (and I'm the breadwinner too!) so as long as you keep doing what you are doing, you will do fine!!!

Hahahaha!! I think your nan sounds very much like my own!! Love them & all the sayings!

lubava

Evening all,
Done my signature. My debt is large and its quite daunting. Im managing the payments right now, but don't know yet how much i will get paid at the end of this month. Hopefully enough to cover all the payments.
You might ask where it all come from. Two years ago we bought our dream house in lovely little village. The loan paid our deposit and covered our moving cost. I refinanced the loan in January of this year to lover interest rate which saved me £2000 over the term of the loan. I know it was wrong thing to do but i didnt want to regret as i wouldnt get deal like this any time soon. My kids are very happy and we have great community in the village. Please dont judje, i have family for that. Ive heard plenty about why we dont need a house. But while my mum finaly made peace with it, my in laws didnt. None if them know how much debt we have. However they know we have but never ask if we need help. My mum doesnt leave in this country and she always offers to send us money. I refuse and only let her buy presents for kids. I might not have made best financial desions in the past, but im not planing to repeat my mistakes.
I cannot make any overpayments on santander loan till february as i already repaid some of it and i need to wait so not to get redeption penalty to the like of 2 month payments. So for now i plan to pay off barclay card on friday as im due to get around £100 from quidco. I also have £300 of premium bonds which i cashed in today and should receive it in 5 days. This will go towards sainsburys loan.
I yet to deal with my ebay phobia, but i have listed some books on amazon. Hopefully something will sell.
Sorry for long post, needed to let it out.
Killer i shop at tesco so i signed my hubby for clubcard as well and get double the offers and coupons.

NinjaSavingKat

GOOD MORNING!!!!... how are the kittens this morning??

A very big WELCOME to Spud - because he is a BOY!!! We don't get many boys ( that I know of ) so its always exciting when another drops by. Thank you for sharing your story, a massive well done on Baby Spud that's due and even more so on the mindset you have.. very good!! :T...my friends Mother used to do things the other way round. Smack him across the head and tell him it was for what he did the week before...:p..however wedding and house with no loans etc is SUPERB!!! ...( little bit jealous )...

Lilt the bike is fun, it really is. But when the weather is howling, raining, battering my bike and I'm cold I wonder sometimes why I am doing this to myself. I loathe giving money to the trains now as they will inevitably be delayed and I won't get a seat. But I do NEED to go easy on myself sometimes and for the sake of my own safety ( not just pennies ) and just get a train.. I am considering this for the month of December entirely although I probably won't...:(

And we will never judge.. we like the idea you are a finance bod and can answer silly questions should we have them..... :T:T:T..My pennies have been muddled in the last week and I want to sort them out ( over the weekend ) and figure out what went where although I think there is only a few.. nothing stupendous, no cards have been used since withdrawing money on the 8th and my food budget has been miniscule but I always want to know exact amounts.. gonna keep a spend diary for December I think...

StGood - well done on the job! Any kind of income is good income. I am impressed that you negotiated your terms to include tea and cake - you are my kind of woman!!! I am looking to add something to my repertoire... I bought the BURLESQUE BIBLE magazine yesterday ( it was a spend day and I have been super good otherwise ).. and am contemplating shaking nipple tassels at people for money.... that or something in the World of Vintage....#workincharityshop...:rotfl:

Lubava - you are among like minded people and MSE friends. There is nothing here that we will judge you on. Most people have a house and stuggle with re-payments.. it is what it is. Family don't always understand ESPECIALLY as the climate in which we are buying and living today is SO much more expensive!!! Your house is ultimately an investment.. the loan is what we want rid of yes? So come here to rant, vent and plot&scheme.. get it out of your system and then lets hit this money-saving / making / finding and lets do it together...

The more people talk to me about houses the more I want one. I am learning as I go, regards different mortgages.. interest rates.... fixed terms etc. I don't look into it too much as its a little depressing cause I can't buy one now... but I still want my own house... I am tempted to make a "look book" with my ideas for my house. Then realize I'd rather spend my times here plotting with you lot instead...:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

( can I just say I am surprised that the word nipple got through without being ***..so just for the sake of it.. nipple nipple nipple )...:D

Anyone else looking forward to payday simple because you get to through some serious waddage of cash towards debts...? I have a lot of plans for myself in the next month ( counting two paydays..30th Nov and 31st Dec ).. so I need to be super careful with my use of ANYTHING..

I was contemplating a bottle of perfume for myself as a Christmas Treat from duty free when I fly home but the one I want I think is hitting £70 a bottle... I am a perfume hor.. can't stick to one if someone dare pass by me in the same fragrance... I have to change it... am still contemplating this but might fore-go anything to send that £70 to my bike loan.. however I do need a scent....any ideas???? I might abuse the small amount of boots points I have accrued and use that instead...

Right I have a few things to do apparently...

Onwards and Upwards..

Happytogetdebtfree

Hello hello i have been lost in the land of work and training, all my direct debits have gone out so im hanging on for payday to see what i will pay where ive downloaded some new songs for my iphone and im happily singing away and enjoying lifes ways. Ah ninja the bioke riding sounds scary you really are an angelina jolie hero lol. I will have to re read back my heads had an overload of information . Hello newbies hello regulars and hello the rest of the world lol catch up soon xxx

missladyannie

Hi everyone, sorry i've not been on for a few days, work is manic :-(

Well its payday tomorrow so i'm working out what is left over so I can pay extra onto my smallest CC. I dont have car insurance this month either which is a bonus!

I found out my second job might be finishing a month earlier than planned which is gutting, but I made contact with a similar organisation (but further away) who have come back to ask me to book an appt to come over and see them, so thats positive!

Also my manager at my main job said I can do extra hours up to xmas if I like as we are short staffed, so I have offered to stay late when DH isnt working, I think that might be at time and a half so that will be great!

Some of my ebay auctions finished today, I made £14 on a bottle of perfume that only cost me £5 - bargain! I hope she pays as she is a newbie...

Lastly I had £13 left in my bank a/c so have paid that onto my small CC before payday tomorrow.

Its lovely to hear everyones news x

Sholly

Hi everyone,

Long time no post!! I have still been reading though so I'm all up to date!

So, as it stands: current debt excl mortgage: £6,676.13. Still on track for it to be obliterated by Christmas 2013 (and I literally CANNOT WAIT!!)

And I've got enough beans to last me a lifetime thanks to missladyannie!!

Sholly x