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The LBM has hit... my journey to being debt free
amr547
Posts: 1,665 Forumite
I've been reading the posts on this forum for a while and have taken in a lot of useful advice. 
I'm planning to snowball the majority of my debts, starting with my car insurance, which I expect I'll be able to rid myself of by the end of November. It's up for renewal in March but it is £101 a month which I feel could be put to better use!
My boyfriend is on a DMP and he's also determined to rid himself of his debt. He's currently working two jobs and I rarely see him these days but I'm really proud of him that he's determined to do this.
I am currently awaiting my statutory credit report just to see where I am and check there's nothing on there that shouldn't be.
My debt is mostly from my car. I originally took out a £1500 loan to fund my first car, which I actually ended up trading in for my new car. I had to have a car for my job. I spent £200 in petrol each month and it was a real money drain. I was on an apprentice wage so it was really tough, although I had since progressed to minimum wage. I have just found a new job which leaves me £300 a month better off after tax and £150 better off petrol-wise. :-) My loan is due to be paid off in June but I'd like to pay it off early if funds allow.
I'm hoping that I can turn over a new leaf and stop relying on credit to spread payments out. I have debated getting rid of the car (it's on a hire purchase plan) but I'm not sure how it'll affect my credit rating. The car is very economical and cheap to run (and it did help me cut costs by about £200 in the old job, even with an additional payment on the hire purchase plan) but I'm in two minds at the moment. I'm thinking it might be better to save up and just buy the car outright as soon as possible, if I can afford to do so. As I mentioned previously, I can afford repayments comfortably - but it's a large sum of money. My new job is not far from where I live so theoretically I could walk, but having a car is convenient
Most importantly, my boyfriend and I would like to get a mortgage at some point in the future, so we want to put our spending habits on the straight and narrow. Many of my friends are addicted to the likes of store cards and pay day loans - I don't want to be like that.
So this is my debt-free diary... Let the journey begin!
I'm planning to snowball the majority of my debts, starting with my car insurance, which I expect I'll be able to rid myself of by the end of November. It's up for renewal in March but it is £101 a month which I feel could be put to better use!
My boyfriend is on a DMP and he's also determined to rid himself of his debt. He's currently working two jobs and I rarely see him these days but I'm really proud of him that he's determined to do this.
I am currently awaiting my statutory credit report just to see where I am and check there's nothing on there that shouldn't be.
My debt is mostly from my car. I originally took out a £1500 loan to fund my first car, which I actually ended up trading in for my new car. I had to have a car for my job. I spent £200 in petrol each month and it was a real money drain. I was on an apprentice wage so it was really tough, although I had since progressed to minimum wage. I have just found a new job which leaves me £300 a month better off after tax and £150 better off petrol-wise. :-) My loan is due to be paid off in June but I'd like to pay it off early if funds allow.
I'm hoping that I can turn over a new leaf and stop relying on credit to spread payments out. I have debated getting rid of the car (it's on a hire purchase plan) but I'm not sure how it'll affect my credit rating. The car is very economical and cheap to run (and it did help me cut costs by about £200 in the old job, even with an additional payment on the hire purchase plan) but I'm in two minds at the moment. I'm thinking it might be better to save up and just buy the car outright as soon as possible, if I can afford to do so. As I mentioned previously, I can afford repayments comfortably - but it's a large sum of money. My new job is not far from where I live so theoretically I could walk, but having a car is convenient
Most importantly, my boyfriend and I would like to get a mortgage at some point in the future, so we want to put our spending habits on the straight and narrow. Many of my friends are addicted to the likes of store cards and pay day loans - I don't want to be like that.
So this is my debt-free diary... Let the journey begin!
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Comments
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Just been informed I'm getting a grant for one of my part time courses (fees are outstanding, but the interest is £9 in total over the duration of the agreement). Hopefully I'll be able to pay off the car insurance this month and get something else out of the way in November - maybe the course fees. Feeling positive... 0
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Still waiting for the passkey for my credit report
Majority of repayments have gone out today - my poor little bank account. It's nice to see my loan is finally under £600 though! I'm hoping it will be out of the way by the end of January. I'm looking forward to seeing the list of debts go down
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Best of luck on your journey! :T0
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*Subscribes*
Congrats on your light bulb moment! With your bf already on a DMP you can build towards your future together. Barclaycard [STRIKE] £2770 [/STRIKE] now £2690.
O/D £500. Weight loss: 12/28lbs Savings owed [STRIKE] £3000 [/STRIKE] now £2250 Total debt: [STRIKE] £6760 [/STRIKE] now £54400 -
*Subscribes*
Congrats on your light bulb moment! With your bf already on a DMP you can build towards your future together.
Thanks! Yes, he's been on it about a year now so I don't think he's got much left to go :T We are hoping with a bit of luck and willpower we may be debt free by the end of next summer... but we will see!0 -
OK - today. Did my exam for my OU degree. It didn't go too badly! I did treat myself to a onesie from Primark - bad... but I'm sat in it now nd it's incredibly comfy!
Bad points - laptop keyboard not working properly. Gonna take it to dad at the weekend, see if we can replce it. If not I'll just use the PC upstairs rather than replace the laptop.
Still waiting for my pass key in the post ...0 -
Got my first statutory report from Experian - looks OK I think. All are 0s / in credit... there's just a lot of it!
Total balance to pay off is £9,200 exactly. I have just got my grant,so that will be down £260 as of tomorrow!
£6,400 ish of that is the hire purchase car...0 -
Insurance = paid Glad to see the back of it - hello £100 a month extra! 0
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Not feeling very good today. Very down about things, although I can't pinpont what these 'things' are.
Roll on Friday - first pay day in my new job :-)0 -
Hi, I found your diary now too
Hope you're feeling better. Just remember that insurance you've just paid off.Next £0.00 Aqua £470.00
Debenhams £1,228.14 Nationwide £2,783.91
Halifax £3,198.36
POAMAYC in 2013 #63 £912.48/£6,000"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop" Confucius0
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