Getting there slowly but surely

skea56

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the tips and helpful hints given on this website. I've been reading away for months now, trying to save here and there, all whilst chipping away at my credit card debt.

Now I am by no means crippled with debt, and I don't mean this post to take away from anyone who is, but I have been saddled with credit cards now for toooo long. I couldnt show you what the debt has given me, it has mostly been on holidays etc that I put onto the cc and then tried to pay it off after - not a nice thing to be still paying a holiday off a year after you've come back!!!

Anyway I opened a spreadsheet noting down my incomings and outgoings, and details of cc payments, noting dates of when they would be paid off, versus when they could be paid off if I made an extra payment here and there.

I opened a £2 jar which should be full in a few weeks, just in time for Christmas.
I read ideas for minimising grocery spend, and have gone down a brand in most items with little difference in taste, but a big decrease in the basket total.
We used to have a little greenhouse box on the windowsill with lettuce, herbs etc growing, our neighbour was renovating and needed more space so he donated his glasshouse to us and this summer (as bad as it was!!) we had our own tomatoes, a few strawberries and a pumpkin!! My mum helped us here as she has a tunnel at home so was great at keeping us right with sowing seeds etc. Can't wait to next year when hopefull we will expand further!
I've taken up knitting and craftwork, so hopefully most Christmas gifts will be homemade this year. What presents I've bought already were done online and with coupons or vouchers.
On that note, Ive gone coupon crazy lol, plus saving up my tesco points to take advantage of exchanges.

The results have been great, I started 2012 with debts of £7159 and at todays date now have it down to £4474 (with the odd splurge now and again!!)

At one stage I had 4 credit cards all of which I actively spent on plus a loan from my parents, although I still have these cards, 2 of these are balance only at 0% which I'm paying off, the other 2 are tesco & santander which I use for everyday spending to make use of the points and cashback benefits, and which are paid off in full each month.

My parent's loan is down from over £1400 to just over £400, and they've said I can take a break till after Christmas if I need it (they did say they would write it off as a Christmas/birthday present but I refused - might need them again in the future )

It has got to the point where I can't wait to update my spreadsheet every few days, I love to see those figures decreasing!!:D Although I still scrimp and save, I do give myself a wee treat now and again, whether it is a new outfit or a night away, I can see from my balances whether I can, and how long it will affect my payments for.

I guess today's post was just a chance for me to say thank you to everyone, I've been reading away at everyone's stories and anecdotes and using them for my own life.

According to my spreadsheet, I will have my 2 balance cards cleared by August 2013. I'm not saying I will never run up big figures again, but at least I can see from this year that I will be pay them off with no worries, and I have this site and all the brillliant contributors to thank.

sk56

unimaginative_user_name

It looks like you're doing really well!

skea56

Cleared my parents loan over the weekend woohoo!

Now only one card left with just over £1000, I have never been as little in debt before.:D

My ideals seem to have finally got through to my other half as well, who cleared his last card during the week also. Hopefully we will continue on this road and start saving for the wedding rather than putting it all on a card, as I do not want to spend my life paying off credit cards anymore!!

Thanks to everyone for their stories and feel good tips, they have really helpd me out - debt free in AUgust cannot wait!!

sk56

timetogrowup89

WOW!!

Well done. I am soo impressed that you got the debt down and have the OH on board..

My OH is about ten years away from being on board I think hehe

harrys_dad

Brilliant, well done. Now you can look forward after August as to what you can do with the money that has previously gone on servicing debt and paying all that interest. Savings, holiday, whatever, but make sure you save first and pay later.

hallsy85

Congrats - you've done really well! I owe my parents around £2500 still and whilst they're not expecting it back I'm making the effort to clear it with them in the next 3 months - they'll be happy and can see I'm making an effort to get my finances in order!

Keep up with the efforts - sounds like you're really getting on top of it. It's amazing how addictive spreadsheet entering gets eh? I have mine open all day, running scenarios where I can save pennies etc!

skea56

Hi again

That one card is now under £600 and I'm well on my way to clearing it by the 0% expiry date in August. Few things just came at right time over the past while for me to pay it off:

Compensation from Santander over a problem with my ISA was divided between my other ISA, a treat for me and the rest put towards this card.
I'm not saying its a great way, but we had a day at the races few weeks back, and I set myself a limit of £100 for the day, to cover all eating drinking and betting, and I came home with £125 so, seeing as I'd already included it in my spends for the month, I felt the whole thing was a bonus and it all went on the debt.
Got a small bonus at work for overseeing a successful marketing campaign we've just completed, it was paid on the Friday and transferred straight onto the debt.

All these were in addition to my weekly payments which I made as normal.

The next 2 months will be tough as them long evenings encourage me to go out and spend, but maybe as I'm nearly at the end of the road I'll stick with it.

Was thinking that once this card is cleared I might set up a standing order to send the Debt payments I was making straight to my ISA? Or maybe I should leave it for a while and live my life as normal instead of scrimping and saving every week? I am hoping to book a Spring holiday in October but have it paid off BEFORE we actually go, not like the last one where I was still paying for it years later. What would you's suggest?

sk56

skea56

Made my final payment yesterday to my Virgin card and cleared what began as almost £3000 debt back in Sept 2011. So excited logging on this morning to see £0.00, am going to ring them as soon as I get home and cancel the card completely. I have a Tesco card and a Santander card so will spend on these and pay off in full from now on - have been doing it for a few months now with no problem, and that was with additional money going towards these other debts.

Am going to increase my SO to my ISA now and use that to then pay off any additional spending.

Cannot believe this day has actually come.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories and hints & tips, these have absolutely invaluable for me and also the encouragement from you since I started this mini diary of sorts has definitely kept me on the right road.

I hope that I never have this level of debt again, but at least now I can see that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and I'll be able to cut back if necessary.

sk56

pogg000

Well done,:beer::beer:

LittleMissDetermined

Congratulations! :T

Hope to be in the same position this time next year if I keep on track

LMD x

debtbustingdeb

Well done:beer:

got 17 more payments till i get there but find this board really helpfull can't wait to make my DF post.

Always nice to hear people getting to the end helps to see that light at the end of the tunnel.