Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2013

HalfPint

Morning o/ Happy New Year to you all.

Hope everyone is well, I've got 2 more days off before I head back to work and need to use it to catch up on lots of things I've been putting off

Please put me down for £24199 :eek:

I've set my goal to overpay on something every month. Im not daft enough to think I'll clear that amount in 12 months but I'm determed to take a big chunk out of it.

HP x

1stTimer

Happy New Year All!

So I'm back and after adding up my remaining debt from last year and the loan i have my total now stands at £14000
I'm determined to make a big dent in that this year as i'm turning 30:eek: and actually want something to show for my life... With the money i earn, i should not be in debt and would love to start saving for a house rather than paying someone rent.

So lets see how long these good intentions last

Good luck all

SpagBol

nctmum wrote: »

I think I need to do SW again, I am heavier this christmas than last year, despite not eating much.

I'm going to do SW again this year, starting today :T Baked beans with tobasco sauce for breakfast!

amr547 wrote: »

We are really bad at budgeting. Well actually, I think it's the food shop we go mental on. Definitely need to rein it in this year! I need to budget and STICK TO THE BUDGET! I'm going to start a spreadsheet with ESTIMATED / ACTUAL so I can see where we're going wrong!

The "Old Style" board on here is really good for food budgeting help, have a look on there.:)

Linzight wrote: »

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been around. I've been very busy but thank you all so much for your help and support.

I am now debt free (In respect of my credit cards, overdrafts etc) and have paid off the full amount that I set out to do in 2012!!

Now I'm considering calculating my student loan debt so I can stay involved!

Well done Linzight! :j:j:j

For the person that asked about my chickpea curry (I thought I'd done multiple quote for that...can you only do 3 at a time?!) I don't have a recipe as such, just soak a pack of chickpeas for about 24hrs, then fry up 2 onions in a big pan with curry spices of your choice (I go with cumin seeds and mustard seeds with the onion & some garlic) add 2 tins of chopped toms then some curry powder (madras for me but whatever you like) then cook for about 30 mins. Some come out more runny than others so you have to experiment a bit with tomato puree or stock cubes. Serve with rice.

REally yummy, inexpensive and free on SW when you use fry light! :j

mumsiemum

SpagBol wrote: »

For the person that asked about my chickpea curry (I thought I'd done multiple quote for that...can you only do 3 at a time?!) I don't have a recipe as such, just soak a pack of chickpeas for about 24hrs, then fry up 2 onions in a big pan with curry spices of your choice (I go with cumin seeds and mustard seeds with the onion & some garlic) add 2 tins of chopped toms then some curry powder (madras for me but whatever you like) then cook for about 30 mins. Some come out more runny than others so you have to experiment a bit with tomato puree or stock cubes. Serve with rice.

REally yummy, inexpensive and free on SW when you use fry light! :j

Thanks Spag! It was me! Thanks so much for this - I'm going to have a go this week. We've mountains of pulses to eat - I'm going to try and make sure I add them to whatever I can - casseroles etc.

MM

SpagBol

amr547 wrote: »

Just worked out how much we pay towards our debt repayments each month, and actually, it's not good. It's quite an eye opener when you sit down and work it all out.

It really is isn't it! Doing the sitting down is the hardest thing so well done. The best thing to do is CONSTANTLY sit down and write it down or look at a spreadsheet. I spend every spare 20 minutes I have (lunch at work, waiting to pick kids up etc.) writing down on the backs of envelopes how much I owe, where my next payment is coming from etc. It is what has kept me on the straight and narrow for the last 12 months!!

SpagBol

mumsiemum wrote: »

Thanks Spag! It was me! Thanks so much for this - I'm going to have a go this week. We've mountains of pulses to eat - I'm going to try and make sure I add them to whatever I can - casseroles etc.

MM

Yep, a handful of red lentils is good in anything with minced beef e.g. spag bol, cottage pie as it bulks it out and goes a bit further. Another nice lentil dish is red lentil and carrot soup, just fry up with onion and curry spices again (can you tell I like curry? :rotfl:) and loads of stock and a splash of milk. That thickens up and could make a nice dhal side dish with a curry.

Waitro$e also do a dried 10 bean chilli mix which makes a lovely chilli.

SpagBol

Hello everyone, welcome newbies and well done on payments! :T

I have just caught up with the spreadsheet but need to dash off to meet a friend at softplay (exercise the kids :rotfl:) so will be back this afternoon to upload it and chat more!

Meanwhile another DD has gone out:

#002 £508 / £44,000 1.15%

:j

HelenPie

parsniphead wrote: »

Ah that's lovely Helenpie. I did misread your post though when you said about re-doing the bedroom and garden. Thoughts of outdoor baby making went through my head, sorry:rotfl::D

:rotfl::rotfl:

minicooper272 wrote: »

If it's not too intrusive a question, what proportion of income do you guys pay towards savings/debt? I am working out budgets for next year, and someone said to proportion 1/3 rent, 1/3 savings, 1/3 living, but wondered what others do?

At the moment, we're fortunate to be earning enough that about 50% after tax goes to debt. About 20% is mortgage & essential bills (e.g. council tax), and the rest general living (food, petrol, tv/internet, etc.)

H x

Ruthy1604

Hi everyone,

Back to work for me today

Another DD went out today so I'm now at:

#18 657.36/5100 12.9%

I'm so loving the smaller starting figure this year - my % seems to go up so much faster

Ruth

jakes-mum

minicooper272 wrote: »

If it's not too intrusive a question, what proportion of income do you guys pay towards savings/debt? I am working out budgets for next year, and someone said to proportion 1/3 rent, 1/3 savings, 1/3 living, but wondered what others do?

Working on the new years resolutions - budgeting is no1!

When I did mine, I wrote down exactly how much we had coming in on my spreadsheet then listed underneath all the outgoings on individual lines (so I could alter the totals if necessary for high phone bills or new insurance). I budgetted £300 for food and petrol (as we dont go anywhere and I was veeeeeeeeery strict with the shopping bill and went coupon crazy) and had a very meager £10 savings payment

I then looked at what I had left and rounded it down to the nearest £50 and that was my debt payments (just so I had a bit of a buffer incase things went up the creek one month).

I think we were paying about 14% of our money to debt at the beginning and that rose to 18% as we got into the flow so to speak, then it was any money made from other avenues as well, like fleabay, FB sales etc.

One thing I did do that made my life a bit easier was to over estimate my sky/phone bill/elec + water payments as these are the ones that can fluctuate so easily. I'd then compare the total in the bank from a date exactly one month apart (so the 12th of last month against the 12th this month) and if after 3 months it was higher than it should be i'd pay the difference to the CC's

Reading that back, it all sounds very convaluted but it worked for me