Driving Down Debt

timetogrowup89

You are doing really well!! I started my debt free journey two months ago and like you wait on statement being generated and then pay immediately so i can see progress.

Good luck!

ThatKiss

Thanks for the encouragement, TTGU! It all looks good so far, but I'm dreading the summer. I seem to have something planned every other weekend already!

In my last post, I said that I was hopeful the BC would be paid off on the next SO date. That now WILL happen as I've just made a bonus payment of £500 to take the balance down to £200. Exciting times!

Credit card debt is now £6,000 which is pretty good, considering it was over £8k at the start of the year and only 6 weeks ago I was celebrating being under £7k!

I've done some maths, and to BT Virgin to BC (I like acronyms!) will cost just over £170, so I'll get on that once the standing order goes out next week. BC are offering a year interest free which, at my current rate of payments, would see the debt paid off in full.

Light at the end of the tunnel!

timetogrowup89

Thats really good, at least if its interest free you can enjoy your days out over summer because making lower payments wont affect the amount of interest your paying

Dont forget your mum in all the payments (thats what I seem to be doing, forgetting the family members - there time will come tho lol)

ThatKiss

The £250 to bank of mum is lowest priority as she has told me she's not expecting it back, so it'll be a wee bonus for her when I've got the rest of the debt paid off - shan't be forgetting it!

ThatKiss

Milestone alert! This month's BC direct debit is showing as having gone out my current account, which means the balance, once processed, will be a big, fat ZERO.

I will have some interest charges to add on that will come thru when the statement generates, but to all intents and purposes, the card is paid off.

HOWEVER, it's not going to stay clear for long. The interest free offer on part of the Virgin balance ends next month, so I'm going to transfer the balance in full to BC, which will be interest free for a year. Hopefully, it'll be paid off by the time the year is up!

ThatKiss

Howdy! It's month-end, pay day and time for an update. Sadly it's a mixed bag this month.

+ The classic finally went for an MOT
+ Shoved almost £800 into savings account tonight
+ BT'd the balance of Virgin over to the (clear) BC. A year interest free
+ Only one card now has a balance on it
- The Classic failed it's MOT and needs £££ of work. It's off to a specialist
- The Tank needs a bit of work as well! Fortunately I can do this myself
- BC payment next week will barely scratch the surface of transferred balance, as it's mostly paying the BT fees.

Due to the work needed to both cars, I've not made any additional payments to the card, but I'm encouraged that I managed to set aside so much in just one month. Sadly, it will be used for the repairs...

I've said a few times that summer is going to be tricky, but so long as I continue to make my regular payments, the balance will go down, and I'm sure I can make additional payments in the final quarter to help me reach my target for the year.

Feels weird updating the signature with a slight increase from the last update, but needs must!

For comparison:
7/5/2013: Barclaycard cc: £0 - Virgin cc £5800 - Bank of Mum: £250.

Now stands at:
31/5/2013: Barclaycard cc: £5968.20 - Virgin cc £0 - Bank of Mum: £250.

ThatKiss

I've mentioned a few things that are going to wipe out my fundage over the summer. I have no real idea how much all this is going to cost, and the work to The Classic is going to wipe out any money I have set aside.

I need to get some of these things organised ASAP, so must list them out:

• Get a passport!
• Weekend dahn sarf taking in some motorsport with best friend and his wife
• Weekend in Manchester next month
• Week(ish) in London in August
• Week in Dublin for a wedding (Aug/Sept)
• Kilt hire for said wedding

Plus August is Tank MOT/car insurance/road tax renewal time... Ouch!

I guess the best option is to stick with £200 DD on credit card, and forget about additional payments over the next 3 months or so.

Rather than directing any surplus at month end to credit cards, stick it into savings account for use where required, and any excess after this expensive period can be redirected to the card at the end of September.

If that's not enough, I may have to put some spends (MOT, Insurance) on a card and BT to add it to the interest-free amounts. Hopefully it won't come to that, though.

ThatKiss

Hello from sunny England! Just a quick update to say the BC DD has gone out yesterday, and revised figures are in sig.

Seems I may have a bit of grace in terms of getting the classic repaired and paid for, as the guy is busy and says it may be August or September before he can do anything major on it. I'll get it down to him, though, and he can start working on little bits and see the full extent of the damage.

It means I'll miss the entire show season, but it'll come back in better shape than ever. There's a big event in England next year, so as long as I'm able to go to that, I'm happy.

ThatKiss

Ouch! The problem with the tank is that when something goes wrong, it's expensive to fix. End result being, Manchester ain't happening next month. Sort of relieved, but I was looking forward to it, and especially seeing a friend down there.

ThatKiss

Long time, no update!

I bring bad news, I'm afraid. The expected expenditure from June-August has taken it's toll and set me back around £1200. Looking at it sensibly, I'll be doing well to make that up by the end of the year, though I think I can, at a push, squeeze £2000 out of my budget.

That would put me at about 66% of my target for the year, but taking the positives, it's still progress. I'm going to leave the previous target up, and will see how things go.

Hopefully the next 3.5 months are far less expensive!