Debt free by Christmas 2007!

Em1982

I have decided to try and become debt free by Christmas. :rotfl: The snowball calculator has estimated my debt free date to be February 2008, based on repaying £500 a month, however, I am determined to improve on this. In order to do this, I need to increase my debt repayments by about £150 a month. :eek:

This is not going to be easy. I am posting my SOA below, so any advice or hints would be very much appreciated. The major problem is my salary, my take home pay varies month to month based on the allowances I earn. On average I take home £1500 a month, but very rarely its as little as £1350 or as much as £1700-£1800! On the plus side, on the months when I earn more, I can throw more money at my debts!

Obviously, this makes budgeting difficult, and on the months where my pay is less that £1500 I’m going to struggle to make even £500 of debt repayments. However, after looking at my spending diary for April I’m convinced there are still a lot of cutbacks I can do in order to free up some money. If it means being debt free sooner, then I’m prepared to do it.

Here is my monthly SOA, any advice will be very welcome!

Salary: £1500 (based on average)

Rent: £387.50
Mobile: £45
Electricity: £12
Gas: £14
Water: £4.10
Phone/Internet: £15
TV License: £3
Charity: £6 cancelled til debt free
Magazine subscription: £3.33 now cancelled
DVD Rental subscription: £12.99 now cancelled
Travel: £60
Mum & Dad: £20
Lottery: £24 not any more!
ISA: £5 cancelled payments
Cardguard: £1.67
Food: £80
Misc: £100 (includes beauty/haircuts, toiletries, clothes etc)
Socializing: £100

Total: £893.59 New total= £842.27

Debts owed:
HSBC card 15.9% APR: £2813.19
Diners 14.9% APR: £1373.97
OU 8.8% APR (course fees): £207.90
Freemans 0% APR: £105

So I need to find at least another £50 a month, even more when my salary is less!

Thank you for taking the time to read this, any advice would be very gratefully received! :T

Emma x

southernscouser

Have you tried applying for a low life of balance credit card to transfer your debts to? If accepted you'll save money on the interest you pay! :think:

Lydia.42

Cut back on the ISA until you have cleared debts. You pay more in interest on debts than you can earn on any ISA.

Cut out charity payment until you are debt free.

Reduce misc spending - keep a spending diary to see where this moeny really goes, and see if you can reduce it each month. Check out the regualr challenges on here.

Good luck, you can do it!!!

Em1982

SS, I did apply for a Barclaycard 0% card last year, however, they gave me a limit of £750 which I couldn't increase. Unfortunately, I then did the worst thing I could possibly do and started spending on that card! I know, I know!

I've definately learnt my lesson now, so perhaps looking into a low life of balance card would be a good idea, thanks for the tip! :beer:

southernscouser

Em1982 wrote: »

SS, I did apply for a Barclaycard 0% card last year, however, they gave me a limit of £750 which I couldn't increase. Unfortunately, I then did the worst thing I could possibly do and started spending on that card! I know, I know!

I've definately learnt my lesson now, so perhaps looking into a low life of balance card would be a good idea, thanks for the tip! :beer:

Just be careful as some charge you a balance transfer fee but there are still some out there that won't.

Em1982

Hi Lydia.42,

Thanks for the advice! :T

I agree that the ISA payments seem pointless, the £5 seemed like a token payment to keep it active. I don't suppose there is any rule that you have to pay money regularly into an ISA, so it is ok to leave it dormant for a while? Sorry am not too financially savvy!

As for the charity payments, I give £2 a month to a children's charity, an animal charity and a cancer research charity. £6 doesn't seem much, but then I do need every penny I can get at the moment, until I'm debt free. Still undecided, but thanks for making me consider this!

Finally, I came up with the £100 a month misc. spending after keeping an April spending diary. I have no doubt that I can cut this well back, as well as hopefully my food and socializing budgets! :rotfl:

southernscouser

Em1982 wrote: »

As for the charity payments, I give £2 a month to a children's charity, an animal charity and a cancer research charity. £6 doesn't seem much, but then I do need every penny I can get at the moment, until I'm debt free. Still undecided, but thanks for making me consider this!

Instead of donating why not click these daily. There are 6 different charities.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2

slowlyfading

Do you have to spend £24 on the lottery? And you can leave a savings account dormant - I have one and just pay something in when I can, so not every month
sf x

blondie7

When you get £1700 or £1800 why dont you just pay half of the extra money off your debt that month and keep the extra for when you are only getting £1350 at least that way you will be able to make your £500 a month. Your mobile seems high can you look into a cheaper deal stop your magazine subscriptions and your dvd rental also your charity (im sure they wont mind due to your situation) you can start them up again once you are back on your feet and isa every little helps.

Em1982

Hi SF,

Knew the lottery money would be questioned, and quite rightly too! The problem is that I've been doing the same numbers for years now, and am convinced that as soon as I stop doing them, my numbers will come up! Plus it means an end to the dream of what I'll do when I win millions...:rotfl:

southernscouser

Simple solution. Don't check the numbers.