If I wannabe a nurse then I have to be DF

lindsloo

Hi there to anyone who has dropped in.

I am a thirty something mum of 2, seperated from ex a while ago, I am now very happy in a relationship though we are not yet living together. After being in a dmp 10 years ago, I never had any debt after but my ex was a total @hole and the credit cards were to prevent me from ending up in another dmp because of the mess he created and left behind. I still have some things lingering on my credit file from the old dmp which will fall off June 2014.

I have always worked, working now for the NHS. I love my job more than anything and dream of being seconded to nursing. Ive worked really hard over the last couple of years to get the qualifications I need to eligible for the opportunity. Yesterday I had my secondment interview and I find out next week after easter weekend if my employer is prepared to fund my studies :eek:. Even if I don't get it, paying off all of my debt is a good thing.

Being a student is going to be hard, I will lose some of my pay packet and I won't be able to work as much overtime. I have decided that I MUST clear ALL of my debt by the end of the year and so far I'm on track .

On the first day of the year I had 15,114.76 of debt. Only one debt is defaulted from a dmp 10 years ago, half of the debt is a car on hp, and the rest are debts that are paid on time.

I live a very frugal life, I feed my family on £50 a week, we eat well (lots of batch cooking and meal planning). That budget has to stretch to birthday cards, packaging for ebay clearouts, cleaning products and hair dye lol.

:TI have 3 employment contracts, 2 are with the NHS, my main job and overtime work and I also work for a care agency working a couple of hours here and there when I have no children.

Debt as of 1 January 2013 is
Car £[STRIKE]6101.60[/STRIKE] £5764.24
Bad loan £3262.42
CC2 [STRIKE]£2560.28 2[/STRIKE] £1310
CC1 £[STRIKE]1923.07[/STRIKE] PAID
Very [STRIKE]£453 3[/STRIKE] PAID
Gas. £[STRIKE]222.73[/STRIKE] PAID
Electric. £[STRIKE]242.66[/STRIKE] PAID
iPad. £[STRIKE]349[/STRIKE] £PAID

I have already paid Tesco off, it's gone :j.

My targets are as follows;
15 March - 30 June, pay £650 off the barclaycard balance as it's interest accruing, the rest is 0% for 18 months. I have already paid nearly £500 off the target, I then have to clear the VERY balance as it's bnpl until July when it jumps to 49.9% APR:eek:. Before I can transfer suppliers for utilities I need to clear the debt and repay my parents for the iPad before clearing the remaining Barclaycard balance.

1 July - 30 September, pay the car off

1 October - 31 December, save as much as I can in this time to offer a F&F on Halifax. I defaulted on it nearly 10 years ago and the rate I'm paying it back at I will be nearly mid 40's before I pay it back. If they don't accept I will pay off a chunk and continue with repayments.

I've already sold everything that's not nailed down, it will be end of summer before I have anything to sell on. All of our not so great clothes go to the cash for clothes place. My outgoings are at the bare minimum, the only things that I will be able to cut down on are locked into a contract (tv, internet and mobile phone). Soon as the contracts are up, they are gonnnne.

Total debt as of 1 January 2014
Car £4682.11
Bad loan £3000
CC2 £1314.70



:A

Araboo27

Well done you...!!! I'm a student Children's Nurse (well I'm on mat leave until July) and it's brilliant, the best decision I ever made. Don't forget about the bursary ;-) Good luck. X

lindsloo

Hi Araboo

I take my hat off to you, I did a HCA bank shift on paeds and all the children screamed if I even tried to speak to them, they hated my uniform lol.

I'm not sure if I get the bursary because I will be paid my wage just minus london weighting and no supplements for unsociable shifts. If I get accepted then I will do some research if I am entitled to any extras but I have promised myself I will not be taking out the studen loan, we will manage whatever.

Thanks x

beanielou

Hope that you get the decision that you want.

lindsloo

Thanks Beanielou

Araboo27

Ah yes, I forgot about it being a secondment! I got the student loan last year, only £2300 (which I'd actually forgotten about :-/ need to add that to my list!) it did help out a lot with books....they're so expensive!! On average about £30 per book :-( Like you say though, much better to do without if you can manage. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you

lindsloo

First part of my challenge complete today, all interest accuring debt has now been cleared from CC2.

I've now changed all my standing orders online, I would like to clear the balance on Very, I would like to clear it within 2 weeks so I can carry on getting rid of the balance on CC2. £426.72 to pay on VERY.

:j

lindsloo

Today me and DD1 are teaching ourselves to knit a scarf each.

lindsloo

Usually I love the easter weekend, the extra time with my girls is amazing but for the first time ever it feels like the longest weekend which is dragging by the second.

I hope so much that I'm put out of my misery on Tuesday and they don't drag the secondment decision out until the end of the week. I've decided that even if I don't get the secondment I'm going to bite the bullet and make an application direct to university. I want to graduate before I hit 40.

I've made a chart to put on the fridge, 100 boxes each representing 1% and every time I pay off 1% I cross out a box with my purple felt pen. Who would have thought colouring in could be so fun lol.

So from Tuesday when I have some money going in I will make my first payment towards my Very debt of £453. So exciting.

lindsloo

So this weekend gone was a free listing weekend on ebay, even though I've already had a massive clear out and didn't think I could pull anything else out I managed 7 items.

Old car seat SOLD £10
Clarisonic body brush SOLD £56
Used once electric hand mixer SOLD £7
opened perfume (few squirts used)
unopened glycolic acid
battered designer handbag SOLD £36
unworn party dress SOLD £20

Made about £100 so far, really pleased.

Lots of overtime, 2 shifts this week and 3 next week.

On Tuesday I will have paid the Very catalogue off in full. Last week I sent off letters to CC1 and Next asking them to close the accounts and mark as settle on my credit files :j.

Cancelled a financial association between me and my ex still which is still on the credit file :eek: and today I registered for shared ownership schemes as a keyworker, won't be buying anything now but I'm living in hope for this time next year.

Still haven't heard anything about secondment, I phoned yesterday and they were expecting to get the letters out either today or Tuesday. Haven't heard anything today so Tuesday it will be, another 5 nights of not sleeping.

My total debt is almost touching 25% paid :A. Working those extra shifts has made a massive difference but I am soooo tired I could cry, I had a massive paddy yesterday about working overtime and paying off debt but I've set a goal and I'm determined to achieve it.

32b3in2013

Lindsloo,

You sound so positive and have worked really hard to reduce your debt by 25%

I really hope the secondment goes your way because you sound like you really deserve it :beer:

32b3