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Newbie says hi - and thanks!

Izzie_Wizzie
Posts: 84 Forumite
Hi everyone! :hello:
Just thought I'd introduce myself, say hi and thanks for the support that you give everyone, including lurkers like myself!
Had my LB last week after years of mindless spending (foolishly thought that buying myself lots and lots of nice things would get rid of the low self esteem issues that have plagued me most of my adult life - duh! guess what, it didn't!).
Having read the boards for a few weeks now, I know that I'm not alone in my DFW battle and have picked up lots of great tips already! I've calculated my SOA, ensured that the rates of all debts (see sig) are the lowest they can be and am lucky enough to have £200 to snowball my debts after paying all minimum payments. The first to go with be Frasercard at the end of the month (29.9% apr!!!!!!! gulp!) - can't wait to see the back of that one! :j
Izzie
Just thought I'd introduce myself, say hi and thanks for the support that you give everyone, including lurkers like myself!
Had my LB last week after years of mindless spending (foolishly thought that buying myself lots and lots of nice things would get rid of the low self esteem issues that have plagued me most of my adult life - duh! guess what, it didn't!).
Having read the boards for a few weeks now, I know that I'm not alone in my DFW battle and have picked up lots of great tips already! I've calculated my SOA, ensured that the rates of all debts (see sig) are the lowest they can be and am lucky enough to have £200 to snowball my debts after paying all minimum payments. The first to go with be Frasercard at the end of the month (29.9% apr!!!!!!! gulp!) - can't wait to see the back of that one! :j
Izzie
Highest Debt - £21k+ :eek: Current debt - £3,926.30 :T


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Comments
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Welcome Izzie.:D
I'm fairly new here too but can say that the advice and support is amazing. You've come to the right place.
Good luck!If you know you have enough, you're rich.0 -
Hi Izzie,
Congratulations on posting and welcome aboard. I look forward to seeing your SOA.0 -
Hi Izzie
If you can post your SOA on here, we'll all be able to chip in & see if we can find you more than £200 extra to throw at your debts...£27k (excluding interest) paid off in 29 months
Finally debt free!0 -
Thanks for the replies! Here's my SOA - just to clarify that I currently live with my parents so I'm very lucky in that I don't have the usual household bills (otherwise I'd be really stuffed!!!)
Income
Net Income £1,096.65
Outgoings
Petrol £150.00
Rent £150.00
Dad £34.50 (my half of broadband and sky)
Life Ins £14.07
Car Ins £31.16
Mobile £25.00 (6 months into 18 month contract - what was I thinking??)
Optician £13.00
Debt
Min Payment Rate
Northern Rock £12,122.07 £203.42 8.4
M & S £3,712.38 £111.37 3.5
Sainsburys £1,117.83 £25.15 5.9
Lloyds £1,581.90 £31.64 5.9
Halifax £219.02 £5.00 15.9
Frasercard £133.43 £5.34 29.9
John Lewis £196.78 £9.00 15.5
Freemans £158.99 £26.00 0
Barclaycard £268.94 £8.07 6Highest Debt - £21k+ :eek: Current debt - £3,926.30 :TDFW Nerd # 522 - proud to be dealing with my debts
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Izzie - can you include your outgoings as a total, then we can see the difference between incomings and outgoings. Looks like some of your debts could be cleared pretty quickly as the amounts are pretty manageable...
Cheers£27k (excluding interest) paid off in 29 months
Finally debt free!0 -
Thanks for the replies! Here's my SOA - just to clarify that I currently live with my parents so I'm very lucky in that I don't have the usual household bills (otherwise I'd really be completely stuffed!!!)
Income
Net Income £1,096.65
Outgoings
Petrol £150.00
Rent £150.00
Dad £34.50 (my half of broadband and sky)
Life Ins £14.07
Car Ins £31.16
Mobile £25.00 (6 months into 18 month contract - what was I thinking??)
Optician £13.00 (contact lenses)
Debt
Total owing Min Payment Int Rate
Northern Rock £12,122.07 £203.42 8.4%
M & S CC £3,712.38 £111.37 3.5% lob
Sainsburys CC £1,117.83 £25.15 5.9% lob
Lloyds CC £1,581.90 £31.64 5.9% lob
Halifax CC £219.02 £5.00 15.9%
Frasercard £133.43 £5.34 29.9%
John Lewis CC £196.78 £9.00 15.5%
Freemans £158.99 £26.00 0%
Barclaycard £268.94 £8.07 6.9%
Total outgoings = £842.72
Total surplus = £253.93
Total amount to snowball against debts = £200 (will allow £10pw for non essential spend)
I've managed to get the lowest possible interest rates on my debts but if anyone can suggest how I could shave any more off I'd be really grateful!
IzzieHighest Debt - £21k+ :eek: Current debt - £3,926.30 :TDFW Nerd # 522 - proud to be dealing with my debts
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oops - looks like I messed up the first timeHighest Debt - £21k+ :eek: Current debt - £3,926.30 :T
DFW Nerd # 522 - proud to be dealing with my debts
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Hi Izzie
How about this:
Month 1 - pay off Frasercard card = £205.34 per month to snowball
Month 2 - pay off Halifax card = £210.34 per month to snowball
Month 3 - pay off John Lewis card = £219.34 per month to snowball
Month 4 - pay £220 off Barclaycard
Month 5 - pay off balance of Barclaycard and clear Freemans
This should leave you with £253.41 a month for snowballing! Remember to cancel each card as you clear it.£27k (excluding interest) paid off in 29 months
Finally debt free!0 -
Other points on your SOA:
Outgoings
Petrol £150.00 - any way you can reduce this/walk to work/use public transport?
Rent £150.00
Dad £34.50 (my half of broadband and sky) - this seems pretty high - have you got the best broadband deal?
Life Ins £14.07 - hmmm....do you really need this? can it go on hold till you're debt free?
Car Ins £31.16 - have you tried quidco? get cashback on car insurance when you renew
Mobile £25.00 (6 months into 18 month contract - what was I thinking??)
Optician £13.00 - what's this for? contact lenses? have you tried shopping around for better deals?
SuSu1871£27k (excluding interest) paid off in 29 months
Finally debt free!0 -
Thanks for that SuSu!
Was planning to get the small debts paid off first but when it's down in black and white like that it really gives me the incentive to get them paid off.
I still have my barclaycard (the others were cut up as soon as I opened them for the low lob interest rates) which is burning a hole in my purse. I don't want to cut it up in case I need it for emergencies. I think I can easily manage on £10 per week cash but where's the best place to keep my barclaycard safe? (and unused!)
If I leave it in my purse I'll just use it!
Any ideas?
Thanks
IzzieHighest Debt - £21k+ :eek: Current debt - £3,926.30 :TDFW Nerd # 522 - proud to be dealing with my debts
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