Hello, my name's Charlotte and I'm a DFW!

sparklychar

Hello everybody!

After lurking for a good while I'm taking the plunge and joining in...

I'm pleased to say that I've managed to get myself fairly well organised with my finances, and not in any danger of defaulting etc., but I'm still working on some lingering debt from uni days etc (I graduated 2 years ago).

I also fell into a trap when first working of 'oh yay i've got money i can spend it!' and 'i can pay it off next month', but i'm happy to say i'm on track now.

State of Debt Affairs that are causing me stress:
Credit Card £3849 (0% until June 2015)
Grad Account O/D £1000 (0% - need to reduce to £500 by July 2014, and £0 by July £2015)

I have Student loan payments that come off my salary, and I'm also paying car finance, but I'm happy that these loans will run their course, so i'm focussing on the CC and OD, and will consider myself debt free when these are paid.

My salary is £1300 a month - from that I pay £900 into our joint account where all bills/food/essentials come from. Any surplus on that account goes into our ISA saving for a house deposit.

From the £400 remaining, £200 goes on the CC/OD, £50 goes into saving up for my OH's birthday surprise (it's his 30th, I'm planning a trip, very special one off, and will be proud of myself for not using credit to pay for it), and £50 into our joint holiday fund, and then £100 is for me, for clothes, gifts, going out etc... Any left over/extras from quidco etc, goes onto debts etc. At the moment I'm also doing a uni course so funding that as well.

Looking forward to posting, joining challenges and supporting everyone too :-)

Charlotte xxxx

Tixy

Hi Charlotte and welcome.

Sounds like you have a good plan and an understanding of where your money goes at the moment, And at least at the moment your debts are on 0%.

At £200 per month it will take you 24months to repay your debts. As your interest free period finishes in 21 months do you expect to have extra by then to be able to cover the final amount before you start being charged interest?
It might be good to set June 2015 as your debt free target (for these debts) and see it as a challenge to find the additional money from either earning more or freeing up money from elsewhere?

How long are you saving the £50 of OHs birthday for? will you then be able to redirect that to the debts?

sparklychar

Oh yes thanks Tixy! Saving for OH's birthday until May, so yes, extra will go into debts. I had forgotten about that... *recalculates* by June 2014 it will be down to £3446, then to pay off at £250 a month will take me to... July 2015. So paying off everything by June 2015 is realistic. Hopefully sooner if I manage more MoneySaving on here!

Thank you - this is why it's good to post on here!

Charlotte x

ShootForTheMoon

Welcome to the boards Charlotte!! :beer:

You sound like you are in a very similar position to me a couple of years ago after graduating!

I too wanted to pay off my overdraft and CC lingering from my student days - old habits die hard!! But once I got the bug for paying off debt, I also overpayed my car finance by a little each month, and eventually my Student Loan in April this year, so am now COMPLETELY debt free... It took 2 years of compromise and sacrifice, but is the best feeling in the world!

You'll find heaps of great advice and support on here - best of luck with your DFW journey - judging by your posts above you will smash your target sooner than you think!!

Shoot x

sparklychar

Thank you ShootfortheMoon!

I didn't know I could overpay car finance? It's a 0% deal so technically the company (Santander/Vauxhall) shouldn't care either way.... how did that work? do you just contact them and ask?

I can't wait to be debt free/only with 'acceptable' debt such as mortgage (eventually!) and student loan. I've done lots of MoneySaving things for years such as Quidco, and do enjoy it in a weird way!

Thanks x