You got this... Debt free in 2014

happybunny86

Big hello to everyone,
I am starting this diary because I want to be committed to paying off my debts in 2014. Im 27 and my debts snowballed when I was at university. I was on a DMP last year and saw the end was night so got a bit silly and whilst we are not back to square one I didn't pay them all off and racked up some more. I suffer from depression although that is the first time I have ever really admitted that and its something i'm struggling to seek help for. Spending for me makes me a happier person. I am now hoping to channel that into money saving. More recently they have affected my life as i spend so much time worrying how/if i will ever pay my debts off.
However I know there will be changes in my life in 2014, I have just been promoted at work so once I pass my promotion probation I should expect a pay rise around June/July and I am also moving in with my boyfriend around he same time. Whilst I would love to be debt free by the time we move in together i'm not sure this will be achievable.
My debts currently stand at £3,218.19
Capquest - £78.41 (no interest)
Lowell - £89.20 (no interest)
HSBC £658.77 29.9% apr
Barclaycard - £341.57 12.9% apr
Vanquis - £292.81 (No apr - Think now with debt collectors)
Lowell - £1,727.79 (No interest)
iQOR - £29.64 (No interest)

When i started my DMP in 2010 they were well over £10k so I do feel i've made considerable progress and I'm actually happier now I've seen that total.
I've looked at a debt payoff calculator today and I'm currently not sure how I am going to pay them off in what order. Although the highest interest method will save me money I think I'll stick at it better if I see some of the debts start to drop off. Will have to ponder on that one.

I have set myself some challenges for Jan to get me started based on the Janus thread. These will start on Fri 10th Jan which is my pay day...

1. 20 spend free days per month
2. Start with £150 food budget (Not really sure what I currently spend so this is an estimate and i'm going to work in subsequent months to reduce)
3. Petrol budge £150 (Travel 90 miles round trip to work but do car share)
4. Take lunch to work everyday
5. Shift down brands on 5 supermarket products
6. No cafes, shops, takeaways etc on my own. Sometimes meet my mum for a coffee on a weekend and would like to still be able to do this, hence putting on my own as I live on my own so stupidly expensive when I get takeaway alone or go to starbucks as pass it everyday with work
7. Personally take £3 worth of food from my grocery budget to my local food bank
8. 3 x 20 mins exercise per week
9. Choose a debt free date
10. Document all I spend
11. No beauty spends over £10
12. Keep all receipts and envelope up all my spends to keep me on track.

Will keep posting here how I am getting on to keep me on track and incase it motivates anyone else!!!

Small thing I want to do over the next week to keep me on track are:
- Sort out my membership to credit union
- Set up all direct debits
- Return an unwanted Christmas gift

Thanks for reading

happybunny86

Second post in the diary!!! Have decide today that budgeting is like dieting. When I'm on a diet I want food because I know I'm supposed to be good. When I'm on a budget I want to spend money because I know I'm not meant to be!!
I cancelled my experian subscription today and returned an item I had ordered two of so good steps.
The budget doesn't officially start until Friday as that's pay day and when I get my car back so it will make no spend days possible.
I have quite a few things to do before then to make my NSDs achievable.
1. Pay all bills I need to on Friday.
2. Make sure I have a meal plan and supermarket list ready for Sat. I intend to go to the market to purchase what I can. There is no car park nearby so feel like I should be purchasing one do those granny trolleys!! Maybe I will have to make a couple if trips to the car. Any ideas on that one anyone?
3. I've enquired about volunteering at an animal sanctuary to pass some free time in a free way.
4. Tomorrow I need to find out what exactly my sky subscription is by each line so I can look at reducing it where possible.
5. Tomorrow I also want to go to NatWest to see if I can reuse an old account there to help with budgeting.
6. I also want to ring the dentist tomorrow to speak about picking up a duplicate receipt as I lost my last one
7. Need to ring simply health and request a claim form.

Will see how I get on there!! I'm really confident that I can finally do this and have a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I just keep thinking how chuffed I will be when I can say I AM DEBT FREE That's what will keep me going through the had slog that is going to be the first half of 2014!!

FinanciallyUnsavvy

Hi! Well done on starting a new diary and beginning your journey to being debt free

Your debts really aren't that bad - massive well done on getting it down from 10k since 2010. You'll soon be debt free!

How about Lidl/Aldi instead of the market? That would solve the car park problem! Though if you're shopping for just you, you shouldn't really need to have more bags than you can carry. Every local market is different, but aside from meat and fruit/veg (and possibly dairy), is there really much else you can buy at a saving? The market near where I work has recently moved across town and I'm gutted since the meat was excellent value.

When are you hoping to be debt free by?

happybunny86

Hi financially unsavvy, thanks for the kind reply.

Hadn't thought of Lidl or Aldi. There's an Aldi the other side of town which is very close to the farm shop which sells meat and veg at very reasonable prices with somewhere to park the car! I shall change the plans Sat to go to the farm shop and get any dairy or other things I need from the farm shop.

I'm also making a trip to makro at the weekend for a few bits so have posted on another thread to see if there are any tips for purchases from their. I know a lot of stuff doesn't work out that cheap but I've always found teabags and washing liquid good to buy in bulk.

My debts aren't too bad, I think the frustrating thing was they were all about paid bar £600 is last year and I managed to whack on another £2k!! The scary side for me is also the number of creditors i've had which means there are a lot of defaults on my credit report which makes me credit history shocking and i'm guessing the only course of action for them is to wait 6 years for them to drop off. I'm trying not to think about this too much though because I know i'll just wonder why I am even bothering to pay off and start spending again.

The ideal is to be debt free by June when I move in with my boyfriend but this is currently dependent on a few factors. Such as if and how much bonus I get from work. I've also been promoted but we have to pass a probation before we get a payrise. This can take a varying amount of time and I've no idea of how much the rise will be yet. I will 100% be debt free by October 2014 either way!

FinanciallyUnsavvy

happybunny86 wrote: »

I will 100% be debt free by October 2014 either way!

Awesome - hopefully you can do it by your original date of June. Congrats on the promotion at work! :j As for bonus...... ha, I've never even got so much as a penny extra from work! Terrible considering its a fairly big and profitable company I work for.

Let us know how it goes at Aldi tomorrow - I've started doing a lot more shopping there recently, and I've not found anything that's bad quality. In fact a lot of the stuff is identical to premium brands (their own brand soups - tomato/chicken/vegetable - really are just Heinz soups without the label)

As for Makro - I'd be interested to know the best way to save money buying bulk too. I got a Costco membership recently, and on my first trip there wasn't too impressed. I managed to get a few things that'll save me in the long run - like 12 tins of chopped tomatoes for £4 - but the savings aren't massive so it wasn't really worth the extra expense in one go for me to buy too much. I find I get better savings going to places like Fulton Foods and Heron (if you have one of those nearby you, I'd definitely recommend for frozen/tinned/store cupboard foods).

happybunny86

It was my pay day today and sat at my desk thinking about things to buy! Because I am the person who spends all her money on payday weekend and is skint for the rest of the month.

I WILL NOT BE THAT PERSON THIS MONTH!

So instead I'm going to spend my lunch time making sure I have a shopping list for Aldi / Asda trip tonight and paying bills. I'm trying to use the high of paying my bills to deviate from the high of spend. I also have a Christmas present to swap at lunch as it was a charm that didn't fit my bracelet so this is shopping of a sort!

Financially UnSavvy - Love the same by the way! I used to have a cost co membership but found I didn't save enough to cover the cost. I also generally bought things from there I wouldn't have bought otherwise so made it expensive!

happybunny86

Haven't checked in much this week...
Everything is going reasonably well. I've been checking my online banking daily and it near enough marries up to what I've spent on the app so feel I'm keeping track better of what I am spending. I'm religiously adding what I'm spending to the app so I'm in a much better place in terms of knowing what I'm spending but am worrying a little bit about how much of my monthly budget I've already spent for food and petrol. I'll find the petrol money from somewhere. Food I class as groceries and have had to buy quite a few 'non food' items this week so think that might be the downfall and should be okay for coming weeks.
I'm going to clear out all my cupboards Fri Eve or Sat day and make a list of all the food I have to try and make it into some meals.
Half of the issue I've found with allocated money is that I feel I should spend it so it's very easy to think I should be spending the money on food if it's there to spend... Even if I maybe don't need to spent it!! Need Tao work on thinks one.
I've been doing lots of little things on the daily challenges which are really helping me to keep track at the moment. I was listening to a Disney album while washing up today and the bare necessities came on. I feel I could learn a lot from the lyrics of this song!!!

FinanciallyUnsavvy

Just popped by to say hi :wave:

Hope its still going ok! You sound like you're on track and in the right direction. Keeping track on your money and knowing exactly where it's all going is definitely a massive part of the battle - that's exactly what I've done this month (along with not buying anything I don't "need") and it's done wonders. Money really does go a lot further when you're taking more care on where it goes!

laurag89

Hey Happybunny86,

Just wanted to say well done on your amazing progress so far! I really related to a lot of things that you have said!
I was exactly the same with going crazy on payday weekend, and then spending the next 3 weeks till payday panicking how I was going to survive.

I also have debts, mine are quite a bit more than yours.... im still around £15k in debt, silly mistakes from being younger and trying to live a lifestyle that was not affordable. But I have learnt my lesson now, and cant move out with my boyfriend till the debt has gone.

The main thing is realising mistakes, and what were doing wrong and changing them

Good luck!! Cant wait to see your progress x

happybunny86

laurag89 wrote: »

Hey Happybunny86,
I also have debts, mine are quite a bit more than yours.... im still around £15k in debt, silly mistakes from being younger and trying to live a lifestyle that was not affordable. But I have learnt my lesson now, and cant move out with my boyfriend till the debt has gone.

Thanks for stopping by! My debts were a lot higher to begin with nearer £12k but managed to get them down to £300! Then realised last year that I had 8 defaults on my credit rating so even though I'd got it down it didn't mean anything in terms of access to mainstream finance and getting a mortgage etc. I've got over that way of thinking and determined to get to £0 and start saving! I'm in a point now where I'm closing accounts down so I won't have access to finance when its all paid off as I'll never be bale to get new cards with my rating so least I won't be back in debt!

It is super hard not to get excited about pay day but I'm trying to work into my budget to have little treats throughout the month. Cutting right back has meant that if I had a starbucks right now that would seem like a massive treat so in some respects it really is working My biggest problem is I want everything NOW. Including to pay off all my debts so I find it very frustrating!!

I'm doing well so far. Doing a couple of challenges, taking food to work, cutting down on my clothing and grocery spend and trying to have some no spend days!

laurag89

£12000 down to £300 is amazing, it may sound silly...... but how did you do it? Did you tackle one at a time?

I cannot wait for the day my £15000 is gone