Breaking the shackles.

dearlouise

This is my diary, to show my journey to becoming debt free.

Where did my debt come from you say? Well, I grew up fast, went to university, bought a house at 21, got married at 22, lived beyond my means for a few years, got divorced at 27, took on more debt than I probably should have in the settlement, struggled for a bit living on my own, met someone new who encouraged me to better myself, quit my job & did my teaching qualification for 9 months, had to buy a car on a credit card during my teacher training, and windows for my house (which I rent out) and am now a teacher.

After all of the above, I have the following debt;
HSBC CC £2,900
HSBC overdraft £2,000 ...I live in this at the moment.
Post Office CC £5,200
Barclays CC £11,300

EX HUSBAND CC £10,000 (this is an approx figure without checking)
...This is a CC which is in my Mum's name but my ex-husband used to clear some of his financial troubles when we were married. It was agreed in the divorce I would take this on. My Mum secured a 0% credit card so the max balance is paid off each month. She's done this for about 3 years now.

TOTAL DEBT - £31,400

My priority is to pay off my debt first, as my Mum has good credit, and has secured a 24 month 0% deal.

Why now? I'm 29 years old, and the thought of turning 30 in December this year, makes me realise I want true independence. I don't want the burden of financial constraints. I want all of the money I bring home, to be mine. I want freedom to do as I wish, and not rely on anyone else.

I'm lucky in that I live with my partner, who pays most of the living expenses, but it's my responsibility to put food in the cupboards, I pay for meals out, and also any 'activities' that we do. I pay over £500 a month in debt repayments at the moment, which is insane!

I am looking around MSE to find things to cut costs, and to save money. I applied for various 0% credit cards to transfer balances, but was rejected for all. Which I can see why, since I've only just qualified as a teacher - without an income for the last 9 months. I will try again in 6 months.

Today I queried my O2 tariff, as it seemed higher than I thought, and I had requested it to be reduced in August last year. Meaning I'll be getting £60 refunded at the end of the month. That can go straight onto a credit card.

I also cancelled weight watchers online, which I didn't know I was paying - as it was coming off my credit card like a transaction, rather than a direct debit in my account! How sneaky! £12 a month saved.

I will keep you updated on my progress. :beer:

Rollercoaster_Rach

Congratulations on turning things around! Sometimes we can feel so stuck and then suddenly a shift will happen....you never know what's round the corner!

RRx:beer:

dearlouise

Had an appt with the bank today to see if I could switch to an interest free mortgage, as I hoped to use the difference in rent that my sister pays me to pay off debt. Turns out they don't do them anymore.

Only way is a buy to let, and I don't have a small enough loan to value, and didn't get accepted. Tried 3 banks...

My bright idea failed me. Onwards I guess...

dearlouise

Normally eat out (restaurant/fast food) 3-4 times from Friday night to Sunday night, and we haven't done so!

I think we will be having something this evening though. Probably Indian, collection, which saves 20% to sitting in the restaurant, and no drinks costs. I think that's a happy medium!

Also checked my PO CC statement & it's at £5020. £180 less than I thought. It all helps!

FOXGLOVE_2

I find that noticing where money can be saved is half the battle, instead of haemorrhaging cash and getting nowhere. You have a clear and realistic view of where you want to be so I'm sure you can get there!

We have similar backgrounds, I lived independently at a young age and the debt crept in so I too want a brighter future.

Indian food.... Yum! The professionals always do a better job of it and takeaway is so much better as many restaurants have very expensive drinks. Also means you can veg out and keep some for later

MrsSmith2013

Hi Dearlouise, have found your diary too! Have just read through it and you sound like you have a good plan. I think the big starting point is working out how much you actually owe and then knuckling down and getting through it!

Sorry to hear the bank couldn't help with the mortgage. I've never heard of interest free mortgages, they sound appealing! Would the buy to let one be 0% interest? I guess you can always try again next year once you've built up some credit and paid off some more of the current mortgage.

A few things I do to try and help reduce spending and increase income are:

Meal Plan - an idea that I got from here, but I do a menu for a week at a time and then only shop for the ingredients that we need for the meals. That and snack stuff, fruit etc, but it means you're buying for actual meals instead of random things with nothing to go with them!

De-clutter Regularly - I love nothing more than a good clear out! I keep boxes up the loft and fill them up with car boot "stock" and then go maybe once or twice a year. If I think any of the items are worth more, I'm trying to sell on fb pages, ebay, amazon etc.

Quidco - anything I have to buy online, I go through Quidco, as you get cashback on most places. Maybe not a huge percentage, but it all helps! Over the years I have accummulated £970.13, and its only £5 a month I think they take as a membership fee, which comes off your cashback.

Anyway, I'm rambling now, but I will subscribe to your diary and will cheer you along on the debt free journey!

Talk soon!
Mrs S x

dearlouise

Not really an eventful week in my neck of the woods. Manic week. Had OFSTED in.

I've made no real movement forward in the debt repaying department. I did have the lightbulb moment to try to consolidate my credit cards to a loan - in the short term that would reduce my monthly outgoings. But one where I could repay early? Less interest is surely a good thing. I'm not sure - I need to look into it.

I'm very aware of the eBay free listing weekend this weekend. Spent the day out & about today (spent Christmas vouchers & that's it), but plan to plough through lots of things this evening while watching Take Me Out/Jonathan Ross, and tomorrow to de-clutter and make money for those credit cards! Oh, I'm so rock & roll on a Saturday night!

Sticking to the only one meal out again this weekend. Think we'll be having takeaway tonight - again, even less than a restaurant.

Two weeks until payday, and the bank account looks ok. Think I'll have between £50-£100 to put towards the CC at the end of the month (without any eBay funds made).

I will update my progress tomorrow!

Rollercoaster_Rach

Poor you with OFSTED..ouch!

I'm sure things re: debt payments will start moving soon

RR x

dearlouise

Well this week hasn't been very interesting.

Made it to 23 eBay auctions last weekend, and they haven't done very well so far. I have a few ending this evening, but I've sold 3/23 to the value of about £60. I think that'll be it. As soon as that comes through, I'll pay it off the CC.

Payday in a few days, and I have a lot less in my bank account than I thought. I'll be lucky to have about £50 left in my account to pay to the CC... every little helps I suppose. I was just hoping for about £100-£150.

This payday I need to pay for a gas service at the house I rent out. I also need to purchase some laminate flooring (waterproof) for the house I'm living in now.

The story with that is, I moved in with my boyfriend a year ago, I have 4 cats, he has a dog. Dog goes to nannies in the day, and the cats have the run of the (large) house. Evening comes, and the cats have their own room & doggy has the run of the house. Over the last year the cats have scratched up the carpet, and have had a number of accidents. To be frank, it looks horrible, and it's starting to pong. I need to change it now, rather than later. The cat/dog situation is a sticking point between me & other half, so I don't want to make things worse by holding out on fixing the flooring. I should also mention it's a new build house - so he's not best pleased. I need to research the cheapest, most waterproof flooring to make sure I get a good buy. That's this week's project, with a view to lay it during half term.

For the week ahead, I'm determined now that OFSTED and reports are out of the way, to get to the gym every night this week. I've read up on interval training, for great weight loss results. I need this as I've stopped losing weight with my current routine (only about a stone lost, but still). So I want to get to the gym to test it out.

The only expenditure I want this week, is to put petrol in my car, and maybe a payday treat of going to the local cinema (2x £5 a ticket). If I get to next weekend saying I've achieved that, I'll be a happy bunny.

Spent this weekend sorting out the house. So many boxes still not sorted after moving over a year ago. We've tipped lots, charity shopped lots, and have a massive eBay pile, which I'll try to work through in the coming weeks.

dearlouise

My 23 auctions didn't do so well, but I made £62 from what did sell. On the day before payday I still had £52 in my bank account, so that's £114 off my credit card, along with minimum payment of about £70 so £184!

Another free listing weekend this weekend, so I'll be relisting everything that didn't sell, and I have a pile of blu ray DVDs that we don't want to go on too.

Feel really demotivated with it all. £60 here & there isn't going to make much difference when you have £30,000 to pay back.

DawnW

Didn't want to read and run. Please don't think that the odd £60 here and there will make no difference. Every little really does help. The secret is to be consistent and not give up. I know, as I have been there

The killer is the interest building up. The more you can pay off, the less interest you will pay. Even paying off £60 of debt will be a significant saving over the longer term.

Maybe have a go at a couple of the challenges on here, and look at snowballing, paying the minimum off all debts except for the one with the highest interest, and throwing all your extra pennies at that. Once that is paid off, move onto the next, and so on. There is information on it here somewhere.

Good luck, and don't give up. After a while, it will be addictive seeing those totals go down