Pay Off by Christmas Challenge

skint_spice

He's not too bad, he's kind of getting the message that mummy is not a cash machine. he also borrowed money off me on sat and rushed to pay it back when he got home. hopefully he'll be less rubbish with money than I was - I read "rich dad, poor dad" at the weekend so hoping to teach him a few things before he's managing his own money.
The lack of notice for school trips is bad though "dear parent - cough up £10 by end of the week" ...everything else is planned!

Tete_en_l'Air

Hi guys! Quiet on here – how’s everyone’s challenges going? Mine’s not too bad actually. I’ve given up on eBay for the minute – it’s too stressful with all the postal strikes. Just been trying to curb my spending with the help of the daily DFW threads. I haven’t been THAT good, but even so have managed not to spend what I usually would.

I said I won’t update my sig until just before I get paid as the amount that I’ve got in the bank at that point will be the figure I’ve paid off so far. I said I want to be £1,500 OD at the most when I get paid on 26th… I’m at -£1230 at the min, leaving me £270 til next Friday, which is loads. So I though to myself maybe I could spend only up to -£1350, leaving me £120. This should be possible although it will be tight. This week’s fairly quiet but I’m going up to see friends in Newcastle on Sat and for tapas and a dance in the evening, then have to go to a meeting in Manchester on Mon which will involve taxis (I get this back, but still…), then back to Newcastle next Tues to see a band (all paid for, but will have to use precious petrol)! So lots going on and it will be difficult, I’m not going to worry too much if I go up to -£1400, but will aim for -£1350.

It’s funny how I’ve gone from being scared to open my bank statement every month to obsessively checking my balance online three times a day! Sorry to ramble on, it just helps me to get things straight in my head and if I put it down in writing I’m more likely to stick to it! x

iwanttobreakfree

Have to say I'm doing rubbish on 2 of my pay off by xmas but I am £6 off paying one of them!!! At least success with one!

skint_spice

Hi,
I've just paid another £40 to CC that I hadn't planned to do but decided there's loads of food in and I shouldn't need to buy much shopping this weekend - no choice now! glad I did it or I'd have frittered it away otherwise.
Not being doing much on ebay either for similar reasons but I'll try and get some photos done and descriptions written up this week just in case the strike ever ends. (Sorry to any posties this isn't a dig at you, just the situation.)
Good luck to everyone, don't know about the rest of you but only 3 more pays for me...

skint_spice

Hellooooo, anyone else still doing this????

I paid £80 off but due to car repairs and OU fees I had a huge barclaycard bill to clear this month - was planning on doing this true my expenses over a few months but that's back to the old spending money I haven't earned yet mentality so I cleared it instead.

Currently have about 8 things on ebay and should get some cashback money through soon too. I'm hoping to be at least 3/4 clear of the debt in question cleared by christmas which is £3900 rather than the hoped for £5200 but still good...

mrsspendalot

Yep, still here. Aiming to finish my challenge by the end of the week

Well done on what have achieved so far .... good luck with ebay

skint_spice

Well done Mrsspendalot - that's well before xmas!

mrsspendalot

I know, I can't wait to get it done. I never would have managed to motivate myself to do it without the challenge either.

Tete_en_l'Air

Hi fellow Challengers,

I've been meaning to update on here for a while. I've updated my sig as I said I would to the amount that I was overdrawn by the moment I got paid and I'm aiming for my account to go into credit on November payday (even though it'll only be for a matter of hours probably, sigh). It'll be a real milestone for me because I've been living in my overdraft almost constantly for about the last 4 years.

Unfortunately though, the big Attack on MSE coincided with payday and I had a bit of a fall from grace! Nothing too extravagant, just wasn't keeping track of my little spends, and now I find myself 20 days (and 3 weekends!!!) from payday with only £150 to last me if I want to go into credit (and I don't think my car insurance has gone out yet). I think I may end up putting my £2s in the bank to cover that.

Everyone else sounds like they're doing great and I guess even if we don't reach our targets at least we'll have made a good dent in them. Keep up the good work everyone!

Lucy1982_2

Glad to see everyone is doing well.

I'm on track for my £300 overpayment if I can keep up what I have been doing so far.

Finding it a little hard in the lead up to Christmas, but I have promised myself I will do at least 15 mins of either Amazon or Ebay listing tonight. Unless of course I get into a roll and I may do it for longer!