Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2015!

WelshKitty85

£400 payment to credit card brings total to £818.67/£5105.43

Nix143

Just learned a very hard lesson about not being aware of what you spend/owe. My joy at yesterday paying off the Next card was shortlived as I got my new statement today. Checked it and found that there was 200quids worth of Christmas spending that I *thought* had been accounted for but hadn't. So rather than now having a zero balance on one of my cards it's shot up again. I thought I was getting away with it too easily.

So I need to amend my totals please

#131 - £527.28/£3716.13 - 14%

Ok I can deal with this, my total repaid only went down 1%, it's not the end of the world. And I am sure there are going to be more moments like that along the way. Can't let it derail me.

rubywhatashmoo

Nix143 wrote: »

Just learned a very hard lesson about not being aware of what you spend/owe. My joy at yesterday paying off the Next card was shortlived as I got my new statement today. Checked it and found that there was 200quids worth of Christmas spending that I *thought* had been accounted for but hadn't. So rather than now having a zero balance on one of my cards it's shot up again. I thought I was getting away with it too easily.

So I need to amend my totals please

#131 - £527.28/£3716.13 - 14%

Ok I can deal with this, my total repaid only went down 1%, it's not the end of the world. And I am sure there are going to be more moments like that along the way. Can't let it derail me.

Definitely don't let it dishearten you! It's so easy to let the spending from before you set your mind to paying off debts nudge you off track now but keep going - I keep a notebook next to me when I'm online and anything I buy I write down in there so that even when my bank is being slooooow about updating my balance I know that there is still a bit more money due off it - I've been caught out like that many times before :eek:

freightexec2009

Small payment made today, recycled my old mobile for £15 - better than nothing! :T

#120 £481.03 / £5144.09

DD265

Hi all

I also can't make many payments at this time of the month:

#265 - £459.89/£5483.57 - 8%

Next month though I should be over 10% (maybe even this month if a sale goes through) which would be amazing. When I've done that I'll be down to just one credit card so can hopefully see a quicker drop in the balance of that one.

Mat_Lock

rubywhatashmoo wrote: »

Definitely don't let it dishearten you! It's so easy to let the spending from before you set your mind to paying off debts nudge you off track now but keep going - I keep a notebook next to me when I'm online and anything I buy I write down in there so that even when my bank is being slooooow about updating my balance I know that there is still a bit more money due off it - I've been caught out like that many times before :eek:

I just use an app called Money Lover - I jot down any spend on the day and can even apply payments for the future such as direct debits etc. Then I know every day exactly how much money I have rather than what my bank tells me I have.

No surprises then !

Pepperoni

Question for you all - whilst you're debt busting, do you put money away for X Y Z costs that come up in the year - for example presents, etc. Or do you just pay them as they come up and take the hit (knowing that you will just have to put less to the debt that month).

Mat_Lock

Pepperoni wrote: »

Question for you all - whilst you're debt busting, do you put money away for X Y Z costs that come up in the year - for example presents, etc. Or do you just pay them as they come up and take the hit (knowing that you will just have to put less to the debt that month).

I built up a small slush fund for car expenses, tax etc but I never really had more than a couple of hundred quid in there. Then it got spent and then I never bothered topping it up.

I am now doing the £1 a day challenge so I have a nice £365 for Xmas 2015.

I will be debt free from Monday so will be a new era for me, actually saving.

Nix143

rubywhatashmoo wrote: »

Definitely don't let it dishearten you! It's so easy to let the spending from before you set your mind to paying off debts nudge you off track now but keep going - I keep a notebook next to me when I'm online and anything I buy I write down in there so that even when my bank is being slooooow about updating my balance I know that there is still a bit more money due off it - I've been caught out like that many times before :eek:

Thank you I'm not going to let it throw me off! Pesky not updating immediately balances! I'm using YNAB and unfortunately I thought it was included in the balance and it hadn't gone on. Now there is no way I could miss something like this as I am doing a daily update of my budget - from one extreme to the other!

Lottie_Clark

Hello all - I'm a massive newbie to the site and this thread!

You've inspired me to work out my debt so I felt I should take the leap and put it up here for all to see and to give me the motivation to keep hacking away at it (if it's ok to get assigned a number?) My payday is normally the 25th but it may come ahead of the weekend so I'll keep my eyes peeled.

2015 is a big year of change - getting a house with my OH, job contract ending in May (I work in heritage) and currently very strained and stressful relationship with my folks so tackling the finances seems the best way to regain some control and kick off this VERY COLD year! With a house move may bring opportunities to finally sort through that mountain of stuff to sell/freecycle and the job ending will be tough but may lead to other opportunities - but at least I can be on the straight and narrow by May financially.

So, all important figures: £17,556.43

Sorry for the offload - will update sig accordingly!

L. xx