I like a challenge!

Harryspotter

hello everyone

I have been reading these forums for about a year now and have taken so much motivation from so many people. I have made some excellent headway into my debts but have decided to start a diary to make sure I don't lose motivation in the challenging times ahead.

I have already paid off my catalogue in full and spent all the cash back that had accumalated so that is effectively done with and I do not intend to use it ever again.

This month I have paid off in full my only interest bearing debt which was an m/s cc. Because of an on line fraud six months or so ago I don't even know the pin on this anymore so that safeguards this account. I am keeping it open because it has a good credit limit incase of emergencies.

So whats left?
- £450 tesco credit card 0%
-£4400 tesco credit card 0%
-£4493.69 b/card 0%
-£7525.58 b/card 0%
-kitchen £5000 0%
I don't use any of these cards, they were only balance transfers. It may sound laughably obvious but it has taken me to my mid thirties to work out the best way to reduce the debts, is to stop spending more on credit cards lol!! I am proud to say that I haven't used a credit card for approx 6 months.

I am happy with my outgoings being as low as possible (apart from paying for sky which i hate but it appears we are tied in for the minute) so this diary is really just for me to keep my eye on the ball.

thanks to all the inspiring diary writers that have helped me get this far x

Harryspotter

Oh and forgot to add - the reason for the title of this thread is that on top of those debts that I am really keen to pay off, I am also planning to go on holiday next summer which I need to save up for because as i mentioned previously - I AM NOT USING CREDIT CARDS!!! So thats a savings target of £4800 as well. Luckily, this is a family challenge and I have both mine and my husbands income to use. My savings account balance is currently £42.50!! so thats £4757.50 to go then lol :rotfl:

sassychick2014

Found you!!

I'm so chuffed you've started a diary and that I was one of your inspirations!

Debt is never nice but your's is all 0% interest, something I wish I could get but can't due to low rating. And the fact you've not used your credit card for 6 months is amazing - keep up the good work.

It is a bit laughable that it's taken so long to realise no spend on cc means no debt but hey, if it was that obvious these threads wouldn't be here would they? I'd like to say I was in my mid-thirties when I twigged but I was slightly over (only just though!).

You mentioned your holiday was for your family which implies you have children. If so are they old enough to understand about saving and therefore able to help keep you going? I found when I was saving for Oz Littley (9) was a huge help and I credit her with the strength to keep me going. It was also a good learning curve for her to realise that if you work hard & save hard you can have an epic time.

Look forward to keeping up with your progress xx

Harryspotter

hi sassy, yes I have two children age 10 and 12. They are pretty good actually (with money I mean!) and are quite happy doing free things like going to the beach, woods, national trust places etc. I have told them about the savings (not the debt) and they are interested. Its probably a good lesson for them as well. We are off to disneyworld next year and I'm loving your idea of the map colouring in to show progress.

I have been thinking about the £10 a day challenge. It is about 450 days until we go and if I were to make £10 a day extra, this holiday could be paid for solely by extra money coming in and my debt repayments need not be affected at all. That is quite a motivational thought. I have started by selling some books on ziffit for £20 (hopefully unless any get rejected). I now have to think of other ideas to make the daily £10 There is quite often the option of overtime at work so that would be the most effective (but least desirable lol)

My next debt focus is the £450 tesco card. Off to peruse the boost your income forums

sassychick2014

Evening

The £10 a day challenge is quite a tough one. I downloaded a countdown app on my phone to see how long it was until my holiday and divided the cost by those days meaning I had a £7 a day challenge - and that was hard enough!

Good luck with the income raising! xx

Harryspotter

So today I have taken my parcel of books to be sent and I have bought dog food. The dog food had £2 off and as I wouldn't change his diet anyway, I would have paid full price so have sent £1 to my savings account :j I am loving my impulse saver app on my phone its so easy to transfer money to my savings account!

Harry x

juicygirl

Hi Harryspotter, I've found you!

Another thing we have in common except the love of holidays - I'm in my mid thirties too ( and had debt to the same degree on and off since my mid 20's - so embarrassed to say that),

Good luck with the holiday saving challenge, love the idea of colouring progress on a map/chart! I can't wait to do Disney when my kids are old enough!

How does ziffit work? X

Harryspotter

hi jg

ziffit was really easy - you just type in the isbn numbers of your books and it gives you an instant value. I was lucky to include a few fairly valuable old text books because the novels tended to be only about 14p lol. So then you just parcel up the books, print out an a4 address label/order number and take it to a local collect plus shop. My local shop was about a mile away and i just handed over the parcel and the lady gave me a printed receipt. Now i just wait for the payment directly into my bank account. Hopefully it will work just like that but I will celebrate when the money appears

try it x

Harryspotter

Had a balance of £8 sitting in my tcb account so have added £6.50 into my savings to bring the balance to £50 :j

Trixxibell

Hiya H,

I'm subscribing xx Disney world is amazing, we love it there xx can't think of better motivaton. As you know we are taking the kids to New York next year so it will be nice to share a holiday countdown with someone on here. Printing off a map tonight at work :-)
Have a great day xx

Harryspotter

Just in from work which was usual 10 hour shift plus 4 and a half hours overtime - tired but :j
I've been trying to follow the basis of the earn extra £10 a day and today I have earnt probably £65 extra but I won't actually receive the money until the end of June so I can't use the money yet. So don't really know how to count it?:cool:

Looking forward to weekend - hope you all have nice things planned x