I now have . . .

painted_lady

Less than £1000 of personal credit card debt! YAAAYYYY!
Just posted a cheque off to Halifax which will bring my final credit card down to £997.71 on Septembers bill.
At the highest, I had 6 cards, total of £13,000 (never knew exact figure as it was pre LBM), plus a loan.
I have done this by changing my financial habits, including,
-cutting back on non essentials,
-using cheaper (but just as good) brands,
-ebaying (EVERYTHING has gone on ebay)
- selling my car and a couple of other larger items,
- using bank charges money to pay off debts
- becoming addicted to MSE for tips, inspiration and ideas
- changing my spending habits, such as I only food shop after I have eaten EVERYTHING, not just the things I like
- I have a financially productive hobby which I am slowly turning into a part time business, I use some of the money to make an extra payment.
I find it easier to pay a debt straight away as soon as I have made some extra money, for example, if I have £20 in my paypal, I will send that money to CC the same day, before I get tempted to spend it. I have found online banking has helped, it allows me to easily make an extra payment, swap money from different accounts etc.
I can now see my debt free moment is in sight, it is difficult with my work situation at the moment as I am on maternity leave and had to cut my work hours down due to illness, but I no longer feel like I am swimming (or drowning) in debt with no way out.
I hope to have my CC debt to £500 by new year, I then only have 22 loan repayments of £153 a month and I will be debt free.
Its not over yet, but the end is in sight.
It was only 18 months ago I was refused a consolidation loan, I was disgusted as i have a good credit rating. I am now pleased they did this otherwise I woudlnt have changed my spending habits, afterall, I had consolidated debts twice before!
Hope this inspires some people and they can get some tips from me,as I have from others on this site.

madmoney_2

wow thats fantastic!!!! well done you!!! question - whats your "financially productive hobby"? xxx

painted_lady

Thanks madmoney, I am a photographer and offer a very competitive rate for weddings. I have also sold some prints online.

lunar

Wow, well done, I hope so much i stick to this and can start to see a difference soon. Everyone on here is such a good example to me!

Crown

Excellent news. Its so encouraging to see and hear that people like ourselves will eventually break the 1000 pound barrier. Mine is a few years away yet but at least its in the direction now.

Thanks for the inspiration and heres to that £997

sophiesmum_2

well done sounds like you have been working really hard to get that debt down.:T :T :T

painted_lady

Thanks everyone, its is you lot that have kept me going, or put me back on track when I strat slacking. Justreading other peoples problems, tips and advise helps me.
I never thought I would have it so low so soon, but this is mainly because I used one off bulk payments to take a chip off the debts, this included just over £1000 in bank charges, £3000 of my car money to credit card debt and have taken less holidays. Also, when I was pregnant, I wasnt drinking obviously, so saved the alcohol money for debt repayment.
It a year this week since I did my (positive) pregnancy test and I can tell you the thought of being in debt for years with a kid wasnt too appealing. I now have a 4 month old boy and he also motivates me. I just hope he has the financial habits needed to have a steady financial life and doesnt make the mistakes I did (My parents are actually really good with money, I just went off track for a bit).

katierose

Welldone,

I like the idea off paying the money straight to the cc instead of it lying
around tempting you to spend elsewhere.

Crown

katierose wrote: »

Welldone,

I like the idea off paying the money straight to the cc instead of it lying
around tempting you to spend elsewhere.

Dont wantto sidetrack the OP thread but there was a great thread on this a few months ago were someone suggested paying off the debts via online banking. She was making payments to the bank of 50p and £1 all times of the week. It seems to work wonders although I reckonthe statements must be massive lol

painted_lady

Yes Crown, I basically do the same, but for slightly larger amounts - although I have sent payments as low as £2 or £3, if thats what I have from selling a book on amazon for example.
I dont remember seeing the post you refer to, but certainly is a way of doing it, such small amounts you dont miss, but add up.

evab_2

That's fantastic news, well done and thanks for sharing how you've managed to achieve it good tips to follow.