We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

My Debt Busting Diary 2016

Options
Soooo, here we go my third diary :mad:

As my circumstances and debt has changed so much in the last 12 months, I thought I'd draw a line and make a fresh start.

I used my 2015 diary to help me pay back credit card debt racked up mainly due to horrendous vets bills for my pony. Made some progress (not as much as I'd have liked tho :( ) At the start of 2015 my total debt stood at £3878.59, today it stands at £6886.74 :eek:
This is due to unexpectedly having to replace my car after spending a couple of thousand trying to keep the previous one on the road. I am also currently on maternity leave, so am trying to get by on approximately half of my monthly income. My aim is to return part time, so really need to get a grip on the debt and make some lifestyle changes in order to make being debt free and a part time worker a reality.

My debt comprises of the following:
Overdraft £801
Credit card 1 £4585.50
Credit card 2 £1500.24

Both credit cards are on 0% interest, I'm not sure about the overdraft.

I'm currently paying off £100 a month which means I'll be paying it off for almost the next 6 years.

So the small things I'm going to do to get this debt paid off sooner....
1. Sell anything that's not used on eBay, Facebook or car boot.
2. Get back in the habit of batch cooking to save on food shopping
3. Use survey sites to fund birthday and Christmas presents
4. Use coupons for food shopping / baby items.
5. Meal plan to keep food shopping to the minimum.
6. Use cashback websites for insurance, utilities etc

Would love to have this paid back in 3 years max, should be doable whilst still giving us a good quality of living. Time to get cracking....
«13456715

Comments

  • Happy Christmas Eve!

    I've been up since 3:30 feeding the little one and then couldn't get back to sleep. I spent the time rejigging the spreadsheet and getting a plan in place for the coming year.

    Positives for today....
    Managed to resist the Boots sale! There were some nice bits that could have been put away for pressies throughout the year, however want to fund as many birthday and Christmas pressies via swagbucks.

    Swagged my first £5 giftcard for a long time.... This will be put towards the pressie fund.

    January's targets.
    1. Pay off an additional £100
    2. Swag £20
    3. Keep food bill below £200

    Happy Christmas everyone X
  • So Christmas has been and gone for another year - hope everyone had a good one.

    I've paid my £100 off cc1 this morning and made a payment of £30 to cc2, so overpayment total for this pay month stands at £30/£100

    Have also hopefully sold some bits on local fb page so that will be another £12 to pay off when I receive it.

    I received Christmas money from my parents and in laws and have used some of this to stock up on the pony's feed supplements, meaning the money I would have spent can go straight off the overdraft.

    Been browsing some of the debt free challenges and so far I've potted one £2 coin :D I've also started putting 20ps away and will join the 2016 challenge when the threads up and running. Will use this for funding little mans birthday and Christmas depending on how much is there.

    My Christmas shopping for next year is underway. Using swag$ and boots points I've managed to sort 4 presents for just under £9, so pleased with that.

    Plan for today is food shopping and sorting out little ones outgrown clothes
  • So the food shopping didn't happen. After doing a quick stock take of the freezer I realised we had more than enough to keep us going. Will sit down later and use the list to meal plan for the rest of the week.

    Received £12 payment for the fb sales so this has been paid off cc1 taking the overpayment total to £42/£100

    I've listed a couple more items on fb - if I have no joy there I'll pop them on eBay.

    Started sorted little ones clothes and have a pile to try and sell. Determined to get this debt paid......
  • So, I thought I'd try and make this whole debt busting thing a bit more fun. I saw a thing on Facebook recently that if you save 1p on 1st Jan, 2p on the 2nd Jan and so on you'll have saved £600+ by the end of the year. The only problem I found with this idea is that the majority of payments will be made in December when typically I'm most skint. Instead I've done myself a grid with 1p through to £3.65 on it and am aiming to tick off an amount each day, so when I'm more flush I can pay off the larger amounts and when I'm skint the smaller. All payments will go off the credit card.

    So for the 1st and 2nd Jan I've got rid of the two biggies and paid off £3.65 and £3.64.

    I've also had a sale of £10 on fb which I've paid off the cc. This coupled with my payment bingo takes my overpayments for this pay period to £59.29 / £100 :T
  • Just sold an item on eBay for £11.39 - takes sales to £33.39 / £1000 and over payments to £70.68 / £100 for month
  • Scottishmummy
    Scottishmummy Posts: 1,176 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker PPI Party Pooper
    So, I thought I'd try and make this whole debt busting thing a bit more fun. I saw a thing on Facebook recently that if you save 1p on 1st Jan, 2p on the 2nd Jan and so on you'll have saved £600+ by the end of the year. The only problem I found with this idea is that the majority of payments will be made in December when typically I'm most skint. Instead I've done myself a grid with 1p through to £3.65 on it and am aiming to tick off an amount each day, so when I'm more flush I can pay off the larger amounts and when I'm skint the smaller. All payments will go off the credit card.

    So for the 1st and 2nd Jan I've got rid of the two biggies and paid off £3.65 and £3.64.

    I've also had a sale of £10 on fb which I've paid off the cc. This coupled with my payment bingo takes my overpayments for this pay period to £59.29 / £100 :T

    Hi ScattyScewbald. Congratulations on the baby.

    We did this for 2015 and it got really confusing if we didn't have change or if we only had enough for amounts we had already crossed off so this year instead we are both doing £1 a day so together we will end up with over £700. It seems much simpler.
    The person who moves a mountain begins by carrying small stones.
    Diet loss starting Sept 2019 0/80lbs:eek::o
    Proud to be No. 47 of the DMP mutual support club
    DFW Nerd #380. Proud to be dealing with my debt
  • Thanks Scottish Mummy. I'm going to give it a whirl and see how it goes - anything to make this debt busting more interesting!

    Been a successful day as I've just had another item sell on ebay. Takes sales to £38.89 / £1000 and overpayments for the month to £76.18/£100 :j

    Baby's fed and settled - now time to sleep z z z z z
  • 88p crossed of my bingo sheet today taking over payments to £77.06 / £100.

    I've listed another item on fb and have a few bits to pop on eBay over the next few days.

    I've decided that I really need to shift this baby weight. Was already half a stone more than I like to be before falling pregnant and have been left carrying another extra stone. I'm going to join slimming world this week - not very mse I know, but the only way I keep motivated. My aim is to lose 2 stone - I'll use this diary to track my progress.

    Ponies gave had an early night today - I'm sick of this rain, so depressing. Should be grateful tho as fortunately we've escaped the flooding.
  • A lady's just been to collect my fb item, so another fiver towards my target, taking me to £43.89/£1000.

    P.A.D bingo payment of £2.73 made. So a total overpayment of £7.73 made to cc 1 taking overpayments for month to £84.79/£100.

    If I can get little one to go down for a nap will try and get more bits photographed for fb and eBay.

    Need to also get on top of the house work as since Christmas the house has been a tip. A while ago I devised my own take on fly lady - need to reimplement this even if it's just a 15 minute session morning and night.

    Right, best get these eBay parcels to the post office.
  • So I've set myself a few little goals for 2016 - mainly financial and health related, here we go.......

    1. Pay off overdraft - target date 31/12/2016
    2. Get down to SW target weight - target date 30/06/2016
    3. Start running again and complete 5k Race for Life - 12/06/2016

    Other not so measurable things I'm going to do......

    1. Make the most of my mat leave with little one. Get ourselves to some groups (well out of my comfort zone!)
    2. Payment a day towards debt - no matter how small
    3. Get back on a horse once weight starts shifting! I haven't ridden for ages due to lack of horse (mines retired!) and pregnancy - miss it so much!
    4. Fly for at least 15 mins twice a day
    5. Generally take better care of myself!

    Here's to a great 2016
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.8K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.5K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.8K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.8K Life & Family
  • 257.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.