Ready to start fighting my debt!

fightingfairy

Hello Forum World!

I have decided to start a diary to start with my battle on debt busting....it's going to be a long, long hard slog! I was a member on here sometime last year and was in a very dark place. I had some wonderful support back then but have decided now is the time to start a fresh and get started on this road to debt freedom once and for all! It was actually a post from cc4rhu who has almost cleared 80K worth of debt, that inspired me to do get on and realise there is light at the end of the tunnel!

My debts are scarily huge! I have buried my head in the sand, not opening letters for fear for what I may find. I have CCJ's, debt collectors, bailiffs - you name it.

My total debt at the end of last year was:

£99,016.10 :eek::eek::eek:

As it stands today.....

£77,753.80 :eek::eek:

Grand total paid so far....£21,262.30:T

This could of course turn out to me, I am very very slowly, working my my through a very debt pile of letters so balances will be updated accordingly!

This is the start of a new journey

fightingfairy

So I need to figure out a plan. In total I have 52 creditors outstanding from a total of 75.

Currently some are being paid a monthly payment, others nothing at all and some just a very tiny token payment of £1. The problem here being I now have no spare income to make any higher payments. I currently pay £425 a month on debt payments. This leaves no spare income.

Obviously the sensible thing is to raise more income, which is something I plan to do. I'm just a little unsure of the best way to tackle!

I am thinking the best way to do this is, carry on making the current monthly payments and throw any additional monies at the smallest debt. I'm incredibly lucky that I have managed to freeze interest on every single debt (that I have inputted) so I know that snowballing that way isn't required! By paying off the smallest debt with "spare cash" will give me a mental achievement I suppose.

Or should I carry on paying the monthly payments and then throw spare cash at one of those debts, eventually "freeing up" another monthly outgoing which can then be thrown at the next debt.

Decisions...Decisions! Any advice would be great?

Fairy xx

FalseEconomist

Good luck FF. 21k in a year? that's incredible!

I am the last person to advise on the best way to clear debt, but I think that if interest is frozen then snowballing from smallest to largestis generally the way to go.

psychologically it feels like real progress (which of course it is!)

Good luck

fightingfairy

Thanks so much FalseEconomist!

I think that is the way to go now then! Yes, a lot has been paid off but then that was selling off nearly every single thing I owned and cutting the budget as much as poss so a little stumped now on where to go!