2017 - Making a big dent in debt!

zackyv6661

Hi all,

Over the past couple of years (up until November 2016), I had got myself into a but of a mess with debt. I had no money every month, everything I had went either to living (food, bills etc) or I would be borrowing money from my family each month. It didn't help that my ex partner was terrible with money and budgeting.

Today, I am single and living with my parents again. I was still tied in with rent on our rented house until November 2016, so that is now settled and out of the way.

My current debt looks like this:

Credit Card 1: £2,279.06 (24.9% APR)
Credit Card 2: £3,725.31 (0% APR)
Student Overdraft: £870.00 (no fees/interest)
Loan 1: £3,674.74
Loan 2: £1,341.30
Scottish Power: £236.48

Total Debt to pay: £12,126.89

Loan 2 is for a sofa which my ex partner and I purchased last year. It was in my name, as he had awful credit. However, when I left, he kept all the furniture including said sofa and refuses to make any payments towards it, so I am stuck with the loan. Trust me, I won't be making that mistake again!!

I sat down for a good few hours, and have created a spreadsheet with my finances for the next year - up until March 2018 - I am quite proud of how my spreadsheet has turned out!! According to my plans, I will have almost all of this debt completely paid off by March 2018! On my spreadsheet I have listed my debts in order of priority, so I know which one to focus on paying off first, and any extra money made throughout the year will go to the first priority. I will be leaving myself a relatively small amount of money each month to live on, but I won't be leaving myself struggling every month, as that defeats the purpose of getting into a better financial state.

The thought of being debt free next year is so thrilling that I cannot wait for it to get here! Once I have paid off my debt completely, I plan to begin saving up for a deposit on a home for myself, so I have an excellent incentive to get the debt paid off as quickly as I possibly can.

This forum is so positive and helpful and I have really enjoyed reading all of your debt-free journeys so far, and I'm glad to be joining you all on the journey!

another_casualty

Wow! I admire your determination . If you can get debt free by Easter next year , that would be fantastic .
You'll do,it .:)

zackyv6661

another_casualty wrote: »

Wow! I admire your determination . If you can get debt free by Easter next year , that would be fantastic .
You'll do,it .:)

Thank you! I always said that after Christmas was over that it would be time to start getting this debt paid off, so I'm making sure I stick to it! My family are great and very supportive and they will keep pushing me to get it paid off just as soon as I can