Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

GeorgianaCavendish

Lau0707 wrote: »

I know I am late to the party ha ha, but what an amazing diary!!! Well done GC!! Incredible progress!
xx

Thank you so much Lau! Welcome to the diary, please do stick around - I've got a long way to go!

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

Well done GC. How wonderful to be able to clear a chunk! Fantastic.

Thank you Honeysucklelou! It has given me a massive boost

buffo194 wrote: »

Brilliant diary this and I can see so many of your habits / spending patterns in myself, Started my own diary this month with over 23.5k worth of debt to get rid off and tackle.

I have a huge collection of trainers aswell which have certainly contributed to the debt so alot will be being sold now to pay it back (over £700 made this week alone)

Good luck with the progress and keep updating,

Thanks so much buffo! I'm glad the diary has been useful, I will go and check yours out now.
Great work on selling the trainers, it is nice to have a decent chunk of money to put towards the debt. I'm getting to the end of my ebay selling now but it is amazing how much money you can make on certain things.

GeorgianaCavendish

MBNA statement came today - my balance is now £1935.21 :j

Lau0707

Youve done amazing !!

I have a 5,000 loan from Halifax to clear, a £710 credit card and a £1200 student overdraft. I have cleared 13k over the past year, but starting to feel like I'm not getting anywhere now

I think I'm going to go through everything again for eBay, but unsure if I have anything left lol! xxx

GeorgianaCavendish

I've mentioned my Debt Spreadsheet in passing but I thought it might help some other Debt Free Wannabes to expand on it.

I've got a really simple Excel spreadsheet with all my debts listed. I've got a separate line for each interest rate that applies to each account (so e.g. MBNA had 3 lines and Barclaycard has 2 lines) and I break down the balance this way. I've plotted all my loan repayments in already so that there is an end date in sight (currently January 2020).
This helps me in so many ways. On the days that I'm getting anxious about my debt or feeling demotivated about how slowly the numbers are going down, or when I'm having a hard time and am feeling the urge to go on a spending binge, it really helps to look at my spreadsheet and focus on the numbers going down. Being able to see the end date for the biggest debt reminds me that there is light at the end of the tunnel, even when it feels like I've got such a long way to go.
Having each interest rate separated out (with a note on the statement and payment dates) makes me feel in control of what is going on with my finances, my credit card statements are no longer a mystery to me!

You don't need to use a spreadsheet but I would strongly recommend that you keep a note of your debt totals somewhere so that you can look back and congratulate yourself on how far you've come.

GeorgianaCavendish

Lau0707 wrote: »

Youve done amazing !!

I have a 5,000 loan from Halifax to clear, a £710 credit card and a £1200 student overdraft. I have cleared 13k over the past year, but starting to feel like I'm not getting anywhere now

I think I'm going to go through everything again for eBay, but unsure if I have anything left lol! xxx

Wow wow wow! 13K over a year is absolutely amazing, well done! :T

I am still learning how to budget (and it is a challenge for me because I'm trying to change the bad habits of a lifetime!) but these forums have been so amazing and supportive, I feel like I've learnt so much in the few short months I've been a member here. I'd definitely recommend starting a Debt Free Diary if you haven't already, it really keeps me on track

mummytogirls

Afternoon GC,

I love a good spreadsheet, I have one for all my bills and I colour off each bill once its gone out!! So sad but I love keeping it up to date!!

Keeping going, you're doing so well xx

crunch_time

mummytogirls wrote: »

Afternoon GC,

I love a good spreadsheet, I have one for all my bills and I colour off each bill once its gone out!! So sad but I love keeping it up to date!!

Keeping going, you're doing so well xx

Omg mummytogirls I do this too ( colouring off things as they are paid)

GC - love the diary! You are doing brilliantly! Xx

GeorgianaCavendish

mummytogirls wrote: »

Afternoon GC,

I love a good spreadsheet, I have one for all my bills and I colour off each bill once its gone out!! So sad but I love keeping it up to date!!

Keeping going, you're doing so well xx

crunch_time wrote: »

Omg mummytogirls I do this too ( colouring off things as they are paid)

GC - love the diary! You are doing brilliantly! Xx

I do the same thing with my debt spreadsheet, I have everything in red to keep a running total and once I've firmed up the payment for the month I'll change it to black I've also got my first, second and third priority debts highlighted in different colours :rotfl:

GeorgianaCavendish

Another eBay sale of £18 yesterday, I'll be trotting off to the Post Office at lunchtime.
I've got a handful of items left to list, so I'm going to do that early tomorrow morning and hope to get some interest over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Got a quiet one planned this weekend, the only things on the agenda are spring cleaning and DIY (how exciting, I hear you say ). My big goal for this weekend is to de-junk the living room enough to be able to comfortably use it for yoga and Insanity DVDs.

Have a great Easter break everyone!

GeorgianaCavendish

Another £40 from ebay today. I'm going to use ebay money to make an overpayments on my MBNA debt. I really need to clear as much as possible from my balance before the promotional rates end and I go back up to the whopping standard rate.