New Year, New Diary

dottydebts

pennystretcher wrote: »

Post your SOA here with interest rates on credit. I'm sure we can tell you the right direction to go for. Good luck on your journey, sounds like you had your light-bulb-moment (LBM) at a good point - and yours is pretty do-able as long as you are willing to give up treats for a while

I actually already have a SOA, but have chosen not to post it. Only one of my credit cards is charging interest, which is the one I'm paying off first. The others are 0% until February next year, so I am paying an amount to them which will mean they will be paid off by the time interest kicks in. My overdraft is the one thing I'm paying for right now, but it's also the one I find hardest to reduce so I'm 'paying it off' by putting money into a separate account so that I can reduce it by a few hundred £ each month.

motivated

dottydebts wrote: »

I actually already have a SOA, but have chosen not to post it. Only one of my credit cards is charging interest, which is the one I'm paying off first. The others are 0% until February next year, so I am paying an amount to them which will mean they will be paid off by the time interest kicks in. My overdraft is the one thing I'm paying for right now, but it's also the one I find hardest to reduce so I'm 'paying it off' by putting money into a separate account so that I can reduce it by a few hundred £ each month.

That sounds like a great plan dotty

Hopefully you will get the CC with interest down and gone as quick as possible.

You are doing well
M

enthusiasticsaver

Are you not including your car loan figure in with your debt Dotty?

Overdrafts are usually one of the most expensive and difficult debts to get rid of. As you pay money off it I would suggest you ask your bank to lower the limit so you not tempted to use it. I would also close the credit cards as you pay them off except 1.

dottydebts

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Are you not including your car loan figure in with your debt Dotty?

Overdrafts are usually one of the most expensive and difficult debts to get rid of. As you pay money off it I would suggest you ask your bank to lower the limit so you not tempted to use it. I would also close the credit cards as you pay them off except 1.

I am including it, however I am counting it as a separate debt as it is the last one I am going to pay off! My goal for this year is to pay off all CC and overdraft debt, so I can hit the car loan with the same amount of money next year and get it paid off 2 years early (4 year loan). I'm fortunate that I'm able to make overpayments that will reduce both the interest and the term but feel the CC and overdraft are more pressing at the moment!

And yes, that's exactly my plan with the overdraft! I'm saving the money each month into a savings account and will get it reduced every time I hit a certain figure (haven't decided what yet). I've found it impossible to just let the money build up in my current account, even though I know that would save me more interest! At least this way I'm not tempted to spend the money at all.

The credit cards are already unusable as I have been sent new ones which I haven't activated when I changed my name, and I plan to keep it that way! The accounts will be closed as soon as they are paid off!

dottydebts

Good week so far this week - I have had 3 NSDs, and my spends have been within my allocated budgets. My food budget for this month is looking a bit tight with £22.16 and 2 weeks to go until payday, but I'm hoping to be able to stretch it out. I shouldn't need much for the coming weeks apart from breakfast food and a couple of lunch bits!

I made £70 extra this month, so if I manage to stay within all my budgets that is £70 I can throw at my debts! As it has almost been a full month since I began really trying to pay my debt down this will be added to next month's figure and should enable me to pay off over £400 next month!

dottydebts

It has officially been one month since I started my journey to becoming debt free! Last month, my balance was £4040.19, and today is stands at £3686.19. That means this month I have paid off a grand total of £354!

My planned payment rate would have me paying off my CCs and overdraft by February next year, but I'm really hoping to have them gone by Christmas meaning next year I can just focus on the car loan. This will be £3196 by then, so something I can easily pay off within a year!

This means I need to try and find an extra £806 this year. I am not going to commit to a higher monthly total payment, as I know it won't be sustainable, However I am going to try and put as much as I can into this at the end of every month from underspending on my budget.

System

You have done well this month ! Keep it up and Xmas 2017 could see you rid of most of your debt . That would be great . Good luck

dottydebts

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

You have done well this month ! Keep it up and Xmas 2017 could see you rid of most of your debt . That would be great . Good luck

Thanks! It's the most I've ever paid off in one month I think so I'm feeling pretty good. I can't wait to see it drop below £3000 in a few months!

dottydebts

Sunday today AKA food shop day. After a little trip to Aldi totalling 12.54 I have a grand total of £10.09 left in my food budget to last until payday. This means next week's food shop will have to been even teenier! I shouldn't need much apart from breakfast and lunch bits for that last week of the month, so should be doable. I'm feeling pretty good about this, though, as with March being a 5 week month I've needed to stretch it that little bit further than I will do next month.

The other budgets are looking healthy:
£39.35 in travel. I will need to put petrol in next weekend, which will be about £30 so everything is fine there.
£58.22 in 'treats'. I will buy a mother's day card and present from this budget for next weekend.
£16.95 in eating out. If I have another 2 weeks like this one where I make my lunches every day, this budget should be absolutely fine.

motivated

dottydebts wrote: »

It has officially been one month since I started my journey I have paid off a grand total of £354!
.

You are doing amazingly well dotty. Keep going :T
M