Another year of hitting the debts

TryinToDoItRight

So long story short by May 18 I had £23,000 of credit card and car loan debt . As many of you know yourselves debts have a way of increasing not because of just one big purchase...but for lots of small bits and pieces... and then suddenly £23k.

Thankfully when I totalled up the different amounts that day I chose to take action or else I dread to think what it would be today!

This was my own debt..so I wanted to tackle it myself. Last year I poured as much disposable income into the debt as was possible. When I tracked it on a spreadsheet it was super daunting as it was going to take to late in 2020 to get it cleared :eek: ..and that was going hard at it!

With using the snowballing method I was really pleased to see that by the end of Jan 19 I have just less than £15k to go! Hoping this year to knock another 10k off it..but it will be another frugal year.

I know my boyfriend is planning to propose soon and that hopefully in roughly 2 years time we will also get the chance to buy my dads house when he retires..so really need to get the debt cleared.

Fortunatly all of my debt is at 0% and always has been. Current debt:
Halifax CC £3,450
Virgin CC £6,763.30
Car payments remaining £4,497

Looking forward to seeing this 15k shrink this year and looking forward to seeing everyone elses progress for motivation!

jollyberry

Well done on reducing your debt so much in just a year and great it’s all on 0%. Keep going and you will be debt free before you know it.

enthusiasticsaver

Good start in getting rid of £8k of debt in 8 months. Good luck in shrinking it further this year

Chandelier.

Well done on clearing your debts so far! With strict budgeting it will be gone before you know it, just be realistic.

And then you can start saving for your wedding!

TryinToDoItRight

Ok..wow. Can't believe this was a year ago, feels like I made that post yesterday.

Im happy to say the 15k from last year has now been halfed:
Halifax CC: paid off :beer:
Virgin CC: £4,500 remaining
Car: £3,000 remaining
Total of £7,500 to go - all still at 0%.

I should add that it got very, very tough around the 18th month mark. More than half of my monthly take home pay was used to overpay my credit card debt and with mortgage and bills ontop it left me with almost no disposable income each month. I got quite low..it felt endless .
My partner suggested I take just a partial break from overpaying for a month..to which I initially said absolutely not...and then came round to his thinking. I held back £200 for myself and the guilt was unbeliveable but it was genuinely needed. Boy did I make that £200 count...I felt like a queen for the whole month! That reminded me why I was trying to get it cleared and mentally got me back on track.

I got Monzo and created pots for EVERYTHING! Very very handy putting amounts away each month, spreading it over the year for when you need it. Trying my best to get rid of forking out for 'surprise..but not really a surprise' yearly payments eg MOT, contact lenses, boiler service etc.

In addition I took Martins advice and floated the idea of no Christmas presents this year..to my surprise the whole family signed up to it (oddly there's no kids in our extended family...just grown ups.) Honestly one of the best things we have done :rudolf: Genuinely no-one cared as we still spent our time together and still ate and drank well! A number of family members commented on how they felt significantly less pressure this year and really appreciated it. We said that next year we would either do the same or perhaps a secret santa?

This year I am focused on clearing the last credit card in the first half of the year. On speaking to alot of people they seem consider car payments as 'a bill' and seem a little confused when I add it in to my debt amount..so unsure if I will be in such a rush to bring it down to 0...or just let it roll on as the monthly amount (approx £100 a month) until its cleared.

Just as a quick note..my partner did indeed propose recently :blushing: and I'm over the moon.
After the celebrating had died down I requested that we don't put the wedding costs on a credit card only to to pay it off down the line. But instead to wait until I have this debt cleared, then save for the remainder of the year (and probably into next year) use a credit card (for protection) and pay any balance off right away...unsurprisingly he agreed :j

Willing2Learn

Congratulations on being engaged :T

And well done on halving your debts.

SuperFrank88

Congratulations! Posts like these are so inspiring to read for someone like me who is just starting out on my DF journey. Keep up the good work

TryinToDoItRight

So my last post was in January at the start of the year and we are now just into June. I am extremely excited so say that all my credit cards have now been paid off!! Thats everything but the car paid off   Theres about 2k left on the car and I think for now I will continue to treat it as a bill (0%).
I cancelled one credit card today and have left the other one for the odd thing..and credit rating purposes. But both have a balance of £0. I am elated!! 

In just over 2 weeks I will be paid again and instead of that money being siphoned into paying off debt...it will be going into savings. For the first time in a couple of years I will be able to relax knowing that if something does come up I will have some money to deal with it without going into further debt.

I know theres not too many posts in my diary but I hope this will help someone who is just starting out...if I can clear £23k of debt then trust me...so can you. Good luck x

2022ismyyear

Well done you! That’s amazing news ☺️!
I bet you feel so free right now and you can start putting your hard earned money towards things you actually want!

You have definitely given me more motivation to clear my debt!

Kakiste

Wow. Well done. Bet you'll enjoy your wedding day even more knowing that it's all already paid for!

jools1985

Very well done. Your determination and single mindedness has paid off big style.