20 Years Old With £12500 Of Debt

N210SH

Now then guys thought id post in here to share my journey of trying to clear my debt.
The debt consists of a mixture of credit cards the highest being £3800, A car loan at £4000 remaining, A overdraft at £2300 and a store card at £1300
I plan to use the snowball method too clear my debt and start with the one with the lowest balance. Although I know that it isn't the cheapest method I know it will keep me motivated seeing them accounts hit the big 0!
Im going to be downsizing my home and saving myself around £500 PCM , using £300 of that too start the "Snowball" rolling.
I have created a month by month spread sheet with all my debts in and added in the snowball (its quite mint seeing how it rolls over and you see the payment increase and pay the debts off quicker. By my calculations and if everything goes to plan I should be debt free in 14 months
Ill keep posting updates in here as regular as I can

EssexHebridean

Sounds like you have a plan there N21! Posting on here can be a great way of keeoping yourself accountable and also picking up tips for savings you might not even have thought about. Why not consider starting your own diary over on the Diaries board to keep a record of your progress, or maybe putting together your SOA (Statement of Affairs - link is in my signature) and posting it here to see if anyone can suggest any ways of saving some extra pennies towards the debt payments?

Snowballing like that can work well for some people - generally though it's best if your interest rates are all much of a muchness - if you have anything on extortionate rates then it may be best to think about getting those gone first, then shifting to getting rid of the smallest balances first.

I'd also urge caution on the overdraft - remember that can be called in by your bank at any time - I always feel that an overdraft is one of the most dangerous types of debt for just that reason.

Good luck!

MottledDebt

Sounds like you have a nice little plan here, and being mortgage free in 14 months will be awesome. Keep up updated on how you get on mate

N210SH

unfortunately im just renting so not mortgage free but none the less debt free will put me in a nice position to be able too get a mortgage hopefully in the next few years .