£80k debt - 30 month debt free aim - all support is welcome

DebtfreeaimOct21

Previous to now my pay has been higher but I have now joined the pension scheme at work so that is taking me from 4300 to 4175, so all extra has gone, but I thought it would be a sensible way to save in the pension. Hope this is the right thing.

DebtfreeaimOct21

Hi Enthusiastic, the job/pay is just a year old, before that I was on a lot less.
Over the last 12 months of this higher salary I have been racking up paydays as trying to juggle everything and finally have at least a ‘balanced book’ if that makes sense, now I need a ‘positive book’.
This last year has taken me to get from the ‘negative book’ to the ‘balanced book’.
Within the next four months as you will see from the paydays ending I will start getting money left each month, without cutting back and I’d like to do a mixture of both to pay things off.
I wanted this diary to get advice and to ensure I use the ‘positive balance’ on the bottom of my SOA to pay things off and not to waste it.

I have spent it all and unfortunately have nothing to show for it. I have basically been living since I was 18 as if I had a salary similar to the one I have now

pidge04

Hi and welcome. So pleased that you are here and ready to break the cycle.
My thoughts are these ...
Really important to try and build a decent emergency fund up. I always wish I had done this.
Pay off a couple of your smaller debts - will give you a boost!
Completely agree with you and others about tackling the highest interest debts of course.
You have a good chunk of money coming in every month but I wonder if you have any time/capacity/energy to do anything to boost your income further given that you are planning on doing this in 30 months?
I hope that you believe in yourself and believe you can do this ... it’s amazing how you can make small changes which amount to a lot. I really wish you all the very best. I can just imagine reading your debt free roll of honour in a few years! Good luck!!

Kitten868

Hello,

Well done on tackling this. I think for the next 6 months youve already arranged your payments to clear the payday loans. Other than this you have £14 surplus and your £50 for clothing and for emergency fund. I would put this £114 into vanquis. After 4 months its gone. As things get paid allocate the money elsewhere.

You can do this! Xxx

Kitten868

Also check out the thread on debt free wannabe about reclaiming money from payday loans. Also look into reclaiming ppi. You definitely had some. I would consider getting a company to do it but you could do it yourself but im guessing theres too many debtors for you to do.

Xxx

a_silver_lining

Hi there and well done for posting

I second seeing if you have anything to sell or return. On my lightbulb moment I immediately went through my pile of recent spending receipts and found a few things I could take straight back to shops. I eat organic food and that plus cat, toiletries and household bits comes to £150pm. I home cook thought and cut out coffees and eating out, as before then I was spending another 150pm some times.

Good luck

in_need_of_direction

Is your electricity really £100 per month?

enthusiasticsaver

DebtfreeaimOct21 wrote: »

Hi Enthusiastic, the job/pay is just a year old, before that I was on a lot less.
Over the last 12 months of this higher salary I have been racking up paydays as trying to juggle everything and finally have at least a ‘balanced book’ if that makes sense, now I need a ‘positive book’.
This last year has taken me to get from the ‘negative book’ to the ‘balanced book’.
Within the next four months as you will see from the paydays ending I will start getting money left each month, without cutting back and I’d like to do a mixture of both to pay things off.
I wanted this diary to get advice and to ensure I use the ‘positive balance’ on the bottom of my SOA to pay things off and not to waste it.

I have spent it all and unfortunately have nothing to show for it. I have basically been living since I was 18 as if I had a salary similar to the one I have now

You have done well to climb out of the debt hole and balance the books so to speak as usually the only way to go when you get to the PDL cycle is bankruptcy or a DMP so I think you should give yourself credit for that. Also good that you have realised the error of your ways as without that the tendency is to slip back into old ways and allow the debt to creep up. Debt busting is a hard slog and without knowing how old you are it presumably has taken you around 10 years or more to get to your current position. I think it is wonderful you are aiming high to get it all cleared in 30 months but on such a large amount of debt setting yourself smaller targets along the way may help keep you motivated.

You have lots of positives. A good income. A willingness to change spending habits and arrangements already made and interest on hold for some debts so in effect your own self managed DMP.

So presumably getting rid of the PDLs is the first aim for the first 6 months of your challenge?

enthusiasticsaver

DebtfreeaimOct21 wrote: »

Previous to now my pay has been higher but I have now joined the pension scheme at work so that is taking me from 4300 to 4175, so all extra has gone, but I thought it would be a sensible way to save in the pension. Hope this is the right thing.

It is absolutely the right thing. You will be spending the next few years correcting errors made in the past. Paying into your pension takes care of your future and on such a high salary paying into your pension is the most tax efficient way of saving for that. Also if you don't pay in, neither will your employer so you are turning down a pay rise by opting out.

PositiveBalance

Kitten868 wrote: »

Hello,

Well done on tackling this. I think for the next 6 months youve already arranged your payments to clear the payday loans. Other than this you have £14 surplus and your £50 for clothing and for emergency fund. I would put this £114 into vanquis. After 4 months its gone. As things get paid allocate the money elsewhere.

You can do this! Xxx

I would definitely advise you to put your clothes money plus the remaining £14 in your budget to the Vanquis. It's up to you whether or not you would like to put the emergency fund money toward that as well.

I would definitely recommend getting an emergency fund in place once you have got the payday loans and Vanquis out of the way. It may seem counter intuitive as you will still have debts at pretty eye-watering rates ro pay back but it should stop you having to dip into a credit card to deal with whatever life throws at you. £1000 is often cited as a good amount. The aim of this is to give you a small buffer zone if any true emergencies crop up and to stop you ever having to put anything on a credit card again. Then start slaying your remaining debts with a vengeance!