Finally the penny drops ...

Debtbattler

Hi All,
Like many others on here I am a long time lurker who has been reading others inspiring stories to debt freedom & frugal living. I thought I had my LBM a while ago but in all honesty I've been kidding myself as I am still a horrific shopaholic who just spends for the sake of it when there really is no need! 
So a little about me, I'm a single parent to one DS & work full time with a good job that pays reasonable well. I moved in with my parents 2 years ago when my relationship with DS father broke down to pay off debts & save to buy a house as I no longer wanted to rent & tbh would have struggled to pay all of the household bills alone due to debt. This didn't really go to plan after a horrendously messy breakup & an emotional spending habit I ended up hopeless & in more debt than when I started!! I started 2020 with debts totaling an eye watering £32,724.05 & although I have been paying these off & have gotten them down to £25,235.68 in the past year ... I'm beating myself up as I know I could of done so much better if I hadn't spent frivolously, which brings me to my real LBM over the past few days when iv'e decided enough is enough & I want to get this debt gone once & for all & hope this diary will help to keep me on track!!
Debts Owed: 
Halifax Loan - £12,140.00 (£383.96 minimum p.m - 13.08% interest is deducted from this payment)
Lendable Loan - £2,945.06 (£101.22 p.m - 13.91%)
MBNA CC - £7,890.00 (£195.90 minimum p.m - 20.93%)
Fluid CC - £970 (£7.40 minimum p.m - 0% until 04/05/2021)
Capital One CC - £218  (£5 minimum p.m - 30.34%)
Very - £485 (£0 minimum but always pay something - 0% until April 2021)
Next - £466.42 (£24.00 minimum p.m - 23.9%) 
AO.Com - £119 (£5.00 minimum p.m - 19.94%)

I always pay over the minimum on all payments & have thoroughly stripped back my budget & my spending to throw as much at the debt as possible. I am also due a bonus & salary review from work mid January effective from January's pay, although I'm not too sure as to where I will stand with this as I have recently moved departments (due to being head hunted) but still fall under the same senior management so hoping this won't effect me in anyway as I am hoping to use this money to pay a big chunk of the smaller debts with higher % debt off so I can focus on the longer term/larger debts!
I have also set up a Monzo account with lots of saving pots (great advice gained from MSE) so that I can budget for everything that way I'm not caught out & have to use the dreaded plastic! I have also removed all of my card details from my phone, cancelled my Klarna & Clearpay accounts & deleted all of the online shopping apps I use to remove all temptation ... hopefully this time I can crack it! 

RobM99

Capital One CC - £218  (£5 minimum p.m - 30.34%)
I make this £4 a month interest of a £5 payment! I'd pay the highest interest rate ones first.

warby68

Well done for starting your diary and plan.
If you built up the debt quite quickly and haven't reduced it by as much as you think you should have during the lockdown and whilst living with parents, it might be worth posting up a SoA so people can advise on your budget. If you're willing to confess in more detail what you spend on (as it sounds like its quite a lot) people might be able to help with that. It sounds obvious but you do have to fix the root cause problems as well as the debt for any debt solution to work well.
If you're still living with parents and presumably have expenses much lower than if you had your own home, it looks like a great opportunity for a big reset if you're up for it. Once you do have a full set of expenses again, that opportunity is gone.
Obviously this is the diary section so no obligation to seek advice but you're in the right place if you want it.
Good luck

bigsteve85

Hello and welcome to the forum,
well done on what you have achieved so far.
Your CC rates are very high do you have any 0% balance transfer options available?
also your loan rate is very high do you have any option to switch it to a lower rate?

NeverendingDMP

Have you worked out how much you have coming in and going out to see if it matches. Ideally you could pay off in interest rate order but it might benefit you more to have some small wins and get rid of the small debts first. Also it will make a budget feel simpler than having lots of different payments going out all the time. Capital one might be a quick win although very stands out as one to watch as they seem to load all the interest on from the original purchase from what people say as oppose to only charging on the outstanding balance. ( Other people please feel free to correct me or explain this better!)
Alternatively if money is tight use any bonus to pay very so you have 24 pounds a month less in your committed payments.

Debtbattler

Hi Everyone, 
Thank you all for your advice so far, it's greatly appreciated. I have added my SOA below, but this is the stripped back version where I have cancelled all unnecessary spends/subscriptions etc so I can focus on the debt repayments. I must admit I have no idea where my money used to go, mostly frittered away, but I also pay for everything for DS by myself as I receive no financial help from his father unfortunately.  I think I previously thought that if I paid over the minimums then the rest was mine to waste/spend! The first thing I plan to do from Jan's salary is pay off the Capital One card in full & close this down (I don't usually use this card due to the interest so want to get rid of temptation). I'm hoping once I return to work next week we will start to have our reviews so I know if any additional funds are coming, that way I can plan a bit better, but if not I have a decent amount left each month to start making over payments. I do have a Barclaycard that I have paid off in full that has £8,300 limit, but I have left this open as I know I won't use it & to see if i can get a 0% Balance Transfer offer but so far no luck. I am hoping once I start t tackle the debt my credit score will go up from Fair to Good so I can move the loans to a lower rate but it's just a waiting game at the moment!

Monthly Incomings:
Salary - £1,644.82
Benefits - £125.35
Total - £1,770.17

Monthly Outgoings:
Mortgage/Rent - £200.00
Phone/Tablet - £55.00
Internet - £22.48
Netflix - £8.99
Sky £6.00
Denplan - £25.02
Food - £200
Bus Fares - £30.00
Petrol - £60.00
Haircuts - £10.00

TUI - £45.12 (8 months’ pay by Aug 21 – Trip was re-scheduled to 2021 due to Covid-19)

Debt Repayments - £722.48 (Current minimum re-payments – will over-pay with remaining funds)

Outgoings - £662.61

Savings - £80.00 (Set monthly amount – 1P Challenge will be deducted from remaining funds before debt over payments are made)

Total: £305.08 – Remaining for debt over payments & 1p Saving Challenge.

Sarahwithlove

How long is left on the phone/tablet contract as that's quite a bit a month. You should be able to get a good sim only deal with good amount of data for less.
Also do you need denplan? Do you have ongoing dental issues? If not might be better off paying for nhs dentist costs when the occur. It's sort of thing your savings would be for. 

Debtbattler

Hi All, 
Sorry long time since posting whilst waiting for pay day to arrive! I have been doing well with sticking to my budget & having no spend days which is great for me as the impulse spending is now in control since removing all shopping apps & card details from my phone!
@Sarahwithlove thank you for the advice, the tablet is relatively new due to old one breaking but will look to paying off my handset (I think it has approx £290 left to pay) to reduce my contract down to sim only asap. 
I have been very fortunate this month in that my annual bonus has been paid (which I am so grateful for) which has allowed me to pay off all of my smaller accounts totaling £3,553.55 paid off debt this month, meaning I am now down to 3 main debtors.

Halifax Loan - Now down to:  £11,890
Lendable Loan - Now down to: £2,860.00
MBNA Credit Card - Now down to: £7,200.00

My plan is to pay as much off the MBNA card as I can as this is interest bearing so I need to pay this off ASAP & will make over payments at the end of the month with any funds I have left remaining from the budget/surveys etc. I also have a Barclaycard that I don't use that has a limit of £8,300 available so hoping now that my Experian credit score has increased this month to GOOD I may get a balance transfer offer soon as this will not yet take into account all of the debts I have just paid off ... fingers crossed!!
I have also opened up savings pots in my Monzo account & started to squirrel money away in there, especially in the Emergency Fund pot, but I also have a LISA which I have managed to save £3,000 in over the past year towards a house deposit which the Government add an additional 25% too, as I cannot live with my parents indefinitely so the plan is to save towards a deposit at the same time as paying the debt down. 
Normally with my bonus I would have made some small over payments, added some to savings & just frittered the rest away on treats & clothes etc so this is a big step forward for me & finally feel in control!
Thanks to everyone for their advice & support it's been a great help! 

Sarahwithlove

That's great news about the bonus and well done for using it to pay off some debts. You are doing the right thing focusing on the mbna. Hopefully next month the over payment will show and you're get more offers to help reduce the interest you are paying on it 

Debtbattler

Hi All, little mid month update ... managed to have 14 out of 15 days as no spend days so far this month which i'm not going to lie has been really tough given how much of a shopaholic I was before! Other than food spends the only day I have spent anything was yesterday which was £24 on a storage unit as I desperately needed some extra storage shelves for my little home office space I have made (since I've mostly been working from home since March last year & for the foreseeable) & £3.78 on some large envelopes as I've started clearing out all the things we don't need or use, listing them on Eb@y which took up most of Sat & Sun so hopefully have some extra income on the way which will be nice.
I was offered a new credit card from Halifax - 0% Balance Transfer for 14 months (the first one in such a long time) which I decided to take & moved over £4,700 from MBNA, which was interest bearing of about £125 per month just on interest alone, so this leaves me with a balance of £1,900. With the money I have left in my budget from this month, taking some out of savings & a re-shuffle of next months budget, I have decided to clear the remaining balance of the MBNA on payday, which means by the time I make payments from this months pay I will be down to 1 Credit Card on 0% & 2 Loans which I will look to clear next & will have paid off over £6,000 in the last 2 months which is a huge relief!
I have also closed down the Capital One, Fluid & Very accounts so they are gone for good 
I'm so focused & determined to clear this debt once & for all!
Hope you're all keeping well & safe!

Aspiration

Great progress