Debt Free Diary- 2 year target

Addav

Hello,

I am starting a diary to try and keep myself on track and focused to clear credit card debt. I currently have £13,500 over 4 credit cards- All on 0% deals until 2023.
This is the most debt I have ever been in, and its from an accumulation of living beyond my means for the past few years, and a slight gambling problem.

I have set a target of just over 2 years to become debt free, which coincides with when i am due to remortgage.

I have no budget set up, and have for the past few months been trying to overpay credit cards, which often leads to me going far into my over draft each month. The first part of my plan is to pay the minimum payments for the first month or two- Just so I can get out of my overdraft. Then try and save for a small emergency fund, and finally start making over payments to the cards once I have formed a decent budget I can stick to.

Its going to take some getting used to, but it is needed, otherwise i will keep borrowing money month after month and get no where.

I will update the diary each week with a summary of my spends, and to keep myself on track.

CL21

Good luck. Try and post your SOA on here if you think it will be helpful - there’s so many on here with years of budgeting experience and they may see something you might not have thought of 

joedenise

Can I suggest that you set your payments up a little above minimum and make it a set amount rather than just paying the minimum every month?  That way you will actually be paying a little more off the balance each month.

It's a good idea to get out of your overdraft and saving an Emergency Fund before really attacking the CCs.