My Debt Free Journey

abaka

Hey Keedie.  I have read the PAD thread.  My wife actually does do that method of paying hers.  I dunno, I like to make big lump sums off my debts(probably cause there so varied and each is big) so I pay the minimum at start and then make a lump sum if my biggest at month end.  This month because I’ve had a bit of money coming in from sales I’ve made a payment most days off my debts.

I do think once I’ve gotten my debts down a bit more I might try the PAD but right now I will keep doing what I’m doing as it’s working for me. 

I’ve been thinking about spending again last night.  But not immediate spending, just focusing on what I would like to buy (back from what I’ve sold) when my debt is down and I can start to use the money I’m paying out on myself rather than to a creditor!  It’s nice to visualise some of those goals to give me something to work towards but I have absolutely no appetite to buy things on credit.  In future for me, credit cards will be used to spread out big purchases such as family holiday or home improvements.  Never again, will I use it for day to day spending!!! 

Withal that said, I made my MBNA payment and it’s now down to 865!  I have about 250-270 to pay just before payday and I have 585 due at end of months for other things I’m selling.  So it’s very very likely I can wipe this debt out before I get my next paycheque!  

I also have two other high ticket items up for sale.  One is priced £450 and the other is £525.  I don’t expect either to sell soon, I might have to lower the price on them and/or be patient for the right buyer to see them.  

It’s my fathers birthday and we’re going to my brothers for a family meal!! Originally the plan was for us to go out for a meal but my daughter is still a bit under the weather so we decided to just sit in instead!!

Keedie

I think you're doing amazing, and you know what works best for you, so just keep going with it. I don't PAD everyday as I can't afford to, but I check the thread daily to check in on the others and post when I'm able to. 

If you can achieve your goal and clear MBNA this month, then that's great! But if it spills into next month, then that's okay too. I think you should maybe keep the higher ticket items as they are for now, and if there's no interest by whatever date you set for review, then lower it? I've never sold anything online, so I don't really know how it works, so feel free to ignore my advice if it doesn't work like that  .

WinterWarrior

I think once you get to debt free you may feel differently about any credit card spend. Even big ticket items like holidays and home improvement# will feel so much nicer if you can save up for them. I don’t want to put anything on credit now as I’m worried it would be so easy to have a few emergencies on top and set it all off again.

abaka

I suspect you might be right.  I will be reluctant to do any credit card payments for anything that I can't clear within one month.

Bit of a result today.  The MBNA card which I need to use for my balance transfer...It was missing and I had to phone up MBNA for the card for the third time today...As when I reported it as lost/stolen on the APP it only cancelled the cards and didn't issue replacement.  I then spoke to someone who completely misunderstood my ask and issued a replacement for the wrong card and 2 weeks later the card still isn't replaced.  I explained how I had thus far made 3 phone calls on this matter and also pointed out my large payments recently made were a result as me planning to just cancel the accounts such as my level of unhappiness....I got offered £60 to settle the complaint there and then....I didn't even think I'd have gotten that much so £60 is due to come to me from MBNA tomorrow (Which will be going straight back to MBNA!!)

LittleMissDetermined

abaka said:

I suspect you might be right.  I will be reluctant to do any credit card payments for anything that I can't clear within one month.

I will still use mine for extra protection on larger purchases, but will pay it off immediately with savings. That is, once I am finally debt free!

abaka said:

Bit of a result today.  The MBNA card which I need to use for my balance transfer...It was missing and I had to phone up MBNA for the card for the third time today...As when I reported it as lost/stolen on the APP it only cancelled the cards and didn't issue replacement.  I then spoke to someone who completely misunderstood my ask and issued a replacement for the wrong card and 2 weeks later the card still isn't replaced.  I explained how I had thus far made 3 phone calls on this matter and also pointed out my large payments recently made were a result as me planning to just cancel the accounts such as my level of unhappiness....I got offered £60 to settle the complaint there and then....I didn't even think I'd have gotten that much so £60 is due to come to me from MBNA tomorrow (Which will be going straight back to MBNA!!)

Class this as a lovely little win! £60 is better in your pocket than theirs  

savingholmes

Just wanted to wish you good luck on your journey and say I'll be following. You have made huge progress in a really short time. Congratulations. I cleared over £70K joint debt over a 6 year period. It's not easy but can be done...

abaka

I’m hoping I can do this in around 3-4 years.  I at least want to throw everything at my debt to reduce it drastically over the next 12 months or so and then once it’s down I can adjust and make smaller payments! 

Today is actually going to be one of the few spend days I’ve had this month.  We’re having a team building day in work going to different sites under our portfolio and we have agreed to go grab coffee/breakfast before hand.  Ah well, I’ve made plenty of progress…as long as I keep out of my overdraft!!

anyway, I’ve just made my payment to MBNA with my payment from MBNA.  I made a 65 payment so it’s down to 800!!!!

LittleMissDetermined

Well done! Enjoy your breakfast meeting

abaka

Major boo-boo on my end today and shows just how little I ever paid attention to my spending/bank previous!

I did not realise that the payment I made to PayPal does not lift out of my account straight away!  So the payment I made last week only just lifted from my account so I don’t have as much as I thought I did lol!!

Regretting buying the bacon rolls today!!!! (It was from Greggs and only bought two so not a great expense)

This means I might not be able to clear the MBNA this month like I thought but just got to reflect on what I have achieved.  The fact I’m annoyed at my “accounting” error shows my progress and reprogramming of how my brain thinks about money as I’ve never once monitored my bank balance and only ever looked at it on my payday and I usually only did that to see just how much of my wages I lost to my overdraft!!! 

Two weeks to payday and I’ve no other active sales listings…I still have my minimum payment to my two virgin cards and then a lump sum to my MBNA with whatever is left (estimating about £215 now) 

savingholmes

Anything you could put on FB?

Still making progress. At the beginning there's a lot of slipping and sliding - it will get easier