Which to pay against first

amat6219

Starting debt all totalled up was £40,186.07 (approx 4 months ago). Currently at £37,041.07 with £1,000 emergency fund saved too.

Hugely proud of ourselves - our lives don't seem to have drastically changed as I thought they would, we just make wiser/better choices, and budget budget budget! If it isn't in the budget then we can't afford it.

We went pumpkin picking with the kids and I had set £25 in the budget (because I feel like there are little 'treats' we can still do cheaply but it feels like a splurge to the kids - we had a full day of fun between picking and carving etc. ), we got all in for £20 in the end so paid £5 straight off debt. 

Doing payment a day, no matter how small - some days it's 10p

Baby steps, but we are in such a better place and moving forward

amat6219

Oh and vinted selling, topcashback and the odd survey where I can has been brilliant for chipping away at the smaller credit card - down to £50 left on that now (£20 due from latest vinted sells which will come straight off it too so should be £30 soon)

lucielle

Well done and keep going.
L

amat6219

We have come out on the other side of Christmas unscathed!

Stuck to the budget for presents etc. and both got a Christmas bonus which all but went to debt. I now have zero debt, so everything left is on Husband's DMP.

Started end of June at £40,186.07 total debt. Now at £32,997.81 with £1,000 emergency fund and have just opened a Nationwide Regular Saver to put £200/month in too.

Considering the mortgage also increased almost £500/month from November, I can't quite believe how far we have come. Imagine what we could have done with that extra money if I had known then what I know now! 

Will keep plodding on! 

amat6219

Well, thank goodness for that emergency fund - roof repairs required thanks to these storms! 

Shows the importance of that buffer, or we would have been stuck.

Almost depleted so back to building that back up for the next few months now

lucielle

Bad news you had to use but good that you had it there to use and not added any more debt. 

L

amat6219

Not posted for 3 months, but we are just plodding on.

Hitting a bit of a milestone - debt down almost £10k now, currently at £31,391 debt + £1500 saved

Little get away to a static caravan booked for end of May and all gifts for Son's birthday bought - all saved for rather than credit cards! Look back now and can't believe we used get so much on credit, where if we budget properly we can actually just save! 

Holiday isn't spectacular obviously, but will be a welcome break and the kids will love it!

Into the Summer full of hope and promise, stark contrast to last Summer where we were both on the verge of a breakdown.

amat6219

Wow, knew I hadn’t written on here for a while but didn’t realise it was almost 9 months!

I have changed jobs and had a bit of a pay rise so coming out with about £200 extra per month, husband also had a payrise and coming out with about £100 extra per month. 30 free hours have also kicked in on childcare which is saving us masses!! 

It feels as though the first 18 months were so so dark, but have knuckled down and made massive progress which has made now seem a lot brighter! 

We have circa £25,000 left of our debt and have £2,500 saved (making £6 a month on this now, can’t believe that we were being clobbered with overdraft fees not all that long ago and now we are getting interest!!) 

A lot of the debt seems to have been purchased by others now so hoping to maybe make full and final offers on some (need to read the forums to see how on earth to do this! If anyone happens to read and can help that would be great…) 

Will be coming to end of mortgage term in October so will start looking in July and hopefully husband’s poor credit score won’t reduce our opportunities too much - anything lower than the current 5.84% would be great!

Will keep on keeping on, and in a much better / happier place all round! 

NeverendingDMP

Well done on the savings and the big reduction in your debts.  Have a look at the dmp mutual support thread or the one for full and finals to read how people have got on with making settlement offers. Doing a cca request first is the best idea. I think the debt free wanabee forum has a thread at the top with sample letters in. 

amat6219

NeverendingDMP said:

Well done on the savings and the big reduction in your debts.  Have a look at the dmp mutual support thread or the one for full and finals to read how people have got on with making settlement offers. Doing a cca request first is the best idea. I think the debt free wanabee forum has a thread at the top with sample letters in. 

Thank you!