The 6 year plan!

Evenstar20

Thanks Rach, yeah I do well from surveys, they can be tedious but better than debt!

My student loan was like that for a while and I'm just coming out the end of it 15 years later! 


Got a message from Vodafone to say my discount offer was ending and that my bill was going up by 33%, they couldn't offer anything near what other companies could so looks like I'm leaving them after 21 years! I did get an alert straight away with an offer but that led to plans that weren't suitable. I've got 3 weeks to get a better deal sorted.

Evenstar20

Well I got a call from Vodafone this morning. They are going to offer me 35% off and change my data from 150gb to unlimited. This is now fairly similar to what I could get elsewhere but also keeps me with my preferred network with a lower price and better tariff for the next 2 years! I wish you didn't have to jump through these hoops to get a good deal!

rachmac3

Amazing news!
Yep, it's annoying playing these games, but it's kind of like working to get yourself more money. Like an additional part time job. And I type this fully knowing that my phone contract has expired and I need to find a new (preferably cheaper) plan, but have thought about it but not done anything about it for almost a month! 

Evenstar20

So did a good survey last week, was a diary based one for £90. Doing another National Buying Survey today which takes a while but is for £15. I've done more than that but the 2 of those more than cover my target of £5 per day. 

No milestones coming up for a while, have started looking at how much interest is paid, no balance transfers coming up yet but will keep monitoring it. In the mean time just need to keep bringing as much money in as possible. I have applied for some contract work that would be worth a minimum of £300, that would make a decent dint on my fluid credit card at least. 

Evenstar20

Mixed few days with bills etc... Car Insurance has been renewed for a 10% saving, saw some average rates had been lower than that but that was the best I could get. Our energy bills have gone up on the DD but only due to increased use from a particularly cold winter! We are on a long term fix with that that keeps us safe from the recent price rises, could still do with some warmer days though! I got a £10 bonus on one of my survey sites plus I've hit my target £5 each day too. Pay day tomorrow, will see some of my debts come down which will be great! Need to get some more things sold to get more money in and get them coming down even quicker!

Evenstar20

Still hitting my targets for £5 on surveys. Had a little £7 sale on e-bay, got lots to get listed on there, takes a while but the when the money comes in it adds to the motivation! £50 overtime this month which will increase the payment on one of my accounts. Next month some contract work has been confirmed which will bring in about £500, this will pay off the small holiday we have booked. I also got £50 amazon voucher for a focus group which I have put towards my daughters birthday present.

Evenstar20

Ok so I've been really busy recently!
I have shifted a lot of my finances around though! 

I managed to get a loan that was a lower interest than a few of my credit cards so got that and paid those cards. Since then I've had 2 different 0% offers come through so have made use of them, that has made a huge difference in how quickly some of these debts can be paid. I'm hoping the chain reaction continues and that the ones I clear bring further 0% interest. It means on those 2 cards the debt will be paid off in 6 months for 1 and 9 for the other. 

This will result in 3 cards paid off by the end of the year and debt down to under £55000. If I get further 0% offers it will lower the amount of debt by approximately £500 per year per card!

In sorting my finance I have cleared my Next account and my Argos Card! Brings my total number of debts down to 17. Apart from the 0% offers it could be a while until I get my another debt cleared. My highest interest are Very, Marble and MBNA. Both the credit cards often have 0% offers so just need to get the £600 cleared on MBNA and hope this triggers one that I can transfer from Marble. Then I can set the direct debit to the amount needed to clear before the offer runs out. Marble is one that I'm also hopeful will trigger so that I can move another card, it's one of the New Day cards like Vanquis and Fluid, they tend to offer the 0% when balances are cleared!

[Deleted User]

Progress is being made, well done! Any further updates?

Evenstar20

So little update, my debts have ticked down, I got offered a small limit card for a balance transfer that I've taken. I've cleared enough space on other cards that I am going to use to pay off Very. Very has the highest interest rate of all my products, after that I am keeping ticking them down for the next 6 months. That will clear the 3 0% balance transfers, hopefully I will get an offer to transfer again but if not it frees up £450 a month that I'm currently paying, add on my yearly pay increase which is due in September and that will mean I have an additional £550 a month towards other debts, that snowball effect should have a card paid off every 4 month and again speeds up with every card that get's cleared.

Evenstar20

Little update as I've worked on my tracker today, I got my pay rise and I'm half way though paying those new balance transfers off. By January I am due to have paid off all 3 of them.  Which is great for the snowballing of payments. 

My student loan has about 10 payments left, it one of the most frustrating debts as it's basically been a permanent deduction on wages for the last 20 years! By the time that's paid I will have paid back a quarter of my debt, With the extra money from that, the pay increases, the extra payments I will be able to allocate to debts with interest plus any further balance transfers I should have paid back over a third by the end of next year.

Obviously further pay rises, the juggling of debts and any other increased income I can get will expedite that. 

Getting to January and having approximately £400 to use in new ways is really exciting!