Three Years of Tears to Yippee I'm Debt Free!

Archergirl

If I do NEED (not just want) something new I get most of my clothes from either supermarkets or charity shops....

kimwp

babs said:

Thanks for all the advice people so far! 

The SOA is a work in progress and scaring me to honest. I am such a shopaholic it's unreal. Meanwhile, I have worked out I need to allocate at least £250-£300 a week to pay off my debt if I am going to achieve this goal within 3 years. Its certainly doable on my current income. 

Mondays in payday for me so I paid £448 off the Next Card. I have also applied for another card to transfer some debt onto to that should be here this week. 

Current debt overview now: Week 1 

Starting Debt: £44522.14
Current Debt: £44,074.14
Payment Week 1 - £448
Total repayment - £448 

I think most people get a shock when they look at what they spend. I've always naturally spent within my income, but the couple of times I've not tallied up my outgoings every month, my outgoings have rocketed, could easily go to £100-£200 more just on food.

My most recent realisation was my charity shop habit- a weekly lunch out and charity shop trawl with my friend. All those inexpensive purchases add up and the reality is that I, like most most adults, have more than enough clothes (and general things) already. 
I've agreed with my friend that instead, we will go for walks or spend time altering those charity shop finds. Yesterday, we had a lovely day chatting while we made and ate lunch, then started to have a look at one of the dresses she'd bought that needs altering.

in_need_of_direction

Shopaholics tend to have stuff to sell. Maybe an option for you.

[Deleted User]

Aim to get a realistic budget in place that allows a little flexibility but stick to it!
Children thrive on genuine love and support, which do not require expensive holidays and treats that are unaffordable. Best of luck with your debt busting.

Hazelnutty

Seconding Twiggy's suggestion of Vinted. I have a teenage daughter whose brand preferences don't match my disposable income! I sell her unwanted stuff on there and, added to pocket money, that gives her a budget for Vinted shopping (and she has to include the shipping and buyer protection fee). This means she has to make choices and will often take a fair bit of time coming up with the right 'basket'. Things like Nike and Adidas go for very little, I think because there's such high volume. We've even picked up a couple of Ralph Lauren things on there. 

babs

Quite a bit of progress since I last updated. 

I have managed now to get every bit of debt on to 0%. One is coming to an end soon so I aim to shift that to another card in August. 

I had little bits of savings all over the place, some shares, some crypto and decided that I would cash all this in and put it towards my debt as for me, this is priority. So this has taken a nice chunk off it and I already feel mentally lighter for it! 

My plan now is to start pay the next card off first, followed by the virgin card as this 0% ends soonest and leave the others on minimum payment. If I can pay this off at £250 a week I will be making good progress to being debt free within the 3 years. 

Current situation looks like this:

Credit cards

MBna - £6683.44 - 0% till Aug 2025
Lloyds - £7148.68 0% till Dec 2027
Barclaycard - £11142.50 till 0% till Feb 2027
HSBC - £7842.44 - 0% till March 2028
Virgin - £5406.15 0% till May 2026
Next - £342
M&S - clear
Halifax - clear
Santander - clear

Starting Debt: £44522.14
Current Debt: £38565.21
Total repayment - £5956.93

Archergirl

Well done, you're getting there, Have you cancelled the ones that are clear?
I think the  is MBna is after the 'Next' one though....

babs

Yesterday was a positive one. 

1. I get paid Mondays so I immediately cleared the Next debt of £342
2. I cancelled a magazine subscription saving me £8.45 a month (only a small saving but every bit helps!) 
3. I sub to every TV subscription known to man. So cancelled NOW TV saving £17 a month currently. They flung a load of offers at me but I resisted them! 
4. I started at the beginning of the month letting Plum take out weekly savings automatically which i am going to use for Christmas.. every year I turn to the credit cards to pay for Christmas.. but not this year.. its already building up a nice little pot! 

To answer previous post - the MbNa is going to be moved to a 0% again so I am concentrating on the Virgin debt as that has the less 0% time. Not cancelled yet till August when I can move the Mbna to one them so going to see who has the best deal.  

satchmo1

As you have discovered, if you cancel a TV subscription they fling offers at you. So why not cancel another one (highest cost one) and take up the best offer?

babs

I haven't posted for a while but reached a milestone this week! I have paid off my first £10k! 
It honestly feels so good to finally be reducing the debt. I am continuing to document every penny as I spend it, and it's really helping me to cutback. 

I have also started to "comp" again on here and so far won a couple of prizes, one of them being a PlayStation. So I already have some free xmas presents! 

My automatic plum withdrawal is going well and I now have £1443.69 saved for Christmas. Christmas is an expensive time in our house with a household of teenagers (hence why the playstation was a good win!) . 

All of my debt is now on 0% interest and I shouldn't need to shift any again if I stick to my payment schedule. Maximum of 135 weeks till Debt free! 

Starting Debt: £44522.14
Current Debt: £34076.09
Total repayment - £10446.85