Ding- there goes the bulb!!

lilmoi1985lm

hello just wanted to pop in and say hi and good luck with your debts x

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the forum you have definately found a fantastic place for support and advice.

I agree with all the others about not waiting till payday. Start now so you can get off to a flying start on payday.

First piece of advice from a former store and credit card queen is get rid of them and cut them up. It's the hardest thing to do I know but feels like a turning point when you do.

Good luck with your journey.

southernscouser

The biggest thing that jumps out at me is that all your credit cards are at their maximum. I know you don't need me to tell you but obviously you have been spending on these as you pay them off!

So two things. Can you trust yourself not to use them anymore? If no, cut them up.

Secondly you've got some killer APR's. Have you considered applying for a low life of balance credit card to shift some of the highest APR debts (store cards) to that?

Have a look here for some advice.

skint_spice

Good luck! As angelflower says it's often not the first few months that hurt the most, it's after a while when you've been going without and everyone else seems to be out having so much fun. Hopefully the thought of sorting things out will keep you going though and the fact you can come on here and rant at anytime about how miserable you are and there will be someone here to listen. Could you try ebaying a few things to get you started before pay day and pay them off your priority debts? Well done on the extra work but hopefully by May you'll have paid a few of the wee annoying ones off anyway, you'll get there.

lunar

did you take a look at the snowball calculator, it can be really good motivation and helps to shave a bit of time off your debt free date. Hope you find loads of things to put on ebay. Give it a few months when you are on track you should be able to apply for some better credit, which will also help to reduce the debt free date.

bananakinz

Please get your cards back under the limit, I think this has got to be a priority!

You'll have an 'extra' for Feb and March if council tax is over 10 months.

Have a look at the stickies and do a 'complete budget' detailing food, clothing, birthdays. Go through your bankstatements for the past month and work it out from there if need be.

Please consider phoning one of the charities as I think you are going to be surprised after completing a full budget.

And well done for cutting up the cards, thats a good first step

poorandindenial

Good luck ebaying - I plan to load up a load of stuff and hope for the best over this weekend. I am sure some of my handbags [cue *scream* - sound of me surgcally parting myself from them] must be able to muster up a few quid, and I have some unopened perfume that was an unwanted gift,

Let me know how you get on on bay, I am aiming for about £50 this month- are you having a target amount or will you just see what happens.

sophie27

Well done on the ebay! I'm helping my OH as he has loads and loads to sell. Its amazing what some people will buy! :rolleyes:

You should add a signature with your debts as its such a motivator to knock a bit off with each payment.

beer_tins

MissShoes, well done on the ebay. As for burning cals, I know what my favourite exercise is!;) Seriously though, running (or cycling if you have a bike) costs nothing and is great exercise. Or anything at home such as aerobics, sit ups, push ups or any sort of exercise machines if you have any and haven't put them on ebay! Finally, your local swimming pool isn't free, but it is likely to be cheap. Again, that's really good exercise.

Lemon_Tree

hi glad you are back with us, have you updated your debt totals recently, it's always a good motivator for me to keep mine upto date and i can hopefully see how they are reducing. Mine are hovering around the £39k mark which is horrifying, but at the moment i'm buying stuff for the wedding which makes one balance go up and down somewhat each month. At least after Sept i'll be £100 better off each month which is what i'm saving towards the big day.
Keep up the good work and well done for taking all the overtime, i don't ever get the chance of overtime at work not even if i beg so i have to try and progress things on the normal wage.