Lysasparkles debt diary.....

thriftymoo

Hi all!!!


Well i thought that seeing how loads of people have their own debt diaries on here that i would start my own!!

Firstly... i better tell you guys how i got to this place...

I started racking up debt when i was a student about 4 years ago.. it started with a student overdraft and credit card...before i knew it i had 7 credit cards.. i consolidated it all through a loan that my parents helped me get but never learned my lesson and kept on spending. I was a reckless spender.. i loved designer clothes and even bought one of the new mini's 3 years back! big mistake!!

anyway i had my lightbulb moment like most of you guys talk about at about april 2007.. at that point i think i owed about £27000 (not including my student loan!) I came clean with my parents and they gave me loads of advice and were very supportive (hard work at times tho!) they gave me the address of this site and ive never looked back since.

I started a DMP with the cccs and thats helped me no end.. now my debts stand at...

loan £3624
car £5400
HSBC £2199.46 (13.5%!!!!)
Halifax £2470.40 (0%)
egg card £1824.69 (0%)
egg loan £1523.83 (0%)
capital one £105.19 (0%)

total....£17147.57

so came a long way so far!!!!:T

thriftymoo

cont....

I hope to achieve a few things from this diary.... i want to use it to motivate me... so perhaps get any suggestions people may have.. and to help other people who might just be on the start of their path to being debt free...

I've learnt so much about money since i joined this site.. number one was getting myself a DMP (as you can see most of my debt is 0% interest now which is fab!).. i've also learnt how to spend and save better and joined a few challenges which im loving.

My personal challenge is to pay off my highest interest debt first which is my hsbc loan. I'm also in the process of re-assessing my budget and trying to batter all my expenses down to as cheap as possible..

So far this week i have taken out subscriptions for both cosmopolitan and company magazines which i buy on a monthly basis. It would normally cost me £5.30 for both a month so £63.60 a year. The subscription for cosmo was £12 and £24 for company saving me £27.60 a year! woo!

Ive also rang orange today and got my tariff moved down from a £35 a month plan to a £25 one for the last 5 months of my contract. saves me £50 yey!

I've also joined a lot of you guys in your challenges that i update in my sig.. loving the free chirstmas and £10 a day ones!

Anyway will update as and when i save or need to share! any comments would be fab!!

Sassamac

well done Lysa, sounds like your well on your road to being debt free. Have you worked out your debt free day. I did that (and put it in my sig) and it gives focus. Likewise I have a diary on here and I find it really useful to ramble away about all my little achievements.
Do we get to see a full SOA?

edit: just seen your target DFD in your sig. Is this based on your current rate of paying everything off? You're about 6 months ahead of me - race ya to the finish lol!

thriftymoo

I'm not too sure what a SOA is but i think its like ur bills and stuff is that right... was just gonna add it tonight i didnt really have time yesterday!

my debt free day is based on what im paying at the moment but im trying to pay off extra as and when i can!

Yep i'll def race u sassamac!

thriftymoo

My SOA as follows.....
Board100
mobile40
car maintaince58.72
petrol100
car loan180
loan150
cccs137
hsbc24
presents13
holiday10
subscriptions3
essentials18.5
spends50
Total874.22

Income £915.08 after tax.

Any difference gets paid off my debt!

I pay £100 board to my mum and dad as they have been supporting me while i was in a worse situation with my debt. theyve also bailed me out and pay for my health insurance (which i need!)

My mobile is £40.. it was £90 so bartered it down a lot and as of aug it will be lower still.

Car maintaince includes saving for tyres, servicing, insurance.

My petrol bill is the bare minimum i can get it down to for just getting to and from work.

My car loan and loan payments cant be lowered at the moment but i'm wanting to pay a bit more off them as and when i can.

Payments to cccs and hsbc... nothing can be done right now altho i'm busy paying extra off hsbc.

Presents - this is my savings for christmas and birthdays.

Holiday - this is money im saving for my trip to portugal in august, already paid for flights and mum has paid for apartment. probably wont take it all with me any extra will go to debts.

Subscriptions - this is savings for my two magazine subscriptions, i buy two magazines monthly as part of my spending money and as already mentioned ive found that a subscription is far cheaper!

essentials - this is money put away for prescriptions, dentist, glasses etc.

spends - this is some money i allow myself for things like clothes etc

any comments would be fab....

thriftymoo

bought some clothes last night so i've cleared out my wardrobe and have a load of them to sell on ebay to make space for the new ones!

Did a money saving hamper for my mums birthday rather than shelling out for a expensive one... got lots of little bits and pieces that i think she'll like.. makes it a bit more personal too!!

decided to sell my swanky mobile on ebay (think it should go for about 100 quid) so i have the mobile to pay off the last few payments on my contract then its pay as u go for me... will work out so much cheaper for me because i hardly use my mobile. Just bought a little one for 15 quid, bargin! will do me tho!

hypno06

Good luck with the ebaying. Your mum will love the birthday hamper too - it is one of the things I am hoping to do more of for Christmas pressies this year.

thriftymoo

thanks hypno.... i want to do lots for christmas but have no idea what to put in them lol!

thriftymoo

Just joined the sealed pot challenge...now i just need to work out what to use as a pot hehe!

Just gonna try and fill it and open it in december..it'll be a bonus what ever is in it!

thepinklady

Good luck with your diary - sounds like your doing really well. Writing it all down will help heaps.

Not plucked up the courage yet to write a diary on here but I do keep my own diary to help stop me spending & become debt free!!

thriftymoo

to be honest im not really all that sure what to put in at the min hayley! hope u do start one! I see that your aiming to clear your debt by your 23rd birthday? im 23 in april and know how hard it is to clear debt at our age when me mates are trying to drag me out!!