"Thevinternet's still in debt" diary

thevinternet

Hi KP. I am making some overpayments but on CCs rather than loans. The £249 is a set amount I have to pay each month off one of my loans; I couldn't reduce it that I'm aware of without incurring some penalties.

So I guess the question really is do I want to talk to Egg who I have the loan with and see if it can be reduced, or do I get another loan elsewhere with a smaller monthly repayment to pay it off? I'd rather not get into more debt when I've been working so hard to get out of it, but then again, I don't want to find myself in trouble at Xmas because I can't get enough work to keep paying my minimum repayments each month.

thevinternet

Hi guys - time for an update I feel, as I haven't been on these forums in many months!! The reason is that I've been working so damn hard this summer - but now my hours are back to normal, I can finally relax a bit and focus on saving money again rather than just on earning it!!

The good news is that I'm really starting to make a dent in my debt now. I joined this forum in March, and I was standing at £40,777 - now that's down to £36,825.80. I feel like that's a much more manageable number, though I know it's still huge! Furthermore, Egg have extended the term of my loan, but reduced the payments each month from £249 to £80 per month - and it only costs me an extra £300 over the life of the loan, so I was very pleased indeed. Getting through the next few months (as Xmas approaches) and down to under 35k is what it's all about. Hope you guys are all doing fine too. xx

thevinternet

Hey folks - just wanted to say that I've got some lovely Christmas presents this year, and I haven't spent a penny on the old CCs this time round (compared to last Christmas, when I think I spent everything on them!!).
I'm dead proud of myself and looking forward to paying more of my debts off in 2009!! Have a merry Christmas everyone!! xx

thevinternet

A quick update - I'm done to just over 35k now. My goal this year is to break 30k - I can't imagine how much better it must feel to owe a number that starts with a '2' instead of a '3'!

And my DFD was originally Sept 2016 and now it's July 2016 - an extra two months of my life when I'll be actually earning money for myself instead of for the Credit card companies!

I have also joined the PAD challenge to give me some extra support, and today I transferred £250 across from my egg card (17.9%) to my barclaycard (6.9% for the life of the balance). That means I only have about £480 left to pay off my Egg card and then I can be rid of the damn thing forever.

gbatey

Just been reading through your diary and just wanted to congratulate you on coming so far in such a short space of time! We must be about the same age and I have about the same amount of debt as you do. According to my calculations, I will be out of debt in around 5-6 years time if I keep on the straight and narrow and not use my cards and not consolidate to loans again! We are finally living within our means (just) and it is hard but knowing that all the money we make (after we've paid everything off) will be ours and not going straight to the card companies is such a fantastic feeling isn't it! I can't believe I've wasted all of my twenties living in debt and I don't intend to do carry on!

Well done!

thevinternet

Thanks gbatey, that's really nice to hear. Feel free to PM me if you ever feel temptation calling!! xx

thevinternet

Ok - so if I'm going to break 30k this year I'm going to need to cut back as much as possible. Here are my goals for February.

1. Buy a piggy bank and put spare change in there - then at the start of each new month, throw it at my debts!

2. Take the bus to uni instead of the train - it works out about a third of the price, even though it involves me getting up at the crack of dawn!

3. Take a packed lunch to uni every day, and make one for my fella

I think that's all for now. If I can keep up with these throughout February then I'll save heaps of cash!:D

xx

Intergalactic_Floozie

Aww, I am really pleased that your DFD has been brought forward.

It really is surprising how much the small changes do add up. I can't remember now when the last time I paid for a shop bought lunch. I force myself to take something every day...I hope to lose a few pounds eventually too.

Join the Payment a Day thread, I think you'll like it there...you don't necessarily have to pay something every day but if you're chucking money in a piggy bank every day or 'awarding' yourself 50p or something per non spend day, it's great to see it all add up

thevinternet

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

Aww, I am really pleased that your DFD has been brought forward.

It really is surprising how much the small changes do add up. I can't remember now when the last time I paid for a shop bought lunch. I force myself to take something every day...I hope to lose a few pounds eventually too.

Join the Payment a Day thread, I think you'll like it there...you don't necessarily have to pay something every day but if you're chucking money in a piggy bank every day or 'awarding' yourself 50p or something per non spend day, it's great to see it all add up

Thanks Floozie, I'm pleased you enjoyed reading about the Odyssey!! I've joined the Payment a Day challenge and I'm really enjoying it so far, so I'd recommend it to everyone.

I've just joined the February 'No Spend Day' challenge too - I like to keep busy! I'm aiming for 5 no-spend days in February, let's see how I go! It might be difficult with Valentine's Day coming up!!

It's been a good week so far - Barclaycard put up my credit limit, and then let me do a BT from my Egg card. It's 6.9% for the life of the balance, much better than the 17.9% rate on my Egg card, so hopefully that will save me a few quid in the long run, and will mean I can tell Egg to shove it a bit sooner!! Anyway, the result of that and the extra payments I've been making means that my new DFD is.....drumroll....June 2016!

Yes, I know it's still yonks away, but I'm getting there...slowly. xx

Dinah93

Hi Thevinternet, I've been reading your diary since it started, and I just wanted to congratulate you. You've really stuck at it and shown bundles of determination, I reakon by the end of 2009 you'll have a DFD somewhere in 2015. It must be hard with your OH not knowing how much you are in, mine has been an absolute star, acting as my cheerleader, and helping out doing some of my daily surveys and wrapping parcels sold on ebay and the like. He's also promised that when I'm debt free he will move to England (currently lives in Ireland) which has been a collosal motivator for me. Keep going and keep posting

Dinah x