Any motivational tools most welcome!!

Bellawoo

Hi everyone

I've been putting this off for a long time but with my 30th birthday looming I have decided it's time to grow up and face facts, me and my partner are in £27k debt

BUT we are both up for the challenge and want to pay this off asap (credit cards first hurdle - £12k)

I have been looking at the posts on this website for ages now and have started cutting back, but would find it really useful if anyone has a spreadsheet/tool where I can chart what we've saved by not buying lunch/cycling not driving/not buying coffee takeaways etc because at the moment we're both feeling deprived.

Any suggestions on the best way to chart this - does actually putting the mone somewhere like a piggy bank/another bank account etc work?

Also how do I get those nifty challenge update things at the bottom of m post? There's a couple I'm interested in taking part in but I like the tracking info people have on the bottom of their posts!

Puzzledbubbles

:hello: Hi Bellawoo

I am not sure about a spread sheet to calculate what you have saved, i tend to add things to my savings account as and when, as well as putting my change into my sealed pot.

You can add yourself a signiture by clicking on "User CP" and then on the left hand side there is an "edit signiture" button.

Your sig can say anything you like, a lot of people choose to list their debt free date and the progress they have made on their payments, but there are some (like me) that just list what they have made.

Hope this helps and WELCOME

PB xxx

debtbegone

Hello!

On the main site there's a demotivator "tool"

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/demotivator/

I popped in what I usually spend on that can of juice from the machine at work, what I earn etc and it really shocked me!

Printed out the page and stuck it where I'll see it every day

kizzykizzywizzy

Hi there, I found that when I first started it was great to read the debtfree roll of honour too ( sticky at the top of this forum ) & just imagine how great it is to be debt free far from feeling jealous it made me more determined to de debt free too:j

10past6

Ho Bellawoo :hello:

Welcome to the forum, what may be a better idea is to keep a spreadsheet of everything you spend, rather than save.

When trying to save, the pot never seems to grow, but if you're more concious of every penny you're spending, it may have a better effect.

Bellawoo

That sounds like a plan - trying not to spend anything!! done enough of that to get me in the debt i'm in now!!

kizzykizzywizzy

Bellawoo, forgot to say have you entered your debts into the snowball calculator?? "what's the cost" is what you can search under on yahoo or google, BUT someone clever is bound to put the link on this thread for you as I'm not too computer literate sorry!
Anyway it will tell you how long it will be until your debt free date;)

debtbegone

I'd forgotten about the snowball kizzykizzywizzy! (Might actually go check mine again!)

Snowball calculator in pounds is at

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk

Bellawoo - I've found that keeping a spending diary has had the desired effect, makes you think twice about what else you could be spending your money on

Bellawoo

Wow - just done the snowball calculation and I should be debtfree by December 2011 - much sooner than I expected! Any extra I can pay in by making cuts here and there will also go towards my debt - feeling much more positive and determined - thanks again xx

chevalier

What thing do you and your OH REALLY want. Something you can't have because of the debts. When you know what that thing is find a picture of it and put it in your wallet/purse. Then whenever you are about to save you will see your dream thing you can't have because of debt, and hopefully not buy the stuff you THOUGHT you NEEDED!

Alternatively, don't take your cards to work with you, or only deal in cash for weekly spends. When it is gone that is it gone until the following week
chev