can i do it?!!!

bridget81

decided this morning, thats it, i'm fed up with being in debt. Plus my added incentive is that we want to have another baby..

so can i clear 7400 by april 2009??? :mad:

currently i have
£1620 loan natwest 7.7% £140.10 per month finishes 04/09
£2200 loan natwest 7.9% £132.63 per month finishes 09/09
£1700 virgin cc apr ?? but £1200 is 0% £100 per month
£1880 natwest cc 0% paying £50 per month

i've finally cleared my overdraft this month! horay!!!!

i can also overpay £140 a month off something, but whats best? am i best to clear some of the virgin visa first as that is not all 0%

i'm hoping to use this as somewhere where i can mark my progress, even if no one else reads it, its something to motivate me to keep track of everything.

i'm also planning to do another car boot at end of the month and i'm due a small pay rise in july.

as for soa its not much but here it is;

nursery 507
union 15.47
life ins 10
petrol 220 (i travel a lot with work)
car stuff, mot, tax, servicing 50
hair, dentist, clothes 55
loan 1 140.10
loan 2 132.63
virgin 100
natwest 50
transfer to joint for bills 265

total; 1545.20

wage 1700

child benefit pays for birthdays and christmas. dont get tax credits as earn too much.

other than what i transfer into joint account OH pays for everything bills wise, inc car payments and insurance. luckily in credit in that account.and i have trimmed as much off that account as possible :T

no savings other than 100 premium bonds and about 40 quid in copper account which is towards a wedding if we ever get debtfree as i wont get married till we are.

so this is me, mum of 1 and hopefully will be another one soon!

if anyone else out there wants to join me in my quest to be debtfree before they have a baby please feel free to keep me company! :j

bridget81

just read that last bit back and it sounds like i only want people who are pregnant to join me... EVERYONE AND ANYONE is welcome (sometimes i say things in a way that i dont mean so will appologise now... sorry! : ) )

wendy_ann1983

I'm sure you can do it by then, good luck

asp746

i had 2 children at the childminder and financially its a real struggle - if there had been more of an age gap - which there will be with your two, it would have been ok but i literally had 4 years of paying double and there were times i was working just to pay the childminder after other costs had been taken into account!! They're both in high school now and i can't believe how 'rich' i feel. lol

i'm not sure what the best thing to pay the extra £140 off - the biggest one to get it down quicker or the one with the most interest - it seems much of a muchness (if that makes sense lol).

good luck - you're so close to the finishing line debtwise now although to you it probably still seems a long way off - it will soon come - paying the last few months of debts off is a bit like being pregnant, you feel as though you're bumps not growing and 9 mths will take forever to come but it passes in a flash.

Jenna

You could try the Snowball calculator (www.whatsthecost.co.uk) to help you work out what's best to pay off first. Good luck with your challenge, sure you'll do it!

bridget81

thank-you for your replies,

while i'm feeling so motivated i've decided to list a tv, playstation 2 and 2 coffee tables on preloved. one of the girls at work told me about it as its free to list and no fees taken. if i no joy on there i'll take them to car boot or ebay them. fingers crossed it will be a bit more to shave off the target.

i'm so please with myself though as although i feel i still have a long way to go, my debt at worst was £43,000!!!!! including car finance this was back in 2004.. 14,000 in loans, 12,000 in visas, 3,000 in overdraft, and 14,000 car finance (although we do still have car finance and i have NOT included this in my total figure it is down to about 7,000, but as OH is paying it i will just carry on with it my little journey first)

so, debt was £29,000 2004, now its £7400

OR
43,000 in 2004 and now £14400 including car finance. :mad:

but as the car will not be at the end of its term for another 2.5 years i am going to ignore this one for the time being and concentrate on loans and visas. plus we cant overpay on it, so will have to save and pay off as an early settlement when we have the cash. i'm also fighting with OH at min as he wants a new car and i dont!

thanks again for your replies, good luck with your journeys... :beer:

phantom9999

Congratulations with having paid off so much off your debts so far! Good luck with your quest.

p

Snaggles

Wow, you have paid off loads already! :T

I posted on here two years ago that I wanted a DFW baby.........she was a year old last week! :rotfl:

So be careful what you wish for on here!!!

Seriously, good luck, I'm sure you can do it within that time period.

Keeping_Motivated

Hi I notice you say you don't get tax credits because you earn too much but aren't you entitled to the £484? Not a lot but better in your pocket than theirs?

poppysarah

Kids can be expensive but it's best to teach them early that the best things in life are free!

bridget81

thank-you for that about tax credits i will most certainly look into that, every little helps.

and i completely agree about teaching them young, as its true the best things in life are free!, OH is a pain for buying him things, me on the other hand prefers to go to the park, have a pic nic and as a treat buy him an ice cream, or we have friends round and do teddy bears pic nics in the garden. and just generally play with everything he has already got, he loves art so we make all our own cards, hes only 3 so they are no picasso but everyone loves them as they are personal! plus it saves me a fortune on birthdays and xmas. and he has a fab time in the process.. as for clothes i get up at the crack of dawm and go the next sale, buy necesities clothes at less than half price and put them away, same if a friend is having a baby, i'll but toiletries that are on BOGOF, that i would use with my little lad, and stick them in a gift bag (that we have received a present in) and you get a really good present at half the price!

thanks again for all your comments they are great to keep motivated.. good luck to you all too :beer: