My "Getting Outta Debt" thread - An ongoing saga!

larryuk

Let me introduce myself, im 24 years old and im in a bit of debt!
I dont want to be so im making a start at becoming debt-free today.
This is my reason for starting this thread. Hopefully it is going to serve as a complete record of how I straightened up, came clean, and got back in the world of a positive balance!

Im going to use this thread to document my spending habits and hopefully the ways that I change in order to meet my goal.

MY CURRENT STATUS

Abbey
Limit: £5100
Bal:£5032
Interest: 1.8735% monthly.
Last Min payment:£115

Citi
Limit: £2000
Bal: £1825
Interest: 1.873% (Monthly) (24.9% APR)
Last Min payment:£55

Barclaycard
Limit: £2800
Bal: £2325
Interest: 1.873 (Monthly) (24.9% APR)
Min payment:£58

Egg
Limit: £1600
Bal: £1515
Interest: 15.9% (APR)
Last Min payment:£33

Barclays Current Account
Limit: £1770
Bal: £1289.04
Interest: 1.22% (Monthly)

This brings the Grand total to £12347.00.

I will be adding more info a bit later with regards to what cards I have and giving more details to explain my financial situation. I have been on this board before but never posted much and I have started this under a different username as I have referred alot of friends to this board and I dont want it to be obvious to them who I am on here.

Now I know its going to take ALOT of hard work to clear this but I want to use this thread to keep me motivated. Im shortly going to post my outgoings and then document any changes made, any payments made and basically and financial impact into this thread.

Im hoping that somewhere down the line as im about to make my last payment to clear my debt, I can look back and see how I got there, at least thats the plan... Wish me luck!

Willsnarf1983

good start mate but do a SOA ie expenses, income etc etc and be fully honest, u may get ripped apart but untill u write it down and people can see ur likely to be living in denial on some part.

good luck

Will

mountainofdebt

Can we also have the names of the cards.....sometimes having a specific card can alter people's suggestions.

larryuk

Dont worry as I stated I shall be updating everything with more details!
I dont have access to all my records and details at the moment and I want to make sure I list everything accuratley.

Xbigman

You're right at the limit on all those balances, cut up the cards today (if you haven't done so already).
Regards



X

Thefunkygibbons

Do you have a notebook going already for all the money you spend on a daily basis?

ms_london

I just wanted to say that you seem very organised, £12K is a lot of money, but can be done.

As other people mentioned, if you post your monthly incomings & outgoings, we might be able to suggest where you can cut back/save some money.

It takes a lot to realise that you want to be debt free, so well done & we look forward to having you around on the boards.

Ms_London xx

larryuk

Ok, Heres a first update.

All cards have been chopped up. I have no cards left apart from my Current account (Visa debit card), and my card for my joint account (i'll get onto that later.)

At the moment I take home £997.00 a month.

I live in a rented accomdation with my partner, and we have a joint account with Barclays with only £150 overdraft and this account has always been in credit of between £100-£1000 depending on what time of the month it is and what bills go out.

We both currently pay £540.00 each into this account to cover all our bills which are broken down as follows:

Rent:625
TV:10.49
Car Loan:152.38
Car Insurance:48.97
Water:45.00
Gas: 16.00
Electric:33.00
Phone:17.00
Broadband:22.99
Council Tax:109

Total
£1079.83 (hence £540 each)

We then put a further £100 each to cover petrol and shopping throughout the month.

So thats a total of £640.00 a month of expenses.

Leaving me £357 a month.
This is used to pay credit card payments and "luxuries"

Up until this month I have been paying £50 a month to pay off my laser eye treatment, but that is now paid for, so my plan is...

To take £50 from my wages and keep that as my "Spending money", (i.e. money for luxuries) This will leave me £307.00 to cover all my minimum payments and add extra payments to my highest interest cc's.

I then plan to sell paintings and other stuff on eBay in order to bring in extra money, and all this will go straight into paying off my cards.

I can sell paintings on ebay from anything between £10-£100 profit, and the more I paint the more Ill make so its a case of keeping motivated!

Ill update with any more info as I can think of it but just putting this up to let people start to see my situation.

I am currently ordering two creedit reports from Equifax and Experian, but they need some proof of identification so im sending that tomorrow.

In the last two week I have cancelled my gym membership of £22.50 a month, as im now cycling to work. I have also cancelled my cinema subscription to UGC cinemas for £10.99, so thats some initial savings.

More to follow shortly...

P.S. thanks for teh encouragement everyone, I dont have a pad to write down what Ive spent but Ill start that tomorrow! and ms_london, it was your sig that made me start this thread!, ive enjoyed reading about how you became debt free (well, almost there!) and it gave me the inspiration for doing this, as I am quiet optimistic that I can succeed, and it would be great to have a mammoth thread showing how it was done!

ms_london

larryuk wrote:

and ms_london, it was your sig that made me start this thread!, ive enjoyed reading about how you became debt free (well, almost there!) and it gave me the inspiration for doing this, as I am quiet optimistic that I can succeed, and it would be great to have a mammoth thread showing how it was done!

Aawww Shucks. Thank you larryuk. You CAN succeed, but the hardest part is keeping at it - ive had some awful days, especially when I was doing my two jobs, but I knew it was for the best - that was tough.

Keep up the good work & start selling those paintings, you can do it!!

Thefunkygibbons

Do you paint portraits?

They are a current area that is growing (I know I'm looking to get one done)

JayW

Painting as a hobby and selling a few for less than the overall cost of doing them is fine; selling with a view to profit is trading and will bring a tax liability. Once you start actively seeking to make a profit you need to register with HM Revenue and Customs as self-employed within 3 months otherwise you could be laible for a £100 fine. Don't start off your debt-cancelling plans by getting another £100 liability! If you don't expect to make more than £4345 profit (sale proceeds less cost of doing the paintings, selling costs, P & P etc) you wouldn't have any extra National Insurance to pay - you can claim small earnings exception - but you would need to pay tax. From your income details it looks as if your liability would be 22% of your profits so build this into your calculations otherwise you will find yourself owing tax you haven't saved up.

Best of luck with your efforts - its better to think about tax straight away though rather than finding out in a year or so when you've spent all the profits!