Today I received a credit card statement in the post and it made me smile because it told me I have just £238 left on it.
In April this year the balance was closer to £1,200. In the last nine months I’ve paid off nearly £1,000 of debt and I’m on target to clear my credit card by the end of March 2013.
I am very proud of myself for this. But how did I do it? Simple, I worked it off. Nearly every piece of paid sewing work, sponsored post or blog advertising income that I’ve received in the last nine months has gone directly onto the card. A direct debit pays off the minimum each month so I never miss a payment with the risk of accruing more charges and then every month I make an extra payment with whatever additional money I’ve earned that month.
To keep me on track a keep an excel spreadsheet of my debts and payments onto them, its a little bit pernikerty but it really helps me to see how well I’m doing and how long debts are going to take to pay off.
Other good news is that I’ve finally finished repaying my mum the £3,000 that she paid off on another debt for me when I had to move back to the UK. It has taken three years at £20 a week but now that it is done that money can go to pay off the remaining overdraft and credit cards that I have. I am determined to stick to my budgets this year and continue to pay off debts without incurring more debt. In total this means I’ve paid off around £4,000 of debt in three years, now imagine if that was savings!
One book that I always find helpful when thinking finance is Your Money or Your Life by Alvin Hall, though I’m yet to get to the point to implement his advice on mortgages and investments.
It seems a silly thing to get excited about and it will take at least another year until I completely clear my credit card and debts but I’m really looking forward to being debt free and being able to use the money I’ve been using for debt for saving.
You should be very proud! well done you!
Thank you Danielle, I was rather gobsmacked when I added it all up. Of course the real test will be when I’m in the black to make sure I stay in the black!
This is GREAT! Well done and here’s to the end of March 2013 when I expect another update!
Thanks Nickie. Yes there will be another progress report at the end of March.
You should be very proud! I haven’t ever had a credit card before but the student loan I am running up scares me!
Well done you! I have a similar plan for this year, I need to pay off a debt and although I’ve been steadily paying it off I need to increase the payments by making savings elsewhere. I have the Alvin Hall book, must read it again!
Well done, keep going with paying it off. It is a great sense of achievement when it happens. I do love Alvin Hall, he writes just as he speaks and I can hear his voice in my head as I read.
Brilliant post! I’m so pleased for you
) When I met Lovely Bloke I had my student loans to pay and was happy to pay them off at £125 a month for the rest of my days on earth. I didn’t mind it at all. But when I realised what a difference that would make to our lives together, once it was gone, it had a profound effect!
I stopped buying clothes, spending on “fun stuff” and less than a year later, I’d shifted several thousand pounds. I’m ashamed of how much I a) accumulated and b) had my head in the sand over.
I realised things had changed in my mind when I “found” that we’d over budgeted for our bills for April 2012 – March 2013. We’d got some “left over” and I *knew* that it was a sign to hang on to it because our beloved boiler is not as well as it once was!! We’re going to need that money, to put towards the 3K cost of a new boiler at some point in 2013. It never once crossed my mind to think “I’ll blow it on / buy / ooooh we could do X, Y and Z” with it.
It’s like being a proper grown up, innit?
) Hope that this over sharing is ok, but I’m so pleased to see you writing about this. And once more, well done !!! #TopBird xx
Thanks Liz, and please, overshare away.
It is important to share stories of our successes against life’s challenges – debt, illness, life in general, so that other people can see that there are folk like them in the same situation.
Good luck with the boiler.
That’s brilliant. I’ve got debt to pay off and have given myself a time-frame of 2 years to get it done. I may need to get that book to help me.
Good luck Joanne!