Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2013

A question about : Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2013

Hello everyone! Oh, and

This is a continuation of the Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2012 Thread started late 2011 by the wonderful mf0u1098 Thanks to the thread so many of us are much better off than we were this time last year so I just want to say a HUGE thank you to Jemma and to every other member too, we are a fabulous support to each other and I am proud to be part of this lovely group of people.

The thread is a little bit magical, we have all done so well! On that thread 14 people (so far) have become debt free and mostly remained to start saving. People still with debt to pay are staying on for this year hoping to become debt-free or reduce our debt considerably. We'd like some new people to join us too, everyone is welcome no matter how big or small your target.

Jemma spent a lot of time on the last thread so has handed over to me this year...I will apologise in advance for my poor techy skills but just so long as we are posting and paying off our debt we will muddle through!

The total repaid by our thread in 2012 was over Ј577k so it DOES work. Please sign up and let me know your target in big, colourful letters and I will assign you a number. Read through the first few pages which I will populate as I go along. Happy debt-busting and
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Best answers:

• Here are Jemma's tips from last year:
  Hints, tips and information to newbies!
  Here is a list of things that should be useful to both newbies and us relative oldies alike:
  1) Understanding the lingo! Here is a link to the DFW Dictionary which will explain what things like NSD's and VSP mean. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...d.php?t=672601
  2) Subscribing to a thread - This is a shortcut to any thread that you want to keep going back to. e.g. if you've joined a challenge and you want to keep going back to it quickly so you don't have to constantly search the forum each time then you can go to your list of subscribed threads and immediately go to that thread. To do this then just go on the thread you want (such as this one), on any page of the thread go to "Thread Tools" which is in the green band just below the page numbers on the right hand side. Then click "Subscribe to Thread". There are 2 boxes with i) a drop down menu for Notifications by email (which you can change later if you want - this just allows you to set up your subscription so that whenever someone posts onto that thread then you can be sent an email or not) and ii) a box telling you the number of subscriptions in your folder (I just ignore this to be honest). Click "Add Subscription" and it will put this thread in a list of subscribed threads. To see your list of subscribed threads then just click on "Quick Links" which is in the first green band, on the left hand side above the page numbers. Click on "Subscribed Threads" and your list will appear. If you want to unsubscribe then, from your subscribed list, just tick the box on the right hand side of the thread name and at the bottom there is a drop down menu called Selected Threads with Move to folder... as the default. Just click on the down arrow to chose whether you want to unsubscribe or change your email notification status etc.
  3) Create a signature - A signature is a powerful tool (at least I think it is!) where you can put your debts, a witty proverb, your challenge member numbers etc. I find it really useful to update mine so you can see very easily how well you are doing with either debt busting or saving or on a challenge. It also helps people running any challenges if you put your challenge number in your signature. To create a signature then click on "Quick Links" in the green band above the page numbers on the right hand side and click on "Edit Signature". Here you can change colours, fonts, insert smileys etc.
  4) Changing the font size/colour or adding smileys to a post - When posting on a thread, it is really helpful if you can make your text large and in a different colour when updating totals so that it is easy for the people who manage the challenges to spot them to help them when updating their lists. To do this then click on "Post Reply" or "Quick Reply" and then click on "Go Advanced".
  5) Snowballing - https://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx. If you have multiple debts i.e. several credit cards/loans then it can be difficult to know in which order to pay them off. This snowball calculator is really useful in helping you decide and also can tell you the shocking amount of interest you are paying each month! One word of caution though, I think this is a brilliant tool however, it can scare people in how long it tells you that all your debt will be gone and sometimes that can lead to people giving up and losing all their enthusiam. Yes it is great to know your DFD but I try to think of myself as in competition with the snowball calculator. The rule of thumb on the forum is that you should pay off your highest interest debt first although some people prefer to get rid of their debts from the lowest amount first as it can give a great psychological boost to get rid of a debt no matter how small.
• To help me run this thread easily, could you please all post your totals in large text and in a bold colour, i.e.:
  Ј265.43/Ј7685.67
  (where the first amount is the total you have paid off so far in this challenge and the second amount is the total you pledged to clear by Xmas 2012.
  It would also be a big help if you could also put with it your challenge number.
  i.e. another Ј50 paid off so now the total for
  #001 is Ј315.43/Ј7685.67
  By the way, don't worry about working out your % paid as I can do that for you!
• The Trusty Team: Paid off Target
  001 mf0u1098 Ј0.00 Ј0.00 Ј_______
  002 SpagBol Ј1045.00 / Ј47000.00 2.22%
  003 Newleaf Ј6600.00 / Ј40000.00 16.50%
  004 loubie_lou Ј5095.00 / Ј7172.00 71.04%
  005 kerri_dfw Ј4031.34 / Ј4031.34 100.00%
  006 Suzitiger Ј323.00 / Ј2854.00 11.32%
  007 recurrent-ostrich Ј1965.15 / Ј39936.61 4.92%
  008 Mumsiemum Ј1175.00 / Ј1175.00 100.00%
  009 Determined Diva Ј1375.87 / Ј10262.81 13.41%
  010 Helen Pie Ј16660.26 / Ј16660.26 100.00%
  011 32b3in2013 Ј10224.00 / Ј10224.00 100.00%
  012 his missus Ј3092.00 / Ј3092.00 100.00%
  013 fritterprincess Ј8500.00 / Ј8500.00 100.00%
  014 Mrs Yallop Ј2641.00 / Ј6424.00 41.11%
  015 nomi01 Ј1905.00 / Ј3825.00 49.80%
  016 jakes-mum Ј200.00 / Ј4000.00 5.00%
  017 minicooper272 Ј3486.00 / Ј3486.00 100.00%
  018 Ruthy1604 Ј5160.38 / Ј5160.38 100.00%
  019 Bonglecat Ј1305.22 / Ј4604.82 28.34%
  020 brightpurple Ј15900.00 / Ј16550.00 96.07%
  021 seriousDFW Ј3374.00 / Ј3374.00 100.00%
  022 Ammeretto Ј442.55 / Ј14082.95 3.14%
  023 Parsniphead Ј4914.50 / Ј6500.00 75.61%
  024 Kerfuffle Ј14300.00 / Ј14300.00 100.00%
  025 Munchin Ј2500.00 / Ј2500.00 100.00%
  026 mrsmumbles Ј0.00 Ј10000.00
  027 choclover Ј785.45 / Ј6000.00 13.09%
  028 maccydu Ј4410.00 / Ј15850.00 27.82%
  029 Bedsit Bob Ј2626.98 / Ј2626.98 100.00%
  030 dktreesea Ј0.00 Ј28113.00
  031 SparklyShoes Ј220.00 / Ј3500.00 6.29%
  032 amr547 Ј2950.00 / Ј2950.00 100.00%
  033 waywardbird Ј996.77 / Ј2396.77 41.59%
  034 nctmum Ј0.00 Ј7037.55
  035 marietje Ј725.00 / Ј10213.00 7.10%
  036 tinka21 Ј710.00 / Ј36000.00 1.97%
  037 lemonpopsicle Ј300.00 / Ј3500.00 8.57%
  038 tylersbabe Ј1400.00 / Ј2000.00 70.00%
  039 buffythedebtslayer Ј5527.00 / Ј7000.00 78.96%
  040 Debtslayer Ј1748.78 / Ј11209.95 15.60%
  041 affordmylife Ј2000.00 / Ј2500.00 80.00%
  042 PaulieDoodle Ј6277.00 / Ј7747.00 81.02%
  043 Happy pixie Ј330.00 / Ј4672.00 7.06%
  044 Fluffpuff Ј0.00 Ј3770.00
  045 trying hard Ј12000.00 / Ј14500.00 82.76%
  046 migraineboy Ј0.00 Ј6000.00
  047 marmitegirl Ј0.00 Ј5065.00
  048 rubywhatashmoo Ј1100.00 / Ј5400.00 20.37%
  049 Shrewbie Ј4596.00 / Ј5826.00 78.89%
  050 clarissa_D Ј250.45 / Ј9973.11 2.51%
  051 1stTimer Ј3705.00 / Ј14000.00 26.46%
  052 nagme Ј526.00 / Ј8000.00 6.58%
  053 seduLOUs Ј0.00 Ј6050.00
  054 matildasmum Ј0.00 Ј5280.00
  055 theposhbint Ј520.50 / Ј10715.00 4.86%
  056 couldsavemore Ј500.00 / Ј3400.00 14.71%
  057 vw campervan mum Ј10018.00 / Ј12468.00 80.35%
  058 Winnie in Pooh Ј492.48 / Ј19362.00 2.54%
  059 Ariel2013 Ј314.00 / Ј14041.00 2.24%
  060 tinks14 Ј489.56 / Ј2149.66 22.77%
  061 karenann76 Ј_______
  062 wishing my life away Ј5100.39 / Ј11364.68 44.88%
  063 happy chick Ј300.00 / Ј5213.00 5.75%
  064 Pernicious Ј2043.75 / Ј7422.87 27.53%
  065 rugbychick81 Ј0.00 Ј1445.00
  066 farnesbarn Ј115.23 / Ј8115.23 1.42%
  067 freshstart87 Ј103.53 / Ј9500.00 1.09%
  068 HighlandLass Ј0.00 Ј4169.83
  069 Easily tempted Ј0.00 Ј2100.00
  070 Glenda Ј950.00 / Ј1450.00 65.52%
  071 cj75 Ј210.84 / Ј15000.00 1.41%
  072 reformed_spender Ј0.00 Ј15000.00
  073 HalfPint Ј485.00 / Ј20000.00 2.43%
  074 triple choc chip Ј7860.00 / Ј7860.00 100.00%
  075 GingerAngles Ј4213.00 Ј41,569 Ј14194.00 [/STRIKE] 29.68%
  076 catspaw Ј0.00 Ј5000.00
  077 mummy2threeboys Ј1583.00 / Ј5012.00 31.58%
  078 sammy115 Ј0.00 Ј_______
  079 LaurenC Ј1014.40 / Ј9435.00 10.75%
  080 TenGreenBottles Ј0.00 Ј11800.00
  081 gardenia82 Ј0.00 Ј2000.00
  082 Xspender Ј4225.66 / Ј18064.00 23.39%
  083 Jubilee76 Ј728.00 / Ј10649.00 6.84%
  084 floella80 Ј1000.00 / Ј4000.00 25.00%
  085 smp1993 Ј400.00 / Ј1000.00 40.00%
  086 utopiah Ј3027.00 / Ј4500.00 67.27%
  087 HalfPint Ј0.00 Ј24199.00
  088 1stTimer Ј0.00 Ј14000.00
  089 psycopathbabble Ј0.00 Ј1863.75
  090 moneymakestheworldgoround Ј0.00 Ј8000.00
  091 lvm Ј0.00 Ј3263.38
  092 missy83 Ј6800.00 / Ј19000.00 35.79%
  093 EyesWideOpen Ј0.00 Ј8230.00
  094 missu Ј3922.00 / Ј7586.00 51.70%
  095 fennmad Ј1856.66 / Ј7493.46 24.78%
  096 sarahckitten Ј2085.48 / Ј14744.67 14.14%
  097 homemadehappiness Ј0.00 Ј_______
  098 bellabear Ј1656.59 / Ј11700.00 14.16%
  099 moaning myrtle Ј9449.97 / Ј9449.97 100.00%
  100 rachie2011 Ј3064.83 / Ј8545.10 35.87%
• 101 veyvey Ј100.00 / Ј2750.00 3.64%
  102 youknowwho Ј1639.54 / Ј3024.30 54.21%
  103 idristhedragon Ј0.00 Ј2000.00
  104 dd1981 Ј2445.16 / Ј16971.00 14.41%
  105 StressedSteph Ј2350.00 / Ј17207.00 13.66%
  106 pinkskyatnight Ј9947.37 / Ј10770.11 92.36%
  107 eddi Ј1000.00 / Ј2972.15 33.65%
  108 poohspals Ј590.77 / Ј10888.04 5.43%
  109 Velma Ј726.54 / Ј10865.00 6.69%
  110 muppets Ј5241.18 / Ј5000.00 104.82%
  111 allym464 Ј3214.79 / Ј5000.00 64.30%
  112 puzzcat Ј2992.08 / Ј5000.00 59.84%
  113 blackberrycurved Ј5374.00 / Ј6373.00 84.32%
  114 moneyless mac Ј6381.81 / Ј6381.81 100.00%
  115 misselvis Ј0.00 Ј10000.00
  116 rebeja Ј0.00 Ј15323.00
  117 Newlywed Saving Ninja Ј5622.31 / Ј12403.90 45.33%
  118 *Zippy* Ј0.00 Ј4300.00
  119 armchairexpert Ј8000.00 / Ј8000.00 100.00%
  120 Brokenpromiseland Ј1500.00 / Ј2500.00 60.00%
  121 mrso1972 Ј0.00 Ј5200.00
  122 rougueylawyer Ј154.12 / Ј3854.11 4.00%
  123 whitecup Ј0.00 Ј5600.00
  124 cosmomo Ј2256.39 / Ј4297.50 52.50%
  125 BB_2013 Ј528.83 / Ј25245.00 2.09%
  126 twirly09 Ј0.00 Ј1400.00
  127 LunaLady Ј356.30 / Ј1566.00 22.75%
  128 daizyboo Ј0.00 Ј1493.87
  129 OliveKitten Ј368.00 / Ј14500.00 2.54%
  130 PrincessLou Ј0.00 Ј2506.04
  131 pogie2 Ј1199.00 / Ј2000.00 59.95%
  132 Patator Ј150.00 / Ј9636.00 1.56%
  133 Braddy970 Ј3474.70 / Ј7354.26 47.25%
  134 InSearchOfBargains Ј0.00 Ј103790.00
  135 Fleurlur Ј833.00 / Ј1195.00 69.71%
  136 sam_in_leeds Ј0.00 Ј2712.00
  137 ButterflyBee Ј1117.17 / Ј8250.50 13.54%
  138 bathyboots Ј7664.46 / Ј7813.46 98.09%
  139 Angelbob Ј196.00 / Ј2271.73 8.63%
  140 Masterplan Ј1022.00 / Ј13528.00 7.55%
  141 minicooper272 (savings) Ј2300.00 / Ј3250.00 70.77%
  142 lindsloo Ј7000.00 / Ј14270.37 49.05%
  143 iclaudius Ј17104.00 / Ј17104.00 100.00%
  144 CC-Warrior Ј0.00 Ј6100.00
  145 benemm Ј180.00 / Ј5736.96 3.14%
  146 jonesy88 Ј5900.00 / Ј10000.00 59.00%
  147 PinkPepperPot Ј588.00 / Ј3288.00 17.88%
  148 starnac Ј3450.44 / Ј14174.00 24.34%
  149 Retromother Ј0.00 Ј6500.00
  150 orangeade Ј0.00
  151 Pablosammy Ј0.00 Ј11000.00
  152 readytobefree Ј0.00 Ј5342.65
  153 retroactive Ј0.00 Ј5000.00
  154 Catriona79 Ј2551.00 / Ј15801.00 16.14%
  155 Verityemilia Ј0.00 Ј400.00
  156 chocoholicqueen Ј3818.07 / Ј9117.41 41.88%
  157 LolaLemon Ј1600.00 / Ј1600.00 100.00%
  158 FinancialSurrender Ј2664.00 / Ј16500.00 16.15%
  159 Calling14 Ј360.71 / Ј12796.59 2.82%
  160 Cogster Ј70.00 / Ј3786.00 1.85%
  161 NinjaSavingKat Ј6813.00 / Ј16600.00 41.04%
  162 xJOJOx Ј699.05 / Ј4715.75 14.82%
  163 wanamove123 Ј257.78 / Ј8400.00 3.07%
  164 Evangeline-x- Ј0.00 Ј3500.00
  165 Foxy78 Ј2500.00 / Ј7500.00 33.33%
  166 armchairexpert (investment) Ј4423.00 / Ј8470.00 52.22%
  167 melskii Ј0.00 Ј2787.00
  168 medusasmummy Ј200.00 / Ј5797.22 3.45%
  169 Mammyof4 Ј0.00 Ј5608.28
  170 Karens42 Ј591.50 / Ј1484.00 39.86%
  171 Muser1 Ј7.33 / Ј757.36 0.97%
  172 NurseBaker Ј2950.00 / Ј75500.00 3.91%
  173 longbowgilly Ј443.75 / Ј7740.00 5.73%
  174 GB30 Ј0.00 Ј2975.00
  175 purpleroses Ј1800.00 / Ј1800.00 100.00%
  176 nearlytherenow Ј341.86 / Ј3860.00 8.86%
  177 Hudson1984 Ј2816.00 / Ј10516.00 26.78%
  178 stefthewise Ј5639.18 / Ј5996.48 94.04%
  179 Shelbi Ј1395.09 / Ј7068.88 19.74%
  180 hotspur_pam Ј1135.96 / Ј1365.00 83.22%
  181 gail2802 Ј0.00 Ј31962.50
  182 nannygladys Ј123.08 / Ј693.08 17.76%
  183 LoveaDove Ј4130.00 / Ј4130.00 100.00%
  184 amr547 (Savings) Ј1250.00 / Ј3500.00 35.71%
  185 Splodgethefirst Ј0.00 Ј1000.00
  186 horseshoe_crab Ј0.00 Ј7530.00
  187 Miss Debt Ј0.00 Ј5250.00
  188 Grassgirl Ј0.00 Ј6600.00
  189 32b3in2013 (mum debt) Ј7538.00 / Ј7538.00 100.00%
  190 Lindatrole Ј0.00 Ј0.00 Ј_______
  191 Kerri_DFW (Savings) Ј3031.59 / Ј4600.00 65.90%
  192 AdmiralAsda Ј0.00 Ј876.58
  193 Moneysavingmomma Ј15000.00
• Monthly Totals:
  Jan 2013: Ј107,205.30
  Feb 2013: Ј64,370.31
  Mar 2013: Ј50,842.95
  Apr 2013: Ј40,784.01
  May 2013: Ј27,744.56
  June 2013: Ј32,283.05
  July 2013: Ј17,863.93
  August 2013: Ј14,915.61
  September 2013: Ј7,697.57
  October 2013: Ј31,346.84
  November: Ј20,387.35
• Eeek colours have gone a bit bonkers on the names list...will try and correct it on NYD.
• DEBT FREE ROLL OF HONOUR 2013!!
• I now declare this thread...OPEN!
  *snips ribbon*
• I am in !! Ј40,000
  oops all my debt
• I'm in again too! Ј10,000 for me please.
• Count me in too!! My target is....
  Ј1175
  .... after which I will be debt free!!!
• Hello Newleaf and Recurrent-Ostrich! I am still a bit befuddled about how to get the numbers on but will hopefully do it later after I've boiled my ham! Great to have you over here
• Me too! I am officially in Ј9,512.97 debt today! X
• no worries I am new to the challenge! Happy xmas eve
• Ok, my final total for 2012 is more than it should be, but I'm getting ready to get back on it after Christmas! Am slowly persuading Mr S to also listen to me when I say we can't afford things in order to do other things!
  So, reporting for DFBX12 one last time and signing up for DBFX13 (new or old number don't mind):
  #068 4629.07/6492.82 (71.3%)
  Starting figure for DFBX13 = Ј1863.75
  Merry Christmas to all of you! Everyone has done some fantastic work paying off debt. Thanks Jemma for running the thread and I hope you feel better very soon.
  PS Thanks to Spag Bol for starting the new thread.
  PPS Just got another cheque for Ј72 from a miscalculation of my PPI
• Hi SpagBol!
  I'm staying in! Is it ok if I carry my totals over from the 2012 thread?
  Ј6,959.40/Ј16,660.26, 41.77%
  I was #077 but don't mind whether I keep it or get a new one - whatever is easiest for you.
  Hoping to be clear before Easter (actually, by 25th March )
  Thanks again Spagbol, and to Jemma for the 2012 challenge
  And welcome to the challenge NewLeaf!
• Hi spagbol and all the poaydbx2012 peeps.
  Sign me up for another year, don't mind if I keep my no. 012 or not. Just the CC to pay off now - Ј3092. Hope to have it paid off by June really.
  Hope you have a fab Christmas xxx