Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2015!

A question about : Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2015!

Welcome to the fourth Pay ALL Your Debt Off By Xmas thread!

Ever since mf0u1098 started the original thread three years ago, we've collectively paid off well over Ј1.5 MILLION of debt! What a fantastic achievement, and huge thanks must go to mf0u1098, spagbol, and minicooper272 who have done a sterling job of looking after the thread in previous years. It's a tough task keeping on top of a thread like this, and you've all been amazing!

So, here we go for another year. Welcome back to those who are familiar, and an even bigger welcome to any new members who decide to come along for the ride. If you don't feel you can pay off ALL of your debt this year, please still join us and set your own personal target for Christmas. Our strength and motivation comes from the support of our fellow debt-busters, so whether you're here for the fourth year in a row or are a brand new member, you're making the thread more successful by just being here.

Please post your total target for 2015 in BIG BOLD COLOURFUL LETTERS, and you'll then be assigned a membership number.

After that, please post any updates using your number and total amount paid to date, and we'll do the rest! Something like…

#123 Ј1234/Ј5678 (add happy/jumpy smily of choice here)

And last but not least… GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!

Best answers:

• Here are Jemma's tips from the original 2012 thread:
  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.
• 001 minicooper272 Ј950.00 / Ј3,500.00 27.1%
  002 SpagBol Ј2,392.00 / Ј44,000.00 5.4%
  003 kirstydriver Ј2,550.00 / Ј6,000.00 42.5%
  004 sarahm0rris Ј100.00 / Ј4,000.00 2.5%
  005 astrid35 Ј1,022.78 / Ј3,850.85 26.6%
  006 traveller Ј552.00 / Ј4,251.44 13.0%
  007 Sandypan Ј3,000.00 / Ј21,992.92 13.6%
  008 Skinnylatte Ј1,749.00 / Ј3,407.00 51.3%
  009 Aphidgirl Ј955.00 / Ј4,683.00 20.4%
  010 tracy6697 Ј600.00 / Ј3,000.00 20.0%
  011 amr547 Ј331.00 / Ј3,500.00 9.5%
  012 GingerFurball Ј100.00 / Ј1,250.00 8.0%
  013 DreamerHelen Ј536.79 / Ј8,500.00 6.3%
  014 angelbob Ј211.23 / Ј5,099.47 4.1%
  015 abba1772 Ј1,896.58 / Ј4,000.00 47.4%
  016 happybunny86 Ј50.00 / Ј1,000.00 5.0%
  017 Fmess Ј1,279.73 / Ј4,842.00 26.4%
  018 WifeandMummy Ј145.42 / Ј11,360.14 1.3%
  019 PiggyBankShaker Ј6,941.50 / Ј12,334.00 56.3%
  020 dolly84 Ј0.00 / Ј7,139.47 0.0%
  021 Silian Ј4,483.09 / Ј13,000.00 34.5%
  022 grassgirl Ј455.00 / Ј6,500.00 7.0%
  023 Jonesy88 Ј600.00 / Ј3,000.00 20.0%
  024 mothernerd Ј0.00 / Ј9,790.20 0.0%
  025 Determined diva Ј2,364.65 / Ј9,510.49 24.9%
  026 taskey Ј0.00 / Ј4,000.00 0.0%
  027 Ccarter Ј2,228.31 / Ј4,535.13 49.1%
  028 mossy Ј229.00 / Ј2,000.00 11.5%
  029 nannygladys Ј0.00 / Ј2,330.00 0.0%
  030 Windofchange Ј1,400.00 / Ј7,957.00 17.6%
  031 Aloofdragon Ј963.55 / Ј3,250.00 29.6%
  032 greensalad Ј1,058.00 / Ј3,478.00 30.4%
  033 Roundthebend Ј3,210.76 / Ј49,404.00 6.5%
  034 muppets Ј1,258.00 / Ј15,000.00 8.4%
  035 Longships Ј160.92 / Ј43,879.52 0.4%
  036 parsniphead Ј506.00 / Ј5,084.82 10.0%
  037 Pidge_jen Ј1,279.45 / Ј5,000.00 25.6%
  038 Lips and Lashes Ј638.00 / Ј1,378.00 46.3%
  039 Harryspotter Ј1,783.00 / Ј20,108.00 8.9%
  040 GettingOrganised Ј893.30 / Ј4,000.00 22.3%
  041 Pablosammy Ј5,100.00 / Ј15,000.00 34.0%
  042 Toomuchdebt Ј100.00 / Ј4,000.00 2.5%
  043 redlaces Ј0.00 / Ј2,097.54 0.0%
  044 Pepperoni Ј1,000.00 / Ј4,500.00 22.2%
  045 argomatt Ј6,962.13 / Ј14,605.27 47.7%
  046 blackberrycurved Ј163.38 / Ј7,586.00 2.2%
  047 nomi01 Ј1,199.38 / Ј11,096.88 10.8%
  048 jwil Ј407.00 / Ј9,348.00 4.4%
  049 twiggy86 Ј1,019.87 / Ј5,000.00 20.4%
  050 elleJay42 Ј864.00 / Ј4,544.00 19.0%
  051 One step forward Ј1,293.08 / Ј3,878.00 33.3%
  052 Emzilla Ј0.00 / Ј9,464.48 0.0%
  053 GaLa15 Ј50.00 / Ј10,000.00 0.5%
  054 Ruthy1604 Ј849.91 / Ј2,352.84 36.1%
  055 chocoholicqueen Ј1,334.65 / Ј10,000.00 13.3%
  056 32b3in2013 Ј104.00 / Ј4,315.00 2.4%
  057 rubywhatashmoo Ј2,446.50 / Ј8,202.00 29.8%
  058 Rachiedabbler70 Ј1,872.34 / Ј10,400.00 18.0%
  059 Kittycat1981 Ј1,748.00 / Ј10,500.00 16.6%
  060 CAFCGirl Ј0.00 / Ј6,192.00 0.0%
  061 apardion Ј0.00 / Ј3,000.00 0.0%
  062 monz Ј607.07 / Ј5,378.56 11.3%
  063 arc_cutter Ј986.63 / Ј21,197.29 4.7%
  064 Dinah93
  065 the.new.me Ј220.00 / Ј11,740.00 1.9%
  066 IrishRose12 Ј350.00 / Ј1,700.00 20.6%
  067 fatavril Ј0.00 / Ј9,417.36 0.0%
  068 Philae Ј265.49 / Ј3,587.86 7.4%
  069 Lottie_Clark Ј360.08 / Ј17,647.43 2.0%
  070 1robert1 Ј0.00 / Ј15,000.00 0.0%
  071 froggie101 Ј0.00 / Ј3,910.00 0.0%
  072 BodieGirl Ј266.51 / Ј2,733.00 9.8%
  073 nearlytherenow Ј150.00 / Ј5,200.00 2.9%
  074 new leaf 88 Ј320.00 / Ј11,810.87 2.7%
  075 Money_Muppet Ј1,660.45 / Ј18,624.98 8.9%
  076 truebluemummy Ј150.00 / Ј14,500.00 1.0%
  077 recurrent-ostrich Ј0.00 / Ј10,000.00 0.0%
  078 ackonic Ј457.81 / Ј5,000.00 9.2%
  079 archery Ј0.00 / Ј15,000.00 0.0%
  080 Lolly88 Ј1,319.10 / Ј1,800.00 73.3%
  081 Hendrixsmarts371 Ј0.00 / Ј3,000.00 0.0%
  082 lynneee Ј1,066.00 / Ј13,342.62 8.0%
  083 black cat Ј523.00 / Ј4,423.00 11.8%
  084 WelshKitty85 Ј852.54 / Ј5,168.66 16.5%
  085 Dizzy Imp Ј2,682.64 / Ј25,000.00 10.7%
  086 TryingReallyHard Ј0.00 / Ј4,325.00 0.0%
  087 starnac Ј1,400.64 / Ј4,827.56 29.0%
  088 Dakota86 Ј295.00 / Ј15,600.00 1.9%
  089 keep*going Ј0.00 / Ј2,422.30 0.0%
  090 helpme_115 Ј2,031.78 / Ј10,156.75 20.0%
  091 IvyandEleanor Ј1,356.33 / Ј17,557.13 7.7%
  092 trudij Ј0.00 / Ј4,000.00 0.0%
  093 onlygoingforward Ј926.62 / Ј15,000.00 6.2%
  094 Brogden Ј53.40 / Ј61,477.62 0.1%
  095 timetrade Ј850.00 / Ј10,100.00 8.4%
  096 Mat_Lock Ј407.57 / Ј407.57 100.0%
  097 Historybuff Ј527.00 / Ј6,500.00 8.1%
  098 minichick31 Ј1,840.00 / Ј1,840.00 100.0%
  099 Looking Forward Ј211.79 / Ј8,000.00 2.6%
  100 chesterroo Ј292.30 / Ј7,162.90 4.1%
• 101 blubella Ј550.00 / Ј2,000.00 27.5%
  102 frogmellaandgill Ј100.00 / Ј2,754.29 3.6%
  103 spiritless Ј2,740.91 / Ј14,128.00 19.4%
  104 Betsie2010
  105 Karb Ј462.74 / Ј4,782.47 9.7%
  106 ali bf Ј826.00 / Ј17,257.00 4.8%
  107 Tiffany Aching Ј566.51 / Ј7,000.00 8.1%
  108 BritAbroad Ј2,556.10 / Ј9,139.48 28.0%
  109 thrifty fifty Ј718.62 / Ј7,634.50 9.4%
  110 StressedSteph Ј0.00 / Ј10,600.00 0.0%
  111 nickynoo08 Ј900.00 / Ј9,000.00 10.0%
  112 FCNatasha Ј464.27 / Ј18,800.00 2.5%
  113 jennysp Ј0.00 / Ј15,239.00 0.0%
  114 dida80 Ј0.00 / Ј53,416.00 0.0%
  115 pinkgiraffe Ј1,907.56 / Ј4,229.00 45.1%
  116 wishing my life away Ј0.00 / Ј6,970.63 0.0%
  117 Nakashima Miharu Ј0.00 / Ј6,000.00 0.0%
  118 beckie89 Ј20.00 / Ј4,452.28 0.4%
  119 Duke 848 Ј24,955.00 / Ј42,908.00 58.2%
  120 freightexec2009 Ј1,025.00 / Ј5,144.09 19.9%
  121 sarahc4536 Ј59.11 / Ј2,500.00 2.4%
  122 dktreesea Ј3,285.08 / Ј30,113.00 10.9%
  123 judi24 Ј0.00 / Ј14,457.00 0.0%
  124 Brightspark87
  125 Kelxx Ј696.67 / Ј4,000.00 17.4%
  126 minmac Ј2,193.00 / Ј15,000.00 14.6%
  127 littlebitbonkers Ј292.78 / Ј2,674.03 10.9%
  128 Elmly Ј1,537.00 / Ј5,476.88 28.1%
  129 luckystarr Ј0.00 / Ј7,428.12 0.0%
  130 lauradora Ј435.00 / Ј3,399.05 12.8%
  131 Nix143 Ј756.22 / Ј3,716.13 20.3%
  132 cutiepieabf Ј0.00 / Ј8,800.00 0.0%
  133 joee Ј472.00 / Ј1,790.20 26.4%
  134 takingcontrolatlast Ј175.00 / Ј4,000.00 4.4%
  135 birdseed Ј900.00 / Ј10,200.00 8.8%
  136 samcornfield Ј100.00 / Ј8,000.00 1.3%
  137 Angela84 Ј540.00 / Ј6,250.00 8.6%
  138 gregtelf Ј26.53 / Ј4,857.00 0.5%
  139 luckekelly
  140 Hopingtobetotallydebtfree Ј669.00 / Ј8,306.00 8.1%
  141 mrskingandthescarecrow Ј5,069.18 / Ј20,000.00 25.3%
  142 Island.girl Ј0.00 / Ј4,700.00 0.0%
  143 AnnaLMLH Ј2,111.00 / Ј6,600.00 32.0%
  144 phoenix_dragon Ј100.00 / Ј3,043.30 3.3%
  145 rockm87 Ј0.00 / Ј5,028.00 0.0%
  146 plump-duck Ј0.00 / Ј5,500.00 0.0%
  147 MyKillerHeels Ј0.00 / Ј3,765.62 0.0%
  148 russell2511 Ј0.00 / Ј32,000.00 0.0%
  149 Bublin1 Ј270.00 / Ј5,000.00 5.4%
  150 greenanne Ј141.00 / Ј8,663.00 1.6%
  151 bogbrsh250 Ј100.00 / Ј3,280.00 3.0%
  152 SavingForTravelling2012 Ј0.00 / Ј4,000.00 0.0%
  153 cwtchingpennies
  154 Sammy246 Ј0.00 / Ј7,003.00 0.0%
  174 GunWharf Ј4,209.00 / Ј19,376.00 21.7%
  182 nolongerindenial Ј1,955.38 / Ј4,435.51 44.1%
  211 Glittery Ј1,668.00 / Ј9,600.00 17.4%
  265 DD265 Ј459.89 / Ј5,483.57 8.4%
• Reserved for table #3
• ROLL OF HONOUR
• Reserved for Roll Of Honour #2
• Monthly Totals
  January: Ј117,819.50
  February:
  March:
  April:
  May:
  June:
  July:
  August:
  September:
  October:
  November:
  December:
  Grand total:
• Ok... GO! GO! GO!
• Me pls! I need to clear at least Ј6000! Many thanks x
• Me please!
  My target is a Ј3000 credit card and a Ј1000 overdraft so my total is Ј4000 please!
• Me too please. I was #87 in this year's thread. Do I keep that or do I get a new one?
  My target will be approx Ј4,800 but I'll leave the actual total until after my minimum payment has gone out this month if that's okay? Then I can give you the exact amount.
  Thank you for running this thread
• Me please! Ј3850.85 for me.
  I've just introduced YNAB into my life so hoping to make good headway!
• Can I join please I have to clear what's in my sinature Ј4,251.44 by end August 2015. Thanks.