Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2014!

A question about : Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2014!

Welcome to the third year of Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas (now) 2014!

We can't start a new year without saying a massive thank-you to the amazing mf0u1098 who started original challenge in late 2011, and a massive thank-you to spagbol who carried us through 2013 (on top of welcoming a new son into the world in November ). Finally a massive thank-you to all of our members - I don't know where the last two years went, but you guys played a massive part in supporting each other through it!

Last year we watched a whopping 29 members become debt free, and I'm proud to see so many of us carrying forward to next year, continuing to reduce their debts or pay them off altogether! We all did an amazing job, paying off over Ј435k between us!

We're hoping some new members will join us this year, whatever your debt free goal and whatever time of year it might be! This year we're starting off with three admins - jonesy88, suzitiger and minicooper272, so please help us by introducing yourself and posting your target in lovely big bold text!

Best answers:

• Here are Jemma's tips from 2012:
  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.
• Right, so it's a good idea to give a quick users guide -
  We have three people keeping an eye on the spreadsheet, and it would help us if you can post any updates in a way that means we can't miss it!
  When you join the challenge, please post how much you want to pay off in big bold text:
  e.g. this year I would like to pay off Ј2000
  We will then let you know your member number.
  For updates, again please post in big bold text- something like this would be fab:
  #001 Ј100/2000
  Ј100 being the cumulative amount paid off and Ј2000 your target.
• 001 SpagBol Ј5000.00 / Ј49000.00 10.20%
  002 Jonesy88 Ј3500.00 / Ј3500.00 100.00%
  003 suzitiger Ј0.00 Ј_______
  004 minicooper272 (savings) Ј1750.00 / Ј3500.00 50.00%
  005 LAM2011 Ј7000.00 / Ј7000.00 100.00%
  006 CariadsNewStart Ј200.00 / Ј3587.35 5.58%
  007 foxy78 Ј5500.00 / Ј5500.00 100.00%
  008 rubywhatasmoo Ј6211.27 / Ј14413.27 43.09%
  009 motivated Ј30.00 / Ј7000.00 0.43%
  010 Sun Addict Ј2100.00 / Ј2800.00 75.00%
  011 amr547 Ј3797.00 / Ј6000.00 63.28%
  012 32b3in2013 Ј3550.28 / Ј10000.00 35.50%
  013 freespirit66 Ј2724.00 / Ј2724.00 100.00%
  014 lindsloo Ј4395.56
  015 amber03 Ј1880.09 / Ј6000.00 31.33%
  016 blackberrycurved Ј1104.00 / Ј8724.00 12.65%
  017 prettyplease Ј7300.00
  018 Missu Ј7361.00 / Ј7361.00 100.00%
  019 wit40iwtwan Ј7000.00
  020 DD265 Ј4227.92 / Ј6526.84 64.78%
  021 Big bog Ј5000.00
  022 Raggydoll85 Ј699.25 / Ј4363.58 16.02%
  023 kobrakai Ј70.00 / Ј6500.00 1.08%
  024 loubie_lou Ј2917.00 / Ј3500.00 83.34%
  025 Determined diva Ј7247.49 / Ј14494.98 50.00%
  026 Mrs Toast Ј25.00 / Ј1100.00 2.27%
  027 trying hard Ј52500.00 / Ј52500.00 100.00%
  028 LoveaDove (savings) Ј5805.00 / Ј7000.00 82.93%
  029 Phoebesmum2105 Ј_______
  030 Midgie Ј5200.00
  031 Maybe_its_because Ј3072.00 / Ј3072.00 100.00%
  032 dktreesea Ј21281.00
  033 Penny2myName Ј165.50 / Ј10180.70 1.63%
  034 muppets Ј21249.64 / Ј21000.00 101.19%
  035 chocoholicqueen Ј1445.77 / Ј5035.00 28.71%
  036 brokemedic Ј286.00 / Ј18864.00 1.52%
  037 georgiebrown0 Ј17500.00
  038 argomatt Ј4016.44 / Ј4016.44 100.00%
  039 Siouxsie32 Ј571.73 / Ј18573.39 3.08%
  040 kat143 Ј3658.28
  041 brightpurple Ј7086.97 / Ј16500.00 42.95%
  042 Buffythedebtslayer Ј1100.00 / Ј4600.00 23.91%
  043 reccurent-ostrich Ј42000.00
  044 Skinnylatte Ј10000.00 / Ј13407.00 74.59%
  045 beckyboo1980 Ј1197.48 / Ј12047.00 9.94%
  046 GaLa15 Ј6000.30 / Ј10000.00 60.00%
  047 sharronej Ј1051.50 / Ј8000.00 13.14%
  048 lainey29 Ј2000.00
  049 parsniphead Ј2214.32 Ј4,032 Ј4032.00 [/STRIKE] 54.92%
  050 PicklePickle80 Ј978.00 / Ј11000.00 8.89%
  051 Pinkpenguin Ј5000.00
  052 Bailey25 Ј1900.00 / Ј1900.00 100.00%
  053 utopiah Ј1323.00 / Ј1323.00 100.00%
  054 Ruthy1604 Ј12066.96 / Ј14420.00 83.68%
  055 mumfirst Ј34.39 / Ј6500.00 0.53%
  056 affordmylife Ј900.00 / Ј2700.00 33.33%
  057 Moneysavingtrainee Ј4381.00 / Ј15000.00 29.21%
  058 Rachiedabbler70 Ј12628.00 / Ј12600.00 100.22%
  059 judi24 Ј9000.00
  060 blissfullydebtfreewannabe Ј677.00 / Ј15500.00 4.37%
  061 ItsOver Ј666.00 / Ј3600.00 18.50%
  062 Smarter_and_harder Ј7775.64 / Ј13228.73 58.78%
  063 angelbob Ј630.43 / Ј5202.67 12.12%
  064 Bad Weather Ј100.00 / Ј6500.00 1.54%
  065 Maccydu Ј650.00 / Ј17935.00 3.62%
  066 Tiffany Aching Ј2650.00 / Ј12500.00 21.20%
  067 debtfree2014 Ј2500.00
  068 Cash4AnnyQ Ј1000.00
  069 Helpmesave! Ј12000.00
  070 mummyfie Ј60.00 / Ј4000.00 1.50%
  071 nomi01 Ј1203.56 / Ј6012.30 20.02%
  072 floella80 Ј4789.45 / Ј13915.34 34.42%
  073 pandastyle Ј1400.00 / Ј6400.00 21.88%
  074 NeroliJasmin Ј1500.00
  075 debttogo_housetosavefor Ј3600.00
  076 Jubilee76 Ј1200.00 / Ј9100.00 13.19%
  077 marliepanda Ј2160.00 / Ј5300.00 40.75%
  078 Sandypan Ј18964.15 / Ј15000.00 126.43%
  079 InClover Ј991.00 / Ј10082.00 9.83%
  080 EmilyTee Ј4800.00
  081 fenmad Ј2572.28 / Ј9611.51 26.76%
  082 Shoppingsinner Ј5500.00
  083 freebiz14 Ј967.00 / Ј8000.00 12.09%
  084 redbooties Ј2709.76 / Ј3625.79 74.74%
  085 rogueylawyer Ј1179.00 / Ј9179.00 12.84%
  086 rachie_2011 Ј2644.60 / Ј5500.00 48.08%
  087 starnac Ј5000.17 / Ј9827.73 50.88%
  088 tinks14 Ј845.00 / Ј1615.00 52.32%
  089 busybumblebee Ј25.00 / Ј3300.00 0.76%
  090 redsheep Ј13.60 / Ј3700.00 0.37%
  091 E2006 Ј156.00 / Ј6176.00 2.53%
  092 laurag89 Ј7000.00
  093 Eyebright Ј1763.38 / Ј12356.39 14.27%
  094 abba1772 Ј4085.14 / Ј3000.00 136.17%
  095 araminta Ј8500.00 / Ј8500.00 100.00%
  096 Mat_Lock Ј4895.95 / Ј5145.95 95.14%
  097 catriona79 Ј15686.00
  098 minichick31 Ј4700.00 / Ј6540.00 71.87%
  099 lil_mama Ј5922.00
  100 Wanna Bee Free Ј6707.87 / Ј6707.87 100.00%
• 101 blubella Ј1607.00 / Ј2500.00 64.28%
  102 Pennies from Heaven Ј1976.69 / Ј8696.48 22.73%
  103 Missy606 Ј10000.00
  104 Cornkin Ј845.00 / Ј7660.00 11.03%
  105 1 year to clear Ј60.00 / Ј4000.00 1.50%
  106 Mystikia Ј673.51 / Ј5500.00 12.25%
  107 1DayAAT Ј12500.00 / Ј12500.00 100.00%
  108 BritAbroad Ј8389.44 / Ј10000.00 83.89%
  109 Lauz178 Ј5500.00
  110 Sweetrl Ј10000.00
  111 PinkPrincess82 Ј394.49 / Ј18447.49 2.14%
  112 Little Vics Ј3255.20 / Ј10500.00 31.00%
  113 zaleska3 Ј3800.00
  114 Cantfindafreeuserid Ј230.35 / Ј5840.00 3.94%
  115 HopefulFuture Ј3881.00
  116 theposhbint Ј435.00 / Ј2931.07 14.84%
  117 Deere Ј3408.00 / Ј10600.00 32.15%
  118 Verityemilia Ј50.00 / Ј400.00 12.50%
  119 RaspberryRuffle Ј1160.00 / Ј12486.00 9.29%
  120 iancrt Ј3074.00 / Ј12485.00 24.62%
  121 Lil-83 Ј910.00 / Ј14000.00 6.50%
  122 CAFCGirl Ј10.00 / Ј9870.00 0.10%
  123 Dakota86 Ј2235.00 / Ј5000.00 44.70%
  124 Karb Ј15085.56 / Ј19000.00 79.40%
  125 Archery Ј15671.27 / Ј13000.00 120.55%
  126 Debtbgone Ј1670.11 / Ј2540.00 65.75%
  127 Lashie Ј2750.00 / Ј4000.00 68.75%
  128 Thrifty Fashionista Ј5613.00 / Ј10000.00 56.13%
  129 eecjwd Ј8747.99 / Ј9016.00 97.03%
  130 minmac Ј5000.00
  131 happybunny86 Ј2218.19 / Ј3218.19 68.93%
  132 kerri_dfw Ј5000.00
  133 bridget81 Ј1106.52 / Ј15196.00 7.28%
  134 Plumpduck Ј1098.00 / Ј4000.00 27.45%
  135 BirdSeed Ј7747.60 / Ј7365.00 105.19%
  136 Kei Ј1405.00 / Ј3905.00 35.98%
  137 Savvygirl1986 Ј0.00 Ј15622.06
  138 braddy970 Ј3348.36 / Ј10560.90 31.71%
  139 bellabear Ј1166.00 / Ј9000.00 12.96%
  140 looking forward not back Ј20000.00
  141 *hayley* Ј6000.00
  142 29Found Ј15.00 / Ј10651.47 0.14%
  143 Jo3y83 Ј9655.52
  144 truebluemummy Ј55.00 / Ј3417.10 1.61%
  145 stitchintime Ј11000.00
  146 katie26 Ј8383.12
  147 mothernerd Ј1042.48 / Ј10154.48 10.27%
  148 IrishRose12 Ј1450.00 / Ј3000.00 48.33%
  149 Ianise Ј6000.00
  150 greenanne Ј6742.46 / Ј7835.00 86.06%
  151 mayforher Ј8791.00
  152 UnaidedSpud Ј461.00 / Ј6504.00 7.09%
  153 kickuptheasstime Ј597.00 / Ј9790.00 6.10%
  154 loopymadlover Ј1095.00 / Ј6435.00 17.02%
  155 davies28 Ј540.00 / Ј2000.00 27.00%
  156 GingerFurball Ј3555.67 / Ј4805.67 73.99%
  157 garmcqui Ј3935.00 / Ј7790.00 50.51%
  158 Betsie2010 Ј5190.45 / Ј12060.76 43.04%
  159 Pepperoni Ј3000.00 / Ј12477.00 24.04%
  160 misselvis Ј560.00 / Ј7000.00 8.00%
  161 indebted warrior Ј200.00 / Ј5491.64 3.64%
  162 soopa_de_doopa Ј3087.00
  163 Aphidgirl Ј5149.00 / Ј9141.00 56.33%
  164 HeartBunny Ј800.00 / Ј4397.00 18.19%
  165 Toomuchdebt Ј2963.79 / Ј4000.00 74.09%
  166 Koalatea84 € 1,795.00 / € 1,936.71 92.68%
  167 DragonsnDaffs Ј30.00 / Ј3240.00 0.93%
  168 sallymander Ј751.02 / Ј5861.02 12.81%
  169 yorpington Ј3935.00 / Ј10000.00 39.35%
  170 wannabe credit free Ј2770.00
  171 harrywillsucceed Ј6000.00
  172 luckystarr Ј152.85 / Ј4322.35 3.54%
  173 Bublin1 Ј1727.45 / Ј5545.00 31.15%
  174 GunWharf Ј15676.00 / Ј27890.00 56.21%
  175 Timetochange89 Ј5000.00
  176 bilko89 Ј797.65 / Ј4767.50 16.73%
  177 kirstydriver Ј2728.43 / Ј2728.43 100.00%
  178 xacesx Ј9045.29
  179 jadelois Ј800.00 / Ј4217.00 18.97%
  180 milky1991 Ј3579.00 / Ј12217.00 29.30%
  181 FinanciallyUnsavvy Ј2688.00 / Ј5718.00 47.01%
  182 nolongerindenial Ј2727.06 / Ј3426.34 79.59%
  183 definitivefreak Ј38.13 / Ј425.18 8.97%
  184 DreamerHelen Ј530.26 / Ј48106.15 1.10%
  185 PatientMummy Ј1500.00
  186 Bonglecat Ј2363.29 / Ј2501.27 94.48%
  187 Duke 848 Ј2672.00 / Ј10000.00 26.72%
  188 Sparrow123 Ј5130.00
  189 ali bf Ј8411.25 / Ј11026.36 76.28%
  190 Dolly Rocker Ј2295.46 / Ј5009.88 45.82%
  191 mossy Ј3021.51 / Ј6414.51 47.10%
  192 Karen 43 Ј_______
  193 DjShimmer Ј_______
  194 trixie888 Ј_______
  195 Factory Pilot Ј958.29 / Ј3406.94 28.13%
  196 black cat Ј4424.00 / Ј8847.00 50.01%
  197 Guna Ј2141.26 / Ј1500.00 142.75%
  198 LouiseJ Ј577.00 / Ј3100.00 18.61%
  199 666paw Ј1843.57 / Ј3643.57 50.60%
  200 Vicky496 Ј2244.73 / Ј2244.73 100.00%
• 201 Applecider Ј15000.00
  202 Trapezius Ј1200.00
  203 nannygladys Ј419.67 / Ј2749.67 15.26%
  204 princessfrugal Ј8517.92 / Ј18854.36 45.18%
  205 Ariel2013 Ј3536.53 / Ј7800.00 45.34%
  206 Byebyedebthellolife Ј_______
  207 Jonesy88 Ј2000.00 / Ј5000.00 40.00%
  208 Frizzle Ј3905.39 / Ј6965.20 56.07%
  209 LadyMA Ј_______
  210 WIN79 Ј220.00 / Ј1200.00 18.33%
  211 Glittery Ј2310.00 / Ј7500.00 30.80%
  212 kirstydriver Ј5094.00 / Ј6000.00 84.90%
  213 JAMIEDODGER Ј574.02 / Ј1500.00 38.27%
  214 Aloofdragon Ј418.00
  215 argomatt Ј15000.00
  216 Pablosammy Ј2000.00 / Ј2000.00 100.00%
  217 Longships Ј538.59 / Ј44214.66 1.22%
  218 Rachiedabbler70 Ј1794.93 / Ј1600.00 112.18%
• Debt Free Roll of Honour 2014!
  #027 trying hard Paid Ј52,500
  3rd March 2014
  #052 Bailey25 Paid Ј1,900
  26th March 2014
  #031 Maybe_its_because Paid Ј3,072
  30th April 2014
  #038 argomatt Paid Ј4014.22
  10th May 2014
  #095 araminta Paid Ј8500
  7th June 2014
  #013 freespirit66 Paid Ј2724
  20th June 2014
  #002 Jonesy88 Paid Ј3,500
  17th July 2014
  #200 Vicky496 Paid Ј2,244.73
  6th August 2014
  #007 LAM2011 Paid Ј7,000
  8th August 2014
  #107 1DayAAT Paid Ј12,500
  8th August 2014
  #078 Sandypan Paid 15,964
  5th September 2014
• Debt Free Roll of Honour 2014!
  #177 kirstydriver Paid Ј2,728.43
  1st October 2014
  #094 abba1772 Paid Ј3,020.26
  24th October 2014
  #058 Rachiedabbler70 Paid Ј12,628.00
  1st November 2014
  #135 Birdseed Paid Ј7747.60
  4th November 2014
  #197 Guna Paid Ј2141.26
  19th November 2014
  #100 Wanna Bee Free Paid Ј6707.87
  28th November 2014
  #018 Missu Paid Ј7361.00
  29th November 2014
  #218 Rachiedabbler70 Paid Ј1794.93
  7th December 2014
  #216 Pablosammy Paid Ј2000
  17th December 2014
  #034 muppets Paid Ј21,249.64
  25th December 2014
  #034 utopiah Paid Ј1,323
  26th December 2014
  #007 foxy78 Paid Ј5,500
  28th December 2014
• Monthly Totals:
  January: Ј117,792.41
  February: Ј49,323.15
  March: Ј70,475.32
  April: Ј38,295.09
  May: Ј37,626.88
  June: Ј27,976.13
  July: Ј32,594.42
  August: Ј34,963.52
  September: Ј41,558.23
  October: Ј24,384.67
  November: Ј35,904.39
  December: Ј44,668.46
  2014 Total: Ј555,562.67
• The thread is ready!
• sorry cross posted - I deleted my post so it wont mess up your postings
• Ј3587.35 is my goal to clear this year so can I please join in with this challenge I will do my best to finally get shot of these credit cards and overdraft ..
• Please count me in
  My balance to clear is Ј5500
• Well I was part of the thread in 2012/13 and managed to clear my debt then changed jobs, moved house and need to start again I've been lurking on the thread for the last few weeks and know what a help this group can be so hello everyone
  Target for Xmas 2014 is Ј5700
  At least it's a round number I suppose!
• Please can I join.
  Ј7000 for me Bring on the challenge.
• Hello mini please can I join in. Got a feeling I might not be able to do it but what the heck let's give it a try - I am aiming to pay off Ј2870 by Xmas 2014 to make me debt free.
• Can I join again please my target this year is Ј6000.