New Leaf

I have decided now is the time that I need to get my act together and pay of my debts asap. Currently I owe:

CC#1 - £148.77
CC#2 - £764.18
Very - £120.52
Argos - £245.83

Currently, my income is only around £500/m. Half of that goes on my bills (above and also phone contract). In January I had agreed to half in for a holiday to Orlando with my mum and three of my cousins, but that was when I was earning more than I am now! So I've paid £1500 to the actual holiday (flights and apartment) so now need to come up with money for park tickets and spending money. My mum is covering the car hire herself as I wont be driving because I don't want to pay an extra $14 per day surcharge just because i'm under 25!!

I need to find about £1300 by June (probably less as this is park tickets and spending money which my mum will contribute towards). I still have around £1000 on my credit card, which I will use if need be, but I would strongly like to avoid this. To start I'm going to concentrate on this holiday. I'm selling all that I can. I still live at home and my mum agrees that we have far too much clutter, so step one is rid the house of everything we don't need, want or use. I have a few things on ebay, but will be putting more up later and I will also list things on Gumtree and Facebook selling sites. I mean it when I say I am selling everything I possibly can, it will be so hard letting go of that thing i've had sitting in the loft since 2007, but I will have to find a way to let go :rotfl:

So, the things I will do to earn this extra cash to pay for the holiday and pay my debts off quicker:
Surveys. I made a decent amount of money doing this before.
Selling. Bye bye old junk I do not use.
Stop smoking. Hello £200/m.
Baby/Pet sit. I have friends and neighbours that would be happy to have a little break.
Womble. Put the money I save straight into savings to be used on the holiday/debts.

Obviously, mum will pay for the park tickets and spending money, but I want to contribute.


Goal #1 - Make/Save £1300 by June.

Fingers crossed I manage to achieve my goal! I understand that it sounds highly unreasonable, but I do love a challenge!
Debt Paid - £0/£7240
Debt free goal date - 30 April 2019.
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Comments

  • hummingbird
    hummingbird Posts: 1,522 Forumite
    Hi there, just to say all the best with your plans to raise the £1300 - sounds like you have lots of plans and determination! If you've got lots of items to sell that will make a very good start:j

    Will be interested to hear how you're getting on!
    Hummingbird x
    £10 a day extra in May '18[B]£35/310[
    Virtual Sealed Pot 2018 £500/£2500 = 20%
    You can find my diary here:http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5189836:beer:
  • Harleyquinn
    Harleyquinn Posts: 114
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Thank you very much! I know it's a lot I'm wanting to make in such a short space of time but I'm confident that I can do it. Loads of random crap just listed online and some have a few watchers already. Funny how people want the junk we dont :)
    Debt Paid - £0/£7240
    Debt free goal date - 30 April 2019.
  • hummingbird
    hummingbird Posts: 1,522 Forumite
    I've got to admit I've lost my ebay mojo a bit recently. I've done lots in the past though. I definitely could do with getting back into it.

    Are there any other ways you could save that you've thought of? The sealed pot is a very good thread to look at, for saving spare change and keeping it out of reach too!:j
    £10 a day extra in May '18[B]£35/310[
    Virtual Sealed Pot 2018 £500/£2500 = 20%
    You can find my diary here:http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5189836:beer:
  • Harleyquinn
    Harleyquinn Posts: 114
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    I've not looked at that thread yet but i'll go look now!! Any spare change I have (including £1 and £2 coins) at the end of the day always goes into a jar. But I've had a bad habit of using this money for takeaways or trips to the shop for munchies, but i'm putting a stop to that now.

    I'm not allowing to buy myself anything I don't need between now and going on holiday. I usually spend anywhere between £50 - £250 a month on things I don't need but want, like clothes, shoes, skin care products or anything that is cheap that I decided I must have because its cheap. So i'll save money from there.

    I'm finding ebay pretty annoying just now. I've so much stuff that I know I could and should put up but it just takes so much time and effort that my descriptions end up being short and rubbish because I got bored. This one man keeps messaging me asking if i'll take way less than my BIN price on my DSLR too. Which, I guess is ok, but annoying because I'm pretty confident he wants to buy it to sell it on for profit based on the fact he told me he bought one cheaper last month.

    I made £30 from the sale of a buggy on Gumtree yesterday though, but I've spent some of it on lunch and fabric softener today though. Oops!!
    Debt Paid - £0/£7240
    Debt free goal date - 30 April 2019.
  • hummingbird
    hummingbird Posts: 1,522 Forumite
    I took a lot less than my BIN for a ring I was selling last year - it was an easy enough transaction and I got my money immediately, but I think like you that the guy who bought it was going to sell it on for a profit! Don't take his offer if it's not what you want to get for the item - you could always list it again if it doesn't sell, for a bit less than it is on for now. I always look at sensible offers but some people are obviously trying to "steal" things from you!

    Well done on selling the buggy on Gumtree, I've never tried selling on there!:T
    £10 a day extra in May '18[B]£35/310[
    Virtual Sealed Pot 2018 £500/£2500 = 20%
    You can find my diary here:http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5189836:beer:
  • Harleyquinn
    Harleyquinn Posts: 114
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    To be honest, I would take what he's offering since I really need the money, but it's listed for 30 days so i'm more than happy to wait and see how it goes!

    Thank you :) I don't really like selling on Gumtree, I always find there are quite a lot of scammers, but when you make a sale it's always nice not having to pay any fees :)
    Debt Paid - £0/£7240
    Debt free goal date - 30 April 2019.
  • I've made £73.81 from selling two things on ebay bringing my total to £103.81 which i'm happy with. Although, I am still waiting on payment for one item, but I expect I will receive that soon.
    Debt Paid - £0/£7240
    Debt free goal date - 30 April 2019.
  • hummingbird
    hummingbird Posts: 1,522 Forumite
    Ooh well done that's a great amount! :beer:
    £10 a day extra in May '18[B]£35/310[
    Virtual Sealed Pot 2018 £500/£2500 = 20%
    You can find my diary here:http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5189836:beer:
  • Now at £824.21 in just a few short weeks :D thank god for ebay and gumtree
    Debt Paid - £0/£7240
    Debt free goal date - 30 April 2019.
  • Harleyquinn
    Harleyquinn Posts: 114
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    So, it's been a while since I was last on MSE. There are various reasons for this, but I wont get into them.

    Last time I was here i'd made/saved a total of £824.21. This went up to £1405 but unfortunately, all that money went on Disney park tickets for my holiday this month.

    I'm going with my mum, my uncles partner and her children. Unfortunately, she isn't making life very easy right now and i'm needing to raise around £400 by next friday!!!! I'm beyond stressed right now. I've been off work sick since January and only getting SSP.

    I'm trying so hard to keep calm and try not to worry too much, but it's really hard. I need the money to pay for car hire and the deposit, all other expenses are covered and paid for.

    I've listed a bunch of things on ebay and so far made £33 with more items ending today and tomorrow so fingers crossed I make some more. I'm also expecting a £49.95 refund any day now and also my final college bursary payment of £73 so that helps.

    From selling things during march and april I got rid of mostly everything in my house of any value, so now i'm on to things like clothes and other items that wont fetch much money. But I do have my mum's laptop which she said I can sell, but I'm struggling to get it sold for the price I want. It's now too late for me to list more on ebay, so i'm going to have to give facebook selling sites and gumtree try again and see if i get any luck there!

    Wish me luck, guys. I need all the luck I can get
    Debt Paid - £0/£7240
    Debt free goal date - 30 April 2019.
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