NEW - pay off £20,000 (ish) by Christmas 2009

angelicmary85

sarahs999 wrote: »

Thanks angelicmary - are you joining us??! Not too late...

Hiya,

I'm making PaD'S instead of big lump sums (I couldn't save for long enough to make lump sums!!) but thank you for the invite! I'm going to be lurking though to see how you're all doing!!

lauhen

If you don't mind me asking, How are you all managing to save so much, I seriously need to get the debts down, and Reading all of your posts this week has inspired me to attempt to save, I have just got a new job so whatever I earn is going to the debt fund plus any other money I manage to save from oh wage once bills etc are paid. I probably have things to sell on eBay, I guess it will be slowly slowly, but I want to try.

mel19632

We are just majorly cutting back (as a family) which makes it much easier.

Also, we do the daily scratchcards as well - only 10p (min per day) but every little helps! Ebay is really good for making money too

lauhen

If you don't mind me asking, what are daily scratchcards, I have seen this written in quite a few posts

sarahs999

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1412565

sarahs999

lauhen wrote: »

If you don't mind me asking, How are you all managing to save so much, I seriously need to get the debts down, and Reading all of your posts this week has inspired me to attempt to save, I have just got a new job so whatever I earn is going to the debt fund plus any other money I manage to save from oh wage once bills etc are paid. I probably have things to sell on eBay, I guess it will be slowly slowly, but I want to try.

We're pulling out all the stops. Everyone has different circumstances, but here's what we're doing:

DHa nd I both work full time. We try to do all our day to day living (including holidays and unexpected expenses) from our salaries. THen we earn extra money on the side by doing:
DH: gigs (he's a musician
Me: Mystery shopping
Writing reviews on Bview
Writing revies on comparedby.us
I run a separate cake business that brings in a couple of hundred a month
do everything through quidco
play bingoport and sell the amazon vouchers I win
Sell on ebay and amazon

And anything else that turns up that I can fit in! It's a lot and it's exhausting but I'm determined to clear our CC debts this year. Originally I thought it would take about three years to do it and then I thought hold on, this is crap. Just tighten the belt for a year and pull out all the stops, and you can do it.

So basically, any money that comes in, I put into a savings account until just before the next payday, when I blitz our cards.

brizzledfw

Hi lauhen - boring though it sounds its also about taking control of what you spend and why you spend it. If as a person or a family you are committed to freeing yourself from the worry, stress etc of debt then its essential that you stick to a budget and pay off whatever you can from the rest - however small. I have joined the PAD (payment a day strand) today cos I think making a small payment everyday as well as the larges ones will just make my goal realisable. Suits the way I want to control my spending and again what I spend any 'spare' cash on (control freak that I am! ) Plus when I come on this site regularly my spending goes down..it keeps me on track as it were.

best of luck anyway

lemma1968

Sent another £125 off the debts. I'm at about 55% closer to the target so far!!:j Still a long way to go. Sig updated.

Have a great Saturday everyone xx

Harrietbaby

Well that's another £30 off cc. Long way to go, but hey hoh! Also put the kids £5 in each of their savings accounts (easter egg money from Nanna - but as eldest already had loads of choccies and little ones only 5 months this seemed a better idea) as if it stays in my purse it will only get spent!

Don't really see how I'm going to make my target -£10000, but will keep plugging away. Hubby's on about doing a car boot tomorrow -we did one last Monday but still have loads of [STRIKE]tat[/STRIKE] collector's items left!!

I will have to get up with him as otherwise he will just go downstairs and fall asleep on the sofa.

Going on our £9.50 hols next Sunday so have kept some money back for this - I figure if I'm careful will have some left to put towards debts. Also am back off maternity leave in May so this will mean a big jump in my income (allowing for childcare costs).

10 items on Ebay at mo, only 2 with bids at 99p so don't think this will help much. However, 2 year old (little dot) needs some new clothes as she's currently wearing 12-18 month trousers and they are beginning to look half mast. Think what I make on ebay may have to go to buying some new clothes for her on there - at least I'm not too proud to buy secondhand as most of her clothes have come from there or car booties and she always looks gorgeous (obviously I am slightly biased!)

Hope everyone is having a good day - the weather's gorgeous here. Just spent £4 getting eldest daughter hair trimmed - tried it myself once and never again!

lemma1968

Good luck with the car boot Harrietbaby!:T

Either small or large, every time you make a payment to ether a debt or a savings account or whatever you are setting yourself up for less grief later on.

I have pad another £50 off MBNA today. I have such a long way to go with that. I am looking forward to receiving the statement for that this next week to see how I am doing.

Have updated my sig.