Mission Impossible - I hope not!!

dizzytina

Morning all,

I am fairly new to this site but i have been watching the forum for quite a few months i have never been brave enough to post or to take a real look at how bad my problem is:o

I sat down the other day and finally faced my demons and although the figures are not good at all they are not far from what i thought they would be.

I am determined to become debt free as i can't remember a time i didn't have credit of some sort - mind you i'm 34 so my memory could be going with age:rotfl:

I have decided to start a diary to try and motivate myself and to use as a tool to monitor how i deal with my debt - oh no not another boring diary i here you all say - well you would be wrong ok your not it probably is another boring diary to everyone else but hey ho

So to get me started i have set myself a steep challenge to pay off £4k by the end of 2009!. :eek:

Here some ideas of how i intend to do it.

• have a clearout and ebay lots of things
• use up lots of cupboard and freezer items instead of nipping to tesco every two minutes
• Make lunches at home and take to work
• Clear out my bathroom cupboards which have hoards of cosmetics etc and use up all the things i have bought - so reduce beauty budget
• Go through my wardrobe and see what clothes i can alter (i.e. old jeans cut into shorts etc) instead of buying new and reduce my clothes budget .
• Do more mystery shopping and have a monthly target to reach
• Try and have more NSD's and leave my purse at home
• Make bulk meals and freeze
• I have purchased a 12months Cosmo magazine supscription from Next directory in the sale for £10 which should save me money as i have been know to spend more than that in a week on mags. i am now banned from buying any other mags.

Ok thats a start anyway and i'll have a think of some more ideas but if anyone has any good ones feel free to add

Wish me luck

jacey98

Hi DizzyTina

just popped in to say hello and welcome to the diaries. i am off a similar age and too cant remember not having a loan or cc to pay off and have reached that stage where it has got to go!!!!!!

your ideas are brilliant the only other thing i have done is a few car boots which have been quite good but not as much as ebay.

good luck im sure you will reach your target of clearing 4000. i am looking at clearing both my cc,s by jan latest then hit the loan with all i can!!!

jc x

edinburgher

Hi DizzyTina :hello:

That's a steep task you've set yourself, but you seem to have a lot of positive ideas for how you're going to get there and imagination (and enthusiasm) is most of the battle!

As you're one of those wonderful folk who manages to come up with long lists of things to do to get out of debt (the best I can manage is 'save some of my wages' :rotfl:) make sure you take advantage of threads such as the 'What DFW thing have you done today?' - full of like minded people.

I wouldn't despair at being 34 and still being a debtor - I'm 26 and it already feels like I've been in debt my entire adult life!

dizzytina

Hello Guys and thanks for your posts.

i am really determined to crack it and get rid of my debt (mind i am only on my first week so lets see how chirpy i am in a months time!!!):rotfl:

Good luck jc with your target of £5k it looks like you are doing really well with it up to now.

Additional thoughts i have had since this morning include

• selling books and cd's on amazon and greenmetropolis. i have never tried either but have seen a few mentions.

• I have also purchased a bike through our works on your bike scheme where you pay direct from your salary and save around 40%. i now plan to cycle to work (from my daughters nursery) atleast 3 times a week. This should save me some petrol money which i can put in my debt fund

dizzytina

Morning All,

Ok day 2 on my conquest to become debt free!!!:eek:

Well yesterday went ok i managed a NSD:T and i am aiming for another today even though it is payday.

I have entered a few challenges to try and motivate myself and these hopefully will help me reach my very steep challenge of paying of £4k of debt before the end of 09.

I have also had some further ideas i'm am going to use to reach my target.

• i am going to try and grow my own herbs and veg (mmmm this is probably going to be harder to achieve than paying of £4k as i kill every plant i touch but i'll give it a whirl:rotfl:)
• Sell some handmade cards that i have made on ebay (does anyone know if there is a better place to sell them?). i have been making cards for about 10 years but just as a hobby so i thought it can't harm to try and make a bit of money as i have cupboards full of stock etc.
• Want to try scratchies which i have heard others mention but i have no idea what it is so if someone could let me know i'd really appreciate it oh and free bingo again how do i do it etc

Well i suppose i had better get on an do some of the things i have said and see how i get on

have a good day everyone

spykey_uk

Hi Dizzytina!

Well done for facing up to your debt and for starting a diary, I've found writing in it every day really does help to keep you focused.

Here's a good thread on the scratchcard thing, I find I make around 25pish a day on them. Not loads but over the month its almost £10! :rotfl:

Good luck with becoming Debt Free! I will keep reading with interest to see how you get on!

Sarah x

dizzytina

Hi sarah,
thanks for your post but your scratchcard thing thread link doesn't seem to be attached?

edinburgher

selling books and cd's on amazon and greenmetropolis. i have never tried either but have seen a few mentions.

Amazon is ok for selling off books, but the less mainstream your tastes the better! If you have shelves groaning with best selling paperbacks you'll not make much, but if you have any textbooks or the like kicking around they normally make good money.

I have also purchased a bike through our works on your bike scheme where you pay direct from your salary and save around 40%. i now plan to cycle to work (from my daughters nursery) atleast 3 times a week. This should save me some petrol money which i can put in my debt fund

Not to mention the fact that it'll make you fitter, prolong your life (well, if you avoid cars and wear a helmet) and help save the planet!

Sell some handmade cards that i have made on ebay (does anyone know if there is a better place to sell them?). i have been making cards for about 10 years but just as a hobby so i thought it can't harm to try and make a bit of money as i have cupboards full of stock etc.

If you haven't already you might like to take a look at the second income board - there's a surprising number of crafty types on the forums and I'm sure you could pick up some hints :money:

andrina_nightshade

Hi Dizzytina

Hope you enjoyed your trip to Oxford.

• Clear out my bathroom cupboards which have hoards of cosmetics etc and use up all the things i have bought - so reduce beauty budget

This is something I'm doing as well. Scary isn't it, how many we accumulate? :eek: What's your biggest tolietry/cosmetic vice? Mines are eyeliner and body moisturiser. I swear, by the time I'm through I'll probably have the softest arms in all of Scotland :rotfl:

dizzytina wrote: »

• i am going to try and grow my own herbs and veg (mmmm this is probably going to be harder to achieve than paying of £4k as i kill every plant i touch but i'll give it a whirl:rotfl:)

Again, snap! :rotfl:I don't understand why, I practically grew up helping my grandparents in the garden. But whenever I try to grow something for myself, it just withers and dies (I'm starting to suspect that the plants are commiting suicide just to spite me!)

Did you ever get hold of a link for the scratchcard thread? Just in case you didn't, here it is: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1487085

Enjoy the rest of your day! x

dizzytina

Hi All,

Well its a few weeks since i had my LBM and realised i had to face my debts and i thought it might be useful to write some of the things i have done to try and cut back and to make money to pay off my debts. I hope this list will keep me motivated through the hard times and i am going to try and do an update of it every couple of weeks.....

Ok here we go things i have done.

• Sold 52 items on ebay and listed another 31 ending this week. Money made from it so far £215:D
• Listed some books on greenmetropolis and have sold 3 so far
• registered to sell with Amazon
• done some clicking through pigsback
• done 5 mystery shops and signed up with a second mystery shopping company
• registered to sell on etsy.com
• made more of an effort to make lunch from store cupboard and use up freezer/cupboard stock
• registered to sell at my next local NCT sale.
• planted some seeds to grow radish,coriander and carrots.
• cut back on my budget and checked my online banking everyday
• updated my spend everyday and monitored my budget

having looked at the list i feel quite proud of myself to have achieved this in such a short time as i work full time and have a 3year old and a hubby to spend time with too!!

I know there is a long way to go yet but i feel that maybe there is a little light at the end of the tunnel.

jacey98

hi dizzytina

well done on the ebaying that is a massive amount of things sold!!! i think i did 16 last time and found that a real struggle to list.

i thought i would go the grow your own way and my friend gave me a pepper plant to start off which grew really well and i got very excited untill it turned into a dahlia and not a pepper!!!!!! she later told me oh yes i did buy flowers too must have given you one from the wrong tray!!!!!!!!!! so minor setback but will be buying my own seeds from now on.

pigsback is good takes a while but did get my first £10 voucher the other day so worth it in the end.

have a great day

jc x