Cocktails and Dreams - striving towards debt free days

shrimpy_80

Hi everyone,

I have been toying with the idea of starting a diary for a long time now, and have decided its about time I stopped dithering and got on with it!

I had my LBM in Sept 08 when HSBC decided to withdraw my overdraft without warning leaving me totally dependent on OH for rent, bills etc for the whole month (they cunningly timed it the day after payday) I realised then that I didn't ever want to put myself in that position again. OH was wonderful but I felt so ashamed of myself.

However it was only on finding this site in January 09 that I gained the inspiration and knowledge to make some real inroads into my debt. Since then I have repaid over 7k and am not-quite-halfway to Debt-Free. I am hoping that this diary will help my focus and motivation. I am a member of Flying_Fresians excellent Debt-free by 30 challenge, which for me runs out in 375 days time. I do various income-boosting activities already but need to increase this substantially. This train of thought led me to develop my (not so) cunning plan... (more on this later)

So feel free to post on here with any encouragement/gentle prods and hopefully my ramblings will be of some use to somebody!

Thanks for reading x

shrimpy_80

So, the plan is as follows. My monthly take home pay comes in at around £1130. I have a dd set up for £415 which goes into a separate accounts for rent, all bills and food budget. The only other dd is for my mobile which at its highest is £35 (can definitely bring this down again though which is another task).

This leaves £680 per month for debt busting. My aim is to put ALL of this money towards debts and use secondary income (ebay, MS) and vouchers (surveys etc) to cover all other spends. I figure that I will have to motivate myself to do well at these this way! And even if I don't make a bean, my essentials are still covered.

My total to pay presently stands at 8719.21 (although about £150 of this is owed to me by friends for paying our Christmas meal out deposit-but I will include for now). Paying the £680 a month for 12 months = £8160. So this is still a little way off to reach my target of being totally debt free by my next birthday (12 months and 9 days ) but its close enough to make it a real possibility. I have also started a £2 tin (thank you M&S penny bazaar) which I hope will help towards the deficit.

So thats the plan, like so many others I'm hoping that this diary will keep me on the straight and narrow and keeping my goal at the front of my mind.

Sorry for such a boring number crunching second post (anyone would think this was a money forum ) but I find it helps me to lay everything down in black and white. Have a week off work from today so the money making starts here!

shrimpy_80

So, on the to do list for today:
1. B1ngoport
2. Sign up to TAB
3. Post Ebay & Amazon parcels
4. 3 dooyoo reviews
5. Take Ebay photos - 3 items
6. Finish turbolister - if I can get pics to upload as last time they randomly refused!

I predict the Ebay and dooyoo will be my downfall! Really enjoy writing the reviews once I get going but find it really difficult to actually make a start. Think I have a half written one saved in Word so that might help get me started...Wish me luck!

shrimpy_80

shrimpy_80 wrote: »

So, on the to do list for today:
1. B1ngoport done
2. Sign up to TAB done (technically - see below)
3. Post Ebay & Amazon parcels done
4. 3 dooyoo reviews erm...
5. Take Ebay photos - 3 items ...see, what happened was...
6. Finish turbolister - if I can get pics to upload as last time they randomly refused! Oh dear, 'F' for Fail!

I predict the Ebay and dooyoo will be my downfall! Really enjoy writing the reviews once I get going but find it really difficult to actually make a start. Think I have a half written one saved in Word so that might help get me started...Wish me luck!

Signed up for Take a Break but couldn't seem to find the scratchcard, everything I tried took me straight to bingo. Although I didn't deposit anything yet, as I seem to remember reading you need id to withdraw money and I didn't fancy getting it trapped in there? Should've done my research! Don't suppose anyone reading this could point a shrimp in the right direction? That's if anyone is reading, its getting a bit lonely in here *brrrr*

Lemon_Tree

take a break only credits your free scratchcards into bonus not into cash, but you do go in through the bingo and there's a scrolling screen you want the free daily card on it but there's a nack to catching it.
i do butlins bingo - deposit £10 play one card then withdraw the £10. When you get winnings over £10 you can withdraw again.
i also do virgin bingo - deposit £5 play a card, wait 72 hours (from first deposit only) and withdraw the £5. When you get winnings over £5 you can withdraw again.

Hope this helps

mooomin

Have you signed up to Quidco etc for cashback on any purchases, handy over Xmas and when renewing insurance/mobile.

Also look at selling CDs/DVDs on Music Magpie if they won't go on Ebay - you get 10% cashback on Quidco with them too.

Then there is the current fashion of B!ngo Br!ta!n. I can ping you details in a PM if you like! A way of (possibly) making free money!

shrimpy_80

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

take a break only credits your free scratchcards into bonus not into cash, but you do go in through the bingo and there's a scrolling screen you want the free daily card on it but there's a nack to catching it.
i do butlins bingo - deposit £10 play one card then withdraw the £10. When you get winnings over £10 you can withdraw again.
i also do virgin bingo - deposit £5 play a card, wait 72 hours (from first deposit only) and withdraw the £5. When you get winnings over £5 you can withdraw again.

Hope this helps

Thanks for that Lemon Tree, I am already with Butlins Bingo. Will give virgin bingo a try too - just need a break from those evil orange fish on Butlins

shrimpy_80

flying_fresian wrote: »

Have you signed up to Quidco etc for cashback on any purchases, handy over Xmas and when renewing insurance/mobile.

Also look at selling CDs/DVDs on Music Magpie if they won't go on Ebay - you get 10% cashback on Quidco with them too.

Then there is the current fashion of B!ngo Br!ta!n. I can ping you details in a PM if you like! A way of (possibly) making free money!

I have signed up with Quidco but not really explored it properly yet, is on the list for Christmas pressies. I sold some bits on Music Magpie but missed out on Quidco Might go through OH's cd's he never listens to and do them the favour of rehoming them?

Details of B Britain would be fab, thanks. Keep seeing it mentioned around.

Thanks x

macgirl

Hi Shrimpy :hello:

Sounds like you've got a good plan there :T I know what you mean about the goldfish. Every day I pray for the keys of plenty, but they never show themselves...

Keep posting - I look forward to hearing of your successes

shrimpy_80

Hi macgirl!

'Keys of plenty', that is such a fab name for them! Maybe the goldfish (or orange fish as I called it - no biology prizes for me there) should be called the Fish of Frugality? I did 50p once though and nearly fell of my chair with excitement!

Well done on your November £10 a day, thats a fantastic result! Will be spending a lot more time on that thread in the coming months, if I want to have any kind of social life...

Thanks for your post, I feel much less lonely now

Katy83

Hi Shrimpy,

Just found your diary, well done on all the progress you've made so far. Good luck with working out the bingo stuff, it all looks way too complicated to me! Am subscribing to your thread and I'll read with interest xx