What are you doing to get debt free .... join in!

a1nosweat

Well, I haven't exactly had a lightbulb moment yet, My plan is to register for smile, get some wine, then ask HSBC for some money back from charges.

BUT.... I have recently made £50 by taking part in a Mercia FM(local radio) slot flirty at 8:30, wher I asked my best mate(who was in on it) to go out with me....She turned me down,and instead of a £100 date, she gets sent £100! Now however, because of the stirling sonnet I performed (twice) on air, A mercia FM listener wants to ask me out! Now do i go on a £100 date with a random local radio listener, or do I pocket £100? I know what the MSE answer is, but i just don't know. See how it goes tomorow I guess!

MascaraMinx

Since joining MSE last month I have:

Opened the A&L high interest current account
Opened the M&S low interest credit card and transfered balances across
Been on uSwitch looking for better utlities providers (saving ???)
Negotiated a better mobile phone contract (saving £20 pm)
Done a car boot sale (Made £50)
Registered on Quidco (made £115 so far)
Taken advantage of the free gym membership insurance deal and cancelled my current membership (saving £30pm)
Set up a spreadsheet monitoring incomings and outgoings so we can plan & monitor debt repayments, mortgage overpayments and savings (saving lots!)
Shared this site with all my friends and family
Started taking lunch to work (saving £60 pm)
Stopped buying so many magazines and beauty products (saving £30 pm)
Got a mortgage pig
Edited to add I now do meal plans too and try to have at least one no-spend day per week, and on days where I must spend I'm thinking about where the money is going and why!

So I have saved at least £140pm and made £165 yipee!

and that's in less than one month!

Mirtos

foreverskint wrote:

Working on adult chat lines to earn extra money:o

But it is a laff:rotfl: :rotfl: :rolleyes:

yup. I've done that too!

Lara44

Since starting MSE-ing in earnest in July I have-

Started cycling every day
Made a budget for myself
Started a spending diary to enforce the budget!
Stopped spending money on !!!!!!
Changed electricity and gas suppliers
Joined Quidco and Pigsback
Done a few matched bets
Done extra hours at work
Got a compost bin for green goodness
Started baking instead of buying 55p chocolate a time from the shop
Cut down on takeaways
Started shopping at a farmer's market
Reclaiming my bank charges
Sold all my stuff on Ebay and Amazon
Started saving money for quarterly bills
Started buying bargains for Xmas and Birthdays
Started getting loads of free samples
Got Advantage card & Clubcard

Phew I didn't realise it was so much!

poorbutrich

a1nosweat wrote:

Well, I haven't exactly had a lightbulb moment yet, My plan is to register for smile, get some wine, then ask HSBC for some money back from charges.

BUT.... I have recently made £50 by taking part in a Mercia FM(local radio) slot flirty at 8:30, wher I asked my best mate(who was in on it) to go out with me....She turned me down,and instead of a £100 date, she gets sent £100! Now however, because of the stirling sonnet I performed (twice) on air, A mercia FM listener wants to ask me out! Now do i go on a £100 date with a random local radio listener, or do I pocket £100? I know what the MSE answer is, but i just don't know. See how it goes tomorow I guess!

Hey good luck with that! That's :money:

frugglewump

This is going to sound a bit daft, but it is my most recent MSE idea.

We are v.slowly decorating this house & that involves putting up shelves etc as the place has no storage. We have no car & you can't take 2.4m planks on the bus (& they won't cut them for you since only 6 inches wide)- so I took a skateboard from freecycle & now tape it to the bottom of the wood & walk home.

Don't know how much it's saved me - don't want to add up the taxi fares it would have cost.

I suppose it looks a bit funny, but I need the exercise now i've cancelled my gym membership.

The_Boss

My biggest thing is that I was forced to move back with my parents due to relationship breakup and I'm going to move out early next year instead of around now so I can kill more of my debt.

Other things - I'm not going to football so often, cutting back on eating out and less big nights at expensive bars/clubs.

newlywed

Swapped mobile contracts from Orange £40 a month to Vodaphone £20 a month with 3 months half price. :j

Cooked more from scratch.
Frozen more left overs.
Usually take lunch in to work with me.
Think about which food brand is cheaper instead of just grabbing the first one!
Keep bread in the freezer so it lasts longer and just defrost the slices needed.
Turn more lights etc off!
Fill the oven when it's on - bake extra to freeze or bake pudding.
Stopped buying magazines and puzzle books.
Applied to go on the electoral role so I can get cheaper credit cards to balance transfer.
Stopped going out for meals

Edit: changed my clothes shopping shops to Asda, Tesco, Primark instead of Next, Debenhams etc.

littlestar1981

- I've been doing mystery shops so me and OH get meals out for free!
- I've got a job with AQA so I can earn money instead of aimlessly browing the internet of an evening.
- Parnts buy the food so I've got her to buy me ready meals for lunch so I don't have to go near the expensive canteen
- I did go from book shop to charity shops for books, now go to the library
- I even plan going to the library for after 6 so parking is free
- I have cut my mobile phone tariff by £7 (the most I can do for now)
- I have been saving £2 coins, 20p's and coppers
- I have sold lots of books on Amazon and handbags and phones on eBay, and only withdrawn funds when over £50 so do not get charged!
- I have gone to Tesco for petrol as it's not only the cheapest I also get clubcard points
- I have called my credit card company and got the interest rate reduced by 11%
- I have joined Quidco and Pigsback
- I have got spreadsheets for every debt I have
- Made a complaint to my bank about the mistreatment of joint account with my ex
- Cut out all magazines (unreal for someone who spent £50 a month on them)
- Cut up my Visa cards
- Reduced clothes shopping from around £300 a month to about £10 a month
- Agreed to go fishing with my boyfriend as he pays for that, so that's an entire day without spending a penny!

Wow!! All in one month!! I'm even gonna pat myself on the back!!

Dolly_Smith

ditched the mobile (completely!)
researched house insurance - cut by nearly half
got reduced payment on Sky
cancelled optician practice plan
cancelled two open credit cards (with an available balance of £6k)
reduced mortgage by £200 going on fixed rate deal and not increasing term
paid off £3k on Capital One card (and counting)
started looking at prices in supermarket (cut food bill by half this month)
got fees back from building society for missed dd and the late mortgage payment penalty charge because the silly cow on the end of the phone cancelled my mortgage dd by mistake and didn't bother to admit it!
kept spreadsheet of every single penny going out and coming in
cancelled all open and unnecessary dds
paid off bank loan

ooh more than I thought!