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

Uniscots97

Thought I'd resurrect this thread. It was one of my favourites.

Currently adding what I can to Amazon and Ebid (yes rather than amazon and if anyone has anything to say about ebid I'd love to hear it). Once any items have sold I put money straight from bank account straight to my visa. They must be wondering whats going on all those little payments!

Lucy1982_2

Currently sorting out things for a car boot, Need to pay off my Lloyds OD which I've run up while off sick... and paying part of my £191 car service bill today (had £130 saved for it)

Looking for things to Amazon as well. And remembering that a budget is there to be lived by... not as a bit of my imagination!! But overall just trying to stay positive and remembering that things could be a whole lot worse.

Looks like a good thread.

Sarahsaver

Selling a large box full of model buses on Ebay soonish! They belonged to ex oh;) Worth about £200, silly to keep £200 in a cupboard like that! It is ok the judge said all the contents of the home belong to me

Cazzdevil

I'm not actually in debt anymore, but can I still post on here please? I'm desperately trying to cut my costs and live well within my means so here's what lessons I've learned from MSE:

1. Cut my food shopping down to usually less than £20 a week for boyfriend, me & 2 cats.

2. Stop and think every time I want to buy something - don't buy clothes etc JUST cos they're cheap!

3. Taken a proper look at my finances & work out at what times of the month I have spare money (get paid weekly).

4. If you want something - SAVE up for it! Credit does noone any favours. I need a new car, so I'm saving up REAL money for it, not borrowing pretend money from a bank.

5. There are plenty of ways to earn extra little bits of money or get things for free with very little effort (the likes of Quidco & all cashback sites, or getting free tickets to the cinema etc.). Be prepared to do some research to find out about things like this.

6. Last but not least... KEEP CHECKING MSE! I'm always amazed at the sneaky little titbits of info I can find out on here which help me get something for nothing/make the most of what I have/make me learn a new skill.

Keep up the good work everyone!

red74

Fingers crossed I should be DF by the end of the year (technically by October but I'm being realistic and facing the fact I'm going to have to pay off my mum's debt too). Since my LBM I have:

- consolidated my cc balances onto 1 low APR LOB card and a low APR flexi-loan
- carried my little red book around with me like a security blanket and written every last penny spent in it
- recorded all my debt balances in a book and obsessively updated them every month (been a huge motivator - and well worth the £6 I spent on the book)
- gave myself a treat budget each month and stuck to it
- stopped eating out and ordering takeaways (yet my waistline is still expanding )
- trips to Boots were a heavy contributor to the debt so I'm not allowing myself to buy any more toiletries or make-up until I've used up everything I have stashed (3 mascarers down-6 to go, of only that was all I had left). Should apologise to my work colleagues if I've turned up for work in some slightly odd foundation shades!
- stopped going out from work on a lunchtime - far too easy to spend

red74

oh also forgot to say

- I try not to get too despondent about my OH changing his mind at the start of this year about buying a house together, afterall, if we had then finances would have been much tighter and I would have been paying the debt off for much much longer, (every cloud and all that...)

ltm07

Reduced Sky package(will cancel when contract finishes in Feb. Rang Virgin Media to get BB reduced from £18 to £10(although they still charged me £18 last month :mad: ). All overtime that we do we keep half to ourselves & pay the other half towards our debts,so we are always paying more than the £650 a month that we planned to pay,whilst putting a little aside for emergencies,treats etc. Off next week so going to go through everything again to see if we can cut back any more.

Uniscots97

Talking my friends into a night in and cooking a meal rather than getting a take away (we all bring something). Much cheaper and still have a social life

Mat_Money_saver_wannabe

Hi Everyone,

I have recently discovered MSE and I am now addicted. There are many things that I am going to look at to save money. Planning to clear 20K off my mortgage

Will keep you updated

HairyHandofDartmoor

Welcome Mat_Money. Well since I discovered mse over a year ago I have:
cancelled the milkman
give the kids squash in a flask instead of buying Capri Sun's for lunchboxes
cancelled an expensive kids activity I knew I couldn' afford
cancelled mobile phone insurance
cancelled £10 per month account fee cos I never used the benefits
halved my food bill every week
stopped hiring dvd's every week
stopped buying school photos and take our own instead
stopped buying tv guide every week
buy tesco value multipack blank cards for all occasions(20p each card)
joined Quidco
avoided the shops as much as possible