The 18k Challenge

becsxxx

electriclady wrote:

Wow............Just read through this thread, you guys are doing really well. I am in £21000 of debt and I'm only 20! I would love to do what you guys are doing, only problem is, I barley have any spare income to do it! :eek:

I'm 25 and am getting there slowly. There are loads of things you can do, even on a small income; have you tried:

• Pigsback (free vouchers for nothing - use for essentials in John Lewis/Boots or save towards presents)
• Quidco - for cashback on essential purchases and daily clicks for cash
• Ebay - sell everything you possibly can!
• Mystery Shopping - I do loads of this and probably earn £150 a month from it, as well as getting loads of free meals out which means my food bills are smaller.
• Do as many paid for surveys as possible - there are loads of sites - and rewards can be free vouchers or cash!
• Scour the other boards for freebies and great offers - this site helped me make a huge difference to my debt!

DontDoDebtKids

Hi all,

I wonder what week of this challenge we are in now?

I've decided not to "cheat" by using my flat sale to clear my debts. I'm going to slog it out with the rest of you and invest the proceeds of the sale instead.

If I don't, I fear it will have been all too easy to clear my debts and I need to teach myself not to do it again!

DDDK

Mirtos

DontDoDebtKids wrote:

Hi all,

I wonder what week of this challenge we are in now?

I've decided not to "cheat" by using my flat sale to clear my debts. I'm going to slog it out with the rest of you and invest the proceeds of the sale instead.

If I don't, I fear it will have been all too easy to clear my debts and I need to teach myself not to do it again!

DDDK

Arghhhh! Just posted an epic post, with plot lines, narrative, character development, sub plot THE WORKS!!! and then got an error message when I clicked submit. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr :mad: :mad: :mad:

Anyway - that's very honourble of you DDDk - I totally understand the logic - but make sure the credit vs debit interest rates work in you favour!

electriclady

becsxxx wrote:

I'm 25 and am getting there slowly. There are loads of things you can do, even on a small income; have you tried:

• Pigsback (free vouchers for nothing - use for essentials in John Lewis/Boots or save towards presents)
• Quidco - for cashback on essential purchases and daily clicks for cash
• Ebay - sell everything you possibly can!
• Mystery Shopping - I do loads of this and probably earn £150 a month from it, as well as getting loads of free meals out which means my food bills are smaller.
• Do as many paid for surveys as possible - there are loads of sites - and rewards can be free vouchers or cash!
• Scour the other boards for freebies and great offers - this site helped me make a huge difference to my debt!

Hi there,

I posted my SOA and had advice on how to reduce outgoings. Your advice is different as it is advising me on how to earn money................. I'm interested in the mystery shopping.....how do i go about doing that?

Surveys too.......that sounds pretty simple? Could you give any sites etc?

becsxxx

DontDoDebtKids wrote:

I've decided not to "cheat" by using my flat sale to clear my debts. I'm going to slog it out with the rest of you and invest the proceeds of the sale instead.

If I don't, I fear it will have been all too easy to clear my debts and I need to teach myself not to do it again!

DDDK

Wow, that is very good of you DDDK!

becsxxx

electriclady wrote:

Hi there,

I posted my SOA and had advice on how to reduce outgoings. Your advice is different as it is advising me on how to earn money................. I'm interested in the mystery shopping.....how do i go about doing that?

Surveys too.......that sounds pretty simple? Could you give any sites etc?

Hi electric lady,

Firstly, just want to say that reducing your outgoings is definitely the first step, as is knowing which debt to start paying off first, and the advice you get on the Debt Free Wannabe board is invaluable for this.

For mystery shopping, see this thread for loads of helpful links and advice:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=223762

There are loads of survey sites around, such as Lightspeed, YouGov, Valued Opinions, etc. Most of them offer a referral bonus, so PM me if you'd like any sign up links.

Good luck with it; it didn't feel like I was getting anywhere for ages, but one day you realise you are doing ok!!!

DontDoDebtKids

Blimey, look at this:

1. £13,850.00 Mirtos
2. £13,970.73 DDDK
3. £14,766.58 becsxxx

becsxxx

DontDoDebtKids wrote:

Blimey, look at this:

1. £13,850.00 Mirtos
2. £13,970.73 DDDK
3. £14,766.58 becsxxx

When we look at it like that we've all done sooooo well!!!

Still hate being last though - grump

Mirtos

Blimey. We are doing well aren't we? :T Sorry for the absence of a proper update - I spent ages typing a really thorough one yesterday and then lost it - I was so traumatised, I couldn't quite face doing it again!

The quick version is that I haven't completed my goals again - I'm currently doing a full time job AND working freelance in the evenings, as well as all my usual extra money making schemes, so that means time is pretty tight.

I'm also feeling very short of cash, as although I have £533.54 in my savings account, it's all ear marked for MOT, Tax, car repairs and a mini break to Florence I'm taking next week! Hopefully though, there'll be some left to throw at my barclaycard eventually.

I've opened 2 savings accounts, one at 8% to begin saving towards paying off my cahoot loan, and the other at 4% on the Lloyds TSB 'save the change' scheme, that I'm planning to throw at my M&S card. Once my barclaycard is cleared, that means my savings will be at a higher rate than my debts, and I should be able to pay stuff off a bit quicker.

I've started the court claim to reclaim my mum's bank charges - just over £3000 worth! And bless her, she's said she'll give me some of the settlement as a 'thank you' towards a deposit for a house :T which in the long run will mean I save HUGE amounts on rent etc... Just need to get my dad to let me do his.

That's all for now folks - back to work!
xxx

Mirtos

becsxxx wrote:

When we look at it like that we've all done sooooo well!!!

Still hate being last though - grump

I was last for ages and ages - I started with nearly a grand more than everyone else! You'd be amazed how it spurs you on!!!!! You'll have overtaken me and DDDk in no time!