My journey to debt freedom and decluttered living

MinnieMousesMummy

After reading various posts I have decided to take control of my debt. My aim is to clear it all as soon as possible following the advice of others that have gone through it before me.

Today is the first day on the path to being debt free and living a decluttered life. I am on holiday next week but I am going to use the next couple of days to make a start on the path prior to going away. The holiday accommodation has already been paid for and I have allocated an amount for spending money, which I will take out of the bank over the weekend and avoid using debit cards.

I plan to pay off as much debt as I possibly can each month, however I am also going to allocate a small amount to decorate the house, as it is badly needing it.

MinnieMousesMummy

Its May 2013 and the first day on my path to be debt free and live a decluttered life.

From this month I will make a start on decluttering the house and listing as much as possible on ebay. I have made a list of decluttering that needs to be done in the house.

Over the last couple of months I have signed up to numerous sites including Toluna, Valued Opinions, One Poll, Pure Profile, Nectar Adpoints, Swagbucks, Swapits, Free Postcode Lottery, Birthday Bingo and TopCashBack.

At the moment I am also studying GCSE's at home in the hope of getting a better career and improving things once I have had the baby (I'm currently 6 months pregnant). I am also mum to a 2 year old and a 10 year old.

If you can think of anything that could help to bring in some income towards the debt please let me know, as I am determined to succeed.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

lizziebabe

I wish you all the best. Without knowing more about your income and outgoings I can only suggest the food shopping challenge. I do this one and it has been a great help to reign in what I spend on food monthly. There are also some great recipes.
The other challenge I have done is the 'not buying unnecessary toiletries'. I certainly watch what I buy and am still trying to use up what I have got. I have everything together so that I know what I have got and don't replicate stuff.
Good luck with your studying, it must be hard with 2 young children. Go for it

PS I am also trying to declutter, when I have a good day I feel liberated about getting rid of stuff I don't need in my life!

MinnieMousesMummy

Lizzie -Thanks for your suggestions, I will look into the food shopping challenge and the not buying unnecessary toiletries challenge.

I have spent the past hour working out how much debt I actually owe and the total is £7507 which comprises of:
Loan £1721 (agreed to pay £400 per month)
Catalogues £1343 (agreed to pay £36.80 per month)
CC £1400 (currently no agreement is set up on this one)
Council Tax £3043 (agreed to pay £255 per month)

Based on the repayments that I already have set up I should be debt free by June 2016, but ideally I will bring this forward by increasing the amount of extra money that I am making. Ideally I will have debt paid off by December 2014 if not sooner.

My plan of action for tomorrow is:

*Complete any available surveys
*Nectar Adpoints, Swagbucks, Swapits, Postcode lottery and Birthday Bingo
*Complete a freelance project that I have in at the moment, then I will be able to raise the invoice
*Sort through Avon books that I collected in and sort out the order, which I will need to place on Sunday
*Spend an hour cleaning and decluttering the master bedroom - hopefully start putting together a box of items for listing on ebay
*Do some course work, as I have a lot that I need to get done before the end of May
*Do the laundry, Spend an hour doing ironing, Sort through dried washing and either fold and put away or add to the ironing pile
*Sign up to Inbox pounds, Quidco and iMutual - look into how to maximise these sites
*Look into getting credit report on Noodle, following watching tv tonight about repairing credit score
*Look into the food shopping challenge and the not buying unnecessary toiletries
*Organise a plan of action to be used between Monday 27th and Friday 31st May 2013
*Sort through loan books,as I think either the agent or the company are trying to pull a fast one and get me to pay more than I actually owe

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

MinnieMousesMummy wrote: »

Lizzie -Thanks for your suggestions, I will look into the food shopping challenge and the not buying unnecessary toiletries challenge.

I have spent the past hour working out how much debt I actually owe and the total is £7507 which comprises of:
Loan £1721 (agreed to pay £400 per month)
Catalogues £1343 (agreed to pay £36.80 per month)
CC £1400 (currently no agreement is set up on this one)
Council Tax £3043 (agreed to pay £255 per month)

Based on the repayments that I already have set up I should be debt free by June 2016, but ideally I will bring this forward by increasing the amount of extra money that I am making. Ideally I will have debt paid off by December 2014 if not sooner.

My plan of action for tomorrow is:

*Complete any available surveys
*Nectar Adpoints, Swagbucks, Swapits, Postcode lottery and Birthday Bingo
*Complete a freelance project that I have in at the moment, then I will be able to raise the invoice
*Sort through Avon books that I collected in and sort out the order, which I will need to place on Sunday
*Spend an hour cleaning and decluttering the master bedroom - hopefully start putting together a box of items for listing on ebay
*Do some course work, as I have a lot that I need to get done before the end of May
*Do the laundry, Spend an hour doing ironing, Sort through dried washing and either fold and put away or add to the ironing pile
*Sign up to Inbox pounds, Quidco and iMutual - look into how to maximise these sites
*Look into getting credit report on Noodle, following watching tv tonight about repairing credit score
*Look into the food shopping challenge and the not buying unnecessary toiletries
*Organise a plan of action to be used between Monday 27th and Friday 31st May 2013
*Sort through loan books,as I think either the agent or the company are trying to pull a fast one and get me to pay more than I actually owe

Hi MMM

Well done on your quest to sort everything out. Please don't overdo it though. Looking at your list, you say you want to achieve it TOMORROW. Is that possible? A lot of the things will take time to put into place so might I suggest you take just a couple of them to do tomorrow, perhaps a "must do" and a "nice to do"? Perhaps the Avon (must do) and the Master bedroom (nice to do). On Sunday perhaps the Freelance task (must do) and then the laundry (nice to do). That way you are dealing with the important stuff whilst still maintaining your sanity on the homefront.

Please do tell me to mind my own business :rotfl: but I would hate you to feel completely overwhelmed with the scale of it all. Looking at your To Do list, a few manageable chunks would be better for my own morale.

I'll slink back into my corner now ........

TMD xx

MinnieMousesMummy

trulymadlydeeply_indebt - Thanks very much for your advice. You are probably correct that I am trying to do too much. I will use today to see how much I can comfortably get done and this will give me a better idea but I will certainly bear in mind what you have suggested.

I had a long lie this morning and got up with motivation despite the horrid weather outside.

I will return later to update on what I have done and my plan of action for tomorrow.

MinnieMousesMummy

MinnieMousesMummy wrote: »

My plan of action for tomorrow is:

*Complete any available surveys
*Nectar Adpoints, Swagbucks, Swapits, Postcode lottery and Birthday Bingo
*Complete a freelance project that I have in at the moment, then I will be able to raise the invoice
*Sort through Avon books that I collected in and sort out the order, which I will need to place on Sunday
*Spend an hour cleaning and decluttering the master bedroom - hopefully start putting together a box of items for listing on ebay
*Do some course work, as I have a lot that I need to get done before the end of May
*Do the laundry, Spend an hour doing ironing, Sort through dried washing and either fold and put away or add to the ironing pile
*Sign up to Inbox pounds, Quidco and iMutual - look into how to maximise these sites
*Look into getting credit report on Noodle, following watching tv tonight about repairing credit score
*Look into the food shopping challenge and the not buying unnecessary toiletries
*Organise a plan of action to be used between Monday 27th and Friday 31st May 2013
*Sort through loan books,as I think either the agent or the company are trying to pull a fast one and get me to pay more than I actually owe

I have had a busy and productive day. I did not get everything done that was on my list but I have made a good start. Today I managed to:

*complete several surveys
*checked nectar adpoints, swagbucks, swapits, birthday bingo, postcode lottery
*sorted through the avon books, sorted and placed the order
* done a couple of loads of laundry
*signed up to inbox pounds, quidco and iMutual
*sorted through the loan books and made a note of what I need to discuss with the agent, as predicted there is discrepancies in them
*Made a start on a plan of action for the last week of the month

MinnieMousesMummy

On reflection of what I managed to get done today I have put together a plan of action for tomorrow, which consists of:

*Complete any available surveys
*Nectar adpoints, Swagbucks, Swapits, Postcode lottery and Birthday bingo
*Complete freelance project that is in at the moment and raise the invoice
*Sort out list of what I need to get for next week - Food shopping and will need to get some clothes too, as I ordered them online but they have not arrived
*Catch up with the laundry, Sort through the dried washing, Spend an hour working through iron mountain
*Submit shop and scan information
*Quick visit to MIL, as she has got kids some clothes to take on holiday
*Do more work on the plan of action for the last week of May
*Sort bags for next week and make a list of anything that is still needed
*Print accounts paperwork and write accounts up to date
*Check bank and withdraw the holiday spending money
*Look into the food shopping challenge and the not buying unnecessary toiletries challenge
*Do some course work
*Clean out all of the pets

I think that is probably enough to be getting on with tomorrow. I will be aiming to get as much as possible done off the list but anything that I do not get done will be completed on Monday morning before I go on holiday.