Don't want to spend my life in debt

Reb2016

I've finally had my lightbulb moment, I found myself last week applying for a consolidation loan, thankfully I was turned down, and this got me to take a proper look at my finances. I worked out that I could pay back all my debt by Aug 2020, possibly even earlier depending on work bonuses. The loan I was looking at was 10 years, I would have paid back so much more interest and risked my house as it was a secured loan. I am now really glad that I was turned down.


So now its time to really get this all sorted, I don't want to spend my life constantly in debt, so I am starting this diary to keep myself focused.


So far, I have checked my SOA and noticed my Broadband contract was about to come to an end and go up by £10 a month so I have contacted the provide and now have another 12months on the same rate.


My mobile contract is a high cost by comes to an end in Feb next year so I will change that to a pay as you go contract, as I really don't use my phone much at all.


I have started having a clear out, and have sent some books, DVDs and CD's to a buy your books place which will give me £52, this will be used to make the final payment for some dental treatment I have coming up, instead of me doing my usual and putting it on a credit card.


I have also listed some items on ebay so fingers crossed there. I shall continue the clear out and see if I can come across anything else.


Reb

Reb2016

So, I've just reached £50 on yougov surveys that should arrive in my bank account in the next few days and will go straight onto my highest interest rate card, so that should really help.

I also have a couple of bids on eBay items so a little more coming in from there.

Reb

jamie2017

How do I do these surveys, welcome to the board btw. I am new here too! Also had my LBM

Reb2016

Hi Jamie
The you gov one can be found at https://www.yougov.co.uk the surveys don't take long, it does take a while to build up enough points for £50, takes me about a year, so not a quick way to make money, but every little bit helps.

Got a few bids on some of my eBay items, so hopefully will soon have a little more to throw at the debt. Two auctions finish tomorrow and the rest on Sat.

I'm keeping a spending diary this month, I want to see how much I spend without thinking, so that I can see if I can make some cutbacks.

Going to go and look at some other diaries now for inspiration.

Reb

Reb2016

Sold a couple of things on eBay today, so that's a little more towards debt payment.

I've also spent a bit of time on my budget, and realised I had forgotten about the 0% deal ending on one of my CC soon, so that means my debt free date has changed to Oct 2020, so my first mission will be to bring that back to Aug 2020, I think it's doable.

Reb

joedenise

Don't know what other survey sites you do but Populus Surveys is one I use. It's another one which only pays out at £50 which takes some time to get to but the surveys are usually worth £1, £2 or £3 each and only take 5-15 minutes each. I think it probably takes me around 8-9,months to get to payout.

Another thing I do is Tesco Home Panels. It doesn't pay out in money but can save you a few pounds on your household shopping by giving you freebies to try out and then review. I've had things from toothpaste to clothes to use and review. The best ones being a jacket for me and another for DH, both of which we are still using 2 years later! Definitely saved me some money as we both needed new coats at the time we got them.

I suspect other supermarkets do something similar.

Good luck.

Denise

Reb2016

Thanks for those, I will take a look.

Reb

Reb2016

Had a good weekend, sold quite a few things on eBay so will be able to make an extra payment. I've worked out which is the credit card with the highest rate of interest and at will be the one I will make overpayments on the balance is £345 and the interest rate is 59.92% so the quicker it is cleared closed the better.
I've also signed up for a few more survey sites, although it's not huge amounts of money every little bit helps.

Reb2016

So things are going well, with the ebay sales I have managed to get my highest rate CC down to £255.00, I have some more things on there at the moment so fingers crossed. I will have a min of £135.00 to throw at it when I get paid next week, so should be rid of that one really soon.


I have started to plan ahead and make a shopping list for next month, so that I don't go and just buy random items that I won't use, or don't need.


I actually have enough money left in my food budget this month to see my through to payday, this is the first month in quite some time that I have been able to do that, it has convinced me of the need for a budget and shopping lists, and of course making sure I stick to the list.

another_casualty

Wishing you all the best in your goals. You seem to have a great positive attitude

Reb2016

As it's pay day tomorrow I thought I would do a round up of the month.
So I started at £13333.63 and am now at £13043.48 so have paid of £290.15 which is 2.1% of the total debt.


I now have £245 left on the highest rate card and will be able to pay another £200 when I get paid tomorrow, leaving £45 so that's my target for the month, to get the extra £45 to get rid of this card. I have a couple more items ready for ebay and also some books and DVD's to send of to a sell your books place so this should be very doable.


Lessons learnt this month, I still get tempted to spend, but as most of my spending is online I have started to save the item I want to buy, and have left it overnight to see how I feel the following day, in each case I have not purchased the item, as I have realised I really don't need it, so I will carry doing this.


Food is an area I really am tempted to overspend, I have a very bad habit of comfort eating, that I need to combat for health reasons including weight loss, so I will be looking at ways to sort this.


I had a dental expense this month, and instead of putting it on a card as I normally would, I raised the money be selling things on ebay and paid in cash, I'm really pleased with this as it stopped me from adding to the debt. I have now started an emergency fund so that going forward I have the money to cover things like this.


I'm looking forward to July and seeing how much more I can get paid of.