Turning Debt Darkness Into Power

DarknessIntoPower

Good morning all, happy Tuesday!

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I've had a DMP for about a year and a half and tend to be terrible at saving, but that is going to change!

I'm currently paying token payments of about £12 per month with the aim to create an emergency fund, I'm up to about £200 saved now thanks to Monzo's spare change feature and giving myself a 50/50 rule for any spare cash (half for saving, half for spending), which I know may sound like a bit too much to spend, but I am notoriously bad when it comes to saving, so for there to still be money in that savings account is going down as a success in my book.

I have about 10k left of my DMP, and aim to go self managed by the end of this year so that I can start asking for full and final settlements.

Posting on here to hold myself accountable, I'm employed but fairly low income, so with overtime no longer available I intend to spend more time on these forums so that I can get ideas on boosting my income. I currently do YouGov and Opinion Outpost, which I find good but it takes a fair amount of time to build up a good amount of earnings with those. I also have Depop but I don't tend to spend much on materialistic things, only replacing items when necessary, so I don't have much to sell right now. A clear out may be necessary soon to see what I can put on there.

Today I shall probably do a few posts on this thread, as I come up with a plan to tackle this debt and most importantly, increase the amount in my emergency fund.

brizzlegirl

Well done on starting a diary, you won’t regret it Loads of fab support and ideas on here 
 Best of luck x

shoppingobsessed2020

Good luck with it all I’ve only just started my diary but finding it therapeutic.

GeorgianaCavendish

Good luck with your diary and your debt free journey. If you like survey sites Prolific Academic is a good one (but be prepared for A LOT of screening questions!) 

DarknessIntoPower

GeorgianaCavendish said:

Good luck with your diary and your debt free journey. If you like survey sites Prolific Academic is a good one (but be prepared for A LOT of screening questions!) 

Thank you lovely, I'll check it out. Just completed my Opinion Outpost surveys for the day, up to 95 points now, it's not a lot
but all adds up. Waiting on some refunds because of cancelled events. I've also been doing some OpenLearn courses that I found on Martin's blog I believe. Thankfully I've had a load of no spend days recently because of the Covid-19 situation, every cloud has a silver lining I guess. Though with overtime not available at work and them not allowing an increase in hours, I still need to find more ways to increase my income.

savingholmes

Good luck on your journey

DarknessIntoPower

Good morning all! Had an email from easyJet this morning about a cancellation, so I'm hoping to get a refund for that. Still waiting on some event refunds and I've just realised that I can now payout some cashback from TopCashback. Got a few more points on Opinion Outpost this morning so it's adding up nicely, I've found it works best if I login daily and do a few surveys until they run out. Though I've found there's been less surveys recently during this pandemic. YouGov has also slowed down recently, halfway to another £50 now though. Anyway, it's time for me to do my OpenLearn for the day, have a fabulous day everyone.

DarknessIntoPower

Up to £235 in the EF now, thanks to interest and Monzo's round up feature. Still must find a way to make some extra pennies though, as I'd love to be in a position where I don't have to worry so much about my EF. Trying to put off the food shop until next Friday, though I've run out of sweet treats so there may be a problem there! My goal, though perhaps a bit too optimistic, is to reach 1k in the EF by the end of May. Any ideas? I'll probably spend a lot of today brainstorming how I can top up my income. 😁 This forum is fantastic!

DarknessIntoPower

£5.25 yesterday from Opinion Outpost via PayPal, I've just signed up for Qmee and only 5p so far, however there was another YouGov survey today so I'm a little nearer the £50 bank transfer now. Had an unexpected parcel (late birthday gift) delivered yesterday with a load of sweet treats, so I should now be fine waiting, though I am running out of sugar now as my tea drinking has increased since the lockdown started. Overall, a fairly positive week. Struggling a bit mentally, but not financially right now. Hope everyone is safe and well, enjoying looking at the Boost Your Income forum for inspiration. Going to try Martin's tip for the £6 a week for home working soon.

DarknessIntoPower

Got offered another YouGov survey this morning but the video keeps buffering so I'm giving up on that one. Very nearly out of sugar and milk so we shall see if I can get to Friday without spending, fingers crossed! My payday is nearing now, which is exciting as I feel like it's finally in sight and I still haven't touched the savings account. It's a lockdown miracle! Still waiting on a few refunds, so that's a bit of a pain. I have a list of things I can do in the meantime though, however the motivation seems to be long gone recently, ah well, time to try and power through. 

DarknessIntoPower

Missed yesterday but I'm counting today as a cracking day as I've had £1.82 paid out from Qmee, another YouGov survey, £37.46 refund because of a cancelled event, and £15 from TopCashback. Unfortunately couldn't put much into the savings other than roundups as spent £30 on health related things and £10 on a top up shop from Lidl. I have almost a tenner to last me until payday now, though I imagine it'll be fine as I probably won't need to go to the shops until Sunday, and I get paid on Thursday. Gonna keep plodding along, got 2 hours of overtime yesterday as that's the maximum they were offering, but it all adds up. Have a fabulous day everyone.