Three years to get debt free

Willowtree222

Fidelia said:

You're doing so well, Willow, please don't doubt yourself xxx.  Your 'get up and go' really inspires people and there are bound to be little blips along the way.  Real Life isn't exactly plain sailing at the moment is it and it's so hard to live exactly as we planned. for and hoped.

I just wondered, with all your selling activities, whether you've ever used Vinted.  I keep seeing ads on TV for it but have never investigated it myself.  

The cost of a car boot table round your way seems a bit steep!  I suppose we're lucky in some ways being more rural as there are often boot sales held in fields and such like where you can take a whole car load of stuff and spread it out as far as you like.  You have to provide your own table if needed but the pitches are still about £8 maximum.  I think the recent increase (from £6 pre-Covid)was to allow for  social distancing to some extent which lessened the number of sellers paying the pitch fee.  There have only been 2 within reasonable distance that I've heard about this year and I'm still not confident enough to risk having one yet with crowds gathering round my pitch and  lots of people touching my stuff.  Shame, as I love nothing better than a summer outdoor car boot sale and I've certainly got enough clutter to fill several cars boots!   Good Luck with the bids on your lot.

Thank you, I’m really harsh on myself and see the debt as a total failure. I need to find a better balance and will I think have to rethink things. 

I have tried Vinted and wasn’t impressed. I listed a lot and got tons of enquiries but not a thing ever sold. I’ve since listed the same items elsewhere and they’ve gone first time for more so it wasn’t the items. 

The big dolls house was collected today. That’s £5 and a huge space.
x

Fidelia

Willowtree222 said:

Fidelia said:

You're doing so well, Willow, please don't doubt yourself xxx.  Your 'get up and go' really inspires people and there are bound to be little blips along the way.  Real Life isn't exactly plain sailing at the moment is it and it's so hard to live exactly as we planned. for and hoped.

I just wondered, with all your selling activities, whether you've ever used Vinted.  I keep seeing ads on TV for it but have never investigated it myself.  

The cost of a car boot table round your way seems a bit steep!  I suppose we're lucky in some ways being more rural as there are often boot sales held in fields and such like where you can take a whole car load of stuff and spread it out as far as you like.  You have to provide your own table if needed but the pitches are still about £8 maximum.  I think the recent increase (from £6 pre-Covid)was to allow for  social distancing to some extent which lessened the number of sellers paying the pitch fee.  There have only been 2 within reasonable distance that I've heard about this year and I'm still not confident enough to risk having one yet with crowds gathering round my pitch and  lots of people touching my stuff.  Shame, as I love nothing better than a summer outdoor car boot sale and I've certainly got enough clutter to fill several cars boots!   Good Luck with the bids on your lot.

Thank you, I’m really harsh on myself and see the debt as a total failure. I need to find a better balance and will I think have to rethink things. 

I have tried Vinted and wasn’t impressed. I listed a lot and got tons of enquiries but not a thing ever sold. I’ve since listed the same items elsewhere and they’ve gone first time for more so it wasn’t the items. 

The big dolls house was collected today. That’s £5 and a huge space.
x

I won't even bother researching Vinted then.  As far as I'm concerned you're the selling queen!  If Vinted didn't work for you it's obviously not up to much.

Well done on selling the big dolls house and getting it actually out of the house.  I love it when some big piece of clutter goes.  I've just made DH an appointment at the tip for tomorrow.  Maybe I'll see a big difference by the time he gets home again but at the rate he's been putting things into the 'to go' pile all afternoon I won't be holding my breath that a tip run is even worth the petrol for him.  It looks like more is staying than going!  I keep threatening him with a skip.  I'd be happy to pay for the hire of one myself if he'll actually bite the bullet and fill it.  He needs anaesthetic to be separated from his junk.

sashybo

Hi Willow, you’re doing really well with the decluttering. Always good to make a bit of money but even better to get the space.

What a shame about Vinted, I’ve sold around half of the items I’ve put up. They were things like cloth nappies & the kids old jackets and puddle suits.

The clothes didn’t go for much but I would normally have put them in a charity bag to get them out of the house so I’m just putting things on there for a while. If they don’t sell then they go into the charity bag anyway.

The cloth nappies sold well as there generally is a good second hand market for them & there is less in the way of fees/postage on Vinted than through social media or a well known auction site.

So I made what I would have expected from them. Although strictly speaking you’re not meant to sell secondhand cloth nappies on most of these sites. One of my cloth nappy listings was removed (out of 6) and I think someone must have reported it! 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

I’m having to reign in my spending again but I can distract myself by shopping for upcoming birthdays & Christmas! I have money put aside for these so it’s not as bad.

Parkyp

Hi Willowtree

You're too hard on yourself you’ve done amazing with your debt, decluttering, getting work done in your house and ds doesn’t go without anything. 
I found having a separate bank account really helped me budget better. Wages go in, I leave enough in to cover the bills and transfer the rest to my other account - that’s what I have  to live on for the month. I did at first just allocate a weekly amount to spend but that didn’t work well for me because some weeks I do spend more than others.
I’ve stopped worrying about my debt- I just look at it as monthly bill pay it and don’t even think about.  I have four 1/2 years left when l will be debt and mortgage free. I could try pay extra to it but I’d rather enjoy my occasional treats and anything I don’t spend I keep so that I have an emergency fund and hopefully I will never need to rely on credit again. 

Hope you’ve had a nice day x

Willowtree222

Fidelia said:

Willowtree222 said:

Fidelia said:

You're doing so well, Willow, please don't doubt yourself xxx.  Your 'get up and go' really inspires people and there are bound to be little blips along the way.  Real Life isn't exactly plain sailing at the moment is it and it's so hard to live exactly as we planned. for and hoped.

I just wondered, with all your selling activities, whether you've ever used Vinted.  I keep seeing ads on TV for it but have never investigated it myself.  

The cost of a car boot table round your way seems a bit steep!  I suppose we're lucky in some ways being more rural as there are often boot sales held in fields and such like where you can take a whole car load of stuff and spread it out as far as you like.  You have to provide your own table if needed but the pitches are still about £8 maximum.  I think the recent increase (from £6 pre-Covid)was to allow for  social distancing to some extent which lessened the number of sellers paying the pitch fee.  There have only been 2 within reasonable distance that I've heard about this year and I'm still not confident enough to risk having one yet with crowds gathering round my pitch and  lots of people touching my stuff.  Shame, as I love nothing better than a summer outdoor car boot sale and I've certainly got enough clutter to fill several cars boots!   Good Luck with the bids on your lot.

Thank you, I’m really harsh on myself and see the debt as a total failure. I need to find a better balance and will I think have to rethink things. 

I have tried Vinted and wasn’t impressed. I listed a lot and got tons of enquiries but not a thing ever sold. I’ve since listed the same items elsewhere and they’ve gone first time for more so it wasn’t the items. 

The big dolls house was collected today. That’s £5 and a huge space.
x

I won't even bother researching Vinted then.  As far as I'm concerned you're the selling queen!  If Vinted didn't work for you it's obviously not up to much.

Well done on selling the big dolls house and getting it actually out of the house.  I love it when some big piece of clutter goes.  I've just made DH an appointment at the tip for tomorrow.  Maybe I'll see a big difference by the time he gets home again but at the rate he's been putting things into the 'to go' pile all afternoon I won't be holding my breath that a tip run is even worth the petrol for him.  It looks like more is staying than going!  I keep threatening him with a skip.  I'd be happy to pay for the hire of one myself if he'll actually bite the bullet and fill it.  He needs anaesthetic to be separated from his junk.

It wasn’t worth it for me with the branded items I had, but Sashy below has had much more success with it. Might be worth it? 

I’ve tried Spchock too and found that full of time wasters. Really annoying that was! I’ve just always ended up back on the well known selling site and it does cost most but at least I know they sell for me x

Willowtree222

sashybo said:

Hi Willow, you’re doing really well with the decluttering. Always good to make a bit of money but even better to get the space.

What a shame about Vinted, I’ve sold around half of the items I’ve put up. They were things like cloth nappies & the kids old jackets and puddle suits.

The clothes didn’t go for much but I would normally have put them in a charity bag to get them out of the house so I’m just putting things on there for a while. If they don’t sell then they go into the charity bag anyway.

The cloth nappies sold well as there generally is a good second hand market for them & there is less in the way of fees/postage on Vinted than through social media or a well known auction site.

So I made what I would have expected from them. Although strictly speaking you’re not meant to sell secondhand cloth nappies on most of these sites. One of my cloth nappy listings was removed (out of 6) and I think someone must have reported it! 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

I’m having to reign in my spending again but I can distract myself by shopping for upcoming birthdays & Christmas! I have money put aside for these so it’s not as bad.

Thanks Sashy maybe it’s just my bad experience. I tried to sell a bag on there that was designer. I spent an hour answering messages and sending extra pics to one lady and she reserved it but then didn’t say she didn’t want it. I’ve had that a few times x

Willowtree222

Parkyp said:

Hi Willowtree

You're too hard on yourself you’ve done amazing with your debt, decluttering, getting work done in your house and ds doesn’t go without anything. 
I found having a separate bank account really helped me budget better. Wages go in, I leave enough in to cover the bills and transfer the rest to my other account - that’s what I have  to live on for the month. I did at first just allocate a weekly amount to spend but that didn’t work well for me because some weeks I do spend more than others.
I’ve stopped worrying about my debt- I just look at it as monthly bill pay it and don’t even think about.  I have four 1/2 years left when l will be debt and mortgage free. I could try pay extra to it but I’d rather enjoy my occasional treats and anything I don’t spend I keep so that I have an emergency fund and hopefully I will never need to rely on credit again. 

Hope you’ve had a nice day x

Part of me thinks I just need to keep to the three years and life in that time x

Willowtree222

Morning everyone,

Yesterday I found out that another member of my family has cancer. Again it throws everything into perspective. That’s four of my family in the last 12 months. They’re all mum and daughter too. One of them is 4 years older than me. 

Makes me want my dream more than ever to be by the sea but then there’s the added bit of enjoying the journey too. 

I got paid today. Lots absorbed by the overdraft so just going to let it settle before I do anything as I need to sort out what I’m doing.

Good news is that DD wants a new bike for Christmas. It gives me a plan and something to now budget for. 

X

janb5

Parkyp is right and you have a lovely life with your precious daughter and enjoy it to the full.  As she says, the debt can weigh you down but it`s a side issue as it`s managed debt and you`re doing so well.

sashybo

Hi Willow, sorry to hear about another family member being ill, fingers crossed for them.

I think with Vinted it's better for clothes and smaller items that aren't going to necessarily make much but are still in good condition. I've noticed that people want to pay as little as possible on there compared to the "well known auction site" 😂.  I have bought jackets and coats for the kids where the seller has only made £2/3 per item and have sold an old jacket of DS's for £2.

So it's not going to make anyone rich but I like it more for the reusing of items, I know my kids don't often get the wear out of so many of their clothes. I'm happy to sell a jacket for £2 if I know it's going to be used. I have also given so much of their clothes away that I don't feel bad for trying to make a small amount back now, the stuff that doesn't sell is given to charity anyway.

I agree with people messaging and time wasting when you're selling things, I had a lot of that when I sold my first lot of cloth nappies on social media. I was on a few nappy buying/selling groups but got so many messages asking about items then people never replying or not wanting to pay the amount I asked for.

I did sell them all in the end but it was infuriating answering all the people who then decided they didn't want the item after all and/or never replied. I just started replying to people but would sell to the first person who was serious and sent the money rather than reserving or waiting for the first person who responded to get back to me.

My DH uses the "well known auction site" for the tech stuff and higher value items
he sells but just waits for the offers on the fees, I think the most recent was max £2 selling fees or something like that.