Trying to Hide a Secret £20,000 Debt is as Tricky As it Sounds! (:#)

Fizzy11

Just popping in to say that I’ve not read all your diary but I admire your attitude to your debt. My D is 39 with two pre schoolers and literally everything she buys comes from charity shops. Not the horrible stained stuff but the new books that no ones read, the trainers for children complete with labels. Last year for my birthday I got a beautiful Joules beach bag brand new complete with labels £4 and Christmas I received a new vegetarian cook book which had never been opened. So many charities have their own new stuff as well. The children have no idea what are new toys and what are secondhand. Just a thought if you have time to pop in and see what you kind find. You’re doing brilliantly. 

CMD79

Fizzy11 said:

Just popping in to say that I’ve not read all your diary but I admire your attitude to your debt. My D is 39 with two pre schoolers and literally everything she buys comes from charity shops. Not the horrible stained stuff but the new books that no ones read, the trainers for children complete with labels. Last year for my birthday I got a beautiful Joules beach bag brand new complete with labels £4 and Christmas I received a new vegetarian cook book which had never been opened. So many charities have their own new stuff as well. The children have no idea what are new toys and what are secondhand. Just a thought if you have time to pop in and see what you kind find. You’re doing brilliantly. 

Thank you for this suggestion! I live in a town with a lot of charity shops, and I work in a nearby city with a lot of charity shops... I'll give this is go!!! Thank you again for the suggestion!! 

RelievedSheff

We love a good rummage in a charity shop. I'm currently wearing my £1 jeans I bought while we were away on the Isle of Wight earlier this year. Brand new with the tags still on and never worn

CMD79

Hi All,

It's been a while since I've updated my DFD, and a lot has happened this month!

I've managed to make an extra £1200 or so on the £10 A Day Challenge, which has been amazing! I've done that by selling stuff, working a side hustle, surveys, mystery shops... etc. I did have a few huge disappointments there though. 1) Selling a beautiful mobile that was in such good condition that I almost kept that and sent my newer iPhone in instead! The crooks I sent it to downgraded it and said it had deep scratches and pitting and offered me a fraction of what they had originally quoted. I got the text and felt sick! Literally felt sick. I was gutted. I didn't accept the offer and eventually got the amount up to £110, but it should have been £165. 2) I offered to do a ladies wedding place cards with just 2 days notice. I worked until 02:00am the night before going for a weekend away to get them done which meant I was shattered on the first day of the holiday. And she didn't pay me.  But even so, I've made over £1000, and am still waiting for various bits to pay out, but in the days couple of weeks, my Very account will be GONE!!

I've also got a pay rise of 3% which in tomorrow's pay, will have been backdated to 1st August, so a bit extra there. AND I got promoted, so will be moving up a pay grade in 4 weeks times. This will give me an extra £200 per month after tax, which changes EVERYTHING! I've paid so much off in the last couple of months that I definitely have a bit of wiggle room on the monthly payments anyway, but an extra £200 means I can now get all my debt cleared a full year ahead of my original Debt Free Date. Of course, if I can keep up with the extra earnings, I hope to continue to bring that forward as well...

I feel proud of myself this week. It's funny to say, since we're all strangers, but following other peoples' journeys on here, I feel quite proud of us as a community. Some people have achieved incredible things, and that really is aided by the friendship and support of people that don't even know each other, but have a mutual worry about money.

I need to update my signature, but MAFS is about to start, and it's going to get MESSY!!!!

Thanks again to everyone who has helped me get this far. xxxxx

IndiJonesi

@cmd79 sorry to hear about you getting ripped off; some people have absolutely no scruples.
Congrats on the wage rise and also your promotion.  You are certainly grafting big style, well done.
Indi x

savingmore

Just posting to say read your whole diary this morning.  Well done for every small step you have taken and perseverance through the hiccups.  I am excited your very card nearly paid off. You are getting there!!  Your diary should be a great boost to others in debt to show how it’s worth sticking with it and working on every penny.  I just started surveys again yesterday and made £6 so inspired to keep going.  I got demoralised last year when got kicked out of prolific and have no idea why. Queried it but they won’t tell you. It was quite upsetting.  Anyway will follow now. 😀

CMD79

IndiJonesi said:

@cmd79 sorry to hear about you getting ripped off; some people have absolutely no scruples.
Congrats on the wage rise and also your promotion.  You are certainly grafting big style, well done.
Indi x

Thank you @IndiJonesi! Yes, it's really hard when you think of every penny as part of the escape plan and then you get ripped off, but it's been a part of the challenge to do extra even still to overcome it. I'm really pleased with my side hustle because I really enjoy doing it and the owners are very appreciative, so if I can keep that going next year, I'll be really happy.

xx

CMD79

savingmore said:

Just posting to say read your whole diary this morning.  Well done for every small step you have taken and perseverance through the hiccups.  I am excited your very card nearly paid off. You are getting there!!  Your diary should be a great boost to others in debt to show how it’s worth sticking with it and working on every penny.  I just started surveys again yesterday and made £6 so inspired to keep going.  I got demoralised last year when got kicked out of prolific and have no idea why. Queried it but they won’t tell you. It was quite upsetting.  Anyway will follow now. 😀

Hi @savingmore! Thanks for following, and reading!! Me too. I really wish I could find a calculator or the time to work out how much Very have made off me in the last 13 years I have had the account. It will be a huge thing when the account is gone for good. 

I didn't get accepted for Prolific, the only one I really use is Qmee. It pays barely anything, but they are okay and have literally saved my skin on a few occasions. But if nothing else, when I feel like I haven't done anything, it gives me a quick win to pay a little off of something.

xx

SusieT

You have made amazing progress, horrible that you were ripped off but even without that you are smashing it. 
Your work is really starting to pay off, with the pay rise and promotion taking around a year off, you could be looking at this being the last winter of horribly high interest rates, and the possibility of 0% offers at some point

savingmore

CMD79 said:

savingmore said:

Just posting to say read your whole diary this morning.  Well done for every small step you have taken and perseverance through the hiccups.  I am excited your very card nearly paid off. You are getting there!!  Your diary should be a great boost to others in debt to show how it’s worth sticking with it and working on every penny.  I just started surveys again yesterday and made £6 so inspired to keep going.  I got demoralised last year when got kicked out of prolific and have no idea why. Queried it but they won’t tell you. It was quite upsetting.  Anyway will follow now. 😀

Hi @savingmore! Thanks for following, and reading!! Me too. I really wish I could find a calculator or the time to work out how much Very have made off me in the last 13 years I have had the account. It will be a huge thing when the account is gone for good. 

I didn't get accepted for Prolific, the only one I really use is Qmee. It pays barely anything, but they are okay and have literally saved my skin on a few occasions. But if nothing else, when I feel like I haven't done anything, it gives me a quick win to pay a little off of something.

xx

Thanks i will look at qmee,  a quick payout might be good instead of waiting until £50.