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

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  • CMD79
    CMD79 Posts: 751 Forumite
    500 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    joedenise said:
    I find Shop and Scan worthwhile but not sure how you get onto it!  I've been doing it for quite a few years.  Takes a few minutes each time you go shopping and then attach your clicker to laptop to send your barcodes.  I always change my points of Amazon vouchers as we buy quite a lot from there and if you don't use them immediately can save for Christmas or birthday presents.  I get a £10 voucher every couple of months.

    Have also had an invite for petrol panel where you fill in how much and what type of fuel you've bought.  There is also another panel for Food on the Go which I no longer do as don't buy stuff while out and about!

    Just looked and it's by invitation only but no idea how you get an invitation and there doesn't seem to be a referral code but it might be worth emailing them to ask about joining the panel.
    That all sounds good! I've had no luck in getting invited to join the panels. I had been trying but gave up. I don't take rejection well, but I probably should try more...

    I'm going to have a look today  :)
    November 2023

    I'm always in it, it's only the depth that varies....

    Current debt: £10,806.75
    Debt free date April 2025 (though expecting this to come forward)


  • enthusiasticsaver
    enthusiasticsaver Posts: 16,062 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Well done on the side hustles and the payrise and it will be great to be debt free next year but I think you are wise to proceed with caution and not overcommit due to cost of living at the moment. Hopefully you will see the end of that Very and Next though. 
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free Wannabe, Budgeting and Banking and Savings and Investment boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.

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  • Hello!! I've finally caught up on your diary, wow what a rollercoaster of a ride you've been on. I really hope you are taking time to reflect on all your achievements. I can see how far you've come already in such a short space of time. I'm so proud of you and very inspired that you've kept on pushing forwards.
    I hope you are ok and are continuing your journey. I'd love to know which sites you use for mystery shopping?
    Love Adele xx
  • How are you getting on @CMD79 ? Did you make that overpayment already?
  • CMD79
    CMD79 Posts: 751 Forumite
    500 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Hi everyone,

    Things have changed a lot since I last updated my diary, although I have been keeping engaged with the Challenges.

    My husband offered me a massive lifeline, and £10,000 to pay off my debt. This in itself was great and I hugely appreciative, but this is not the elation I expected....

    It's half way through December and I realise and my nemesis Christmas is hitting me hard in the face.... I have spent most of the month so far rocking in a the corner with a pile of credit cards in my hand with zero balances and £12,000 available. Not being (so much) in debt, has so far not been easy, and not been fun. Each and every day I think of something I need, she needs, he needs and I lose hours internet shopping and then abandoning my baskets and then repeat. 

    I won't say nothing has been spent, but I'm so confused, I don't how much - but not much! I do have a learning disability, so this probably, like most of my diary, might seem difficult to understand, but that's what's happened.

    So today, I have worked through all of my accounts. I have paid off the little bits that had accidently crept on. I have basically zero in the current account....and all other accounts, but at least I know where I am again. I have also phoned around closing all the accounts - not all have been possible to close, but I'll call around again 1st January as interest needs to be added and paid off etc.

    I feel, and have done for several weeks, tormented. That's the best word for it I think. I don't feel happy, I feel restless and aggitated and fearful. I'd like to think that I could manage a credit card like a normal person. Use it when I need to, clear it at the end of the month etc. But I can't do that. When i went into my Very account earlier, I had 10 items in my basket and another 33 saved! I've got £280 of mens clothes in an M&S basket, I could go on! 

    I have got a bit of a plan and that is to work on paying the money he gave me from our Help 2 Buy saving back into the the account. The reality is, I'm not better off in terms of what I owe really, I'm just owing someone else (my husband). But of course, the interest has gone, and the inability to make my monthly payments is also gone. But, I just don't know how i can change the habbit of a lifetime.  :s
    November 2023

    I'm always in it, it's only the depth that varies....

    Current debt: £10,806.75
    Debt free date April 2025 (though expecting this to come forward)


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