The Mental Debt Struggle...

AntoMac

Yes once it’s paid any temptation to use it in other ways is taken away. Of course it’s gonna sting a bit though.
Ive also recently started on the surveys and joined Prolific. Based on the (many) profile questions I got one in French and it was beautifully worded as I didn’t need to Google translate any of it!  
It’s another small income stream and seeing the amounts the likes of LMD have built up it definitely seems worth doing.

Keedie

Yes I'm glad it's no longer hanging over my head and being able to scrape the money for the exam fees together has given me hope for being able to clear larger chunks off my debt. 

You're so lucky that you managed to start getting surveys with Prolific @AntoMac as it appears to be one of the best paying ones. My household demographic and location is all full so I've been on the waiting list since June this year. I guess single black mothers in their 40s in London wanting to do surveys must be rather high 😂. Having a French survey sounds lovely! I love accents, but out of the more well known lyrical European accents, Italian is my favourite. Although I could not understand a word when I went their on holiday, it sounded nice all the same 😂.

Keedie

Forgot to say that £50 towards the Bank of Mum 3 (school fees) has come out of my account. Really happy with the fact that £1,500 has been officially repaid 🎉.  Just £3,300 to go... But it'll get there.

AntoMac

4.33am Keedie!? Ok, you win 
I did find it surprising how quickly I was accepted for Prolific. Maybe they were low on middle aged left leaning West Country Wurzels 
I love accents too. It fascinates me how they change so much over such short geographical distances.
You will get there with your debt clearance for sure. Just keep chipping away at it. 

LittleMissDetermined

You're doing really well on c-cats @Keedie! Keep at it and your PAD pot will be overflowing. It's great that the small paying surveys add up so quickly and you only need £1 to be able to cash out of that one, not that it matters when you're stacking them up like you have been - great work! 
LMD x

Keedie

So yeah, you caught that one huh @AntoMac? 🤦🏾‍♀️😂 I find it hard to sleep when my day has been emotional or tense and yesterday was mixed emotions with paying the exam fees. I went to bed around 05:30 and woke up around 08:30, then went back to bed around 10:10 and woke up at 11:35, a bit confused and disorientated as I was hanging out with my dad in my dream and when I woke up properly I remembered that he's not here anymore.

Those surveys do add up and I like that curious cats is a £1 cash out @LittleMissDetermined as panelbase at £10 is just too painful. I'm constantly screened out. And have been stuck on £5.30 for weeks. It's rather annoying to be honest.

I'm going to join the Make £10 A Day challenge for December. I'm just reading through the November thread for inspiration. And It seems like people use side hustles etc as part of their £10 a day and I'm going to see if I can try my hand at mystery shopping as well to see if that helps my goals. If I can complete the challenge each month in 2023, then that will be £3,650 extra earnings through various means next year.

With the increase in wages due to changing my hours next month, I will be able to pay an additional £100 to my debt by increasing my minimum payment direct debits. At the moment it's £500 a month and I can increase this to £600 from January 2023. It's £170 extra month, and so I have allocated £100 to debt and £70 to enjoying life (family days out, spending money, meals out etc) and have a small monthly miscellaneous contingency). I don't want to have lifestyle creep and just spend it all, as I'm earning more, so I have to change the direct debit for MBNA to accommodate the increase in wages.

As I've finally managed to separate my budget so that it all fits in with my employed wages, full universal credit and a little bit of my PIP, my plan should hopefully be able to work. As I lose universal credit the more I earn, some of the freelance wages will be used to top up my budget to the combined value of the employed wages and full universal credit, then everything else can be put into the PAD Pot and hopefully this surplus should allow me to meet the £10 a day target. 

So that I can get into a position to leave my job, clear my debts and build an emergency fund and sinking funds, I am going to split my additional Make £10 A Day money into 3 parts; 70% debt, 10% spending and 20% savings. I've updated my spreadsheet to reflect these percentages as well. I'm starting to feel optimistic about my chances of clearing £10k off by debt by December 2023 based on £7,200 (£600 a month direct debits x 12) + £2,555 (70% of £3,650 target) with £45 to find across the year to round it up to £10k. I've not counted what my siblings owe me, as that will just be a bonus to reducing the debt. But things are looking more hopeful at least.

Keedie

Managed to put £7 in my sealed pot as I had a £5 note left over from this week's budget and two £1 coins. I won't realistically be able to consistently save £5 notes as that's a lot of money, but I have no plans this week that required it and I did some food shopping in Lidl this afternoon and got some stuff for my mum as well. So I don't really have a need to spend, aside from petrol and my travel fund on my Chase account will be credited with £25 to cover that so it's okay.

AntoMac

That’s the beauty of the Sealed Pot Keedie. It allows you to save what you can when you can. No pressure and no competition but it allows money that would otherwise ‘disappear’ to build up into something meaningful.
I have occasionally had dreams where my Dad was around too.  Nice to ‘see’ them again but disappointing waking up and realising it wasn’t real though eh 
I hope your sleep is a whole lot better this evening.

Keedie

Yes the sealed pot makes all the difference as there's no expectation and because it's such a faff to open it, and you don't want to ruin the surprise, you can easily just pot the money and forget about it. I'm hoping that I'll achieve my £500 target by declaration day on 26 October 2023. My 1p challenge that will net me £677.95 is in a virtual pot and I'll keep that separate as I've decided that will pay for Christmas next year with some money to spare. 

It's funny how I can feel so comforted yet crushed regarding dreams about my dad. But yeah, it is good to 'see' him, and sometimes I'm aware that he's not meant to be there and sometimes I'm blissfully unaware that my dreams will never be reality.

I'm hoping to be able to fall asleep around 2am today @AntoMac. I feel quite wired but exhausted and so I'll just see how I can burn myself out. But thanks. 

LittleMissDetermined

I hope you managed to sleep OK @Keedie, I must admit I am an early bird so rarely up past 10:30 unless we have been out or have guests. I am definitely a person who needs her sleep! 

I have just said to my husband that I was dreaming about my mum last night, so I know exactly what you mean about your dreams of your dad. Sending you hugs
LMD x