Single, self-employed and debt-free by March 2024

barney77

Hi there, you are making really good progress towards your goal!  Well done 

specialhat

Thank you!

I made £9.16 profit on eBay today and £91 with the freelance job. 

specialhat

I just sold some trousers on eBay and some leftover flooring and underlay on Gumtree so my pot for the month now holds £360.03. I’ve also got a buyer for a chest of drawers for £50 and she should be collecting on Saturday.

specialhat

It's pay day (set by me, being self employed) on Sunday and it's looking like I will have £80-£100 left over this month - something I can't remember happening for a very long time - so once I know the exact figure I will also throw that at the Tesco fund.

It's been a pretty frugal month for me. I even bought a flight to Scotland (£102) out of my pay rather than my savings this month, so I am very pleased to have some funds left over. Cutting back on coffee and lunch spends has made a huge difference, and I've also done less mindless spending on eBay and Amazon.

Next month's splurge will be on getting my hair cut and coloured.

specialhat

Today's small wins include £5.51 from Prolific (put straight into the savings pot for Tesco) and a free pizza slice from Gregg's for lunch using my O2 Priority app

specialhat

Does anyone know if only making minimum payments affects your credit score? My balances are all at 0% so I have been rethinking whether I should save everything apart from the minimum payments into an interest-paying savings account until it's time to pay them off in full.

joedenise

I'd heard that it's worth paying £1 over the minimum payment as minimum payments are recorded on your credit file.  Don't know how true it is but may be worth doing so if it is true it doesn't show as only minimums being paid.

I'd definitely put everything else into an interest bearing account so pay off in full at the end of the 0% period.

specialhat

Thanks @joedenise!

specialhat

I’ve decided to set myself a grocery challenge. I’ve placed an online supermarket order for 14th September and I’m going to try and eat only the food I already have in (apart from mini shops for fresh essentials like milk and fresh veg) until then. I’m in Scotland for four nights in early September and have plenty in the cupboards and freezer so it should be doable.

specialhat

I have ended the month with £92 left over which I have put in the pot, plus someone picked up my chest of drawers today for £50. My savings towards my £1,046.98 goal (by February) now stand at £522.53. Not bad for month one (although I seriously doubt other months will even come close!).