Aiming for debt free in four years

VioletNewStart

Thank you for the lovely messages of support. I’ve not been very good at updating or checking in but am going to try and update more often.

To recap, my debt (if I include overdraft) was £50,100 at the end of 2023. I did really well in the first four months of the year and cleared it down to around £47.5k. However, I then had a bad month in May due to unforeseen expenses. I then slipped out of the habit of being careful and started using one of my credit cards to cover some expenses again and overspent from May to August. At the end of August my debt is now back up to £49,684 which is depressing.

However, I’m trying to focus on the fact that at least it hasn’t gone up overall this year (as it has done every other year in the last few years).

I’m making a concerted effort for the remainder of the year to get my spending down and to aim to get down to £47k by end of December. And to start building a small savings pot with the aim of having £250 in it by end of December.

Scott_Weiland79

Good luck on your journey

Are you doing anything to boost your income, ie surveys/cashback apps/receipt uploading apps?

They are a great way to boost your emergency fund and you can if you use them alot use the funds to make dents in your debts. Have a look at

topcashback

re survey apps two good ones are Qmee and Curiouscat

VioletNewStart

Scott_Weiland79 said:

Good luck on your journey

Are you doing anything to boost your income, ie surveys/cashback apps/receipt uploading apps?

They are a great way to boost your emergency fund and you can if you use them alot use the funds to make dents in your debts. Have a look at

topcashback

re survey apps two good ones are Qmee and Curiouscat

Hi Scott, thanks for your comment! Not at the moment re surveys and spending apps but I could try looking into this. I think my main focus now really needs to be reducing the spend though. I do have a sideline to my job that will eventually start bringing in money (hopefully) so all my spare time goes on that at the moment. The main challenge is that the interest I am paying on my debt is so high. Once I can clear more of it I should get some 0% opportunities opening up again which will make it more manageable. 

VioletNewStart

I think it might be useful for me to post my monthly target here too. Am hoping I can get my debt balance down to at least £48,973 by end of September which is a reduction of £711. 

Sarahwithlove

Do you know what caused the extra spending in may to August? Is it something that you can find ways to manage so it doesn't happen again? 

Scott_Weiland79

VioletNewStart said:

Scott_Weiland79 said:

Good luck on your journey

Are you doing anything to boost your income, ie surveys/cashback apps/receipt uploading apps?

They are a great way to boost your emergency fund and you can if you use them alot use the funds to make dents in your debts. Have a look at

topcashback

re survey apps two good ones are Qmee and Curiouscat

Hi Scott, thanks for your comment! Not at the moment re surveys and spending apps but I could try looking into this. I think my main focus now really needs to be reducing the spend though. I do have a sideline to my job that will eventually start bringing in money (hopefully) so all my spare time goes on that at the moment. The main challenge is that the interest I am paying on my debt is so high. Once I can clear more of it I should get some 0% opportunities opening up again which will make it more manageable. 

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/credit-cards/calculator/

Have a look at that and even if you can tweak your budget to put an extra 25quid off debt it does make a difference

VioletNewStart

Sarahwithlove said:

Do you know what caused the extra spending in may to August? Is it something that you can find ways to manage so it doesn't happen again? 

Thanks, that’s a really good point. Some were unavoidable costs which is a reminder of why I also need to build up a savings pot. And once I had to pay those costs i also then slipped out of the habit of being careful and overspent again. 😞 Also a reminder to keep checking in on here to keep myself accountable and remember why I need to really work hard on clearing the debt. 

VioletNewStart

Scott_Weiland79 said:

VioletNewStart said:

Scott_Weiland79 said:

Good luck on your journey

Are you doing anything to boost your income, ie surveys/cashback apps/receipt uploading apps?

They are a great way to boost your emergency fund and you can if you use them alot use the funds to make dents in your debts. Have a look at

topcashback

re survey apps two good ones are Qmee and Curiouscat

Hi Scott, thanks for your comment! Not at the moment re surveys and spending apps but I could try looking into this. I think my main focus now really needs to be reducing the spend though. I do have a sideline to my job that will eventually start bringing in money (hopefully) so all my spare time goes on that at the moment. The main challenge is that the interest I am paying on my debt is so high. Once I can clear more of it I should get some 0% opportunities opening up again which will make it more manageable. 

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/credit-cards/calculator/

Have a look at that and even if you can tweak your budget to put an extra 25quid off debt it does make a difference

Thanks, Scott! Thats a really good point. I’m currently paying just over the minimum on all my cards and then paying more on the one with the highest interest rate. Can’t remember if this is the avalanche or snowball approach but then once I’ve cleared that I will pay extra on the one with the next biggest interest rate. But I’m also trying to do small additional payments during the month as you’re right and I know that makes a difference. I did that from Jan to April but then fell out of the habit again and had some high costs that were unavoidable. But restarting again this month! 

Sarahwithlove

Paying the ones with highest interest rate makes the most sense. Hopefully you can get back into good habits again. 

Scott_Weiland79

VioletNewStart said:

Scott_Weiland79 said:

VioletNewStart said:

Scott_Weiland79 said:

Good luck on your journey

Are you doing anything to boost your income, ie surveys/cashback apps/receipt uploading apps?

They are a great way to boost your emergency fund and you can if you use them alot use the funds to make dents in your debts. Have a look at

topcashback

re survey apps two good ones are Qmee and Curiouscat

Hi Scott, thanks for your comment! Not at the moment re surveys and spending apps but I could try looking into this. I think my main focus now really needs to be reducing the spend though. I do have a sideline to my job that will eventually start bringing in money (hopefully) so all my spare time goes on that at the moment. The main challenge is that the interest I am paying on my debt is so high. Once I can clear more of it I should get some 0% opportunities opening up again which will make it more manageable. 

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/credit-cards/calculator/

Have a look at that and even if you can tweak your budget to put an extra 25quid off debt it does make a difference

Thanks, Scott! Thats a really good point. I’m currently paying just over the minimum on all my cards and then paying more on the one with the highest interest rate. Can’t remember if this is the avalanche or snowball approach but then once I’ve cleared that I will pay extra on the one with the next biggest interest rate. But I’m also trying to do small additional payments during the month as you’re right and I know that makes a difference. I did that from Jan to April but then fell out of the habit again and had some high costs that were unavoidable. But restarting again this month! 

If it were me I would take this approach do what your doing which is spot on always pay the most to the one with the higher rate which is perfect

Next re your budget go through it from this point of view do what can I cut that save me money so I can pay more off debts. There's loads you can do:

Switching mobile phones to sim only

Going food shopping always take a shopping list and stick with whats on the list

Could I declutter and boost my income ie selling old phone/old books/cd's clothes/furniture even. Ebay/Facebook Market place/Vinted/Ziffit. My other half recently did a wardrobe clear out and made 200 from vinted alone.

Are you taking advantage of things like cashback, if you set up top cashback and if you buy anything online use them. Little odds and sods in cashback coming in you could save say half pay the rest off debt

And can you switch utilities/insurances around and potentially get cashback and save money too.

And finally do you have abit time each night to do say market research surveys on your phone. Alot of us do them and its a great way to bring in an extra income. I dont do as many as I used to but I did in the past get known as the survey king and would regularly bring in an extra 50-60 pw week off doing them. Put small amounts each day off the highest from surveys will make a difference if its done regular.