Aiming for debt free in four years

VioletNewStart

Scott_Weiland79 said:

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 it’s 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.

Thanks so much for all these pointers, Scott. I’m pretty good with shopping as I just get what I need day to day and I have got my phone on sim onl. But I don’t do any of the cash back stuff so am going to look into that. 

Am going to look into the surveys too. And also that’s a great plan re clothes selling on Vinted. I used to sell a lot on eBay years ago. £200 is a good result!

Determined to get back on track this month and make some progress by year end. 

Scott_Weiland79

VioletNewStart said:

Scott_Weiland79 said:

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 it’s 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.

Thanks so much for all these pointers, Scott. I’m pretty good with shopping as I just get what I need day to day and I have got my phone on sim onl. But I don’t do any of the cash back stuff so am going to look into that. 

Am going to look into the surveys too. And also that’s a great plan re clothes selling on Vinted. I used to sell a lot on eBay years ago. £200 is a good result!

Determined to get back on track this month and make some progress by year end. 

Top Cashback is the way forward, a lot of blitzing debts is habit forming. Ie when you buy something online could i go via top cashback and click an extra couple of quid/if the company isnt on there is an equivilent. I havent used ebay in a while but I know buying stuff from them they are on T.C. and you can link your nectar to Ebay also. So every ebay purchase you get points and you can spend nectar points on ebay just another tip.

Surveys are a good one I was in dire straights a few years back/relationship break down/offwork/about 10000 around me neck surveys kept me going as I would stick a movie on and just hammer them.

Aimingforthegoodlife

Well done for recognising things had got difficult, and for coming back! That is a big part of the battle, we are all here to support, so even when it feels things are going in the wrong direction, please come and share! Well done on catching the spending before it went over your previous total, sounds like a good plan to identify a monthly goal. I think the method you are choosing is the avalanche method, highest interest first and working backwards, makes sense to me!

twiggy86

Well done on your progress so far - you have made progress and so should be proud of yourself!

Just a comment re the "unavoidable" costs in August - were these completely unexpected or could they have been foreseen? I have various "pots" for both expected and foreseeable costs - for example annual costs (such as insurances) and recurring/ anticipated costs (such as gifts, haircuts, diy etc). I put money into these pots each month, so that one a cost hits I am not left scrambling to come up with additional money in any particular month. It makes it seem as though my progress is slower (as I can't throw that money each month at the debt), but overall gives me better control of the whole picture! This time around (I've been here a few times, so I am FAR from perfect and just sharing what I've learnt over time!) I prioritised my emergency fund (£1,000), which again gives me such a greater sense of control!

Good luck!   

VioletNewStart

Hi Twiggy86 and Aimingforthegoodlife - thanks for your encouragement! It really helps. 

The good news is that I am definitely back on track. A painful month but payday tomorrow and overall I managed to clear my overall debt this month by £641. It is now down to £49,043. Still a long, long way to go but I’m so relieved that it’s going in the right direction again.

And thanks, Twiggy86, you are right, I definitely need to build up that emergency fund as the costs (vets) were/are likely to arise at some point. I had started building an emergency fund and a vet costs fund earlier in the year but then ended up spending it.

I’m hoping that in a few months time, if I can keep on track, then one of my cards will offer me a 0% to help reduce the interest I am paying. (The interest I’m paying each month is the same again as what I’m clearing). 

Total debt now standing at £49,043.

Aiming for it to be £48,273 at the end of October.