Overhauling for the second (and last) time

overhauler

£5 payment to debt #9 today. 

Rest of my account balances are starting to look a little low so I think additional debt payments will start to slow now for the rest of this month 

todays payment took me another step on my 100 steps to debt free so I can colour another square in on my tracker 

Christmas shopping is almost complete, will pop to the big shopping centre on Saturday for the last couple of bits and then get everything wrapped, next I need to start thinking about food 

I don’t go overboard food wise as previous years I have bought way too much, turkey and pigs in blankets are already bought and in the freezer so just dessert and some snacks really 

overhauler

Morning, work from home today which is nice as the weather is dreadful 

no plans to go anywhere but will be busy work-wise as I have a lot I need to get done project wise. No meetings though so can work from the comfort of the sofa if I feel like it 

made just a small £1 payment to debt #9 this morning just to keep plugging away at the debt 

overhauler

Also just received confirmation this morning that debt #1 account is now cleared and closed 

I figured that for each of the debts I  going to close them once they are cleared, except one credit card which will be used once cleared to help rebuild my credit score. The plan is to use it just for petrol and set it to pay in full each month 

on the petrol front, I  using so much less than I expected now so although I’m going to keep allocating £160 a month I don’t think I will ever need that. This month I’ve filled up once which is £40 and the tank is still on full now as I’ve only driven to work twice. I think I will only need one more tank fill this month so should have plenty left over to put towards debt or savings 

overhauler

Gosh, I have been so busy I’ve not updated for a little while

life is hectic with the run up to Christmas and all the events that come with it and work has been a little crazy too 

budget is holding up which is the main thing 

Christmas shopping is all done but I did end up transferring my EF back to my current account, I am ok with this as had not budgeted at all for Christmas this year so to end up using the EF but having nothing on credit and still be reducing my debt is a huge win in my eyes 

today marks 3 months since I started my diary, so far I have l:
- created a bills budget and stuck to it 
- made payment arrangements with all 10 debt accounts 
- reduced debt from £5120.21 to £4506.93
- cleared and closed 1 debt account 
- completed 11/100 steps on my 100 steps to debt free challenge 

alongside that I am also now overpaying debt every month
when I started this journey my debt free date was 20/12/2028 with a monthly payment of £101.50
last month I paid £140 and if I did that consistently I would be DF by 24/10/2027
this month I have paid £277 off the debt which is almost double last months which will bring that date even closer - my aim is to be debt free within 2 years rather than 4 

overhauler

Got accepted to prolific today after being on the waitlist for a few weeks and immediately made £8 on a survey 

with work being so busy I hadn’t used the CC survey app for a few days but logged in today and did a survey hen cashed out £5

tried to make a payment to the debt with it but the repayment option is no longer showing as available, the last payment I made took me below the due balance for the month so don’t know if that has caused the problem so will have to speak to them and sort it out so I can make payments again 

Scott_Weiland79

On the survey front try an app called curious cat. Surveys take 3-10 mins normally you get 5-60 points a survey, once you hit 100 points you can drop payment into paypal.

I have used it for years and it brings me in regular an extra 5-15 quid pw.

overhauler

Yes that is the CC one that I mentioned, I have been using it just a few weeks and seem to do quite well. I don’t have lots of times for surveys but with curious cats have been able to add 5-20 extra towards debt payments each week so hoping for the same from prolific 

was able to make the additional £5 payment this morning so paid that to debt #9 

Scott_Weiland79

ahhhhh sorry i should of clicked

Hay every little helps I do quite well off qmee another app that brings me in another 5-10 a week. 

And another two things i find helpful are topcashback, if i buy anything online i go through that.

And Chase bank when using my card, i get 1 percent cashback on most card payments.

overhauler

That’s really useful, thanks for the tips @Scott_Weiland79

Sarahwithlove

You're doing well on the surveys, I really need to get back into doing them as it all helps.