Time to banish the debt.

flamingo22

Naomim said:

Are you overpaying any of the debts?

When I started our debt journey, we were paying interest on all of the debt and were in persistent debt. I started overpaying just by a couple of ££'s. Eventually we started being offered balance transfers. They weren't great as the transfer fees were usually about 5% and the term was short, about a year but they started to make the difference as I was actually paying off the debt and not interest. 

Keep going. You'll be debt free before you know it. 

I'm overpaying the Abound one at the minute and at extra money I get, is going to that. That should hopefully finish jan/feb time then I can start snowballing properly and then I think I'll start to feel the money coming down then. My credit cards are 0% for another two years yet, so it's just these pesky loans 🤨

flamingo22

BrimfulofSascha said:

Hi Flamingo,

Just whizzed through your diary. I too have a DD just gone into year 11, also struggling with maths, and also promised her a fancy trip when she finished standard education this year. I also started here with a similar amount of debt (c.£48k) and a hopeful DFD of 2027.

You are doing so well. It's such a good thing to be using this as a therapy diary as you are, getting the thoughts out helps with the guilt and stops you catastrophising.

We will get there

L&L
Sascha

Hi Sascha,

I've just read your diary and you are doing amazing ☺️ must be a thing with girls and maths these days, mine has no hope with me and her dad, both completely useless at it and it took me 4 times to eventually get a C 🙄

Such a lot of debt isn't it and I've no idea what the majority has been spent on. I'm just focusing on one debt at a time now and the others are ticking by, it seems to have helped and stops it being quite so overwhelming (until I have my next pang of anxiety) subscribed to your diary and I'll be cheering you on, roll on 2027!!

flamingo22

Not much to update in the land of debt, well apart from still being skint 😏 but I've worked out that if I overpay £79 each month now, then I can pay off everything by the end of oct/nov 2027 instead of dec 2027, so it works at about making an extra £2.70 each day, I can do this on the surveys (but their as dull as dishwater) so hoping that Vinted will help me too, any other ideas will be greatly received. 

Work is crazy and the weeks are flying by, hoping for a couple of quiet weekends to sort the house out for the winter months and make it all cosy. Day off tomorrow just me and the little one, he's back to his usual happy, little self, it's been a while since he's been like this and wanting to do things again, so may take him swimming and to the park.
Fighting the urge to get my budget book out, I don't  know what I'd achieve by doing it, I know the score with my debts and no matter how many tables or graphs I do, isn't going to change the fact, think I'm going to watch big brother instead 😂😂 it's more uplifting (kind of).

Naomim

I need to speak to MrM about getting DD a tutor sorted. She's doing mocks now so we'll see how she's doing. We had a long chat about plans as we've been looking at colleges and 6th forms.  

Glad your LO is feeling better. This time of year is nothing but snotty noses for them at that age! 😂

No ideas on the extra side hustles I'm afraid. There is an "old style" board that has some interesting ways to cut costs that night help save a few pennies. 

jokono

Did you do any bank switches? They're an easy way to make £1-200. I totalled £975 in 2023 from switching, but overall it was more as I started in 2022 and didn't keep track until January 2023.

I also did matched betting, it was pre 2023 so not sure how much I did in total, but it was definitely in the higher hundreds if not more. But don't do this when tired, it's easy to make mistakes 😬

Other lines in my 2023 extra money making spreadsheet are bak rewards ( £5 from natwest), cashback, free spins, interest (it wasn't a lot back then, it was mostly from my chase pots), mistery shopping, selling and surveys. 

flamingo22

Naomim said:

I need to speak to MrM about getting DD a tutor sorted. She's doing mocks now so we'll see how she's doing. We had a long chat about plans as we've been looking at colleges and 6th forms.  

Glad your LO is feeling better. This time of year is nothing but snotty noses for them at that age! 😂

No ideas on the extra side hustles I'm afraid. There is an "old style" board that has some interesting ways to cut costs that night help save a few pennies. 

The tutor we have charges £22 a week and it's a group setting of 4 children all working towards the same grade, she seems to be enjoying it. And the courses she's hoping to do only require a 4 or above in maths or English and she's quite good at English so it takes the pressure off a bit. Good luck to your DD for the mocks.

flamingo22

jokono said:

Did you do any bank switches? They're an easy way to make £1-200. I totalled £975 in 2023 from switching, but overall it was more as I started in 2022 and didn't keep track until January 2023.

I also did matched betting, it was pre 2023 so not sure how much I did in total, but it was definitely in the higher hundreds if not more. But don't do this when tired, it's easy to make mistakes 😬

Other lines in my 2023 extra money making spreadsheet are bak rewards ( £5 from natwest), cashback, free spins, interest (it wasn't a lot back then, it was mostly from my chase pots), mistery shopping, selling and surveys. 

Hi, I've done 3, I think bank switches so far 🙃 and I've tried that match betting a couple of times, I was completely confused so haven't tried it again. I'm too patient, I just want it all gone now 🤣 thank you for the suggestions. 

jokono

flamingo22 said:
 I'm too patient, I just want it all gone now 🤣 

A very familiar feeling 🙈

flamingo22

jokono said:

flamingo22 said:
 I'm too patient, I just want it all gone now 🤣 

A very familiar feeling 🙈

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Naomim

She literally needs a grade 4 for maths. So far predicted a 3 so a bit of pushing might get her over the line. She's also good at English and her teacher has said she expects her to be one of the higher achievers in the year for this. 

I tried looking at matched betting but really couldn't get my head round it!