25 Feb 2015

A question about : The ultimate incentive to get debt free, can I do it by New Years?

Hi all,

I have decided to start my own diary thread on the forums (having avoided it since January) as I need all the motivation and encouragement I can get to gain momentum on clearing my debts. Little bit of background first, and you can decide if you want to keep reading title=Wink I had my LBM last January, and have cleared around 3k since then, however I really need to pick up the pace. It all started well with economising, doing the £10 a day challenge etc, but gradually it ground to a near halt. I still have around 14k to clear, and I would love to clear it by the end of the year (well, I'd love to clear it tomorrow but I think my fairy godmother got stranded on a XL holiday).

My boyfriend lives in Ireland, and we spend every other weekend together (between us I think we keep jet2 and ryanair in business!), however he was over for 11 days last week (the longest we've ever managed to get together)and when he left it was awful, both in floods of tears, but we know we couldnt support ourselves at present due to the ammount of debt I have. So he told me that it's up to me, but within 30 days of me telling him I'm debt free, he'll move over here! title=Jumping So, I certainly have the incentive to do it, now I just need to get a good pace. For anyone who has seen any of my previous posts I met my BF about 3 months ago, and he's everything I never thought existed outside movies, and meeting him was the kick I needed to get out of an extremely unhappy and unhealthy relationship.

I intend to update this thread at least once a day, on any money I've managed to make and how. Somehow my wages seem to almost entirely get eaten up every month (yes, kept a spending diary last spring and the money all seems to go to sensible places but in tiny ammounts so i dont notice it!), so I am largely focussed on making money from secondary revenue ie surveys, ebay, amazon, mystery shopping, as well as trying to save in my day to day spending and I've recently got back into comping which might not make much but it's very exciting getting parcels in the post.... not that I've got one since March title=Eusa

So... quite a ramble there.... I do that a lot..... wish me luck!

Best answers:

  • Good Luck, Sounds like the perfect reason!!
  • Good luck with your new diary and your debt free journey.
    What a lovely story and definately a fantastic motivation to be debt free. Here's to a happy new year for you both
  • just want to wish you luck too! definately have great motivation now!
  • Thanks guys. Should be able to get off to a decent start, my mum found a letter I never opened from a few months ago telling me I have Ј605 of premium bonds, so going to the post office to hand in the cash-in form today. Lesson to all - don't assume all mail is bad news!
    Also have 12 books to post which I sold on amazon for Ј26.68 in total after fees, hopefully will clear Ј10 profit after postage. Keep repeating the mantra 'every little helps'. My mum thinks I'm barmy to sell books for Ј1 profit each but I see it as Ј1 closer to getting the BF here and I then have no issue trudging my book bag to the post office 3 times a week! Have been meaning to get around to listing them for months, then when my lovely BF was here and it was raining and he felt ill and we were too skint to go out he just sat there and listed about 120 of them for me!
  • Hello, good luck with your challenge, is it worth you posting a SOA in case there are areas which can be trimmed down a bit and help you on your way in paying off your debts???? There are soooooo many good tips from people here.
  • Yep I think I might do that, again, every little counts! Would be great if I could squeze a few Ј100 from it as I'm sure there should be more kicking around somewhere! Will do it this evening when I have my trusty laptop with all its spreadsheets and things in front of me
  • Posted my books, came to Ј9.44, so a total of Ј17.24 profit. And sent off the letter to the premium bonds people. But did go to return a faulty top and necklace to Dorothy Perkins, no receipt no refund but the lady would swap it for me, but ended up making up the Ј2 difference. Think I'll have to do ebay penitence by listing 3 items to make up for it!
  • Dinah
    might not be much help to you, i found the best way to sort out the mess i am in was to get my mum to help
    She is there when i need to ask advice and also there to kick me up the backside if i need it
    Do you have a friend who could be a debt buddy if you like that will keep you motivated and you could make it a competition
    kas x
  • Hey gettingbetter,
    Oh my mum is great at kicking me up the backside, mainly cos i have boxes and boxes of things stored all over her house that are 'to go on ebay'... sadly its taken me nearly a year to do the amazon stuff, and i NEED to get onto the ebay thing next but I find their system so complicated now its soul destroying trying to spend more than 30mins doing it! Would love a debt buddy friend but none of my friends have any debts that I know of. Most lived at home until they had significant savings to move out of their parents, while I tried to run before I could walk and supported my ex for over a year when he didnt get around to getting a new job! Could maybe suggest to one of them they try to get to the same ammount in savings in the same time, but not sure I would get anyone to bite?
  • Okay, I'm skulking back with my head hung in shame. I vowed to myself to keep this updated, then I was poorly a few days and forgot, and when I remembered I felt too guilty to come back! But DFW contains some of the nicest people on the internet imo, so hopefully a little slap on the wrist is all that is in order. However when I tell you how well I have done, maybe all will be forgiven?!
    Since posting last I have paid Ј1045.18 off my credit card, Ј2200 off my family loan, and put Ј90 into my savings account to be paid off the credit card at the end of the month unless I need it to repair the car before then. So for those keeping track that is
    Ј3260.18
    closer to having my boyfriend over here in slightly under a month! No, I don't have an insanely well paid job btw, after tax I take home around Ј1480 a month.
    So, breakdown of what I have paid so far:
  • Ј2150 received from insurance company as settlement from car accident in 2004, added Ј50 to pay off a round Ј2200 from a loan from a family member, leaving me 11 payments at Ј200 a month left .
  • Ј100 standard direct debit to 19.9% CC1
  • Ј25 standard direct debit to 0% CC2
  • Ј605 redeemed premium bonds (paid straight onto CC1)
  • Quidco paid Ј18.66 into my bank (paid straight onto CC1)
  • Ј10 mystery shop paid into bank (again, straight onto CC1)
  • Ј89.99 (I rounded up to Ј90 for convenience) from sales of books on amazon (oh so many heavy bags of books!) placed into savings account in case my car battery finally dies a good death and I need a new one before I get paid, otherwise it will go on the credit card on the 25th.
  • Ј170 onto CC1 on payday to cover the dentist treatment that I couldn't entirely afford last month and August (trust me, I tried. I smashed my terramundi and took the poor girl Ј68 in very mucky coppers and small silver for the first 2 filings! She was remarkably good humoured about it. I think she's secretly an MSE'r)
  • Ј20.32 for another Amazon payment for books (also straight onto CC1)
  • Ј4.20 I found in an old savings account (also onto CC1)
  • Ј17.00 my brother gave my for using my bank card to buy his GFs birthday pressie, as for some reason his card was being rejected for being foreign issue (I count it as off the debt as I payed for the pressie on my debit card, but I put the mnoey back onto CC1)
  • I have also today called o2 and questioned my last 4 phone bills as it appears none of my text messages are coming out of my inclusive allowance.
    I have also signed up to do the 10 items a day on ebay challenge, as I have an entire shed of items to sell that I can't face looking at, and hopefully now I will.
    In addition I mentioned previously my ex, well after much pursuasion from my DM (Dear mother, in case I just made up a new abreviation!) and BF, I wrote to him, and his mother (who always held the cards!) as I paid for his university fees, until he was assessed for financial eligability. Well he was given a partial award in September 8 months after I paid them, into the joint bank account (which I still can't get taken into one name or the other) and he withdrew within a few hours. So I have written asking for this money to be repaid (but only the partial ammount), or I will file take it to small claims next friday to ask for the full ammount and his share of the bills I was left to pay when we broke up. His mother has called and said she will talk to him over the weekend and get back to me.
    So... I think that's enough of an update for 2am on a Saturday night (up late as I have a bad ear infection I think it is and can't sleep). I will update again tomorrow, as I have been making DFW moves every day, and it will help to write them down.

  • Wow dinah, haven't you done well
    You are certainly forgiven.
    You are going to do it & what a fabulous reward you're going to get!
    Keep it up!
    Pip
  • Thanks Pippo
    I am up bright and early (well for someone who couldnt sleep until 4am, this is early!) and I have my 10 items to ebay today sat in a box beside me, and a little to do list for the day.
  • Ebay 10 items
  • Check email for new surveys
  • Read infomation for mystery shop tomorrow
  • Order photobook from Aldi for gran's Christmas pressie before 50% off deal ends at midnight
  • Enter todays closing competitions (not really towards paying off the debt unless I win a load of cash but I do the ones on MSE) and cross my fingers today my luck changes. 2,431 entries with no wins
  • Parcel up the 3 books that have sold on Amazon ready to take to the post office tomorrow
  • Since I still feel ill and have no balance I can't go out so that's one less potential distraction, bet I'll manage to find others though. Will check off what I've managed to do before bed tonight.
    D x

  • Ooops, just realised car insurance expires on Saturday, better add 'get car insurance quotes' to that list! (following Martin's guide and using quidco ofc )
  • Wow Dinah - well done you really are doing well, especially now that you have something to aim for.
    Keeping a diary on here really does help and gives you that extra bit of motivation. I love updating my diary on here and hopefully when im debt free i can look back at how hard i tried etc. Keep up the good work!
    Princess
    x
  • Morning DFW'rs.
    Well my check from my ex's mother arrived this morning - Ј720 as aggreed. I'm quite chuffed about it to be honest, I respect her for wanting to do the right thing even if her son is a violent monster. I'm also obviously very pleased that I asked, as I didn't want to as I was too scared of having to see him again or even talk to him to deal with it.
    So I am off to pop that in the bank at lunchtime, then post my 4 books from Amazon which were sold. Then I have a mystery shop this afternoon for another bank, and when I get home tonight I will do my 10 items for the evening, my competitions, and I will force myself to finally apply for these car insurance quotes!
    My CC1 has Ј197 left on it to pay off, I'm confident I can have it cleared by the 25th (payday, I run my months 25th-25th) which just leaves me the big CC2 (around Ј4800 I think but I don't know because I can't work out how to access Virgin online!), the Ј2200 left to family, and my Ј1500 overdraft.
  • Well, I didn't apply for the insurance quotes - again! Managed to list 28 books on greenmetropolis, and got a BIN sale on a cookbok I put on ebay on Sunday. Only Ј1.60 but it it all helps. Also did my usual competitions, the 5 surveys that were giving me the evil eye and filled in my mystery shop report. I'm sure I joined a fwe mystery shopping companies but only 2 ever seem to email me, might have to go on a prowl for more.
    Best of all yesterday I finished my qype reviews - ninja time! Boyfriend and I have a bit of a running joke about ninjas so I think this one will have to be put to good use. The ipod is being sold to my brother's mate for Ј20 I think as I need the money more than I need an ipod. Assuming they arrive of course, but no one seems to have had any problems with Qype.
  • hey dinah well done on the journey you seem to have done so well ive jut come off night durty i have my own diary i have 70 k to shift me and oh im doing well as im saving for my wedding next year and we are plugging away at debt but it does get hard :O xx
  • Ooooh I'll have to have a check out of your diary too. 70k, wow, that's a real mountain to climb but I'm sure with the support of your OH it will go so much easier. Mine is being fantastic, helping me list items (coming over to visit for 10 days on Friday and he's going to list these 800 or so comics I have that make me want to cry when I as much as think about listing them!), doing the surveys that require you to be a bloke, helping package up items and just being my general cheerleader. He seems genuinely proud of how well I'm doing to shift this debt. He's dropped hints about the future, but I don't expect anything to happen on that front for a few years yet, men are all talk and actions speak louder than words :rolleyes: but still be nice to be debt free so the possibility of marriage or a house or something is there when we want it.
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