Debt repayment and side hustling

 I've been busy over the last 9 months or so since I posted. I've been working flat out, trying to keep up with the ever changing government guidance to ensure we are being as safe as possible at work.

At home I have been working hard at overpaying my debts to clear the credit cards. I have one completely paid off,just 2 more to go. I started my journey to clearing them with over 15k in debt, I am now under 10k. I'm so

proud of that milestone and can't wait to bring it down further.

I was accepted by my bank to transfer just over half of one of my remaining cards onto a 0% for 26 month card. This will save me masses as I'm currently paying around 23% interest. I will clear the remaining credit on the High interest card, then will clear the 0% card. This will leave me with one more high interest paying card (I'm currently paying off 2 cards) which I'm hoping to secure another 0% for when I get a bit further along with this one. It's all go!

By the end of this year I will have cleared my second credit card. That is the end goal. Lots of steps I am taking to make this happen including:

* reducing my food shop bills

* making money via surveys

*making money via receipt apps

*saving money by eating at home

 

Example of a survey I will get £10 shopping voucher for completing. 

These are all current things I am doing. Next up, I am going to start selling all the excess belongings we have in our house. This will also clear the clutter which I want to do for several reasons including making the hoen easier to clean, making it a calm space, eventually when I get a mortgage in a couple of years I will be moving and I do not want to move the old clutter with me. So I may as well make it work for me now by helping to make a little extra cash.

Where do you sell things you no longer need? I have books, dvds, clothes and toys. I'm sure a lot more once I start digging deeply! I used to sell on ebay but know there are many other choices now. What are your favourite places, and why?

My New Journey

I've debated long and hard on posting this but I think it will help give perspective to how things are now, and the new journey I am on. I went from being a single mum as a student when I started this blog to working full-time as a single mum. I felt a lot of guilt around the fact I worked from home whilst Dylan was small, yet Stephanie had been in nursery from around 18 months old. So when I started work I wanted to treat them and give them everything which made going to work purposeful. The reality of this is, I couldn't afford to keep up with this and got myself into debt. over £15000 worth before I hit my crisis point of realising this is not going to get better/go away as things stand. I realised the I'll sort it next month, no really next month wasn't happening or helping me to make changes.
So just before Christmas I stopped using my credit cards- around October/November. Then in December I looked at my statements and realised just how much I am paying in interest, and actually just in minimum payments each month. It was time to get a grip.
I started  by saving up a £500 emergency fund so I have a buffer whilst I am paying off debt, then if something breaks I don't use credit to fix it.
Now I am using all of that knowledge about saving money and budgeting that I learnt as a single parent student to attack my debt. I am not in a position currently to transfer my debts and reduce the interest so I have to attack them as much as I can. I am using the snowball method and throwing everything I can at the smallest debt currently. Watch this space as I get myself out of the financial hole I have dug myself!

Wow!

Ok. so I am on a slightly different journey these days. I was thinking about beginning a blog to show our current life and to help me face the new challenges I have. I was googling around to see what blog websites are current as it's been a while since I started one- 10 years it seems! What do I find, that this one is still live. I had no idea!

What has changed- well I now have a full-time job and am no longer a student. I have been in my job for 9 years. The eldest (boychild) is now 21, studying, working part-time and has a serious girlfriend. The Girlchild is now in secondary and is a dreaded teenager- although currently she's not so bad!
Oh and we have pets now. One rabbit and a Cocker spaniel pup. Life is very different now with all of these changes but it's our life and I love it. Peaceful, calm and comfortable. An old friend recently got in touched and asked how life is going. When I gave that description they asked is that a good or bad thing. It's definitely a good thing. I'm happy.

I think instead of a new blog I will resurrect this one. It shows our journey, and thanks to some daft mistakes over the years some of my old habits are about to become refreshed for this new decade. Watch this space to find out more!

For now have a picture of our pup- this was a couple of months ago, he's grown a bit, as have the rest of us. I'll update some more once I've had a mooch around and reminded myself of all the fun we used to have in this little corner of the web.

Welcome back!