How I Cleared $10,134.72 of my Debt in One Month
A month ago, I shared my massive consumer debt of $59,973.72.
It was daunting putting the full amount out there but did help keep me motivated.
My debts included:
$44,014.72 Personal loan (medical and a car)
$5,600 Personal loan
$1,500 Zip
$1,300 Loan from a friend they need back within 3 weeks
$723 AfterPay
$67 x 8 a course with 8 weekly payments left
$6,300 Expenses in the next 3 weeks that I have not budgeted for, so I am viewing them as a debt too. Because if I cannot make that extra cash, I will have to get debt for those.
How Did I Get The Money?
When I started, I decided to cut back on everything and do every side hustle possible.
That seemed to be the best plan forward until life had other plans.
I ended up not having as much time as I thought this month so I could not trial things I thought I could and had a few unexpected expenses.
Here is what I did to make extra money and payments.
Got Confused and Paid Double
This is a good example of how I have not managed my money well.
I had paused payments on my personal loan as my finances were a mess.
They started back this month; I paid the regular amount directly, forgetting that they direct debit.
So double pay to the loan but I am happy about it as I planned on paying a lot extra and fast.
Online Surveys
The pay isn’t massive but I did manage to make more than I expected this month.
A few larger surveys coupled with unexpected time I had to wait made it easy to generate a little extra with online surveys.
Since most of them can be cashed out quickly, I was able to transfer this week already.
Octopus Group was my top one and PureProfile was second.
Rented Out My Place
I had to travel for 2 weeks for work this month. Homes in my area go for around $2,000 a week for short-term accommodation (Airbnb, Booking.com etc).
A friend had someone who wanted to stay at my place, so I didn’t have to go through a platform or pay fees.
It worked well as it also meant my home wasn’t empty while I was gone and my plants were taken care of.
Lodged My Tax Return
Looking at my debts had me reassessing my finances and preparing my tax return so it could be lodged this month.
Amazingly, it was processed within a few days as it was a simple one and my refund was in my account a week after that.
I did not even consider this available money. It went straight to the big expenses of this month and a small amount went to debt.
Cashed In Cans
You get 10c per can, bottle and even alcohol bottles now so we had collected some and our neighbours gave us their.
They know I am working on clearing my debt asap.
Cashing in cans is not something I want to do long term or view as good use of my time but it was nice to have a bit extra.
How I Cut My Expenses
Making extra money is my preference but cutting expenses helps too.
I decided not to have internet at home since my mobile plan comes with more data than I use. That saves $85 a month.
Cancelling all streaming services, random subscriptions and going back to basics freed up my time and money.
Planning my meals better, cooking a big batch and trialling the meal kit options saved money on groceries.
Selecting a new electricity and gas plan, comparing my insurance and every other bill saved a bit too.
Basically, a quick audit of my expenses saved me some money short term and will save a few thousand over the coming year.
Everything I saved went straight to debt and will continue to go to my debts.
Building An Emergency Fund
I put $1,000 from my tax return into an emergency fund to get started. My goal is $2,000 and slowly get it to at least $5,000 by the end of the year.
All those little debts needed to go first as they had limited timeframes and consequences if not paid on time.
Clearing them was done first because I knew I could put aside some money from my tax return.
Now, I need to continue to build that while clearing my big personal loan.
