I paid off £8k of credit card debt and now I’ve even got savings – here’s the four simple tips I swear by
A WOMAN has revealed that she paid of £8,000 worth of debt in under a year.
Thanks to four simple tips, Beth Fuller, a mother from the UK, explained how she paid off her credit card debt.
Not only did this savvy mum pay off the money she owed, but she also managed to start saving some money too.
Sharing her advice on social media, Beth explained: “So I’ve gone from having £8,000 in credit card debt to now paying off and having my emergency savings.
“And I wanna go over money habits that have really, really helped me manage my money better and now being in just such a bad place financially.”
Her first tip, which she claimed is ‘key’ is to regularly check your banking app, as she advised: “Okay, so straight into it. The first thing that I had to really, really be strict with myself and change is a very little one, but it’s very key. And that was to check my banking app.
“I would avoid that thing so badly. I would avoid looking at a bank balance. I dreaded having to log in, having to face what situation I was in across accounts.
“I just had a very bad relationship with actually facing reality with money. And now, I basically have built this habit of checking every day and facing it every day.
“So I check my banking apps every single day, and I check my credit score every month. And I probably don’t need to do it every single day, but at this point, it’s such a ritual.
“And now it’s actually such a positive thing because I’m seeing money In my current account stay there for all the bills that I know is gonna come out. I see my savings look so lovely, and then I see my spending, and I check where I’m at with my monthly spending allowance and I stay on track.
“It’s just changed how I behave with money so much by actually getting over that block I was giving myself and just looking.”
Not only this, but she also explained that it is very important that you know where your debts are and how much you owe, as she added: “The next thing is to actually know, and maybe this comes first, but to actually know what my financial setup is.
“And a lot of people have more confusing ones than I had. Mine is pretty simple. I had two credit cards maxed out and not enough in my current account.
“However, some people have an overdraft and then credit cards elsewhere and they just don’t know what’s where.
“First thing you wanna do is to find it – find it all out. Have it in front of you and just make sure you gain access to everything, you know what’s where, and then face it – face it every single day.
“I know it’s awful when you’re in a bad position, but you need to get comfortable with facing it, because at some point, you’re gonna be on the other side, like how I am now, and so you need to be educated on your own financial situation, and you need to face it.”
As well as this, she explained that treating money like maths helped her to save, as she continued: “The next thing that I always say, but it matters so much, is to treat money like maths.
“We all have an emotional tie to money. We all have an emotional tie to things that we wanna do and what we wanna buy.
“And, you know, a bill can seem very hefty, but a fun night out with friends feels cheap when you’re considering.
“You just need to think of it, instead of these different pulls, and these different things that money is attributed to, think of it as maths.
“What’s got to come out, and what’s gonna come out is gonna happen. Doesn’t matter what, – mortgage, food, bills, child. There’s your minus and then work from there.
“I think a lot of the time, it’s really easy to make your financial decisions, even just within the month, based on a feeling of your money. Based on the feeling of what things are and how it plans out and all of that type of stuff.
“Instead of just saying it as, I need to have more there than what’s coming out, at the bare minimum, I need to have the same as what’s coming out. Ideally, I need to have more.
“And you just need to view it mathematically. Use a spreadsheet, budget, and view your money as maths.
“Now that I do that, it’s much easier to have conversations such as, ‘we can’t afford that holiday destination’, or ‘no, I can’t get that type of family car.’”
Finally, Beth explained that budgeting and writing lists really helped her to pay off her debt, as she concluded: “The next one might seem a bit weird, but for me, one thing that I really had to start to learn is that a month is actually a very short space of time.
“So I would start my month off with all of these things that I thought I needed to buy and a lot of them were for my daughter.
“But a month is only four weeks and I’ve started to think instead of how short of a span of time that is. So surely not all of that is actually needed right now and I push it much longer.
“I write down what I’d love to try, and I just write it down instead of thinking that that’s got to come out that month.”
Beth later added: “Super simple but made such a difference in thinking of my money like this!”
The TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @bethmfuller, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly amassed 254,600 views.
Social media users were incredibly thankful for the advice and were eager to express this in the comments.
One person said: “That’s a really good idea writing stuff down that you think you need but can be pushed back! I’m so impulsive and will just want something and think I need to buy it straight away when that’s not the case. Thank you for the tips.”
Another added: “That’s really helpful. Since becoming a mum I find stuff every month that I think I need when I don’t.”
A third commented: “These are the best and most useful tips I’ve heard! I’m not in debt but I think I’m realising I struggle with impulsiveness and then not checking accounts.”
Whilst someone else penned: “Great advice.”
Meanwhile, someone else asked: “How long did it take you to clear the debt please?”
To this, Beth confirmed: “It took me just under a year.”
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