A MONEY-savvy mum managed to pay off all her £16,000 debt in just two years after coming up with a very dedicated plan.

Lynne Beattie, from Knebworth, Hertfordshire, said her spending was unsustainable in 2017 and debts quickly began to mount.

Lynne Beattie managed to pay off all her debts in two years after following a dedicated plan

1

Lynne Beattie managed to pay off all her debts in two years after following a dedicated planCredit: East News

She had been made redundant from a well-paid job just two years before and was in the process of carving out a new career with her new business, Mrs Mummypenny.

But while Lynne’s income dropped, her spending didn’t.

Within 18 months of continue to spend how she would have on a corporate salary, her redundancy pay ran out and her credit card debt started to build.

After turning 40, the mum-of-three added up her the balances on her four credit cards – and the sum came to £16,000.

“I felt sick,” Lynne writes in the Mirror.

“How could I have got so carried away with spending and got myself into such a precarious position?”

She started to cut back and steadily repay her debts.

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But after six months, Lynne said she “got into a difficult situation” having not set aside any cash for emergencies.

She explained: “I was at the end of my overdraft, had no savings, and still had a large chunk of credit card debt. I couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage the following month.

“I sat with my friend having a cheap takeaway (that he kindly paid for) and cried.”

STEP 1

The businesswoman said she began to rationalise how she could get hold of emergency money to pay for the essentials the next month.

And she started paying some cash into a small emergency fund to cover such eventualities should they happen again.

Lynne then went through all the detail of her debt, including loans and credit cards and worked out her balances and interest rates.

She checked her credit rating and restructured her debt – shifting her credit cards around to ensure they were interest free for as long as possible.

STEP 2

The mum also stripped every bill back to basics, including energy, broadband, mobile phone, insurances.

Any non-essential bill was stopped while the debt was being repaid.

She also scrapped takeaways and did two no-spend months where all non-essential spending stopped – she didn’t buy clothes or make-up for a year.

Lynne sold everything she could on eBay and tried to earn as much money as she could alongside her business.

But while she admits there were “dark times” there were also positive moments where she would pay off large sums at a time.

Three years on, Lynne is credit card free – she paid of her £16,000 idebt in 2019 and now, rather than going into the red, she finds she has cash left over to put into savings each month.

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