I was £7k in debt and had £10 for food – then I discovered ‘snowball’ method and now I’m saving for a house

TWO years ago, mum-of-two Jenny Parker had less than £10 in her wallet to buy food – but now she’s starting to save for a house thanks to two trendy new savings methods.

The 35-year-old from Birmingham, West Mids, decided to use the ‘snowball method’ and ‘cadence cash’ to get back in control of her finances. 

She rents out her garden tools, sells used coffee grinds and has implemented unique repayment methods to clear £7k of debt and start saving for a house.

Jenny, who lives with her children, Amber, 11, and eight-year-old Tommy, was waiting to start a new job as a care manager in October 2022 after finishing a college course in management and was totally strapped for cash.

She had amassed £5,000 of credit card debt and had taken out a £2,000 loan just to survive, and was struggling to pay any of it off.

But after learning about debt reduction methods, which made her a much savvier saver, she’s now cleared her debt entirely.

“I was completing my college course and working part-time juggling cleaning and admin work to pay the bills,” Jenny said.

“I’d gone without all summer to ensure my children had a great holiday, but now I only had £9.87 to buy groceries for the next two weeks and felt like a failure.

“Once I’d bought the kids their new school kit, I was left with almost nothing.

“I was in tears, but as a single mum I knew I couldn’t fall apart.”

One evening while making herself beans on toast for dinner, Jenny made a firm plan to retrain and get a new job and take control of her credit card debt.

“I’d only been able to meet the basic interest repayments on my £5k credit card debt and the £2k loan and had made no inroads into what I actually owed,” Jenny said.

“Like many single mums, when I put money aside, something always needed paying. 

“The kids would need money for a school trip, the car would need fixing, or the dog would need an emergency vet visit.

“But I was sick of being in this ‘holding pattern’.”

But then, a friend of Jenny’s said she had used the ‘snowball method’ to get on top of her credit card debt.

At first, Jenny thought it sounded ridiculous, but she went online and researched it and realised it might be able to help her too.

The snowball debt reduction method gets its name from the fact it creates a snowball effect when you pay the minimum on all debts, while putting extra toward the smallest balances. 

“I loved the fact that if I paid the lowest balance off first then moved on to the next balance, I’d at least feel I was getting rid of at least some debt,” she said.

“It works just like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger as it rolls down the hill.

Jenny made a list of her four credit cards and loans paying off the minimum monthly on each account but adding any extra funds she had to the smallest account.

“After four months, I closed one credit card and the sense of momentum it gave me was amazing,” she said.

“Each week, if I had a spare fiver or even a tenner, I’d make an extra payment to the card with the next lowest amount.”

For the first time in her life, Jenny says she didn’t think paying off the debt was impossible and had begun making actual headway.

Jenny also had a loan of £2000 with an APR of 20%, and she employed another tactic, called ‘cadence cash’, to pay it off.

“I began paying the loan back in weekly instalments, which dramatically reduced the amount of interest I owed,” she explained.

“Adding an extra one, two or even pounds more each week meant I wasn’t having to fork out the monthly interest payments.

“I was not just meeting the interest repayments but making real inroads into the capital for the first time in two years.”

The mum of two was absolutely thrilled to finally get results and do it in such a simple way.

Now, Jenny is super focused on saving her pennies and finds the cheapest ways to get what she needs.

“I love upcycling and recycling,” she said.

She has now joined a local skill swap group where she advertises her gardening and cleaning skills and gets jobs done in return for free.

“I got my car serviced and the muffler repaired and that saved £1200 due to skill swapping,” she said.

The mum of two also installed solar power lights in her house placing them near windows to soak up the sunlight as a backup or alternative to electric lights, which has cut her energy bill by a third.

She now even sells trash to earn extra pennies, which she puts towards clearing any debt.

“I hate waste and I realised I could make some money using my trash and pay off my credit cards.”

Instead of throwing out plastic yoghurt containers, used toilet rolls and glass jars, Jenny washed the items and put them into crafting batches selling the kits eBay as craft items.

“It took some imagination, but I have now cleared my credit card debt, paid off the loan and am starting to save for a house,” Jenny said.

“I realised like a snowball you have to start small and once you get momentum you don’t want to stop until you enjoy the biggest savings and debt reduction success you can.

“I won’t stop using my wacky money-making methods. My ideas are helping create a better life for me and my kids and showing me debt doesn’t have to dominate my  life.”

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