A dad who was left living “hand to mouth” after he was plunged into bankruptcy has revealed how he managed to get out of debt with side hustles and frugal living.
Al Baker, 49, from Aldershot, Hampshire, has previously made headlines after living on yellow sticker bargains and spending just £3 a day on food for his family of four.
He managed to save £10,000 over the course of two years, and has since saved a further £5,000 thanks to a series of cost-cutting methods he uses.
Now, six years after he was declared bankrupt following the breakdown of his food import company and moving his family into a rental home, Al is finally firmly back on his feet and is even looking to get on the property ladder.
“I’m much happier now I’m out of debt,” Al, who is dad to daughter Heather, 20, and son George, five, told NeedToKnow.co.uk.
“It was a very tough six years, and pretty stressful and draining and depressing as well.
“We are now in a position where we are looking at getting out of the renting situation and buying a house.
“At my age, it does mean that I might still have a mortgage when I’m 80, which isn’t ideal.
“I’ll be pushing to find a good deal on the mortgage – which may not be all that easy the way it’s going these days – so that we can buy a house that we can afford and then something that we own, rather than paying rent every month for pretty much nothing.
“Needless to say, I’ll be side-hustling as much as possible to be at pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible.
“Even though a mortgage is a more acceptable debt to have, it doesn’t mean I want it, and I will do everything I can to get it paid off as quickly as possible.”
Al declared bankruptcy in 2017 after his business went under, and was “barely scraping by” after selling his home and moving into a rental costing £1,500 per month.
However, the dad-of-two made it his mission to cut back on costs and says the experience taught him good financial habits.
Al – who now works for an e-commerce platform for a local company – said: “Although it made it hard to be able to make ends meet, without the fallback of a credit card or loan, it did mean that I only had a low credit limit.
“I wasn’t able to run up large bills and it taught us to live within our means, which is actually really useful.”
Al focused on scooping bargain buys with yellow sticker shopping in supermarket-reduced sections, started using cashback schemes and selling excess items in the home.
He had managed to save £10,000 this way by 2022, and this year he has continued his frugal habits and managed to save another £5,000.
He said: “This year I’m still frugal and still save money on food by yellow stickers, cashback apps, and side hustles.
“Although we cover the bills [with our salaries], it’s only because we still adopt frugal methods to make sure we can pay the bills!
“Between the frugal savings, selling excess stuff such as old clothes gathering dust in the attic, side hustles, and cashback, we’ve saved £5,000 this year and it’s been the difference between not having to use credit to pay the bills and being able to pay from funds we have.
“It’s whacking it on the credit card that’s a slippery slope and easy to get out of control of – which I’m determined to avoid!”
Al, who writes about his money-saving journey on his blog, The Penny Pincher, added: “I have a different money mindset now.
“Even though I have a larger amount of credit available to me, I’m actually far less likely to make use of it as I have a new understanding and mentality of only being able to buy what I can actually afford.
“I have used my credit card, but this is only for purchases that are literally an emergency, such as a piece of equipment breaking down or an issue with a car.”
