Inspiring Cheshire mum pays off over £12k of debt using side hustles

Lisa Ebsworth, 43, decided to try and pay off her student debt after she realised that she would only be wiped clean of her loan when she turned 65 if she did not clear it herself before then.

In order to clear her debt, Lisa decided to try and use side hustles alongside her full-time job freelancing in events and communications.

“It started off as a bit of a pipe dream,” said Lisa.

“For me, it was really important to pay that loan back because it wouldn’t be written off for another 22 years.”

Lisa started picking up various side hustles including completing surveys and becoming a secret shopper to help her achieve her goal.

“Every time I made some money, I put it straight into a different account so it couldn’t be drained by buying a coffee or something,” said Lisa.

“Every single penny went towards paying off my debt.”

After setting herself the goal of paying off all her debt within a year, Lisa achieved her goal with only one day to spare.

Lisa now has more than 40,000 followers on TikTok (Image: Lisa Ebsworth)

As part of her journey, the Appleton-based mum created an account on TikTok and started posting videos about her journey to becoming debt free and sharing her various side hustles with people online.

Within one week of creating the account, Lisa gained over 10,000 followers on the platform.

“I was terrified at first to honest - I’m not very visible on social media so it’s really out of my comfort zone and I did wake up one morning after posting one particular video and the views were just going up and up and up.

“I’ve genuinely never experienced something like that before.”

Lisa now has over 40,000 followers on the platform, many of which have been supporting her throughout her journey.

“Towards the end when I was getting close to my goal, people were really cheering me on, it was like I had a group of my own cheerleaders,” she said.

Lisa has now set up a new challenge for herself, hoping to use her side hustles to pay off her mortgage within two years.

As a result of her success clearing her debts, and her social media following, Lisa has now been nominated for the Money Influencer of the Year award at the British Bank Awards.

“I’m up against some really big names so even to be nominated is incredible,” she said.

“I felt really shy about it at first – to be nominated for something that I’m still a newcomer at.”

The British Bank Awards will take place on Thursday, May 9 and you can vote for Lisa here up until Tuesday, April 16.