Paying Off Debt is My 2015 Ambition

This year, instead of resolving to do something petty, I set my ambitions on whittling down some credit card debt I racked up after several years of careless spending. My first step was to use surveys and sites like Crowdtap, Influenster, and Smiley 360 to earn money for a FREE Christmas. I began completing surveys and participating in various sites in August of 2014. By Christmas, I had nearly $1,000 in cash and gift cards purely from doing surveys. After successfully paying for Christmas for my three children and large extended family and friends almost entirely from surveys, I set my goals a little higher. As New Year's rolled around, I decided to forgo the typical resolution in exchange for something that would give me a sense of financial security and peace of mind. MY 2015 ambition was instead to eliminate as much debt as possible. I saved up some PayPal cash outs from surveys and cashed out a lump sum of $185, an amount that easily paid off one of my smaller credit card debts. I then took the typical amount I would have paid on that debt and applied it to the next debt on my list. Only 8 days into the new year, I have already paid off two credit cards. Now I can take that extra money and apply it to the next debt on my list. I am hoping to use my tax refund to pay off at least three more debts. Then, I can take the money form the 5 cards I have paid off and use it to whittle down the next one on the list. My goal is to reduce my debt by half by the end of the year. With the success I've already seen, I know it is possible. I am still doing my surveys and participating in whatever groups I can because I am now using surveys to buy all gifts including birthday, Christmas, and other holidays.