Newbie

glitterkitty · 28 June 2016 at 9:57AM

Hi all - I've been a member for a long time, but haven't been on the forums for a while. This is my first time on the DFW forum!
I'm 32, work full time and have a small SE business too (which barely makes profit but I enjoy it!)
I live with my OH, we rent. I personally have about £10,000 credit card debt, OH has about the same
We don't have any savings as we don't have anything left at the end of the month to save after paying bills etc. So far this week I have done a food shopping plan for the month, joined ReceiptHog and Panelbase to try and get a few extra pennies. Have started doing most of our shopping at aldi and asda for the other bits. We've condensed down to 1 freezer and got rid of the other one we had and trying to cut our water bill further (we are on a meter already). We have both signed up to the odeon limitless card for £17.99 per month each as we go to the cinema a lot so that's a saving already.
I'm already moving my credit card debt between 2 cards when the 0% deals are on. Do I sound like I am on the right track with things? From payday on Thursday I have decided I am going to withdraw our monthly food budget (£170) and use cash instead of our debit card when doing food shopping - may help me budget a bit more.

mrsbee17 · 28 June 2016 at 10:16AM

Welcome back! Have you ever done a SOA (statement of affairs)? It will really help you see where your money is going and people are here are often more than happy to give guidance on how you can possibly cut back a little more.

I use YNAB (you need a budget) for budgeting; there's an initial cost but I've found it worth every penny, have a look on their web-site as even if you do use it, there are great tips there too.

enjoyyourshoes · 28 June 2016 at 10:20AM

Can you set up DD for the period of the 0% to clear it by the end of the term?

Do meal plan for week, write on list items during the week that you need for food shop, review whats in food cupboards, then do a final list for shopping. Go once a week. Only buy whats on list. Scratch cook for the week and freeze, freeze lunches too. Aldi can be as expensive as Waitress but you need to consider your purchases to get best deal !

Reconcile bank account daily.

Only can spend the £1 once so consider every purchase before making it.

Throw as may £1 at the debt

Do cash flow and work out all annual,1/2 & 1/4ly bills. Calculate monthly amount you need to accrue to pay for these and deduct that off your bank reconciliation at start of month. Diarise when these need to be renegotiated (insurance (pay annually not monthly), utilities, car stuff etc)

Review monthly your spending (via the daily reconciliation) any contracts that need renegotiation, and debt repayments and savings.

30 seconds daily for reconciliation

30 minutes monthly for review

30 minutes annually for cash flow.

There you have it, get on top of your finances.

But first step is !:-

get agreement with partner as =to your objective in life, this often becomes financially constrained, so it becomes a financial objective. If you have joint agreement, its easier to achieve.

Objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound)

If you dot get agreement you will individually carry on as you have been spending over the last few years and nothing will change, or one of you becomes more committed to the change and then resentful when the other still spends frivolously.

Live within your own financial envelope.

enjoyyourshoes · 28 June 2016 at 10:24AM

Sorry;-

all of my suggestions above can be done with a pen and paper !

No cost.

I have seen lots of SOA on website and they are best 'useless' and worst 'optimistic representation of how I would like to be perceived to an audience'

You don't need lots of people saying spend less on X,Y,Z as you can work that out yourself.

glitterkitty · 28 June 2016 at 10:53AM

Thanks! My OH is a bit more organised than me with regards his cc debt - he can afford to put a bit more on his bills and he has a plan to get his paid off by the end of the 0%. I'm not quite as fortunate, but I do pay more than the minimum payment. It's not much more, but every little helps! I have printed myself shopping lists and I've set up a spreadsheet. Going to use mysupermarket every week to double check the cheapest basket.

FizzyVimto_2 · 28 June 2016 at 8:56PM

Hello Glitterkitty! I'm a newbie too! Good luck on your debt-free journey.
Groceries - I spend £100 a month on a "big" Tesco delivery shop (one that gets delivered at 11pm so its £1 haha) for me, my son and a cat. I basically buy everything Tesco value - I buy bulk cat food/longlife milk/toilet roll/freezer bread/frozen veg etc. I try to limit myself to £5 a week "fresh" shop for fruit/sandwich meat and batch cook as much as possible. A delivery shop stops me overspending. I tend to add to the cart what I want and then when I see the total price I delete delete delete unnecessary luxuries or the 3 for 2 on Lenor when really I can only afford the Tesco cheap brand and only really need the 1 - which is what I wouldn't do in the supermarket with my shopping trolley.
Wishing you all the best!

Newbie

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