Diary of a "Frugal Saver"

Frugal_Saver · 6 April 2013 at 9:18PM

Good luck with the job hunt. I feel guilty going on about my job situation, I should be grateful I have a job. I just want to find a job that's a career and could lead to more money. I'm not happy in the job I'm doing but I really don't know what I want to do so it's making my job search a bit harder. Sounds like a good idea to set my myself a target.

I feel like I lead a double life, my other half doesn't like all the money saving obsessions I have. When he's not about I'm extra careful with money but when I'm out with him I have to relax a little or gets annoyed at me. He earns more money than me and doesn't have as much debt as me so he doesn't have to worry.

I could take my OH attitude towards money but it would take longer to clear the debt and I really want to get my debt down so we can start a family and not have to worry about money so much.

Frugal_Saver · 12 April 2013 at 8:08AM

Updated my signature, managed to reduce my debt by another £209.05 this month. I always feel a sense of achievement after receiving my credit card statement and seeing it reducing each month.

I think I will have a clear out at home this weekend and see if I can find anything to sell on ebay. It's been a while since I've done that and I feel like having a spring clean.

I've started taking my job search more seriously now, I'm only applying for roles I'm seriously interested in and I will only consider a very small pay cut.

WantToBeSE · 12 April 2013 at 9:56AM

Morning FS,
It must be really hard that your OH isn't on the same page as you are, in regards to reducing your debt.
Maybe when he sees your debt being demolished, or you being happier because of it, he'll be more supportive. It must be hard for people to understand our frugal ways sometimes.

Well done on another £209.05 cleared!! That's great news

Frugal_Saver · 20 April 2013 at 7:00PM

He's a lot more understanding than he used to be thankfully.

Bit disappointed with myself this week, I hadn't realised I didn't have enough money to cover a direct debit payment. I didn't notice until the next day but when I did I was able to transfer some money from another account to be bring me back into credit, I'll get charged £10 next month.

On a positive note I've found a couple of items to put on eBay, hopefully I'll get a chance to put them on tomorrow, need to have a look at postage costs first because I think they've increased the prices.

Still over a week to go until pay day, I only have a couple of pounds left to last. OH gets paid on Friday, he never lets on how much money he has left at the end of the month but he's offered to get a takeaway tonight so he must be ok.

Frugal_Saver · 22 April 2013 at 8:21PM

I've spent sometime playing around with a snowball calculator this afternoon. I really want to clear my debts before my 30th birthday. It is achievable

. I have worked out that if I pay just £315 towards my debt every month my last payment will be November 2016 :j , my 30th is December 2016.

The last few months I have been paying more or less this amount but now that I've done the maths this gives me something to work towards. I am going to make sure that £315 is the minimum payment I make and then I can celebrate even earlier and start saving instead :T!

The APR on my credit card increased next month :mad: I've tried calling them to stop this but they said there's nothing they can do about it. I think I can still keep the current APR if I cancel the card, it just means I wont have access to cash in case of emergency. I have started saving money in another account for emergencies so I need to be more serious about this.

Hiddenidenity · 23 April 2013 at 9:45AM

Have a nice day x

Frugal_Saver · 24 April 2013 at 8:17PM

I am becoming obsessed with money saving! It is taking over my life.

Got some more quotes for my gold today one place said £260 and another said £290, this is very exciting. OH thinks that I could get more than that. I'm not sure where he expects me to go for even more money!!!

Now it's got me thinking about what to do with any money I get for it. I really want to put it towards debt but we are looking at going on holiday this summer and I would also like to set it aside for emergencies. I guess I should split it three ways!

I've put some items on ebay but it was a half hearted effort so not really expecting much from it. Still counting down until payday. I sometimes wonder what life would be like if you didn't have to live payday to payday, wishing your life away.

Frugal_Saver · 28 April 2013 at 10:31AM

I hate waiting for payday! I'm hopeful that I've earned more commission than usual this month, will find out on Tuesday.

I have a few items ending on eBay today but no one's shown any interest in anything so doesn't look like I'll be getting anything from there.

We turned the heating off at the beginning of the week, OH was close to turning it back in last night but he just ended up using a blanket whilst lying on the sofa instead I got the spare duvet! It's still not warm this morning, don't really want to put the heating on. I might do some baking later that should at least warm the kitchen.

Should also do some housework but as usual OH hasn't been contributing to housework that much this week so don't see why I should bother when he always has more time off than me. I don't let it get to me too much because I also go through periods where I don't feel like doing housework so I will just remind him of this if he starts an argument when it's the other way round!

Frugal_Saver · 28 April 2013 at 12:11PM

Just took the biggest step so far in my quest to be debt free :T
Called Barclaycard and rejected the interest rate increase, so they've closed the accout. This is a huge thing for me. I have relied too much on this in the past which is why I have ended up where I am. It means I have no access to credit (unless I apply for O/D on current account which is far too easy to do online).

I'm so grateful for MSE, if I hadn't found this forum I can't even begin to imagine how much more debt I would be in right now!

Next plan is to start rounding up current account, everytime direct debit or debit card payment goes out of my account I will round the difference up to the nearest pound and transfer this to another account, this will become an emergency fund until the end of the month, if I don't use the money I will put it towards CC.

Not sure how closing down the account will affect my credit rating (can't be a good thing that's for sure!) but this keeps my CC interest rate below that of my loan so planned overpayments of £50.00 per month will now go on loan overpayment. I will then look at credit rating in June to see if it's worth applying for 0%. I'm not relying on this but it would help reduce DFD.

I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm looking forward to going to the bank on my lunch break on Tuesday!!!

WantToBeSE · 28 April 2013 at 12:50PM

Frugal_Saver wrote: »

I am becoming obsessed with money saving! It is taking over my life.

Got some more quotes for my gold today one place said £260 and another said £290, this is very exciting. OH thinks that I could get more than that. I'm not sure where he expects me to go for even more money!!!

Now it's got me thinking about what to do with any money I get for it. I really want to put it towards debt but we are looking at going on holiday this summer and I would also like to set it aside for emergencies. I guess I should split it three ways!

I've put some items on ebay but it was a half hearted effort so not really expecting much from it. Still counting down until payday. I sometimes wonder what life would be like if you didn't have to live payday to payday, wishing your life away.

Hi FS

In regards to the gold money- do you have an emergency fund already in place? In the post further down you said that you now have no access to credit (Well done BTW!), so it's really important that you have an emergency fund, should the washing machine/car etc go wrong. If you dont have that emergency fund, you may end up back in debt to pay for repairs/new car/new washing machine etc..?

Frugal_Saver wrote: »

I hate waiting for payday! I'm hopeful that I've earned more commission than usual this month, will find out on Tuesday.

I have a few items ending on eBay today but no one's shown any interest in anything so doesn't look like I'll be getting anything from there.

We turned the heating off at the beginning of the week, OH was close to turning it back in last night but he just ended up using a blanket whilst lying on the sofa instead I got the spare duvet! It's still not warm this morning, don't really want to put the heating on. I might do some baking later that should at least warm the kitchen.

Should also do some housework but as usual OH hasn't been contributing to housework that much this week so don't see why I should bother when he always has more time off than me. I don't let it get to me too much because I also go through periods where I don't feel like doing housework so I will just remind him of this if he starts an argument when it's the other way round!

I am with you on the heating. I have now turned mine off. I hope not to use it again until September at least. The mornings are still a tad chilly here, but once we are up and dressed, it's fine

Frugal_Saver wrote: »

Just took the biggest step so far in my quest to be debt free :T
Called Barclaycard and rejected the interest rate increase, so they've closed the accout. This is a huge thing for me. I have relied too much on this in the past which is why I have ended up where I am. It means I have no access to credit (unless I apply for O/D on current account which is far too easy to do online).

I'm so grateful for MSE, if I hadn't found this forum I can't even begin to imagine how much more debt I would be in right now!

Next plan is to start rounding up current account, everytime direct debit or debit card payment goes out of my account I will round the difference up to the nearest pound and transfer this to another account, this will become an emergency fund until the end of the month, if I don't use the money I will put it towards CC.

Not sure how closing down the account will affect my credit rating (can't be a good thing that's for sure!) but this keeps my CC interest rate below that of my loan so planned overpayments of £50.00 per month will now go on loan overpayment. I will then look at credit rating in June to see if it's worth applying for 0%. I'm not relying on this but it would help reduce DFD.

I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm looking forward to going to the bank on my lunch break on Tuesday!!!

:j:j:T A HUGE WELL DONE to you!! Thats a brilliant step to take FS, and one that will definitely see you getting closer to being DF

Diary of a "Frugal Saver"

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