Cheeky Monkeys Debt Free Tips

cheekymonkey20

I have just paid off £82 from the debt for Sept/Oct.. should have an extra £966 from overtime done at work both me and OH, £1500 coming from an insurance claim this month too, then money that i have saved from my phone bill £45, then have money left over from shopping savings = £100. To top my

I have worked out that by xmas i should have paid off a huge wedge. We have allowed ourselves £650 for xmas spending on pressies and upcoming bdays between now and xmas.
I have just paid off £82, which is this months credit cards, then same in november and december = £246
I have an extra coming in from both me and OH doing extra shifts at work. =£966, Running total of £1212
I will be paying capital off my loan up until end of december, which is within my expected monthly loan payments . = £319.68 , Running total of £1531.68
I have some coming in from an insurance claim. £1500, Running total of £3031.68
I have savings made on mobile phone = £35 , Running total of £3066.68
I have money in the bank from savings made over the last two months =£115, Running total of £3181.68.

Taking out £602.50 (as i have already bought 5 presents which i estimated to cost £47.50 - but has only cost £22.80 - so the savings will go to pay off debt, which is an extra £24.70)

Gives me a total of £2579.18 by 01/01/2009. Which will reduce my debt to £16857.74... fingers crossed as well, and i am going to push myself at work to get it, that in December i should have an extra £1145 after tax and ni from bonus and overtime, but im not counting this one just yet.

Happy to be reducing my debt.. WOOP! Just got to stick to my xmas budget and look for bargains...

Have put asside £25 for each family member, and £150 for me and OH to spend on eachother. I know im saving £30 on him already, and for his mom and dad for xmas we will be saving £50 because we are getting them a few framed photos of the family, and my mum has said that she will print a few t-shirts for his brother (her buisniness) so that will save an extra £25. so already i know we have knocked £129.70 off the cost of xmas and i hope to reduce it by another £100. LETS GO WOOP!

cheekymonkey20

Just thought of another one, every time you reduce a debt by a payment on your credit card or overdraft, ask them to reduce the limit so you cannot undo all your hard work!

PoorPrincess

cheekymonkey20 wrote: »

Just thought of another one, every time you reduce a debt by a payment on your credit card or overdraft, ask them to reduce the limit so you cannot undo all your hard work!

That is definately a good tip, i do this and when i ring and ask them to REDUCE my limit they are shocked and often ask for clarification that i actually want to lower it and not increase it! haha

Princess

ehallett

Great thread.

My tip is to get as many free samples as you can - especially make up/skincare etc.

I'm currently using free sachets of Dior foundation and Clinique moisturiser and they have been going for 2 days and I think I will be able to stretch them out to tomorrow too. I've also got about 3 different perfume samples on the go and can smell different everyday - Have been using them for a couple of weeks and they are still half full.

Visit the freebie board as there are always lots on there to send for.

Emily x

MrsPorridge

cheekymonkey20 wrote: »

I agree... its probably better to implement something new every day.

Mrs Porridge - could you not work from home a few days in your job!?

.

Unfortunately its not that easy. I did work from home a couple of days last year, but really I need to be in the office every day.:D

beckseven

Thanks for all these great tips-I am obsessed with this site and soak up all the information up from it like a sponge. I'm going to be on maternity leave for most of next year so am on a real budget now to save as much as possible and also to adjust my life to living as frugally as possible in preparation for next year. A quick tip I have is that I was really really stressing about Christmas this year-the savings I have I need for next year so was getting more and more upset about managing. In the end I broke down in front of my mum and explained the situation and we decided that we would as a family just do £5 fun presents this year and just spend on the kids. Apparently everyone was relieved as money is generally very tight for everyone these days! As an adult I'm really not bothered about receiving loads of presents for Christmas-it's for the kids and I just enjoy the food and the atmosphere. If anyone is getting stressed i would advise having a quick chat with the adult members of your family and coming to a similar agreement.

DavyBoy_2

CheekyMonkey,

I agree on almost all points except:

cheekymonkey20 wrote: »

• Put your heating on as late as you can, if you leave it until it gets REALLY cold then you'll save money, if your chilly put on a jumper you'll soon warm up, think about how much money you'll save.

It actually takes more energy to bring your house back up to a certain temperature, than it does to keep it at that temperature. Imagine your house is a Car, and the temperature is your speed. We all know that slowing down and speeding up uses up more fuel than maintaining a steady speed. The same is true of your heating in your house.

That said, we can all drive slower, and we can all live with the temperature a little colder.

Note. What I've said is not true if you don't have a Thermostat fitted to your heating system!

chuckles76

Just a point about reducing your credit card limit:
I was speaking to someone at Experian today (checking my new credit score was correct) and she made an interesting point about available credit. She said that having too much or too little available credit can have an affect your credit score. So you might not want to reduce your limit too much.

grandma247

Putting plastic on your windows,even double glazed ones saves you money and makes your house warmer. 6 square meters £5.49, 12 sq.M £9.99 shrink plastic in wilkinsons. Tape it to the windows with the tape supplied and use a hairdryer to tighten it. You hardly know its there.
we have our central heating on 24/7 set very low when the weather gets really cold. Our house is stone built and it can take 5 hours to warm up if we turn the heating off.
Also a heavy curtain over the door and even blankets over the windows at night will keep the heat in.
I am making roman blind window quilts so they can be left in place and just raised or lowered as needed. Just google it and you will find lots of info and how to's.

gmboy

It actually takes more energy to bring your house back up to a certain temperature, than it does to keep it at that temperature. Imagine your house is a Car, and the temperature is your speed. We all know that slowing down and speeding up uses up more fuel than maintaining a steady speed. The same is true of your heating in your house.

But if you make 1 car journey to work per week rather than 5 you're going to use less fuel. I'm sure there's a threshold at which the efficiency is improved, but if I use the heating in Autumn or Spring I usually just have it on a short while for when I get up in the morning. (For me there eventually comes a point in Winter when the health or maintenance issues as well as comfort take priority over absolute money saving!)