Hope you don't mind an Aussie creeping in!

RAS

Ok so factor in those extra costs. birthdays and christmas? Better to budget now and then not be sticing it all on plastic come December.

duchy

Well IF you can work on the basis of a nine month plan-I'd be tempted to forget Christmas for now and write a really detailed budget to get you to that 9 month target.
I'd say to do so spending diaries are a must and if you have a reasonably short term target then doing without isn't such a hardship.
I'm sure you have stuff you can ebay too -and once you see that snowball start to melt and the DFD come closer you'll be ebaying everything that isn't nailed down too
I wouldn't worry so much about the internet as you've done the sums and don't have extra channels on the TV to pay for. Never hurts to call and say you're looking at your budget and can they improve on the price though !!
Food-probably some wiggle room there-menu plan week at at a time. For example a chicken will give you at the very least a roast dinner, a second leftovers meal say chicken curry or mexican and either sandwiches for a lunch pack or as a filling for jacket pototoes or a good mixed salad (well it IS summer there). Build your meal plan around any special offers.
Also don't forget to sign up for miles for your airticket-becoming DF isn't just about clearing the debts but also about learning how to get the most for your money now and in the future.

Electric_Mayhem

Right, I went through and put the amount in pounds in blue. My keyboard doesn't have a pound sign, so short of copying and pasting from another post, I'll have to find out what the ascii number is for it!

Birthdays are a little bit of a non-issue, there's only one grown up sibling to buy for, and all my family are in Perth so birthdays and Chrissie are usually just cards. I should put a little in each month for it though, just in case a "present" occasion pops up.

Electric_Mayhem

I hate looking at all that in numbers. Realistically I should have dealt with this a long time ago. I'm pretty disappointed in myself. Trying to stay positive because I know there's a light at the end of the tunnel and I need to stay focussed to get there, but really, all that debt and nothing to show for it except some sleepless night and some anxiety about paying it off.

Electric_Mayhem

duchy wrote: »

Food-probably some wiggle room there-menu plan week at at a time. For example a chicken will give you at the very least a roast dinner, a second leftovers meal say chicken curry or mexican and either sandwiches for a lunch pack or as a filling for jacket pototoes or a good mixed salad (well it IS summer there)

Have you got any tips for getting my OH to eat similar things for a few nights in a row? :rotfl: I've taken to making dinner, but making enough to cover a few nights [because there's only 2 of us] but he gets a bit funny the second night, apparently he doesn't like to eat the same thing 2 nights in a row :rolleyes:

I'm taking sandwiches to work, and we had a talk last week about how if he just took sandwiches to work for lunch too we'd save between $6 and $10 PER DAY!! So he's started with the sandwich thing too, but I guess I better get some creative ingredients in

Ooooh - also, it's the rainiest summer I've ever seen! And I used to live in tropical Queensland!

duchy

Maybe you need to try Hypno's "colouring in" method of you're more the visual type. Divide debt into numerical blocks-say $100 blocks and each time you clear that amount you colour it in. Certainly works for her-and if you haven't checked out her diary do so-if you need inspiration.

Electric_Mayhem

Thanks duchy, I'll go over and have a look. I think I'm more a visual person, I plan my budget on a large print calendar and I'm well impressed by that snowball calculator table down the bottom that shows you the months and how much you'll have paid off!

duchy

Freeze em !!
Doesn't have to be the same thing every day that way. Instead of sandwiches every day-very it a bit-sometimes crusty rolls, other times wraps-and if you're "that" kind of couple a little surprise note inside the lunchbox can make it m ore interesting

Starlett

Electric_Mayhem wrote: »

Have you got any tips for getting my OH to eat similar things for a few nights in a row? :rotfl: I've taken to making dinner, but making enough to cover a few nights [because there's only 2 of us] but he gets a bit funny the second night, apparently he doesn't like to eat the same thing 2 nights in a row :rolleyes:

I'm taking sandwiches to work, and we had a talk last week about how if he just took sandwiches to work for lunch too we'd save between $6 and $10 PER DAY!! So he's started with the sandwich thing too, but I guess I better get some creative ingredients in

Ooooh - also, it's the rainiest summer I've ever seen! And I used to live in tropical Queensland!

Hi, welcome! I'm emigrating to NSW in June!! :j

Could you freeze the extra food and defrost a few nights later... mix it up a bit but without the waste?

Good luck with it all!

Starlett x

duchy

Oh did I forget to mention that Hypno's diary is a bit addictive -you could be some time !!
Check out the numbers in her sig tho !