The Cashwitch Chronicles - it's a biggie

Cashwitch

Hi, I'm Cashwitch, and together with my other half, am attempting what for us would have been impossible to imagine only 6 months ago. You can read a background in this thread:

[post=23415159]New here - embarking towards debt-free living[/post]

As you can see, my partner and I reached an epiphany in March 2009. We were sick and tired of wondering why we were still struggling, why the debt continued to mount. And why we never has spare money for anything. The 'icing on the cake' was having to get yet another loan - this time, to fix the car...We were so unhappy about things.

If we had been sensible in our 20's, things could have been so different now. But we firmly believe that despite what could have been, it is what you do now and what will be that counts! :j

Psychologically, before March, I can tell you that we wouldn't have believed we could afford to go on a 5 day holiday, let alone what we are now aiming to do. We would have argued about whether we could afford a new bed (and did). In less than 6 months, we have proved to ourselves that much much bigger things are possible, because we are seeing huge results.

We don't want most of the things that we're meant to want like cars, clothes, holidays, TV's, stereos, MP3's, Blackberrys/I-Phones, boats, caravans, satellite TV, collectables or any other 'stuff'. There lies the path to unhappiness...

Our dream is a 'home for life' where we'll want to stay. Our dream will involve climbing a mountain, paying off around £5k in debt, totally changing our lifestyle, and saving close to £30k :eek: to get a chance of achieving our dream. We firmly believe it can be done.

I will chronicle our progress in this diary, which represents a commitment to achieving our dream. We haven't told family, friends or colleagues what we're planning, and that's the way it will stay.

Let the 2 year £30k challenge commence!

hypno06

Good luck - I am sure you will achieve it. I too am on a "dream home" misson and it really gives me the focus I need to debt bust and save!

January20

Cashwitch wrote: »

Have woken to a lovely sunny morning I feel positive today because yesterday, I managed to spend £36.41p for a weekly grocery shop in Tesco's! This included all the ingredients we need for a week of meals, washing powder, toothpaste, and dog food :j 2 weeks ago, we decided to budget for a weekly £40 spend, and it's going well. We were spending around £80 per week for the 2 of us - that's nearly £4,000 a year!!! Halving the figure will be really useful and it's one of the easiest quick-fixes to save cash.

We do it by:
* planning 7 main meals we'd like to cook
* looking at what we've already got
* listing the ingredients we need
* buying these as well as flour etc for bread to make sandwiches for the week.

This sounds simple and yes, it really is! But I'm willing to bet most people don't do this for the sake of 'convenience' (not spending 10 minutes making a list and casting your eyes over your cupboard/freezer) + pay well over the odds a a result.

Our breadmaker is a godsend and must be saving us nearly £10 a week alone - bread is so expensive to buy! The bread is gorgeous too....nothing like the dry poor-quality loaves in the supermarket.

It looked like half our usual amount of shopping - and probably is! Before, I would've walked around the supermarket choosing things that looked nice and having a very vague idea about what meals we'd have. The mad thing is, we threw away half the perishables each week (salad, veg, yoghurt/cream etc) because of this...Good for compost but probably cheaper to buy a bag of it! The thing that really grated was throwing away meat that was overdue....I began to think about the fact that an animal lived and died to be thrown into our bin, which is just horrible and pointless We see things as such a commodity that most people think nothing about chucking food away. I read about food waste in Western nations and it's unbelievable. The guy who has researched it + written a book on it is one of those 'freegans' who gets all his food (supplemented by what he grows + rears) from supermarket waste in bins. Waitrose and Sainsbury's are his favourites! He took photos of the contents of skips too for his book, and it's often food that is still in date! I don't know if I could go that far but it's a heck of an idea...He's not a tramp (!) or anything either...he and his family are well-off (have a business and he's a writer) and live on a gorgeous house in the country!

We all know - of have heard of - somebody who is pretty well-off but seems to have what many see as 'miserly' habits...only buying presents in sales, re-using cards or stamps, cheapest products possible, stock-piling...but there's a good reason for their wealth! People who are doing well don't buy whatever they want + rack up credit then wonder why they are skint! This is what me and my OH have done for years :rolleyes: I've begun to think more and more about this. So many people I know are living an 'affluent' lifestyle going shopping every week, buying the latest TV, clothes, car and what have you...they're living a lifestyle of people on £50/60k a year but are on less than half that, and have huge debts for the 'privelege.' Shopping has become one of our main pastimes...how satisfying is it really, collecting 'stuff'?

Anyway, I've rambled on for this huge post!!! I'm off now to organise a new ISP because we're paying a fortune for it...!

This post is amazing! It's exactly the way I feel. You are so right about so many of the points you made. Shopping has become our pastime. See the panic at Christmas and Easter when the shops are closed for one day, and people stock pile food like shops are never going to open again.

I hate throwing food away -even cat food which I have to do quite often at the moment because I have a very elderly fussy cat, but the aim is to keep him healthy for as long as possible.

Apparently, it's a vicious circle. We buy things to feel happier, but in fact it makes us more anxious so we buy more things, etc. Not sure if this is true, but I know that buying things doesn't make me happy. Quite the opposite actually since I've been using this site. Sometimes, spending £5 is a major trauma lol!

I wish you luck in your quest and I will follow your progress with great interest.

Fire_Fox

What a positive and proactive new diary!! I don't think you are allowed to link to your diary in your signature, but I have seen it done such that the link is embedded in the words 'cashwitch chronicles' rather than a separate line - have to say I don't know how to do that myself ...

Fire_Fox

:j at three loans being (nearly) paid off!!

Can you return one or both of the the items to the shop for a refund? Have you thought about buying a slow cooker to help with healthy/ easy homecooked meals? You can throw together a soup/ stew/ bolognese in literally five minutes, leave all day and arrive home to yummy smells.

edinburgher

A really inspiring read Cashwitch, you should be a motivational speaker! I agree with much of what you suggest (and love your general outlook on life as being more than the sum of the gadgets you own).

chevalier

well done on making both the financial and pyschological changes that you needed to be done to start your debt free journey.

As you are finding it can get be easy to get burnt out a bit. So don't be down hearted if your debt busting slows down a bit. The point of the exercise is to get to the end of the race...

good luck moving forward
chef

MyopicMoo

Hello

Cashwitch wrote: »

Always wishing? Start believing…and do it!

10 THINGS ABOUT US:
ARE:
1) Couple: Cashwitch - 30’s… OH - 40’s…Pets: Dog 1
2) Hardworking

WERE:
3) Limiting our imagination…and cutting off opportunity
4) Felt beaten down and broke, with a gulf between ourselves and our dreams
5) Lurching from one financial disaster to another
6) Directionless

NOW:
7) Believing in ourselves…and re-discovering that great things CAN and DO happen in the NOW!
8) Using our commonsense, resilience, resourcefulness and determination (and MSE!) to strive for our goals
9) Keeping our sense of humour!

10) Looking forward to hearing from you!

The 'were' could be me and OH, except that is where we are at the moment! It's nice to see that you are changing your lives so well.