I will NOT use my credit card...I will NOT use my credit card...I will NOT...

clearing_out_my_pockets

I have decided to start a new diary despite not actually being in debt. Well, I owe £15 to capital one but I'm sure you won't hold that against me!

I will be using it as a money saving blog to inspire me NOT to pay for my upcoming wedding on credit and NOT to buy furniture for my as-yet-not-purchased-new-house on credit. I will scrimp and save for everything and start my new life with my husband debt free and argument free.

Today I paid in the bag of £2 coins and 20p's into the wedding account. Amazing to think that 40% of the wedding total has come from me rounding down my bank account & saving the pennies - literally.

Sun_Addict

Hi there and welcome to the diaries. Even though you're not in debt it's a good idea to keep a diary to motivate yourself. I know only too well how tempting it is to bung things on a credit card. I have a card I use that's paid off in full by direct debit each month. However, I am always a month behind as I am paying for last month's stuff each time. I am trying to remedy this by having an advance budget and am making some headway with this so am nearly there! I look forward to seeing how you go on and will subscribe to your diary as it might inspire me not to buy things before I've got the money for them! Good luck!

clearing_out_my_pockets

Right - as well as the standing order on pay day I will also be putting my spare change to the wedding pot. So far I've been saving 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and £2 coins. Not sure why I have an aversion to 50p or £1 though...

Anyway, we (I) have worked out what our budget is and based on our future savings plan, if everything comes in on budget we'll be fine. So far everything has come in under (so much so that we've been able to squeeze an extra 12 people into the daytime do) so any savings over and above the target enables us to push the boat out a little.

My aim will be to put a pound in every day; whether it's from spare change or rounding down my current accout doesn't matter - an extra pound every day from now until the wedding day is an extra £655 which on a sub-6k budget makes all the difference!

clearing_out_my_pockets

Yes - you read that right, by the way. It is indeed 655 days until the wedding!

clearing_out_my_pockets

Well today I've posted off an old mobile phone which I sold through quidco for the extra cash. Once that money comes through it'll be straight in the wedding account. I do have another phone I could sell for £50 but it doesn't switch on for long enough for me to delete the pictures & messages...

I've only really started using quidco recently and the AA are taking ages to put my cashback through. Grrr.

Off out tomorrow for a celebratory meal for my soon-to-be brother-in-law's A Level success. Fortunately it's not me paying!

clearing_out_my_pockets

Another payday has been and gone...So that's another chunk to the wedding fund and the house fund. I've also kept some money back for my holiday next week - hope the weather picks up.

Cashed the phone cheque and have some more coins to pay in... Still on target to hit the wedding budget, assuming nothing comes in over budget!

Sun_Addict

Well done! Glad to see you've not lost your initial enthusiasm. I'm taking a leaf out of your book at the moment and whatever I've got left over in my purse at the end of every week goes towards debt repayment no matter how small the amount. Should be debt free by Christmas if all goes according to plan.

clearing_out_my_pockets

With the small change it does all add up - since May (ish) I've paid in £87 and I have another £20 waiting to be banked. To be honest, I don't notice the odd 1p / 2p etc missing from my purse!

I also round down my bank account to the nearest pound whenever I make a debit card transaction. Again the odd few pence don't seem to be missed.