Making saving money a New Year's Resolution ...

nessauk

Anyone else planning to make their New Years Resolution a money saving/debt clearing one??

Am already making a headstart on mine. Have done a spreadsheet on what my predicted outgoings are going to be next year (along with cringing at the the total amount I owe on cards, and a couple of loans), which is giving me the insentive to do this. By the end of the year I would like to be able to half my debts (Currently 14k). Have also got Martin's money diet book to hand, along with a couple of Alvin Hall's books.
I've so far sent off details for getting a credit card transferred over to Virgin's 0% balance transfer for 9 months offer, and applied for Alliance and Leicester's 5.35% online saver account. I've been saving for the last few months, and am hoping that at the end of January I can pay off the high interest loan that I have.
Am also going to look at my spending habits. I'm bad for buying things on a whim, and then not making use of the item/having too many of something similar. So am going to depend more on BOGOF offers on regular things like shampoo and other utilities, to cut back on spending. Have also now discovered the sites like Kelkoo and PriceRunner, and anything that has a points system (RPoints and IPoints), so am going to depend on that more, than just getting something in the high street and not thinking that it could be cheaper elsewhere. Have also got lots of old videos kicking about that I never watch anymore, so they are going up for sale on Amazon (seems you can get a better selling price on Amazon than Ebay nowadays, plus it doesn't cost anything to put items on there until it sells.)
Finally have got several "change pots" kicking about the house (a £500 £1 coin saver tin which can only be opened with a can opener, a Terramundi money pot for £2 coins, and a general piggy bank.) Am going to throw any loose change into a general pot, and then at the end of every month, then delegate it to the relevant pots. Hopefully seeing how much has accumilated in the general pot each month will give me the insentive to keep doing it for the whole year.
And finally FINALLY .... Have got my last pack of cigarettes sat not far from me, and once they are gone thats it. No more!!

Would love to see on the forum if anyone else is planning a money saving resolution for next year. And hopefully swap saving suggestions, and see what progression we make through the year ....

Ness.

tru

I've done a spreadsheet for the year too. My debts are the same amount as yours and I wanna give up smoking. I use RPoints. I was thinking of selling old books and videos.

Are you sure you're not me, LOL ;D

nessauk

Books and videos are definatly best to be sold on Amazon. Have done it in the past, and if you compare a sold item from Amazon against the same item sold on eBay, you definatly get a better deal with Amazon. Plus Amazon's range of products are much wider nowadays. Just last week I sold an ornament at twice the price I would have made had I sold it via eBay.

tru

I've bought from Amazon a few times but never sold before, I'll look into that, thanks

christmas_donkey

I aim to pay off my credit card bill (which I have got down to £80 due to careful spending in 2004). I owe Scottish Power some money too, but I am paying that debt off on a monthly basis.

I have cancelled all my store cards, and will cancel my CC as soon as its paid off - however, I do need to MAKE money in the new year. Either get a job or do something at home that is financially profitable.

Walletwatch

Meself and wife have been thinking on these lines as well.

Basically, the conclusion we have reached is that our regular net outflow per month after taking into account all our allowances comes to £450 per month. The monthly interest we earn from our S&S (Saving and Stoozing) is £150, which means that we fall back on our earnings to fund the remaining £300 per month. The target is to reduce this amount by £100 per month by saving and stoozing - i.e. increasing other monthly inflows including interest income by £100 at least.

The long-term vision is that both our monthly incomes should directly go towards savings and we would be living very comfortably on interest and allowances. I have always counted that as the next milestone to achieve, after having ensured zero-debt (or rather zero-interest-paying debt, as otherwise I would not be stoozing )

Can I have inputs from anyone on how to bridge the gap (apart from further saving and stoozing, which is anyway on the agenda)? Does anyone know of any transcription / translation requirements that I could make some quick dough off?