Help: Decent income being lost to debt

WASHER

Tiff, with all due respect, a stag do is a little different to a family wedding and with careful financial planning the OP could save money from his surplus each month, but OP, you must be careful, I cannot stress enough, start a spending diary, you may have a good surplus but if you are buying starbucks every day, it adds up, make the surplus work for you, get an ISA and start a wedding fund.

WASHER

S_AND_I wrote: »

Great you're debt free - everyone on here's so supportive and inspiring - even those that suggest the harsher cuts are just making us think 'do we really need x'. It's about state of mind with us. We got to the point where we were feeling guilty about buying even little things while we had debt. Now we still have debt but we feel good for doing something about it and are more happy to pay for things as we know it's a concious decision. We just need to keep it up!

Your right to think before buying anything. I think to myself each I purchase anything (I don't own a credit card, and I pay in cash and gosh its hard handing my cash over) do I need it, is it the best price I can find?, will I wear it more than a few times, if I answer yes to the questions I buy it, but I have a rule in my home, something comes in and something gets remove either to charity shop or sell it on EBay. Most of us have too much stuff nowadays and decluttering will make it easier for the cleaner:D

Oneday77

S_AND_I wrote: »

Thanks, Do you know if there is a list of average energy use/costs for TVs, washing machines, dishwasher etc?

I haven't seen one anywhere. To give an idea my 32" CRT when on costs about 1.5p per hour and about .5p per hour off. Doesn't sound a lot but that is £40 quid a year on standby :eek:. The kitchen with 4 of those daft 50W spot lamps costs about 1.5p per hour if only I could fit my wife with an energy saving collar a bit like the anti bark ones for dogs :rotfl:

*slap* ...comming dear..oh nothing

Tixy

S_AND_I wrote: »

Thanks, Do you know if there is a list of average energy use/costs for TVs, washing machines, dishwasher etc?

I think that over on the utilities board people will be able to give some advice on this (I asked in relation to an elec blanket and got an answer pretty quick). It also might be worth investing in one of those meters, either one that monitors all of your elec use, or a little plug in one that you can put in an individual appliance and monitor it for a bit before switching it to the next appliance. My friend bought one for about £40quid and reckons it saved him that within 2-3months.

As a general rule anything that heats costs quite a bit, so kettles, elec heaters, tumble driers, dishwasher etc can be pretty costly.

S_AND_I

WASHER wrote: »

Tiff, with all due respect, a stag do is a little different to a family wedding and with careful financial planning the OP could save money from his surplus each month, but OP, you must be careful, I cannot stress enough, start a spending diary, you may have a good surplus but if you are buying starbucks every day, it adds up, make the surplus work for you, get an ISA and start a wedding fund.

Agree, but Tiff is right to ask the question so I can ask it of myself. We've started a spending diary each from Feb 1. My wife loves making lists so should be easy - let's hope it doesn't get long!
(for the record, we have a free coffee machine and newspapers at work and I generally take sandwiches. The first two things on my wife's diary were lunch and coffee though!). Uhhh oooo if she reads this....
What's an OP?

S_AND_I

Tixy wrote: »

I think that over on the utilities board people will be able to give some advice on this (I asked in relation to an elec blanket and got an answer pretty quick). It also might be worth investing in one of those meters, either one that monitors all of your elec use, or a little plug in one that you can put in an individual appliance and monitor it for a bit before switching it to the next appliance. My friend bought one for about £40quid and reckons it saved him that within 2-3months.

As a general rule anything that heats costs quite a bit, so kettles, elec heaters, tumble driers, dishwasher etc can be pretty costly.

thanks - headed there now

S_AND_I

WASHER wrote: »

I have a rule in my home, something comes in and something gets remove either to charity shop or sell it on EBay. Most of us have too much stuff nowadays and decluttering will make it easier for the cleaner:D

ha ha - like the idea though

pebblespop

you are the OP on this thread - opening poster.

S_AND_I

pebblespop wrote: »

you are the OP on this thread - opening poster.

great - thanks

zarazara

Great thread. Try paying off the loans asap, then you'll see things improve. cut up those cards!