Keeping down spending on "stuff"

dancingfairy

Can you work part-time on the 3 days off a week. Do you have any skills you could use. You could do book-keeping, typing for people, gardening, massages etc depending on what you are studying.

dancingfairy

Are you making the most of NUS membership - you can get discounts at various places eg pizza hut and new Look to mention 2. check out nusonline.co.uk/specialofffers

Also try Q and S for clothes, Primark, Peacocks etc.

hostie

Hello I just wanted to let you know that if you are a student on Summer break you don't have to wait until September to apply to the hardship fund. They often keep money for the summer for students who get into trouble then and they are very keen to give this money out as, if they don't, they lose it (i.e. if students don't make claims over the summer then the uni has to give the money they have left back to the government).

Also, if you claim now, when you go back in September it will be classed as a new year and you will be able to make another claim. The amount you receive will depend on how desperate your situation is.

Good luck.

I just wanted to add that it does take a while to get your head round the whole present thing. Lots of us are used to being generous and find it hard to cut back on that. We also find it hard to take / accept things from people if we are not balancing them out in some way. I was speaking to a friend about this recently. It is a difficult to change these ingrained habits but it is possible. If you start giving cheaper presents to your friends they will not necessarily know that they are cheaper and even if they do, they will still love you. Slowly slowly though. good luck

lisa_75

hostie wrote:

Hello I just wanted to let you know that if you are a student on Summer break you don't have to wait until September to apply to the hardship fund. They often keep money for the summer for students who get into trouble then and they are very keen to give this money out as, if they don't, they lose it (i.e. if students don't make claims over the summer then the uni has to give the money they have left back to the government).

Also, if you claim now, when you go back in September it will be classed as a new year and you will be able to make another claim. The amount you receive will depend on how desperate your situation is.

Thanks for that. I will ring in the morning. I have never applied before as I thought it was only for single parents or those whose partners are on a very low income. I will give it a try as I have nothing to lose!

Mrs_Arkwright

dancingfairy wrote:

Are you making the most of NUS membership - you can get discounts at various places eg pizza hut and new Look to mention 2. check out nusonline.co.uk/specialofffers

Also try Q and S for clothes, Primark, Peacocks etc.

Do you know how I can find out who is entitled to join the NUS - I'm looking on the site but can't find anything. I'm starting a home study course in the next few weeks and am wondering if I can join?

Mumsie

When the realisation hits that spending has got out of control and debt arrives at the door you think life has become intolerable. Worse when you have a family to support and I dearly sympathise with anyone out there in that position. However, life must go on. You HAVE to be positive but it also helps to completely change-your-lifestyle. Your way of thinking, ideas, shopping habits and it is HARD. It can be hard for months and months, years possibly, but some positive things come out of debt. I cried and cried till I could cry no more. My relationship with my partner was akin to walking on eggshells. My whole world fell apart. For a while I was so numb with it that I couldn't even deal with it. The only way to tackle it was to work at it. Physically as well as mentally. How did I do that? I had one goal. To come out the other side. I turned into a shop-a-holic. Does that sound odd? Of course, it does. I trawled markets for food, charity shops for clothes, I made things. It wasn't as though I had an extravagant lifestyle before, but it plumetted thereafter. I had to realise what things were important to me. Everything has an order of importance and of course, the children came first, always. (I put myself on hold for years which was harsh but I had no choice)No more was I the Mum-taxi with the posh car, we walked whenever we could, we caught the bus, we had fun in the holidays on our bikes, parks, joined a free walking group, libraries. We joined the local cat sanctuary and helped out there. We joined someone's riding stables as unpaid helpers - well, the children did(!) They loved it and it developed in them a sense of fun and responsibility and we made lots of new friends. Children find fun in all sorts of things, even very hard work sometimes. It doesn't have to be paid entertainment thrust at them all the time.
Something I found incredibly difficult was having to admit to people that...I didn't have the money to do something. I felt so ashamed. This was the biggest hurdle of all. It was like losing face. I had this incredible pride, but when I got over that I couldn't believe how generous people were. How sympathetic my friends became and they helped so much sometimes just as an ear because debt is like an incredible grief and it needs to be talked about - a lot - to make sense of it and to put it aside and move forward. So don't be reluctant to talk about it. Think about how it happened, why it happened, how it can get easier. It really does help in the process of going forward. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's worse when people pretend that they have something rather than when they admit to not having enough money to have or do something. There is nothing wrong in saying "I'm sorry, I can't do that. I really don't have enough money" Try it. Try saying it in the mirror and practising it! It's an eye opener the first time you use it!

It took ten years to clear the debt. I can't say that life was easy, ever. Everything I ever spent had to be accountable, everything I ever DID had to be accountable, but it made me very humble, it made me realise never to take life for granted ever again. It turned my children into nicer people and now they realise the value of money. In a way it did us a tremendous favour - but oh, what a way to learn. A lot of those valuable lessons I am still using today. You won't find me handing over money without question or signing my signature (your signature can be a valuable asset in the wrong hands).

Phew. I don't know what bought that on - I think it was reading a few lines and I am also using displacement tactics instead of getting on with the bookeeping - yes, a new start up a couple of years ago. I now look after our assets rather than our debts. Life begins to sit better at long last! So you see - there is a light at the end of that tunnel.

ElvisThePrince

A good source of part time jobs is to apply for a job with local government/NHS, etc. then ask for Job Share, it's very hard for them to turn you down, this applies to well paid as well as lower paid jobs, I know job shares earning equivalent to almost 40K (pro rata) where I work.

http://www.jobsgopublic.com/

KARENW_3

Further to the posts on buying presesnts I always buy xmas/birthday presents in the sale or using vouchers and save a fortune. Have just bought a few Ted Baker toiletry gift sets from the boots website and saved 70% off the cost. They are actually half price, but ted baker is also on a 3 4 2 plus if you spend over £50 you get another 10% off. Bargain and ideal present for ladies.

HC_2

Cubes of home-made fudge, or chocolate truffles, in tissue paper and then wrapped in coloured cellophane fastened with ribbons make a thoughtful token gift.

Try to blag samples from the Clarins, Clinque etc. counters at department store. Also Superdrug and Boots do some lovely cheap miniatures. Arrange in a small, cheap wicker basket from the market and cover with coloured cellophane.

And of course the obvious one - eBay. But buy now, not near Christmas.

I save up all my loyalty card points (not Tesco vouchers, because they're good for days out etc) and spend them on 3 for 2s for Christmas presents.

snoozer

RE the broadband - get your OH to check what the actual speed you are getting is (I'm sure the Techie board could help if he doesn't know how). My OH was just like yours but I kept moaning that the speed didn'e seem any greater than the one at work and when he checked he realised we'd been paying extra for a rubbish service (it depends on all sorts of things such as how far from an exchange you are in some cases). He then contacted the company and downgraded our package.

I also agree that ethical gifts are excellent - all the adults in our family exchange them and I am sponsoring a child as my Christmas gift to MIL, SIL and BIL last year. Much better than giving them things they can easily afford themselves.