Hi, Im nolongerindenial about my debt issues

bevan840

Hi nolongerindenial

Well done on making that first step, the first few months are always the worst so don't get too down on yourself if something goes a little upsy daisy It took me just under a year to get everything under control

I've never seen the A, B, C thing, will have to remember that one on mine

For groceries where do you normally shop? Are there any alternatives nearby? If there is, there's a website Martin encourages people to use which has cut my grocery bill down quite a bit, https://www.mysupermarket.com I used to spend similar to you too, and there's only 2 adults, 2 cats and DH's 2 children (only on weekends, rarely stay over in the week), we now spend around £250 ish, which would cover food for all, plus household items (shaving gear for DH, litter for kittys etc)

Good move on selling the cars, will help you get to goal A a little quicker maybe

Good luck on your journey

nolongerindenial

We currently shop in morrisons, Asda may be slightly cheaper on groceries but unfortunately they also have George.... And with a 3 month old baby and women who needs clothes to fit her shrinking size, it can be massively expensive exercise :eek: on cashflow.

Goal A is the target, I have had good news on a couple pieces of work today already, and as such am feeling very positive at the minute, just need to start treating our household finances a bit like I treat the business, with a complete strangelhold over every single penny we spend and work out as many ways as possible to increase my personal income through selling the goods in the house.

I am a firm believer in setting difficult (but not impossible) targets to acheive, I find it adds a constructive pressure to me to go the extra mile, and I also see the bigger picture of every little amount we earn

£10 a day = £3,650 However £20 a day = £7300

£21,820 - £7300 = only £14,520 left to go

now if only I could do£59.78 a day I would be extremely happy at the end of the year :rotfl:

However £59.78 is an unreasonable target for the goods we have in the house, and I realise the first thing I need to do is sort out the households negative cashflow issue first, our bank account at the minute is like a old rusty bucket, the money flows out quicker than we can put it in. Now it is time to get out the welder and some fresh metal and weld up all the holes, to make a watertight account. :rotfl:

bevan840

I can now see what you mean about George I didn't think of that. Maybe get home deliveries? Do you know if Asda deliver to where you live? They've been a godsend for weeks when I've not been able to get around, plus you can earn cashback on

nolongerindenial

I am just going through that mysupermarket.co.uk - and my god what a great website. We usually shop at morrisons and am just looking for a recept for what we buy to allow me to go through everything and see what we could be paying.

Yes Asda will do a home delivery to us, and so far seam the cheapest, 10% better off over Tesco - its just we have never felt it as when we go into the supermarket we spend on average 5-15 on clothes (which of course when I add up the monthly budget appears on shopping)

Heres hoping today I make my first moneysaving without having to downshift yet (will save that till next week I think), lets only take one step at a time.

bevan840

Very good idea on the one step at a time, I went at it by downshifting everything at once and ended up rather miserable as ended up overspending on everything else
If you register with TopCashBack you can get £4 (I think) cashback for placing an order through mysupermarket.com Or at least you used to, I don't know what they are offering at the moment as it only works on your first order.
For regular grocery shopping quidco offer cashback on Asda shopping, but doesn't always work and you can't claim for missing cashback if it doesn't work
I tend to use the quick shop box, I go through house writing down what I need, like I usually would with a list, then type your list into the box and it will find everything for you Then you can print off the list it gives you, so you can double check the offers and prices while you are in the store

nolongerindenial

Yeahg, looks a great feature.

As for ebay... I have found more stock to go on there today, which I have just searched through and they are currently going for in excess of £50 each - just a shame I only have the one

I have also just found a couple of boxes of textbooks I wont be using any more and so will be listing those on amazon once I have a bit of free time

nolongerindenial

Just done our first shopping trip on mysupermarket - food will arrive on wednesday :shock:

So far we have saved £22, spending only £78.27, which was including items we dont buy every week as we need to get some money together for a costco trip for (IE toilet roll, tin foil, toothpaste, mouthwash, bin bags etc -which between them save us a small fortune week in week out) normally a shop including these would go over our £100 budget and as such, im quite happy we could have reduced this bill by at least a further £10

scrooge2008

Morning nolongerindenial.

I think you are doing great. Posting each day will really help to keep you focussed.

I have bought a lot of great quality, second hand children's clothes and adult clothes off ebay, so that might be worth considering. Dear son, wears all the designer labels at a fraction of what I would have paid for George clothes. Better still, they wear well and I usually get to sell them again for what I paid for them, as he grows. I try and make our clothes budget cost neutral, i.e. I buy new clothes, with what I get for the old ones.

Another option is NCT nearly new sales (National Childbirth Trust). If you get in there quick, you can grab some great bargains. I sell stuff there too.

Wishing you all the best on your journey.

nolongerindenial

Thank you very much screooge

My Focus is on getting my debts right down to 0, the phonecalls every day from the DCA's manage to keep that on track. Todays job is to write out a letter to them all to offer a token payment whilst I work out exactly what I have got and have not got, get my budgetting in order and request exact balances of everything I owe.

I keep looking around for a template letter I can adapt, does anyone know of one as I may be being blind?

scrooge2008

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#deal

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_money/money_management_index_ew/sample_letters_to_creditors_index_ewsni.htm

Martin's guide is worth a read through. There is a link here to template letters compiled by Citizens Advice Bureau.