Hi From a Newbie

Hamwic

Hi everyone, thank you so much for your words of encouragement :beer:

The car boot sale wasn't the best unfortunately and I only made £34 (I say only, that was clear profit so better than a kick in the teeth and had I made sandwiches to take rather than buying whilst there it would've been £37:doh:). Still, I've paid over £150 off of my debt in just over 48 hours just from selling unwanted items I found around the house so I suppose I shouldn't complain really!!

I've bought a sandwiches to work with me today for my lunch and I have access to a microwave so am thinking I will alternate sandwiches with tins of soup and cheap ready meals/left overs as I get bored very easily!! Just through not buying toast this morning I saved myself 60p. I'm thinking I should put those 60p's in my penny jar at home and to put towards my debt, in a 4 week month I normally spend £12 on 40 slices of toast :eek: I've just worked out that that is about 2 loaves of bread and even if I'd bought a premium brand loaf at Tesco it would only have cost me around £2 :eek: So, my latest resolution is toast before work in the morning, That'll give me another £10 towards my debt each month or more if I buy reduced/non premium brands.

I will look at doing an SOA when I get home and posting it on here, as you're right you probably will spot things (like my daily toast fix!) which will help me.

fozmcfc

Hi Hamwic, congratulations on what you have achieved so far.

Saving can become very addictive and unlike most addictions it's a great one to have.

On the main site have a look at the de-motivator tools, which shows how much just buying a couple of bottles of fizzy drink can add up over the year. This might give you some more encouragement.

Stay around the site daily where possible, keep posting (doesn't matter if it is a dozen times a day) if it helps keep you focussed.

Very early days, but don't let others encourage you into bad habits, with phrases such as, go on you can afford it with the money you saved. If it is not essential then don't buy it, even if it is think twice .

Once you are strong enough and well on your way, little treats don't hurt every so often, but just keep focussed.

Wee_Jo

Definitely a good plan with the toast idea and bringing lunches to work! Why don't you join in on the June Save on Lunches Challenge? Here's the link: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2503615

I reckon since doing this from the beginning of May I have saved over £100!! :money:

Jo

nowpanicking

Hi Hamwic,

I've just very recently joined this site and have found it so helpful. Everyone gives really good tips and seem to just give encouragement which is great.

I know that I'm really thinking about what I'm spending my cash on. The car boot sale is a great idea - will have to go through all my stuff to see what I can sell

Hamwic

Thanks again everyone, your help and support is so good it makes such a difference!

I've now joined the packed lunch challenge so will try and keep track on that to see how much it saves.

nowpanicking - car boot sales are fab although I didn't make a huge amount this time as I'm guessing a lot of people are in the same boat as me and don't havea lot of spare cash so don't want to pay a lot for items eg I got £9 for the first 3 series of nip/tuck on dvd and I paid £7 each (2nd hand) for them. Mind you compare that to Blocbusters only wanting to give me £5.50 for 3 CSI boxsets and 3 or 4 other assorted dvds I made an absolute killing lol. I would recommend advertising larger items and those which are worth a bit more on your local free classifieds either in the newspaper or online as in my experience this is where I generated most income.