I've had my LBM and now it's time to sort it out once and for all

firesidemaid

your groceries are likely to be 4 x that unless you are really good, but that is the place where money can be saved - spend some time on the old style board.

this next tip is coutesy of 'desperatehousewife' - keep a note book (or address book for a-z) and keep a record of what is the best price for everything from olive oil to beef mince (per lb) and toiletries etc so you know when something is a good deal or not. for example, the 99p/£1 store may not always be the cheapest.

skaps

Good luck with it all, i have subscribed so will be popping in to check your progress, you have made a great start though.

Primrose2004

firesidemaid, you're right it will be more for food, not sure about 4x but much more. I already buy value stuff where I can and downgrade to own brand, was meal planning and will get back to that asap.

skaps, thanks:) trying very hard

Been through the dvds today, gosh there's alot:o have already stopped buying them 'oh it's cheap' was my motto but not for a few months. kids have more than enough to watch!! Plus I used to struggle to find things for people to buy them for bday and christmas so now i'll hand out a list of dvd's :rotfl:

Anyhow, now I have a mass of unwanted dvd's. Ebay or carboot hmmmmm. Might ebay the BNIP ones, some bought for children's birthdays but things they don't watch.

Got some watchers on my ebay listings from last night :T no bids but they're listed to finish on sunday night so that's ok

Did my good deed for the day, looked after a friends 2 children so i'v put some good karma out there, hoping to get some back

oh and I think the children's bedrooms may prove good for bootfar/ebay items. My son's in particular is brimming and needs a good clearout so he might actually PLAY with some things

pennywisepoundstupid

Hi Primrose, loving the diary and i think you have made a fantastic start to the debt busting. Good luck i'm off to subscribe.

Primrose2004

thanks pennywise, been reading your thread today, will try and get to the end, but it's long:D

ooo it's cruel, Tesco just emailed and have Friends series 1-10 boxset for £40:( I LOVE FRIENDS, but i've seen them all and have series 8-10 already on dvd and don't get time to watch them, but ooo how i'd love the boxset. My bdays end of Nov and then there's christmas so I shall have to wait and if I still want it i'll ask for it then.

On someone's DFW post or diary they said to unsubscribe to the 'offer' emails, oh how right they are, they're so tempting. I very rarely buy but if I don't get the offers I won't ever buy so i'm going to unsubscribe when I get a new one from each company. I wonder if I unsubscribe to Tesco if I'd still get points offers? I often online shop for groceries so would still like to get points offers. I use my clubcard vouchers for mags, meals etc. I used to spend £3ish on OK mag(I know pointless celeb drivel but I like it:o) but now clubcard vouchers pay for it:j I've just sent off for a cycling mag for dh and a wildlife subsciption for the kids. Hoping the wildlife thing will give us activities to keep us entertained and get us out the house

Primrose2004

i've just spent about 3 hours sorting the paperwork for my new job:eek: it's an admin role and although I don't officially start til Sept the current lady is off on hols fri so has passed stuff over today. I'm a bit anal about paperwork:o so had to sort it my way:o But it's done now and I just need to get a couple of new files etc and it'll be all lovely. Might be able to claim the extra hours too which would be good. I did break my hole punch though:mad::D

oo oo and I had a NSD woo hoo! tomorrow I will take lunch to work (I normally work tues/wed/thurs, school hols can vary) but I will need to buy milk. Should've bought milk today really, no cereal in the morning for me


I'm going to aim for 3 NSD's a week. Mainly to curb the stupid little Tesco runs which are not only expensive but really irritate me. I'm sure my mum wasn't at the supermarket EVERY DAY

I've got £350 from my work to pay into the bank tomorrow plus £7 of coppers. Will leave that in my account until the next cc statement arrives so I know I have the min bal

I've got a pretty good spreadsheet set up to follow ins and outs(I do love a spreadsheet!!) but I'm gonna make it even better soon by properly entering dates for income/expenses to follow things even more closely. ATM expenses have dates next to them but not income so it's a bit random. I have to become more anal I think:rotfl:

Right, getting late again and I mustn't be on here for hours again.

Primrose2004

firesidemaid wrote: »

your groceries are likely to be 4 x that unless you are really good, but that is the place where money can be saved - spend some time on the old style board.

this next tip is coutesy of 'desperatehousewife' - keep a note book (or address book for a-z) and keep a record of what is the best price for everything from olive oil to beef mince (per lb) and toiletries etc so you know when something is a good deal or not. for example, the 99p/£1 store may not always be the cheapest.

you were totally right, I had of course put a WEEKLY amount instead of monthly, what an idiot. Obviously that now takes me to -£4 so that's much more like an acurate SOA:o

I don't know why but it suddenly came to me that it was wrong, so with the correct shopping and my insider knowledge that even the £70 a week is probably a low est coupled with a few takeaways it's becoming VERY clear where the money is going.

DER!!

I spent about £4.50 today on milk and chocolate, I don't normally pop to the local shop(Tesco very close so normally go there) but stopped at a shop near work for milk and it's £1.80 for 2 litres:eek: I can get 8 pints for £3 in tesco:eek:

I think i'm going to take up firesidemaids tip of getting an address book to write down the cost of things I buy alot to see where's cheapest because 10p here and there will make alot of difference

So i'm off to look at ebay for a cheap address book, well 2 actually as I could do with one for my new job to store contacts in.

Oh and I banked £355 today :T I had another £2 in coins but the bank only let you deposit 5 bags of coin per day.

And my ebay listings aren't doing too badly, 5 out of 15 listings have bids:T

Oh and I think i'm going to copy how my mum used to deal with finances, she had 3 purses (I'm not joking she used to carry 3 everywhere:D) one for her money, one for housekeeping and one with child benefit in it. I used to think she was a bit nuts but actually my parents were VERY sensible(both came from a banking background) Dad seems to have gone off the rails a bit lately after mum died(7 years ago) and he re-married to a very 'showy' lady. It all has to be the 'best'

Right, I could go on for hours on the injustice of mum dying and Dad's new wife spending all his and mums money but I won't:rotfl: I don't suppose anyone reading would care:rotfl:

back later tonight to bore you with some more inane thoughts:cool:

Primrose2004

OK, just done one of my tasks for today, a spreadsheet of what if's for the cc balance.

So if I pay the mimimum balance how long til it's paid off (based on min last month of £220, so paying £250 to round it up!) it would be March 2013:eek:

If I can realistically make the repayment £350 a month it will be May 2012

And taking into account some work I am due to complete and be paid for (about £300-400) and adding in an extra £100 for non-council tax paying months it could be March 2012.

So I am going to do my best to pay it off by the end of 2011. Hopefully a realistic target.

I think i'm going to enjoy seeing the £££££ go down

saorsie

You go Girl! :T


-s-

firesidemaid

RE. DVDS

if you have to have them sometimes, either use your clubcard rewards to get the 12 x blockbuster rentals OR try the free dvd rental trials thru QUIDCO etc

or, sometimes Tesco have good points offers on their dvd rental.

re. budgeting etc. i work out ALL monthly costs (including the annual ones split 12 ways) whatever is left is split between emergency savings, debt repayment and 'treats/spends'. i write down the amount we have for each at the start of the month and knock each amount off as i spend (same for food budget too) - once it's gone it's gone.

plus IF there is anything left it can then go as an overpayment.