Newbie SOA

gilly37

Confuzzled aww good luck with the baby. Each baby is different with the nappies, it all depends on how your baby's built I think, just so happens that Pampers are the best fit for my baby, ughh she has expensive taste already and she's only 8 months... Huggies seem to be made for long skinny babies, Pampers for squat babies. You've just reminded me about Lidl's own nappies actually, we bought some in an emergency a few months ago and I think they were actually ok, not for wearing through the night as they went lumpy but for daytime they were good! Thanks for that!

Gxx

jonjamie1970

GIlly, not saying you should but you should be aware of what the market might do and even on Martins pages you should find some advice, although even the experts get it wrong. If it went back up to £650 per month as before then how would you cope, thats all.

With regard to SKY, Im betting your OH likes it for the football, I ditched sky 3 years ago, on Saturday now i either watch local football as I dont play anymore or do some more work towards my coaching badges, your local team might be a good one to support for little outlay.

romylou_2

"Romylou what colour is your hair? Mine is blonde and I always struggle getting the colour right without highlights, it just looks really one-toned if you get me? Maybe I should go DARK! Multicar policy sounds good, I'll talk to other half about it."

I am also a blonde. I have Beige/Olive complexion and it took me ages to find Blonde colours that didn't look Brassy! I Go For Nice and Easy 97 for summer and in winter Nice and Easy 103 which are both very natural looking. I even get compliments from my hairdresser when I go in for a trim. xx

Just so you know Im also with Northern Rock Mortgage annd on their SVR which is about 4.78%. This is a lot better than the fixed rate we came off in March of this year, so not complaining. Will be keeping watch to make sure that rates will not increase too much too soon!!

gilly37

Oooh ok I think I may take the plunge with the hair dye ARGH!!! And hope I never see my hairdresser again as she will no doubt have lots of bad things to say about home hair dye kits. Only issue I have with it is my hair is very ash blonde naturally so any red tones don't suit.

romylou_2

Don't worry, I have naturally ash blonde and find that either the ash colours or the beige blondes are best!!!

MarieAAP

Good suggestions, here's another one - Pressies

K, i have a present cupboard - in it goes all the gifts that I have been given, that i don't use, mse recycle all the way.

Keep a list of who gave you what - so a) you dont give it back to the same people, b) but also give to the same family, so when the present is opened, someone else recognises it

Buy new things from Carboots, supermarkets with heavily discounted prices through out the year. So come to Dec, you have maybe 1/3 of the stuff still to buy.

Last year, was really really lean - wedding and a new roof (which the insurance company wld not pay for the hole caused by the storm). I managed to only have to spend a further £60 on stuff, and that included sending some stuff to mum abroad in china.

So valuing the amounts in all: - this is for 42 people = £250, plus my husband's gift

£5 nieces / nephews
£7.50 cozs / uncles / aunts / grandparents
£10 close adult friends
£15 for couples / sibblings with a OH
£20 for my mum
£30 for OH's parents

Much of this was from the cupboard, some goods cost less or more than others, but that was target to spend for each person. And we did it with £8 to spare . Its also worth taking the list with you when you go shopping - showing all the stuff you have already allocated to the person. And then this list is the start to say what you bought them ready for next years - so you dont get them the same thing 2 years in a row.

The really best tip, is just to keep your eyes open. I have just found an excellent book on Yorkshire that my mum and nextdoor neighbour would love - £4 instead of £12. Those are the sort of deals which really add up.

Blah that reminds, got to go through the cupboard again
M

ms_london

If you haven't done so already write to all of your creditors to let them know of your financial hardship, ask them to freeze or reduce your interest, and propose a repayment of £X a month. Cancel any current direct debits you have with your creditors so you can take a month to sort yourself out (and means they can't take the money willy nilly that you obviously can't afford).. You might have to include a copy of your budget, but it has to be a realistic budget otherwise they'll never go for it.

xx

gilly37

Quick question to Ms London, won't cancelling my direct debits mean I'll be charged by the companies?

Also I wasn't aware I was able to write to them and ask for the interest to be reduced or frozen, are they quite likely to do this?

Gxx

gilly37

Ok, update from me:

I have read all your suggestions and just want to say thanks they've all been really helpful. So far, I have...

- Set up an extra payment to Citi and RBS (can only manage an extra £5 a month but both balances are quite small anyway so shouldn't take too long)
- Done my shopping online and kept it down to £100 rather than around £110 (loving Tesco.com by the way!)
- Cancelled my hair appointment and coloured it myself.
- Spoke to my partner about everything you suggested: he's onboard with the multicar insurance when one is due for renewal, the cutting back this Christmas, and cutting his mobile phone cost (he's locked in his contract until May though). I'm still working on the Sky....

Thanks for all the suggestions. I still have a lot more to work on but just thought I'd let you know what intitial steps I'd taken.

Gxx

Little_Miss_Winner

I honestly don't see how I can cut the clothes as the baby is just growing so fast!!!! Even just a set of new vests, babygrows, and a couple of outfits including new jackets/snowsuits comes to £20 easily and I don't shop anywhere expensive for her

Sorry gotta dash, but just a couple more suggestions..
Ebay all the way, for baby things, most of them havent been worn!!

Also check out the Tesco thread for savings off your internet shop.