Hello, DFW Newbie here :)

Rachie_B

miss-sixty wrote:

KittyKate, thanks for your advice. I appreciate your words but I must admit, I am unlikely to take them on board. I need to have a life. My debt isn't *that* bad that I need to cut out every single pleasure

of course you need "treats" etc ,everyone does

but maybe reduce the number of times you eat out ,buy lunch, magazines,clothes etc

its all about baby steps IMO

good luck

KittyKate

miss-sixty wrote:

KittyKate, thanks for your advice. I appreciate your words but I must admit, I am unlikely to take them on board. I need to have a life. My debt isn't *that* bad that I need to cut out every single pleasure

Well, sorry, but again in my opinion all debt is bad. I didn't say cut out every single pleasure. You can have a life when you are trying to get out of debt.

All I said was try finding hobbies which save or even make money. Try doing Pisback so you can still go out for meals, just for free. It's not about scrimping and saving and being miserable. It's about looking for an alternative.

Like it or not if you want to get out of debt you need to realise that any money you spend will only keep you in the minus figures for a longer time. Personally, I could never truly enjoy something if I knew that down the line it was coming back to bite me in the bum. I think you'll be a lot happier with small treats and the peace of mind of getting/being out of debt. Money can't buy that peace of mind, but saving it can. Good luck with what small changes you manage

miss-sixty_2

To clarify, I work in the office a max of twice a week and spend £2.30 on a jacket potato. We rarely eat out, if we do, our joint account normally pays for it and we've cut back on takeaways a lot too. If I buy clothes, I *do* buy them at Primark (I rarely shop anywhere else). The recent spend on clothes has been due to a 2 stone weight loss and I have needed them. Probably not at the same volume I bought them, mind you!
My new budget is meant to be an absolute maximum for me; the clothes spend should go down after I've bought a couple of bits to get me though the winter.

My main (expensive) hobby, scrapbooking has cost me a lot this year, and I have been selling some of my stuff over the last week or so. It is easy to spend a lot on the latest must have goodies that are unnecessary! I do have other less expensive hobbies; such as watching my DH play football - cold but fun. I'm also a member of an am dram group, which is pretty cheap too.

KittyKate, I had never heard of Pigsback before, but have joined now, so thanks for that

Verbatim

You have good salaries and have worked out how to put your financial position in order so go out and have that life!

If you need to rejig any areas you have room to do so ie spend more on eating out / less on clothes, save £5 a week by making sarnies and have a takeaway a month instead.

miss-sixty_2

Just done a bit of research.
I could move my loan to Northern Rock and reduce the term by 6 months. My monthly repayments would be £197.99, so about £20 a month more than I'm paying now. The total repayable would be £9503.53, whereas I currently have £9594.18 left to pay on my Nationwide loan.
Is it worth paying £20 a month extra to save £90 overall? It would mean being debt free 6 months sooner

itsmylife_2

miss-sixty, a fellow scrapbooker here Its an extremely expensive hobby, We always joke amongst us that we have 2 hobbies - scrapbooking and shopping for scrapbooking. If you are like me you probably have a tonne of stash that hasn't even been used. I am currently trying to use my stash up before buying new stuff, plus I have started to buy things that can be re-used, like the alpha masks instead of buying alphabets for each Layout, or downloading fonts/images and doing handcutting titles and embellishments. There are loads of ways of scrapping without costing a fortune, so you do not need to give it up, but you do need to think twice before buying. I don't even look at online scrapping shops anymore and if I go in to a bricks and mortar shop I only take what I can afford in cash and leave the credit cards at home. Good luck with this

djdymond

hiya everyone

whats scrap booking?

oh and i agree, you do need hobbies and a life. you do what you think is best and i think the fact that youve addressed the debt NOW, and doing something about it is the main thing!!!

KittyKate

miss-sixty wrote:

KittyKate, I had never heard of Pigsback before, but have joined now, so thanks for that

Oh that's good I don't want you to think I was being harsh I was just playing a bit of the old devil's advocate! Admittance is the first step as they say and steps like joining Pigsback can and will save you money.

(And the jumpers in Primark are lovely - my boss is convinced mine are £60 each from Zara and I haven't the inclination to correct her, lol!)

Rgc_3

Hello

I ve read right through this post and taken in absolutely nothing at all why?????because all i can think of is what the he** is scrapbooking

please tell me:rotfl:

dancingfairy

It's what it sounds like collecting bits and bobs in a scrap book with all your memories in - framing nice photos well with images,art work - whatever you fancy really. Did you never do a scrapbook when you went on holiday as a kid and stuck in postcards/foreign stamps/photos/ coins etc?

Anyway the new version is a similar thing but on a much grander/stylish scale -think layout for magazine features etc There are lots of magazines out there telling you what lettering to buy, what little bits to stick on eg charms/etc , what background paper to buy -expensive of course, etc,etc.