100 months to turn the money situation round

mizmir

elantan wrote: »

Wellllllll ... We do go to the shop with a list ... Then we deviate ...that is A LOT of what the problem may be but I like to buy toilet rolls coffee etc when they are on special ... We never really deviate for luxury items just the buy one get one free type things

Don't think that is a problem as long as they are things that keep and you don't end up stock piling! Would go back to the receipts and see whether the BOGOFs and offers etc account for the overspending. Also - if you are just buying things you need while they are on special - does that mean you spend less another week as you don't need to buy these things?

As my mother said to me this morning - a bargain is only a bargain if you would've bought it anyway!

elantan

I'm deff gonna have to start keeping my reciepts Miz and Squizz ( and others) I think that will give me a bigger outlook

Tbh with the toilet roll etc I do tend to stockpile. I.E I buy maybe 24 rolls at a time but that will then do me maybe 2 and a half months Worth then the next month it will be washing up liquid or something else I need if that makes any sense ?

elantan

I think another part of the problem is ... Well I don't mean this disrespectfully but ... With mr el wanting to be more involved in finances we decided he would be in charge of food .... He is just starting to slowly understand finances etc so he is struggling with the concept of WE DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY LEFT .... I think he thinks the money fairies put money in the tub overnight so thinks nothing of spending on things. ( Which we do use and could do with ... Could also manage without though)

How do I tackle this part ?

I think I need to tackle it all as a whole ... Reciepts food planning and hubby ... I would love to get our food bill down to £150 a month ... That's still more than a lot of families but I'm also aware its less than others

mizmir

Toilet rolls and stuff like that isn't a problem - as long as you have the room. Other stuff - is there a connection between any of the stuff in the cupboard from 2009 and tendency to stockpile...? Maybe not but worth checking. It's about balance I think - making the most of offers where we need the stuff anyway but not buying so much that we can't use it in a reasonable time - or tying up too much money in stockpiles when we need it for dinner tonight!

elantan

Erm the stuff that was out of date was things like chinese pastes that mr el had tried whilst perfecting his dishes and didn't like ... I'm sure there will be more soon as he is currently stilll perfecting his Indian technique .... Other things were things he bought in big sizes (2kg of corn starch anyone?) ... And two mustards ( insert shruggy smiley) ...

elantan

Thanks very much for the help miz ... Its making me think

ZTD

elantan wrote: »

I think another part of the problem is ... Well I don't mean this disrespectfully but ... With mr el wanting to be more involved in finances we decided he would be in charge of food .... He is just starting to slowly understand finances etc so he is struggling with the concept of WE DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY LEFT .... I think he thinks the money fairies put money in the tub overnight so thinks nothing of spending on things. ( Which we do use and could do with ... Could also manage without though)

How do I tackle this part ?

Money in envelopes. One envelope per week. Fill them when the wage goes in - I think Hypno used to do something like that.

He sees the envelopes at the beginning of the month, and he is under no illusion that money fairys are going to turn his underwear into pound notes and refill those envelopes...

elantan

I was putting money into a tub Z .... But I think the envelope idea is better thanks ... We use envelopes when we go on holiday ... And he accepts how that works so if I do the same with the food maybe that will make the difference thanks as always sexy man

Ill put £60 into an envelope everyweek with the dates that it is to do us for and let him deal with it then

gilligansyle

I would definitely go with the envelope idea, or even just stick with cash. If he's not used to dealing with finances, managing for a month can sometimes be too much, but weekly is easier to deal with.

I have a 'budget' but also I do my list, work out roughly what its going to cost and add a fiver on, and that's all I take with me. Any change then goes in the 'spare' pot which can then be used for odd treats.

elantan

we do tend to deal in cash now when it comes to the food ( painful lesson and bankcharges later learned that one for mr el and myself) but i am liking this idea of roughly figuring things out then putting a spare fiver into it and working that way

we have been working fortnightly instead of weekly as hubby gets paid on the 15th and i get paid at the end of the month ( second last working day) so i have been giving him £125 everytime a wage comes in... think i will do it weekly though and try for £60 ( thus saving £5 a fortnight straight away:) )

we got £25 put into our account today... we seem to think it is the last of the insurance for the mortgage payments but we arnt too sure as it was deff something that we wernt expecting.. i have transferred £20 to the visa which has cleared one of the visa's YAY we have just two more to go (both on 0%) yes they are biggies ( the transferred one from hubby's illness and the one we were paying off anyway) so now i have a new job ... I WILL NOT SPEND ON THE OTHER VISA UNLESS IT IS AN EMERGENCY ....

i'm gonna say that again just so that it seeps deeper into my brain .... I WILL NOT SPEND ON THE OTHER VISA UNLESS IT IS AN EMERGENCY....

so my debts are slightly clearer now ...

we have the mortgage
hubby has a visa
i have a visa
i have a student loan
we have sofa's we are paying off

the next one that is due to get paid off is my visa followed by hubby's visa.... so i am going to fire any spare money into my visa first of all so that i get the psychological boost of clearing another bill soonish ( hopefully july next year) and i will be transferring hubby's visa onto another 0% deal ( if we get it) in either March or April and that should be the last that that needs transferred

the sofa's will be paid december 2012 we are paying them off at £30 a month on a 0% deal ( bought through d*s) so next year we will have cleared one ( poss two ) visas and the sofa's just leaving us the mortgage and the student loan

the student loan is one of those should i should i not pay type things .... i currently dont earn enough to have payments taken from my wages but i have been making payments through the bank every month, because i really dont like debt, but i am now coming around to the idea ( i have always been aware of it) that it is at a low rate ( currently 1.5%) and that it will get written off when i retire ( i'm gonna be 40 next year) so i can kinda take my time to pay it off and if i dont get it paid off it will either die with me or get written off ... i dont like doing this as i really like to pay any debts that i owe ... but ... things are so tight just now that not having to pay £20 or so a month to a debt would mean life was that wee bit easier for us ( maybe for shopping )

anyway thats the current financial situation

tonight we are thinking of going to visit friends ( we have enlisted others to go to the hospital ... so that we get a wee break) this is a couple that we often talk about finances with ... i think i may have mentioned them before ... i like it that we can all talk openly and honestly about money and finances and we can sometimes get tips and give tips to each other .... last time we were there though we had a good chat and i came to the understanding they are circling the plughole financially ( and since then they have went out and bought a time share:eek::eek::eek:) so i think it will be an interesting discussion tonight to see how things fare for them ( fingers crossed its not too bad)