Learning to Live on Less!

chevalier

Well done on staying focussed. And on the decluttering. I am about to move rentals as well. We have been here 3 years and the carp we have here is silly really, so I must have a go at decluttering this weekend.... chev

claireforest

hey, just found your diary- you sound just like me- im a SAHM and want to pay off some debts before my maternity pay ends- as we will be on a tight budget then and thats tight because we still have a loan to pay- we keep saying in 4 yrs we will have this much and in 4 yrs we can do this. i want to get all debts paid and live with cash for my little boy aswell- all the nice things we will be able to do- just got to get through these 4 yrs. im struggling with motavation at the moment tho so may hang around on your diary to keep me on track as well- ive done my own so ill try not to clutter yours and just keep to giving and stealing tips

White_Iris

Hello :wave:

claireforest wrote: »

we keep saying in 4 yrs we will have this much and in 4 yrs we can do this. i want to get all debts paid and live with cash for my little boy aswell- all the nice things we will be able to do- just got to get through these 4 yrs.

We do this too. We're down to just over 2 years now but it seems so far away...life had better be drastically improved in October 2013, as we're wishing away the next 28 months! LOL

claireforest wrote: »

im struggling with motavation at the moment tho so may hang around on your diary to keep me on track as well- ive done my own so ill try not to clutter yours and just keep to giving and stealing tips

Steal away but I don't offer refunds on any tips that don't work! :rotfl:

White_Iris

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Ours was busy and expensive but also quite productive. We were obliged to go out and pay for a meal for MILs birthday. It was a big one which, along with other family-related issues, meant we couldn't refuse despite not being able to afford it and DH having loads of work to do at the moment. So that was another £130 on the credit card :eek:

On a more positive note I made £50 on eBay on Saturday, listed another 28 items and already have £10 of bids - just waiting for everyone to pay up now :cool: I also managed to get rid of a big pile of stuff which was either waiting to be claimed on Freecycle or donated once a charity bag came through the door. The village held a mass garage sale and next door were selling things for the British Heart Foundation, so they got a big crate full of bits to sell.

So the plan for the week is to list the last of the back-log of children's clothes on eBay, get up to the £40 payout limit on OnePoll (I'm currently at £33.20 - need to make about £1.40 a day until Friday) and continue de-cluttering.

Iris .x.

White_Iris

Slow going on OnePoll today - only up to £33.70 :-( I have made a start on sorting out baby clothes for eBay and also made a list of other jobs that need doing (I love lists, I feel so virtuous crossing things off!) including a food inventory and then a meal plan using what we have with minimal grocery spends (as I have no grocery money left until child benefit day - eeek!).

claireforest

i love lists aswell- makes sense of whats going off in your head, you dont forget things and i love crossing things off

do you get many surverys on one poll?- i might see if i can join- i do yougov but dont get loads

White_Iris

claireforest wrote: »

i love lists aswell- makes sense of whats going off in your head, you dont forget things and i love crossing things off

do you get many surverys on one poll?- i might see if i can join- i do yougov but dont get loads

OnePoll varies quite a lot each day. As I'm at home I can check quite often, sometimes (like yesterday) there are three or four all day (and I end up getting screened out of half of them), other days there are dozens appearing each time I check.

I know what you mean about YouGov - I've been a member for about 5 years but only managed to get to the £50 cash out limit once. I'm working my way back up now but I'm still only about half way there.

White_Iris

Had a very motivated day yesterday and got through lots of little annoying jobs, arranged to get rid of our old barbecue through freecycle, inventoried all the food we have in the cupboards (4 cans of butter beans - why?), made a meal plan to use it and started cooking. Today is less active as it's really humid here but I have dismantled a broken wardrobe, started a bolognaise for the freezer going in the slow cooker and done some cleaning and laundry. Still have to re-make the bed and try to get some items photographed for ebay as it's another free listing weekend and there is some furniture I want to get rid of.

Still not got very far with OnePoll but I have just been sent the enormous sum of £1.15 from Quidco! Ebay sales are good though - up to £75 so far this month (although I have currently got 3 non-paying buyers, grrr...).

White_Iris

Was out on a walk with the children yesterday and decided to take a different route around the village, I'm so please I did because I found a house giving away some quite large and healthy tomato plants. I've been meaning to buy some for a while as I didn't manage to sow any seeds this year so finding some for free was a real bonus! Not sure what they are but it'll be a nice surprise when they start to fruit!

Also booked a holiday yesterday - sort of unplanned but not too expensive. We normally go and visit my family for a few days in the summer and put the dogs in kennels but this year we had decided to go away for a bit longer than usual which would have meant kennel fees of about £130 plus hotel (well Premiere Inn) costs. While working out the money, I had a look at holiday cottages in the area and we can book one for a week for only slightly more than it would have cost for 4 days hotel/kennels as pets can come too. I'm really looking forward to it as we haven't had a proper holiday for years, it's usually 2/3 day trips or overnight stays. Now to try and pay for it with cash without neglecting our other savings/debt repayments!

White_Iris

Well we had a great ebay weekend, cleared out loads of little bits of stuff and made a nice amount of money! Also managed to list our bedside tables which already have a bid:j Didn't manage to get our old baby car seats listed though but at least they're out of the attic now so I can get them photographed and look in to delivery options before the next free listing weekend.

Not all great though. I'm selling something for FIL and someone bought it for the BIN price within hours of listing but despite stating clearly it was cash on collection they've paid by PayPal. Not a huge problem but they haven't been in touch regarding collection either and they live a few hundred miles away from us, so it's not like they can just pop in one evening! I've emailed them twice and got no reply so they've got until the end of today and I'm refunding the money and cancelling the transaction - time wasters:mad:

Lovely sunny day today after quite a rainy weekend so I've got some washing on the line and another load on the go. Also managed to get the kitchen clean and the floors hoovered already, I'm on a bit of a roll!

Managed to get some gardening done at the weekend and the front is now looking lovely - I just wish we had some people coming to see the house so they could be wowed by it! I think we're going to have to drop the price again and there is a small chance we may end up walking away with no profit:eek:. Part of me is happy to do this as I really need to get out of this village and move to civilisation but I'm worried that once we move in to a rented house we'll never save up enough of a deposit to buy again. A stable 'forever' home is my biggest wish for my children and I can't see that happening if we're renters .