Learning to Live on Less!

40somethingmum

Hi Iris,

Just found your diary this morning and must say I have much admiration for you. Being a SAHM is the hardest job in the world !

Mostly I just wanted to send you big (((hugs)) re the dog > don't really know what to suggest but can really understand your dilemma and how hard it s for you.

Lets hope things improve quickly.

Best Wishes

40SM
xx

debtfreewannabe321

Hi Iris have just come across your diary

If you haven't started a daily spend diary i highly recommend it :T since starting mine and seeing where i was wasting my money every month I have cut back on coffees out with friends, instead inviting them round, and stopped taking dd & ds to the local playgruops/soft play areas that you pay for, instead i bought a zoo pass which means free days out (obviously had initial outlay) and also seeked out free sure start places. I know you said you are rural so may not be able to do things like this...

My dad has recently swapped from sky to freesat (and pays extra i think for channels he really wanted?) and it works out a lot less than sky. I'm thinking of doing this when our current contract ends as i spend £40 a month (was £48 but i called to say couldn't afford and they lowered the price with no argument and have same channels...worth a try?)

I am also from next month (again) going to try envelopes each month. We get paid on the first and all my DD's bar two are due out on that day. So on the 2nd I go down and withdraw money that is left and put it into envelopes for grocery/entertainment/petrol etc. AND then hide my card :rotfl:i find if i go out with only cash I am VERY careful with what i buy. If i know i have the safety net of a card i somehow don't get it into my brain that i only have XXX amount and overspend

I have also been trying to sell my house for around a year now, and i think the equity has disappeared from it! Luckily i have tenants in it atm but when it was empty and also when tenants were in it but not paying this sent us over the edge financially and we have ended up on a DMP, which i know trashes your credit history for a while (ok years) but i thought to myself, this will stop me getting more credit cards and loans and overdrafts so i actually see it as a good thing, perhaps if things become too bad you might want to try this route, because it sounds to me like you are getting yourself into more debt each month even if only a bit....

My DH is always away currently 9 weeks this time...so i know how you feel being lonely...currently i have the t.v on and the laptop and 2 kids runnning around too lol (i have a 2 yr old and 1 yr old -and an older one too -12) so understand completely about the tiredness, need for adult conversation and a day off!!!!

I'm going to subscribe so i can see how you are getting on, and i'm sorry for the essay, i seem to have a problem with fitting what i need to say into only a few lines (haha you should see the ramblings on my thread )

DFW x

White_Iris

So, I had a chat with DH about what to do with doggo and we've agreed that for the next few weeks we'll just keep him (and maybe other dog as well) separate from the children, either in the kitchen or upstairs (which the dogs love as they're not normally allowed in the bedrooms!). Once we get to the summer holidays DH is home so it's easier to stop DD from abusing the hounds, then we re-evaluate in September. Just having a plan has made me feel hugely less stressed and guilty about the dogs.

Ebay has done exceedingly well this month, especially our bedside tables which sold for double what I was expecting :j. They're being collected in a few days and I'm being paid in cash which is going towards our summer holiday. The remaining money in my PayPal account is going in to the conveyancing pot, although I have had to dip in to this to buy some things for the children (which would normally have gone on to the credit card so 'yay' to not building more debt :beer:).

I've almost run out of things to eBay, which is good timing as I'm getting bored of it and really lacking the motivation to deal with photographing/listing/packaging/posting every weekend. The house is looking a lot neater though and I got rid of some garden things on Freecycle at the weekend so my shed is now spick and span! The next challenge is to tackle DHs shed - it's full of bikes and bike bits and goodness knows what else (lots of cr*p is you ask me!), so that's going to be a huge job but one of the last areas to de-clutter in preparation for the move.

The emergency credit card has now been removed from wallets and put away for an emergency, as this has almost reached the point where it would be useless in an emergency as there is so little credit left on there. We also have a small emergency pot of savings so I'm not concerned about emergencies as such but really cross with ourselves for spending on non-essentials :mad:

Other good news is the car has needed some minor work done which a) didn't cost as much as we thought (probably because we used the local garage up the road) and b) we had the money put aside for so again didn't need the credit card :T However it's going back to main dealership to be plugged in to their machine on Saturday as we have a suspicious light appearing on the dashboard, which may end up being very expensive

Nearly at the pay out point with OnePoll, just need another 50p but suddenly I get no surveys at all, grrrrr.....I will hit the target by the end of the month though!

Still debating how best to sell the house - definately need to drop the price but we need to decide how badly we want to move. Do we walk away with nothing but sell quickly or hold tight in the hope of getting a little profit? I worked out that id we start from zero and save £250 a month it'll take us over 8 years to save enough for a deposit, stamp duty and fees :eek:

White_Iris

Phew, finally got my tax credits annual review paperwork. Now I just need to wait for the children to have a nap and I can phone them with our correct figures and hopefully I'll get my child tax credits back.

White_Iris

Well that was a pleasant surprise - only 8 minutes on hold with HMRC, spoke to a very efficient professional advisor and got my tax credits claim updated quickety quick! Just have to wait for the updated awards notice now!

White_Iris

White_Iris wrote: »

I'm trying to get up to £40 on OnePoll - currently at £28.65 - but it's so frustrating as I keep getting screened out of the surveys. I'm determined to get up to £30 this week and hit the £40 payout mark by the end of the month.

Last day of the month and I'm at.....£39.95 :mad: So annoying as I'm getting no surveys at all and I only need one!

White_Iris

White_Iris wrote: »

Last day of the month and I'm at.....£39.95 :mad: So annoying as I'm getting no surveys at all and I only need one!

Woo Hoo - made it :j (although it's a bit disheartening to see my balance back down to 5p LOL). Next target, another payout by the end of September!

Wobblydeb

White_Iris wrote: »

So, I had a chat with DH about what to do with doggo and we've agreed that for the next few weeks we'll just keep him (and maybe other dog as well) separate from the children, either in the kitchen or upstairs (which the dogs love as they're not normally allowed in the bedrooms!). Once we get to the summer holidays DH is home so it's easier to stop DD from abusing the hounds, then we re-evaluate in September. Just having a plan has made me feel hugely less stressed and guilty about the dogs.

Really pleased you're feeling a bit better about the dogs. We both work so ours are locked in a bedroom for up to 4 hours at a stretch, and quite happily snooze away the time. If you leave them together they'll have company, and although they may stress a bit at first, I'm sure they'll quickly get accustomed to the routine.

It's been enjoyable reading your diary, and definitely a good idea to hide the emergence credit card. It is tough to restrict your spending, but like the dogs, you will get accustomed to the new routine!

White_Iris

Now the "first-day-of-the-month-payout" is over there's not too much I can do to pay down our debts until I get some more cash from survey credit, selling things on eBay etc. so I'm concentrating on de-cluttering and generally purging our house of stuff.

Although we've come a long way in the last six months there is still such a lot in the house which has no re-sale value and also doesn't have any value in terms of usefulness/emotional attachment. It's things like books which have been read once (or never read!), cleaning products we have been given or bought but they didn't fulfill the purpose, hobby equipment which has never been used, the list goes on...

So that's my focus for the next few weeks, I've found a lot of minimalist blogs (mostly American) which I'm really enjoying. We'll never be able to live with 100 things or less (don't think we'd want to!) but it will make my life easier to have less stuff for the children to break, less stuff to clean and more space generally. Who knows, we may find a way to make some money from the process as well - car boot maybe?

Florenceem

Hi, I started having a sort out and listed on Ebay. I sold lots of stuff that I thought may not sell.....you never know until you try. I was a Sahm for fifteen years.....I had six children. Have you got a garden......I used to spend quite a lot of time in mine. What about getting an allotment if your garden is not big enough to grow veg......saves money plus gives you a hobby. I enjoyed my years as a Sahm, then went back to work for two years. I decided to give up work and sh again....took in students as an income. Btw....my middle name is Iris.