Learning to Live on Less!

debtfreewannabe321

I don't blame you iris, and whilst your credit score is still good enough to keep changing to 0% balances I would do the same too! There is no point in living hand to mouth for no gain, you may as well try and enjoy yourself at the same time as being as frugal as possible. This is exactly how we are trying to get through it xx

White_Iris

Got our annual loan statement today and we've under £10k! It makes absolutely no difference to the speed it will be paid off but knowing it's less then 10 makes it seem a bit more bearable. That means that all our non-mortgage debt comes to about £33.5k, which is still an enormous amount but mentally we've been thinking we have about £40k of debt when actually it's closer to £30K!!

wot-a-mess

Good news indeed about the loan. Hopefully it keeps you motivated & focussed.

LianneH

good news about the loan.
I totally agree with your new mind set! I changed to this mind set after i paid off my loan. We we able to make overpayments on the loan, so I just felt that after that was gone I needed to take a break from aggressive overpayments and try and maintain our lifestyle as it is without increasing the credit cards!! I feel a lot better knowing im in good company as I was feeling a little guilty!!
Hope the new car starts to work out for you! and well done on the ebay income - you do really well with ebay - I mean the work you put into it! x

White_Iris

White_Iris wrote: »

I've realised that we're well in to October and I haven't set myself any new resolutions. This month has started to fly by and I'm feeling a little disoriented so I'll keep the resolutions simple...

• Spend as little as possible on the new car (although it needs an MOT in a few weeks) Actual car only cost £350 but have spent a few hundred more on repairs (some needed some just cosmetic which we wanted to do) - we've still managed to get a nice looking, functional car for under £800, I'm happy with that
• Get Christmas organised (i) cards got the ones for friends done, just family cards to go

(ii) presents not much progress here
(iii) decorations organised what we've got, inventoried what we don't want any more for selling on eBay later this month, still have a few home-made ones to finish

• Be mindful of what I'm eating to continue losing a few more pounds no progress this month
• Keep credit card spending to a minimum and continue to nibble away at the balance all change with the credit cards - little one is gone, cards chopped up, ready to be cancelled when I remember to get DH to phone them, remaining balance is now on a long 0% deal and is going to be treated like a loan, paying back more than the minimum each month and tarted to a new 0% deal as needed.

Back with Novembers resolutions later.

White_Iris

• Finish Christmas presents
• Finish Christmas cards
• Finish Christmas decorations (hmm, I notice a theme here!)
• Get winter/Christmas stuff listed on eBay
• Save £50 in emergency fund
• Cancel credit card

I may add some more later but that'll do for now.

Skint_but_Optimistic

Good plans - I too am sick of living hand to mouth, but its our only option at the moment! Ebay often saves our skin!

LianneH

hi WhiteIris

just catching up with your diary! your nov resolutions look like you will have xmas sorted! this is the first xmas ive been really organised and its strangely down to having 'no' money! who would have thought!

im interested in your xmas card making... my 2 year old DD loves card making, I have the blank card but not much else - what have you used? I'm worried they may look a bit cheap / rubbish?

White_Iris

LianneH wrote: »

hi WhiteIris

just catching up with your diary! your nov resolutions look like you will have xmas sorted! this is the first xmas ive been really organised and its strangely down to having 'no' money! who would have thought!

im interested in your xmas card making... my 2 year old DD loves card making, I have the blank card but not much else - what have you used? I'm worried they may look a bit cheap / rubbish?

I have a Christmas tree rubber stamp and some alphabet stamps which I've used to spell out "happy christmas". It's sometimes a bit wonky but I think that adds to the handmade charm.

In previous years I've cut out christmas tree shapes from wrapping paper or used some childrens foam stick-on snowflakes ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bag-Self-Adhesive-Snowflakes-Angels-Foam-Shapes-NEW-/160673308473?pt=UK_Crafts_Children_s_Crafts_EH&hash=item2568e01f39 ). One year some friends sent us a card with their daughters thumbprint on the front which they had drawn a face, antler and a red nose on to turn in to rudolf - this looked awesome!I've found that simple shapes and only two or three colours on a white background looks best.

If you let your DD have a go it won't matter how they look as you can always write on or run them through the printer and add "made by DD age 2" on the back.

Hope this helps!

Iris .x.

LianneH

Thanks Iris! This all sounds great! handmade cards here I come! watch out floor you are about to have some glitter and paint on you - I will prob make more mess than DD! x