Learning to Live on Less!

debtfreewannabe321

I second what lianne says it's hard enough work looking after toddlers, never mind all the ebaying you do, and your debt will come down even more if you get your house rented out...looks like everything is going in the right direction for you. I pay £50 into my emergency fund each month, but to be honest we usually have to resort to using it, i.e one month we needed new shoes for ds1, next month we needed the money for petrol as dh was away, etc etc so we don't have any savings really either but just think once we have all paid our debts off we will be the best savers ever

Skint_but_Optimistic

It seems like a slog the ebay, but it does bring money in, and the thing is you can pick it up whenever you are ready to.

White_Iris

Skint_but_Optimistic wrote: »

It seems like a slog the ebay, but it does bring money in, and the thing is you can pick it up whenever you are ready to.

Ebay is a bit of a slog but I've done pretty well this month (although a couple of non-paying buyers have made it more difficult than it needed to be :mad:). It's all been spent on Christmas though - at least it's not on the credit card!

I'm trying to get my Christmas cards written but my hand was aching, so I decided to come on here and do some typing instead! Not sure that's going to help! Christmas is mostly sorted - I still have some gifts to buy but I've delegated the in-laws to DH. He hasn't done anything else for Christmas so he can at least have one job. He hasn't even given me the list of gift ideas I've been asking for since October, so he's going to have a very lean Christmas if he doesn't get a move on!

Still to do for Christmas...
presents for dad, uncle, sister (know what I'm getting them though)
make cards for family
make cards for family from DS & DD
make cards for DH from me and the children
[STRIKE]nag[/STRIKE] encourage DH to get his family presents sorted

We weren't planning on getting the children any presents as they'll have enough from friends and family but we do want to make them a stocking each so we need to find some stocking fillers suitable for 18 month olds. I have a few bits but I do need to get my thinking cap on!

Well my wrist is rested now, so back to card writing!

White_Iris

Forget to mention earlier that DH has agreed to join our local credit union and save through payroll deduction. Even if he only saves £5 or £10 a month, if it goes out before it touches his bank account and gets put in a not very accessible account, he should manage to build up a nice little savings pot over time!

White_Iris

Can't believe how dim my bank are - just sent a payment from the Big Black Horsey current account to the Big Black Horsey credit card and got a message saying my recipient doesn't accept faster payments so it'll have to be sent as BACS instead which'll take 4 days instead of a few hours! Seriously?!! It can do faster payments to almost everyone else except itself!!

White_Iris

Yay, it's December! I was starting to feel a bit Christmassy but I've been dragged down to earth by our house situation - looks like the rental plan isn't going to happen.

We were intending on letting it fee-free through a rental agency owned by a family member but they've recently decided that we're too far away and they won't be able to manage it for us. They're probably right - it's quite a small agency in a town about 40 miles away from us - but it means that if we want to rent it out we'll have to go with a local agent and pay the fees or manage it ourselves which I think could be a real headache depending on the tenant.

We've also done some investigations in to the rental market in the area we want to live and to get a suitable sized house we'll have to pay at least £75/£100 more than we are currently paying on our mortgage here, which we really don't have the budget for.

Oh well, looks like we'll have to stay put until the property market improves (could be years :eek:) and in the meantime do everything we can to pay down debt and make the house as saleable as possible.

White_Iris

White_Iris wrote: »

• Finish Christmas presents not quite - still have a few family gifts to get
• Finish Christmas cards not quite - still have family cards to go
• Finish Christmas decorations DONE
• Get winter/Christmas stuff listed on eBay DONE
• Save £50 in emergency fund DONE
• Cancel credit card DONE

Not bad - I've achieved most of my resolutions. So for December I will...

• Finish present buying by Friday 16th
• Finish cards by Friday 16th
• Save another £50 in emergency fund
• Save £50 in my savings pot
• Agree a firm plan re: moving house with DH and stick to it
• Review budget
• Start savings pot for next Christmas

White_Iris

After an unexpectedly relaxing weekend I'm full (-ish) of energy to get things done today. DH was poorly and spend most of Saturday in bed and most of Sunday watching movies with the children which meant that we didn't do any of the things we had planned. Instead we stayed in and it was lovely, I managed to get a few hours in the garden and that's now mostly "put to bed" (although it could do with a mow :eek: The grass is still growing - can you believe it? We had snow in our area this time last year!).

My last eBay auctions of the year finished yesterday and although the sales weren't great I have managed to clear all the Christmas stuff. Just waiting for one buyer to pay and then that's it until well in to next year. I'm getting a bit fed up of it tbh - I've got a case open in the resolution centre with a seller who is refusing to refund me for an item damaged in the post and I hate confrontation of any sort. So once this months fees are paid I will not be looking at the eBay website until I get a messgae saying the case is closed (which should be mid-January).

I've got all of my Christmas shopping done - still waiting for DH to get his family organised. Still have to get some stocking fillers for the children (we're not getting them any big presents as they are too small to realise what's happening and will be overrun with gifts from friends and family) and get the family cards done, which I'll hopefully manage this week. Then Christmas should be just about sorted bar the wrapping.

White_Iris

Starting to feel quite Christmassy and feeling the urge to clean, de-clutter, sort our finances and generally get prepared for 2012. Have done a bit more stage-2 de-cluttering and I'm definately thinning out what's left to only things we really like or use. I have some Freecyclers coming round later to collect some bits and I threw away lots in to our recycling bin yesterday...it's turning in to a bit of an addiction now!

I'm also feeling compelled to re-read "The Complete Tightwad Gazette". DH bought it for me for Christmas a few years ago and I didn't put it down for the whole holiday - it now reminds me of Christmas time oddly! It's very American and a bit out of date now but I find it quite inspiring and I always feel motivated to get our finances in order once I've read a bit of it.

Money is a bit tight at the moment and if we're going to avoid spluging on the credit card I need to get my thinking cap on and try to scrape up some spare cash to get us through the next few weeks. Once Christmas day is done we'll be fine as we both hate sales crowds, so don't feel the need to venture out and spend. It's avoiding the temptation to treat ourselves and the children to some seasonal luxuries over the next couple of weeks that's going to be tricky...better go check the bank accounts then.

Skint_but_Optimistic

its the time of year when you want to spoil yourself! it is only natural. hope you can generate some extra money or resist the temptation!