Learning to Live on Less!

January20

I agree with you White Iris, regarding the rainy day money. I know it's not Martin Lewis' philosophy but for me saving money is not about getting the best interest and earning more money. You never know what might happen, what might break down and need replacing, so it's better to have the money stashed away for that rather than rely on a credit card, yet again!

I also agree on the insurance for the dogs. That poster who criticised you has obviously never experienced having to pay for vet's fees! It's bad enough when you are worried about your pet's health without having to worry about how to pay for them, or have to make the decision to pts because it's the only thing you can afford!

White_Iris

LianneH wrote: »

could you maybe join some of the challenges to make you feel like you are being "productive" each day?

I've been thinking about joining some of the challenges. The sealed pot would be too tempting for me - not to spend the money but to tip it all out and count it! I LOVE doing that, DH thinks I'm bonkers but it's so much fun to count out all the loose change and put it in to neat little bags! The payment-a-day challenge sounds like something I would enjoy, although I am a little bit obsessive about round numbers - it would annoy me to send a payment of £1.17 for example, it would have to be rounded up to £2! I suppose it would get the debt paid off more quickly though.

LianneH

White_Iris wrote: »

I've been thinking about joining some of the challenges. The sealed pot would be too tempting for me - not to spend the money but to tip it all out and count it! I LOVE doing that, DH thinks I'm bonkers but it's so much fun to count out all the loose change and put it in to neat little bags! The payment-a-day challenge sounds like something I would enjoy, although I am a little bit obsessive about round numbers - it would annoy me to send a payment of £1.17 for example, it would have to be rounded up to £2! I suppose it would get the debt paid off more quickly though.

or maybe you could round down to £1 and put the other 17p in the (not so) sealed pot!! and then count the pot at the end of each week?! I think its a case of small steps to keep the momentum going.

on your SOA, your sky, broadband and phone are separate - could sky not provide all 3 cheaper? we phoned them to discuss our account (I was going to cancel) and they reduced our payment with some kind of discount offer and I think we ended up with a few more kids channels too.

White_Iris

LianneH wrote: »

on your SOA, your sky, broadband and phone are separate - could sky not provide all 3 cheaper?

Sadly not. Sky can't/won't provide broadband to our village. We did have a TV/phone package with them but still had to pay separately for broadband. After some number crunching, we switched to phone and broadband from BT and just getting TV from Sky.

The main reason we're trying to sell our house is to move to a more urban area. Oil fired heating and lack of choice with broadband make our cost of living a lot higher than it should be. Add to that having to drive everywhere, for everything, as there are no facilities for the children (or me) and only a very expensive village shop - living in the county is very bad for your finances!

ragstoricheswannabe

Just come across your diary and its like reading about myself!!!!

I too have had my tax credits stopped although i do work as well as my OH (hats off to you for being a sahm), i budget everything bill and debt wise at the start of the month then sit and wait for next month, i love round numbers, i cant keep a sealed pot either (and have the same pleasure of counting it)!!!!!!!!!!

so had to post and will be subscribing to see how you get on and grab any tips for myself!!!

love rags
xxxxxxx

White_Iris

Hello Rags, nice to have you along! Don't think anything exciting is going to happen today on the money front, in fact I think today will mostly consist of wiping snotty noses, as the children both have colds - bleugh.

Iris .x.

White_Iris

I've been thinking about an idea I spotted lurking on another diary - a vision board. Every so often I'll see a picture of a kitchen for example, or a particular outfit or hairstyle or even a coffee mug, that represents what I would like my life to be, how I'd like my family to live, what I want for my children and the kind of person I'd like to be. Keeping those pictures on a small pin-board would be a strong visual reminder of what we could have if we weren't paying our loans and credit cards. I think this would be a really strong incentive to drive down the debt, starting with the credit card, and more importantly not increase the debt any further.

Bet I won't be able to find any of those pictures anywhere now, LOL!

Iris .x.

ragstoricheswannabe

Ooh what a great idea!!! I already have a sort of one on my wardrobe of body parts I would like to remind me to exercise.

White_Iris

A bit of procrastination today and a bit of creativity.

I've made some cards for friends with new babies, a long overdue thank you card and birthday cards for my children. Have to get baking tonight as it's their birthday tomorrow (can't believe it's been a year already - eeep!) but it should be quite a cheap day - no party until they're old enough to understand what's going on, just a day out at the park (weather permitting). No piles of presents either, at least not from us. They have stacks of gifts from friends and family so, as with the party, we're not getting them anything until they're old enough to understand what a birthday is. They can have some money in their savings accounts instead.

Hopefully on Sunday and Monday I can get on with writing up my eBay pile on to turbolister - not looking forward to it, it's a bit tedious but once it's done I can start listing and bring in some money.

Hope everyone else has a cheap, productive and fun bank holiday weekend!

Iris .x.

viv0147

Hi, I admire your efforts to get back onto the right track, but to speed things along although I am sure this wont be painless, I would say having the upkeep of 2 large dogs is something you could do without at the moment.
The money saved I think would be better channelled towards your family. Good Luck to you, and your family.