Learning to Live on Less!

White_Iris

All our direct debits have come out now so I've cleaned up the accounts and managed to transfer a bit more in to the savings pots. If I leave it in the account it'll just get spent but if the accounts are at zero there is no temptation. Ebay sales are going well, lots of watchers and a few bids, still have 2 days to go as well. I can't believe how much I've managed to save over the last few months - although it was topped up a bit by our council tax money this month - it's all been 'found' money, dribs and drabs from various accounts and from eBay, stuff that would normally have been frittered away.

White_Iris

I've also reconsidered the emergency savings target. I'm sticking with the original £500 and once I reach that figure (hopefully next month) I'm going to concentrate on the house moving pot. Although I only have a target of £500 for that, in reality we'll need close to £1500. Each 'pot' is part of my ING savings so it's easy to move money from one to another so if we do have a real emergency I can always borrow from a different pot.

XSpender

Hi White Iris

I have spent a very enjoyable couple of days reading your diary from the start. I am amazed what you get done everyday with two little ones to care for. I work full time and have a 22 month old but I never get anything done on a weekend when he is around!

I am impressed by your ebaying of the children's clothes. I am yet to ebay anything of DS's but you have inspired me to give it a go. I have 4 T1mberland coats of his to ebay (not bought by me I may add:eek:) but I think I have left it a bit late to sell these this winter.

I am also trying to build up some emergency savings and wish you luck with your debt busting and saving and will follow your journey with interest.

Have a lovely weekend with your family

XSPender

White_Iris

Weekend away visiting friends, which wasn't great but came home to find almost all my ebay listing have sold and I've made nearly £50 this week so at least the weekend ended well. Lots of parcels to be wrapped tonight though.

White_Iris

XSpender wrote: »

Hi White Iris

I have spent a very enjoyable couple of days reading your diary from the start. I am amazed what you get done everyday with two little ones to care for. I work full time and have a 22 month old but I never get anything done on a weekend when he is around!

I am impressed by your ebaying of the children's clothes. I am yet to ebay anything of DS's but you have inspired me to give it a go. I have 4 T1mberland coats of his to ebay (not bought by me I may add:eek:) but I think I have left it a bit late to sell these this winter.

I am also trying to build up some emergency savings and wish you luck with your debt busting and saving and will follow your journey with interest.

Have a lovely weekend with your family

XSPender

Hi XSPender, thank you for taking the time to wade through my diary (and thank you even more for saying you enjoyed it ). Ebay is a great tool for clearing clutter and bui;ding savings but it's a bit tedious sometimes and you need willpower not to spend your earnings on more stuff from eBay (although that may just be me!). It probably is a bit late for the coats if you want to get a decent price for them - I've got a bit plastic box in the bottom of my wardrobe where I throw all the childrens out of season clothes until it's time to eBay them. Once they're all in one place it's easier to work though your 'inventory' at the right time of year. Good luck with everything and please pop in and say hello again!

Iris .x.

LianneH

thanks to your ebaying, it inspired me to list. sO i listed loads and over 3 weeks I made £130!!! wow!! going to spend some tomorrow with the family on a trip to the zoo and then the rest in a small emergency pot!

thanks WI!
Li x

White_Iris

LianneH wrote: »

thanks to your ebaying, it inspired me to list. sO i listed loads and over 3 weeks I made £130!!! wow!! going to spend some tomorrow with the family on a trip to the zoo and then the rest in a small emergency pot!

thanks WI!
Li x

WOW!!! That's incredible, well done :T

White_Iris

We got our sewerage bill on Friday (water and sewerage come from different providers) and we were £25 in credit. It's not a huge amount and I was inclined to let it sit with them but then I thought about my savings pots and how that could be added to the emergency savings to get me closer to my target. So I phoned them up, asked for a refund and it should be in the bank this week :-)

maz1964

White_Iris wrote: »

Another !!!!py day - feeling quite tearful actually. Not just about the state of our finances but life in general. It's quite lonely living out in the middle of nowhere, particularly with two toddlers and no help. I tried a toddler music group this morning but I just couldn't manage a structured activity with the two of them on my own - they turned from quite well behaved babies in to little monsters! I'm not very good at making new friends and joining groups and it just depresses me to go places and see groups of mums chatting away over coffee and I'm sat on my own :-( Oh well, can't change it, so just have to accept it I guess.

hiya White Iris

i know how you feel as ive felt like that generally quite recently, more about life and finances, but hey do you have a sure start centre nearby you could try and attend i found them really helpful and also is there a local charity run homestart its called i used to be a unpaid volunteer for them locally and i used to go and help out families and help mums out with the kids while say mum had an hour to themselves ie to have a nice bath or help with anything they wanted help with, its just a thought for you

just hope you dont mind mentioning the above to you keep your spirits up and at least we are all here to support via this forum too

have a fun day maz:)

White_Iris

maz1964 wrote: »

hiya White Iris

i know how you feel as ive felt like that generally quite recently, more about life and finances, but hey do you have a sure start centre nearby you could try and attend i found them really helpful and also is there a local charity run homestart its called i used to be a unpaid volunteer for them locally and i used to go and help out families and help mums out with the kids while say mum had an hour to themselves ie to have a nice bath or help with anything they wanted help with, its just a thought for you

just hope you dont mind mentioning the above to you keep your spirits up and at least we are all here to support via this forum too

have a fun day maz:)

Hi Maz, thanks for dropping in. It's a Sure Start centre that runs the toddler music and play sessions (although this is just a drop-in session so is basically un-manned) - it's a great resource but not for us at the moment, hopefully once DS is a bit older we can start to attend structured activities.