Give me a kick up the *** I need it!

firesidemaid

a trick to reduce travel costs is to get off at the last zone 2 stop and walk the rest, if that's possible?

it's your extra spends/lunches/treats etc that are costing you - i reckon you are spending £100-200 a month on this at least. 2 months worth of stopping = festival plus spends.

once you have paid your debts off, budget for what you earn NOT what you want.

if you are getting free fruit, cans etc in your new job, take what you can each day - even if you don't use them that day, it saves money for bfasts, weekends etc.

you've got to think about maximising what you have/on offer.

you make more money by earning more or spending less - that's it.

are you going to house share again later in year?

Sharon87

Yeah I'm going to house share again. I currently live in Zone 2/3. So I only get charged to Zone 2 anyway If I move to a non zone 2 area I will try and pay less rent to off set extra travel, but will try and and travel to zone 2 stations by bus using a zone 2 travelcard.

Thanks for the tips!

atush

Making your lunch and picnics and doing a spending diary are two good steps.

the only time i EVER buy bottled water is in an aiport. Used to bring one from home (tapwater) but not allowed now. But I se that same bottle my whole trip. Same with car journies, bring a bottle from homeand re-fill.

Sharon87

Woop, finally I've been unemployed for 2 weeks (apart from a day's work here and there) and my JSA claim got closed because it needed documents, which I handed in. I just phoned them up and it's being processed again now they have them! Claiming benefits is annoying with stop/start work. My mobile exchange bag arrived today too

I think I'll walk to the job centre to sign on instead of the bus, it would only cost me an extra £1.20 or so but it's still money, and I'll get fitter. It's 2.6 miles there and back. Now to find my employment contract to give to them!

firesidemaid

go girl! it truly is all those £s etc that add up.

every £ more we spend, at whatever time in life, means longer working, paying a mortgage, paying off debts and less money for the things we enjoy.

working seems great and fun in your 20s, but then at 40 you realise that you have at least another 20 to go and it doesn't seem such fun anymore!

Sharon87

I just realised I've still got a bit of tax to claim back from last tax year. I got some back from the job centre during a claim, but not all of it...

I have 1 bid so far on ebay, and most of the others have watchers, they end Sunday. Got even more stuff to add too, mostly things that I will start at 99p still needs listing. And a Wii game I bought I might make money on! Bought it for about £8 and nowhere's selling it for less than £15 even used ones! Fingers crossed!

atush

Good idea about walking. Easier to do this time of year (ie not in January lol). A penny saved is a penny earned.

kaz0705

Hey, I wouldn't worry too much about the comments about you not trying hard enough. Think If I'd posted regularly about what I was doing, I'd certainly be getting a few 'you're not even trying!' comments!

But, I did the snowball calculator. Worked out a timeframe I was happy with and an amount I could pay that was a stretch but not ruinous-of-fun and got on with it.

That's the only thing I think you're missing. Get onto a snowball calculator and work out monthly payments you can afford and then mess around with different amounts to see the difference. Its amazing what an extra £50 a month can do for your final debtfree date!

I'm STILL not doing as much as I could but I don't use credit now, say no to a lot more and WILL be debt free by April next year which is before my 30th birthday, which has been my aim... But I still don't put EVERY spare penny towards debt. I'd go mad!

x

Sharon87

Just done a snowball calculator and not including the interest free loan from my mum and chucking £150 a month at debts my debt free date would be Feb 2014!!! :eek:

The £150 is just a guide. Some months obviously would be more, but some months may be a bit less.

I'm going to make this my aim £150 a month on debts and then try and also pay a bit more when I can, whilst still having some fun!

It's not going to that easy, but I'm determined to do it. I'm going to have to say no a lot to lots of things.

I've also been looking at house shares in London for when I move and I have a feeling I may have to pay more unless I'm in a really rough area. But I'll wait until September as prices may change. Right now lots of graduates are coming to London to start their lovely new jobs! And by the time I move out most students would have found accommodation, so fingers crossed!

My aim is to also rummage through all of my possessions between now and my move out date and sell things I don't use/want/need anymore, I reckon I could make a couple of hundred pounds before ebay fees. I have a lot of crap (spent at uni some of it using my HSBC student OD!)

kaz0705

See, I think that's it, isn't it. After the snowball you can either say: right, don't want to wait til 2014, going to throw everything at it OR you say 'ok, well, I can live with that'...

And then its down to you to make any adjustments in order to be debt free sooner or later.

London rents are outrageous. I was paying £850 for a studio flat in Putney just so I could feel safe coming home at 3am (also coz he cycles and it was closer to his work).

Don't know where you need to be for work but Forest Hill and Blackheath are cheaper and Lee is much nicer than I expected (all SE) or westbourne park (where I am) is AMAZING. Not sure about rents though as I've been lucky enough to now be in a place my dad owns so am paying mortgage and bills rather than overinflated rent and bills...

Good luck.