LBM - I owe £20,000

topcat9

Hi Antonia,

From personal experience, my number one most important tip is CUT UP THE CREDIT CARDS! All the money-saving in the world will make no difference at all if you carry on using them. Unless of course you are one of those impressively-disciplined folk who pays off everything they've spent on them each month.

DS4215

Cut back where you can like others have said above and throw anything you can at the 18.9% credit card. If you can pay that off it will save £378 in interest over what you would pay at a £2000 limit. When that is paid off throw it at the Tesco Credit Card, then throw all of that at the Halifax One Card. Every debt you can get rid of will free more money for the next. Have a play with the snowball calculater to see exactly how much difference you can make by paying an extra £50 per month off your debts.

Pollycat

Antonia
It sounds like you've had your LBM and as long as you carry on (and your OH is supportive), you're going in the right direction.

I guess from your salaries you both work full-time and shopping/cooking is something you do after work and at the weekends, but honestly you can eat nice good without paying a fortune for it.

My total spend on food & drink over the last 60 months (yes, I really am that anal! ) averages out at £167.67 pm and that includes wine, pet food, cleaning stuff - and all the bits and bobs I pay cash for such as a pint of milk or loaf.

That's for 2 of us plus 1 greedy cat who eats a 400gm tin a day.

I am retired so I do have time to cook but I think if you check out the oldstyle board you'll find masses of advice on cutting your bills.
The 'what's in my slow cooker today' thread is great for new ideas.

Meal planning - I plan for 3 weeks at a time.
I sit down with my recipe books and a coffee and my list of what's in the freezer (told you I was anal!) and sketch out a plan.
I try to include at least 1 new recipe each week.

Instead of buying a single green pepper for 80p, I buy a pack of value peppers and use them in:
pasta dishes
tuna risotto
stir fry
sausage casserole
on salads
etc etc

If I buy mince from a supermarket in say a 500gm pack, I'll buy several and then re-portion them into 350gm (3/4 lb) as that is fine for us 2.
So instead of using a 500gm pack for one meal, I buy 3 x 500gm packs and get 4 x 350gm out of it, so 1 meal for free.

I also buy veg when reduced, chuck it in the slow cooker and make soup.

If I buy reduced potatoes, I boil up a big pan, mash them, portion it out and freeze it. Works out very cheap.

If I see tomatoes reduced (last lot I bought were vine ripened for 15p per pack instead of £1.60), I make tomato sauce for pasta - AND you know exactly what's in it.

Our Tesco Metro often has fresh herbs (for me, essential in cooking) reduced. I'm talking about coriander, parsley & chives 12p per bag.
It says on the pack that you can chop it and freeze it so I've got lots in my freezer.

Batch cook and freeze - a big pan of bolognaise or chilli works out cheaper per portion than just doing enough for one meal.

Start to take advantage of bogof offers (but only if you will use them). I have in my (attached) garage what my OH refers to as 'the corner shop'. I have shelves full of bargains - chopped tomatoes, tuna, corned beef, coffee, loo rolls etc - all bought cheap.
I get annoyed if I have to pay full price for anything.

Also, it might be worth while starting a spending diary.
I think you'd be surprised at just how much disappears from your purse - maybe the odd coffee and cake, can of pop at work, glossy magazine, new lippy as you pass through Boots, birthday cards/stamps, contributing to birthdays/leaving presents at work etc etc.

Anything that isn't in your SOA should be included.

And on the subject of work - do you and OH take your own lunches or do you buy at work or on the high street? If it's not the former, there's savings to be made there.

Good luck.

GeorgieFTB

antonia86 wrote: »

Pollycat wrote: »

Hi
your grocery spend at £450 pm for 2 adults and 1 child is extremely high.
Do any of you have an allergy/intolerance that means you have to buy e.g. gluten-free products? Honestly? We like eating nice food and haven't overly thought about it before.

If not, you could cut this down by half and still eat very well - even with pets.

Check out the OldStyle board for tips on menu planning, bulk cooking and dropping down a brand.

Do you really need to spend almost £1000 per year on clothes? No, but we do at the moment.
Do you tend to impulse-buy stuff for your child? Yes, and I need to stop!

Water rates - are you on a meter? If not, would it be cheaper?
We are, the south east just seems to be expensive.
Landline is expensive. Do you use it for calls? If so, are you on the best tariff? I pay my line rental up-front for a year (£120), works out at £10 per month and I pay £5 per month for free landline calls any time of day (except Premium). I've called sky today and my package (TV, line rental, calls and broadband) ends in October, I will be changing and cutting the cost.

Could you cut down on entertainment? Absolutly, and we will do.

Ditto holidays. Can you really afford a holiday if you have a deficit of over £400 every month? Nope.

You said in your first post that your debts are manageable - this doesn't really look like it from your SOA.

At least there are ways in your SOA to make quite a lot of savings if you are prepared to cut back in some areas and make a bit of effort in others. Thank you!

You sound like you are on the right road, there are lots of people on here and the old style board that can help if you have questions, or ideas, what OS don't know about being thrifty is not worth knowing!

I second the spending diary, its scary but nessessary to get the full numbers.

With a little bit of cutting back/effort in some areas you should be left with a surplus, then you can plug your numbers into a snowball calc (on the same site as the SOA) and see when you could be free!

Gx