My names DismalJim and I'm just seeing the light

bargainbetty

Hi Jim,

Perhaps you could visit the Old Style board and get some help reducing your shopping spends too. I lost my job a couple of years back, and the hints I got helped me strip the bills back while I found a new one.

A really simple thing is to go through all your cupboards and list out everything you have. Rather than shop for more, look at what you can make with what you have. design a meal plan, and only get the bits you need to fill in the gaps. Use cheaper ingredients to pad out meals and make food go further too, introduce more vegetarian dishes, and cook from scratch. If you have some baking ingredients lurking, have the kids spend a morning making rock cakes/fairy cakes etc - cheaper than a day out during this long summer holiday, and you have cake too. Even the cupboard under the sink and in the bathroom can prove useful. I joined the 'no buying toiletries' challenge when I realised I had enough shampoo, body wash and loo roll to last months! Who the hell needs seven bottles of bleach and 36 toilet rolls when living alone?

You might find that for a few weeks, you need to buy less than you think - money you can throw at the debts.

Perhaps the teenager can contribute by doing the lists for you, looking up recipes and coming up with ideas for keeping the younger siblings occupied while you and the missus sort out old stuff for boot fairs and ebay?

Good luck x

getmore4less

If the mortgage was a bank work loan at base(0.5%) then that would have been a benifit in kind and yould have been paying tax on it.

I would check the tax position going forward you don't want suprises.