Sorry old chap, the money has run out!

tony_ack

Sky Sports and Movies are going, however I have a feeling Sky may offer half price for a few months - unless the price they offer is the same, or is less than what I'm planning to pay on the reduced package (doubtful but who knows..)

I do use a lot of phone internet, but I've spotted a 3 contract which offers minutes, texts and 1Gb internet for £15 per month, which I will try to jump on when my contract expires in 3 months.

I'm already planning a car boot - I asked the missus this morning to get together any clothes she didn't need but she said she already got rid of them in charity bags a couple of months ago :wall: Luckily I still have plenty of books, CDs and DVDs we could sell, plus some baby stuff.

I am considering changing all my payment dates to come out near the end of the month (about a week after pay day). Hopefully this will mean all bills are covered before the money runs out at the end of the month (which in theroy shouldn't happen in future!). It would be pretty good (though very hard) to get them to come out in descending order of importance - e.g. mortgage, council tax and utils first and credit cards last.

With the bike - I have considered going on the bike to work, but it isn't practical unfortunately. I work about 15 miles away from home (5 of those are motorway miles). I really do wish I did live close enough to cycle

I used to cycle to uni many years ago. I don't really use the bike much anyway. It's a really good bike but it has to go.

cord123

Ok the food shopping is what you need to get down.... nappies arent as expenisive as people think you just need to look around for offers.... huggies are b1g1f in tesco at the mo....

food shopping... do online, tesco do £10 off your first shop when you spend £50, i use that everytime, jsut use a different email address. That way you dont buy stuff you dont need. I did a shop for £85 two weeks ago (that included food for my little ones birthday party) and we still have loads left so can prob get away with not doing anothere shop for another week. and that is for my husband, little and and his 2 daughters come to stay about 3 nights a week!

Dont buy jars make suaces from scratch. value tinned tomotoes and passata and some dried herbs - spagetti sauce for about 50p!! packet of mince 99p pasta 50p, family meal for £2....
I always have 'freezer food' for emrgencies.. if times are tough dont buy fresh veg buy frozen taht way you wont need to throw it out if you dont use it. You could easily do you food shop for £100 a month plus milk and bread top up... asda do 2x £1 on cleaning products so stock up then!

I totally sympathise, I had my 'lightbulb' moment a few months ago and now I have light at the end of the tunnel so it can be done. It will mean missing out and a few cheapy days out but in the long run it is so much better! xx

Lara44

Hi Tony

Have you used the snowball calculator to get a debt free date? You may want to overpay your debts if you can turn a financial surplus of any kind. Paying the minimum payments on cards with no overpayments can take a really long time. Here's an article by Martin. Thinking about your debt free date can help to show you how long term lifestyle changes need to be - and perhaps show you the benefit of even tiny cost reductions over a medium or long term period.

MummyEm

I have used music magpie for selling cds and dvds and recommend them. I found I got more for them at a carboot but worth it for getting rid of any that haven't sold. I think you can get cashback through quidco too

Regarding getting your wife on board, would it help for her to see this thread or at least your SOA so she can see the whole picture in black and white?

chadjnewton

Having read through all this post, I came up with a couple of suggestions:

1. Regarding your mobile, I would recommend giffgaff, as for £10 a month you can get Unlimited texts, Unlimited Internet and 250 minutes! Plus if you refer other people with one of the free sims they give you, you get a fiver.
2. Sainsburys have there 'Feed your family for £50 a week' program (google it), which contains the shopping list, meal plans and recipes for feeding a family with three meals a day. Plus its a balanced diet too.

If I come up with anything else, i will let you know!

tony_ack

Right!

Bike has now been sold, so £200 towards this month's bills. Someone has offered to buy my room full of spare car parts (leftovers from a car I broke a year ago) for £60, so a bit more cash there. I had a guy interested in the car but not heard from him since yesterday, so maybe he's changed his mind. However on the other hand my missus could only give me £200 of her wages towards the bills this month, instead of the usual £250 so I'm £50 short there.

We've found a car boot this Sunday, and I've identified absolutely loads that we can take along, even if my missus hasn't got any clothes to sell. I'm looking forward too this - I think it's a good opportunity to get some instant cash, especially in these modern days of waiting for ages for Paypal balances to clear...

I got through to Sky, and the Sky package will be reduced in a month time to the minimum.

I did my first online shop today... I planned out a week's worth of meals and then bought the ingredients, going for value stuff where I could. It came to a shade over £50 with delivery included, and I am sure I can cut it down a bit more from there. I think the next step is to look at the meals I planned, and see which ones were more expensive, and look at a cheaper alternative.

My partner has got a 0% credit card from Natwest and transferred all but £200 of her Capital One balance to it, which has maxed it out. I told her to use any money she makes from selling her stuff in the car boot to pay off the Capital One card and close it down, and not to use the Natwest card at all... she wasn't happy about not using the credit card as she said she needed it to put fuel in her car towards the end of the month... not too sure the penny has quite dropped yet...

Thanks for the advice given again.

I haven't used the snowball calculator yet, and want to get this month out of the way first and get back on track. However I am well aware that minimum payments would mean it will be about 30-40 years before everything is paid.

I do make stuff from scratch occasionally, and know I will have to do it more now. One of the meals for next week is home-made pizza, which is pretty cheap to make and very tasty! And any left over (home-made) sauce can be thrown on pasta the following day!

Thanks for the tip about the mobile - Giffgaff looks great for the money, and you can port your existing number too... roll on December!

ebayqueen_2

you are doing well Tony:)

keep going. It will all add up.

take care
E

ElaineyB_2

Just wanted to dip in and say Giff Gaff is brilliant! last year I was paying around £35 a month for calls and minutes and then O2 were whacking on loads for my internet. As soon as my contract ended I changed to giffgaff and £10 a month is much better on the finances!! My hubby is on giffgaff too so we get free calls and texts to each other.

hp48910

Well done so far, you really are trying to sort this all out and deserve recognition for that! I'm new to all this but wanted to offer moral support, I've subscribed to your thread to keep up with how you're doing. It's a good start, I hope your wife appreciates your efforts with tackling the debt, organising ways to make a bit more cash and shopping for planned meals on a budget.

keep going!
H

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Hi Tony - I've been out of the moneysaving loop for about 6 months while I renovate but I just caught this diary and I wanted to say well done for everything you've done. I really hope you don't get any more bad luck bumps (so sorry about your dog) and that your partner joins in with you (sounds like she's not really there yet) because it's going to be tough with two but if you are both pulling the same way then the going will be a lot smoother.