Long term...keeping motivated

emmamcr

Hi,
I'm currently early in the journey but am doing quite well having set a £100 a week budget for the family.,

I'm a SAHM and have 4 children. My Dh works long hours and getting a proper job isn't really feasible for us, so I've started mystery shopping, ebaying etc, and am starting to bring in £20-50 a week from this. I thought that maybe keeping half for family treats and putting the other half of this extra money towards debt would help me keep motivated.

How do you keep motivated? Do you have relapses? Or do yuo have a treat budget. I haven't done this, but figured if I feed the family baked beans for a couple of nights a week I may be able to afford the odd lipstick;)

sophiesmum_2

You don't need to be deprived of treats for you and the kids you just need to look at things from a different angle sometimes. eg instead of a night at the cinema, rent or borrow a dvd, buy some popcorn(or pop some yourself), fizzy drinks etc and have a movie night.Or look on the freebies board for free cinema tickets.

Instead of macdonalds have a beefburger tea night (home made burgers are nicer anyway.Homemade pizza is so easy too.

Cut down on shop bought cakes /biscuits and let the kids help you make stuff,saves afortune and keeps them busy.

Lots of ideas like this keep you going.
How old are the children?
Take a look at the oldstyle board, you can make great savings on food/cleaning etc that will free up some cash for some grown up treats too, like that lipstick or bottle of wine,

You don't have to miss out on stuff and it does get quite addictive getting the best value for your money. I'm debt free now but still love the challenge of moneysaving.
Good Luck
sophiesmum

duncans-mum_2

Although you need to be focused on clearing your debt, if you are TOO strict on your budget, and if you totally deprive yourselves you may find that you will be more likely to slip or have a daft splurge.

It may take a month or two playing with your budget to get to somewhere that will work for you. If you totally deprive yourself you will feel more that you are missing out on something. If you strike a balance, sorting out your debts just becomes a way of life, and to some extent almost enjoyable when you see the balance go down month on month.

mophead

I agree totally with duncans-mum even if it takes you a little longer to pay your debts it's better than losing momentum and having a splurge and then adding to your debt set yourself a reasonalbe budget which allows for the odd treat. Much better in the long run. I personally would use the money you are getting from you surveys etc for your treats as it's not guaranteed money.

immoral_angeluk

We had our LBM in october and this is how we've kept ourselves sane.. lol.

1. Set realistic targets
2. Give yourself 'treats' every now and then and make sure you get out and do something different
3. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to achieve everything straight away
4. Make it a game and set yourself fun challenges (Ours is currently savings up £2 coins for a big posh tv.. lol.. it'll take ages but it's exciting when you get a £2 coin and can add to the total!)
5. Keep a diary so you can see how far you've come on the off days when you wonder if it's all worth it.

pandaonmyshoulder

I too am a SAHM of 4 and although we don't have much debt we don't have much money coming in either. We don't have take aways or McDonald (even though some vouchers have just come through the letterbox) and these days my kids prefer my OS pizza and the smell from KFC makes then heave. Each Friday we have a "pizza night" and DVD usually hired from the Library as it's cheaper (already done as much DVD tarting as poss).

It is difficult to keep on track and sometimes I must admit I get cheesed off "doing without" but I would rather do without than go into debt.

Over Xmas I got talked into having a family meal at Nandos and although it was nice I nearly chocked on the cost, for me the expense takes the enjoyment out of it. I know though that I am becoming slightly obsesive and need to "chill alittle" as all this doing without is giving me brain ache;)

moozie_2

Hi there

You are doing so well with everything, well done! :T

At the beginning of my debt free journey, I still wanted to have my monthly facial and manicure, have the ironing done, buy clothes and make up regularly and have my hair cut and coloured at an expensive salon regularly. It only took a while for me to realise seeing my debt balance go down was far more satisfactory than any of the above! :j

I now live frugally during the week, allow myself Saturday to let my hair down and nearly a year on, I feel as motivated as ever. Once a quarter I have something done - a facial or a cut and colour let's say - so I have things to look forward to but enough time to budget for them

I apply the same principle with our joint account budgeting. We need some shelving as we just moved house so, I am using up everything in cupboard/freezer and keeping the food shopping to a minimum so anything left over can go towards shelves.

You need to find your balance of treats/budget but make sure you do not deprive yourself or the family too much as you will only get fed up quickly.

Good luck!

OberonSH

I agree, We have the odd DVD, a bottle of wine (as long as it's decent brand from Nettos! OH got yelled at for daring to buy me a bottle FULL PRICE from tescos) and we find that makes it much more bearable.

You can factor these into your budget, or try and get them as cheap as possible. Colleges do great value for money beauty treatments o train the students, do pigsback and get yourself a cinema voucher, make your own pizza (dough in the bread machine, then great fun building your pizzas, more fun than picking up the phone to Dominos)

It's surprising how much you realise you were missing out on when you buy everything full price and ready made.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

i find just being the mse site give me a kick up the butt when i'm feeling low.. or losing the plot a bit...

listening/reading other peeps stories... and the loopholes... etc on saving and finding extra money.... spurs me on..

up until now it has been hard for me to work... hubby's shift pattern ....the age of my kiddies.... as when i have worked in the past... its just been too much to cope with... house kids work.. etc..

to keep yourself motivated..... just keep tuned in the mse..
and just talk to us all......

we ALL motivated by each other........:T

csarina

Sign up for shop and scan you get vouchers for sending them the bar codes from your shopping. I have had over £100 of vouchers this year. There are all sorts of things including vouchers off holidays but you can also get them for leisure activities and for shops.......at christmas they give 3000 extra points for each of 3 weeks over the holiday which means I already have 1 voucher in transit and 6000 points towards another.

artic_fox_2

csarina wrote:

Sign up for shop and scan you get vouchers for sending them the bar codes from your shopping. I have had over £100 of vouchers this year. There are all sorts of things including vouchers off holidays but you can also get them for leisure activities and for shops.......at christmas they give 3000 extra points for each of 3 weeks over the holiday which means I already have 1 voucher in transit and 6000 points towards another.

hi how do you sign up for that also what does SAHM mean was mentioned twice earlier sorry v new
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