A Thread for After Debt?

JulieGeorgiana

QueenB. wrote: »

I have decided on 3 new goals so far

• To pay our car insurance/years tax in one go
• To afford a family holiday
• To save at least another £1000 (hopefully more)

To achieve all this will take some rebudgeting and restrictions but i know it is possible if i put my mind to it. Also like many of you my home is in some major need of some TLC and redecorating so this year will be spent replacing (as cheaply as possible) or fixing up as creatively as possible the difference being i am doing so through choice not because i have to:D.

Sounds like a good set of goals! I wish you lots of luck x

And I like how it will all be done as frugal as possible... isn't it amazing how much becomming debt free makes you that way?

As for Christmas I still budget! I just can't cope with buying unless I KNOW I have the money to pay for it...! I have a list in my handbag all year round, and if I see something I can buy it for someone on the list

Like you, spending money makes me very nervous

QueenB.

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I am struggling a bit to find challenges tho' - I'm determind to get my grocery budget under control this year (have set an annual budget to allow for bulk buying etc - which is a bit scarey).

My shopping bill is another area i need to work on, we budget £90 a week for a family of five and 4 cats and far too often we need to spend that full amount:( i really want to try and reduce it but not sure how. we already

• Read the OS board
• make most meals from scratch
• use vouchers/deals/cheaper shops
• only buy about 10% name brands
• make a meal planner and 98% of the time stick to it.
• Use up store cupboard/fridge/freezer

With the price of food going up and up I am worried that my food budget will have to go up:(

JulieGeorgiana

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

This may sound silly - but I'm just as worried at the thought of having no "fall back" money for emergencies should they come along ... as I was about my debt.

It's not silly when you consider that if an emergency happened you could end up back where you started... in debt! i think that because you worry about it... you will make sure it's there, and soon

I am struggling a bit to find challenges tho' - I'm determind to get my grocery budget under control this year (have set an annual budget to allow for bulk buying etc - which is a bit scarey).

I did this, and in a year saved £100 and spent it on a Bread Machine It's very time consuming so I've had to stop what with the baby coming. You see if I bought 10 weeks of loo roll, then I would take the cost I used to pay for loo roll out of my budget every week for 10 weeks. therefore spending £15 and then putting £25 back into the pot!

Unlike many, now I'm debt free, I don't have extra cash to play with as my budget is tight (one of the reasons the debts happened in the first place).

I so know where you are coming from. having my DS is what got me into my debt... and now I am living on a shoestring and have a baby on the way again! Terrifying!

My debts were paid through a 2nd job, e*baying etc etc - I've now (thankfully) been able to give up the 2nd job but it's meant I'm back to a very tight budget:( and that worries me.

Could you do this again just to build up savings for a small time?? That way you might feel better x

The savings challenges (save £12k in 2012 etc) are way out my league .... I did find one on another board that someone was wanting to try "small" amounts... but she's still talking £5k - still far too much for me.:(

I know what you mean... I am only saving right now as this is my Maternity Allowance (paid to people who don't get Maternity Pay through an employer) I was very lucky, I JUST qualified as I was working at the start of my pregnancy. Every penny is going in the savings. After that... £20 a month is all I can afford for my ISA! (Unless I sell my car!!!!)

The credit limit on my cc card is huge (I've actually just had to go & look at a statement as I'd forgotten what it was:o) but my golden rule is to only ever put on the card what I can afford to pay off that month. HTH:)

That's my golden rule too... you've been peeking

Just to add... if you don;t think you have the control then ask the CC to lower the limit and put a hold on upping it. Like Raising I just had a look what my limits were!!!! HAHAHAHA that's never going to happen...!

I spent this morning reworking budgets and checking my budgeting pots (car, house ins etc) - these are down on what they need to be as they were only started part way through last year, so I'm putting a little extra to them to make sure I've enough in them when whatever is due. Hopefully, once I get over this bit, things may be a bit easier!:)

That's what i've been doing today!!! Are you nesting too???

JulieGeorgiana

QueenB. wrote: »

My shopping bill is another area i need to work on, we budget £90 a week for a family of five and 4 cats and far too often we need to spend that full amount:( i really want to try and reduce it but not sure how. we already

• Read the OS board
• make most meals from scratch
• use vouchers/deals/cheaper shops
• only buy about 10% name brands
• make a meal planner and 98% of the time stick to it.
• Use up store cupboard/fridge/freezer

With the price of food going up and up I am worried that my food budget will have to go up:(

I have a £50 a week budget, for a family of 3, 2 cats and 2 rabbits (the rabbits cost me £3.50 a week in food!!!! More then the cats cost me!)

The one thing I don't see on your list is rubber chicken... and bulking out!

Frozen veg is great for bulking out meals! As are lentils!

I can get a 2kg chicken do 4 curries with 6-8 portions a curry using bulking! Then make a great stock with the bones and make a lovely veg soup... with HM Rolls!

£6 for the Chicken and we get fed for 10 days!!!!

QueenB.

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

Sounds like a good set of goals! I wish you lots of luck x

And I like how it will all be done as frugal as possible... isn't it amazing how much becomming debt free makes you that way?

As for Christmas I still budget! I just can't cope with buying unless I KNOW I have the money to pay for it...! I have a list in my handbag all year round, and if I see something I can buy it for someone on the list

Like you, spending money makes me very nervous

I normally budget really well for christmas (had too) and i have lists to focus me but this year i just got side tracked i actually think having extra money made me made me so anxious that i fell into some really bad habits:( does that sound crazy?

I have already told everyone that they will all be getting homemade stuff for 2012 crimbo ( with a few things i picked up for free:D) most people where accepting of this and put in specfic requests and those who weren't well as far as im concerned if they don't pay my bills they can't complain:)

I have also worked it into our budget that each month a certain amount will come out for birthdays/christmas/misc celebrations that way we should be able to plan better.

QueenB.

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I have a £50 a week budget, for a family of 3, 2 cats and 2 rabbits (the rabbits cost me £3.50 a week in food!!!! More then the cats cost me!)

The one thing I don't see on your list is rubber chicken... and bulking out!

Frozen veg is great for bulking out meals! As are lentils!

I can get a 2kg chicken do 4 curries with 6-8 portions a curry using bulking! Then make a great stock with the bones and make a lovely veg soup... with HM Rolls!

£6 for the Chicken and we get fed for 10 days!!!!

We are a vegetarian family but i do sometimes think that if we ate meat we could reduce our costs.....which is odd when you think about it:D Veg and lentils are great at bulking out meals as are potatoes and mushrooms and cous cous is fab (OH isn't a fan though).

JulieGeorgiana

QueenB Nope that doesn't sound crazy at all! But if you don't slip a little then you won't learn to tighten your belt again. I slip a little here... a little there! Lucky my DH stops a lot of this happening now

I did the HM gifts. I had some real problems with some people, it's such a shame that people are so materialistic. And it was costing me more then it did this year... and this year I set a £5 a head limit... and using the 'Grabbit' board and thebookpeople and keeping my eyes open, on average my gifts were worth £17 and I had spent £4.60 a head

I work out how mcuh money I need for the whole lot (Christmas/Birthdays) then divide it by 12 and set aside that amount each month. Helps make it more affordable. I have £100 limit for DS and £20 for my DH. It's a challange getting DS lots of stuff he would like... he was amazed how much he got this year

The way I stopped overspending when I first became debt free was to say... if there was money left at the end of the month... I could take it out as cash and spend it... but that's it! So during the month if I WANTED it I didn't buy it. At the end of the month I would take this money and buy it... and most the time I didn't want it anymore

JulieGeorgiana

QueenB. wrote: »

We are a vegetarian family but i do sometimes think that if we ate meat we could reduce our costs.....which is odd when you think about it:D Veg and lentils are great at bulking out meals as are potatoes and mushrooms and cous cous is fab (OH isn't a fan though).

Veg curry must be cheaper then chicken curry

I went through a phase of having vegetarian twice a week... and I found it can get quite boring if you want to keep it cheap. And you need a balance!

Do you do Soup and Pudding night???

Have you tried those veg boxes??? They are yummy!

rising_from_the_ashes

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

The one thing I don't see on your list is rubber chicken... and bulking out!

Frozen veg is great for bulking out meals! As are lentils!

I can get a 2kg chicken do 4 curries with 6-8 portions a curry using bulking! Then make a great stock with the bones and make a lovely veg soup... with HM Rolls!

£6 for the Chicken and we get fed for 10 days!!!!

Ohhh I've [STRIKE]rubbered[/STRIKE] / [STRIKE]rubberised [/STRIKE] (struggling on how to put that without it sounding very rude....;)) a chicken today...... roast last night, stock today - 1/2 used for Risotto (x 2), 1/2 for soup tomorrow - and have enough to make a curry (x 4 to 6 depending on bulking) tomorrow and for the soup!

JulieGeorgiana

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Ohhh I've [STRIKE]rubbered[/STRIKE] / [STRIKE]rubberised [/STRIKE] (struggling on how to put that without it sounding very rude....;)) a chicken today...... roast last night, stock today - 1/2 used for Risotto (x 2), 1/2 for soup tomorrow - and have enough to make a curry (x 4 to 6 depending on bulking) tomorrow and for the soup!

LOL I saw on the Daily you said you were going to!!!

Once you start... you just have to find more and more ways to make it stretch! Pizza is great because you need so little... and pasta bakes