How can I save?

AliceBanned

mmm well I didn't have immediate access to my Halifax balance - it sometimes disappears on my online account. Best to have a record here.

mildredalien

Hey alice, good to see a nice positive number next to the 'amount left after debt repayments' :j Have you played with the snowball calculator to see how quickly you could pay off your debts if you pile all available cash into paying them off?

FreshPrincess

Hello AliceBanned, after seeing your SOA I looked at the site you used and did my own. It made for bad reading, but I it's only as I'm unemployed so getting myself into more debt. Some tips for you, that it has taken me a while to realise but now I'll never go back:

1. Clothes shop on eBay. That £35 top you like? Take a picture of it and look for it a couple of months later, and get it for dirt cheap when someone's worn it once and is bored of it. Or, realise that you can get any item of clothing for as little as between £3-4 including postage. Learn to use the filters to your advantage, to find a top in your size, colour, style. Don't buy cheaper store's clothes, just buy the brands you already wear, on eBay. It's also a little pick-me-up when you've had a bad day at work, it's like it's your birthday every day getting lots of parcels! I also got a PayPal Mastercard. Now while I don't rate their customer service at all, for every £250 you spend on sites that accept PayPal (including eBay) you get a £5 voucher back. For normal spending, £500 gives back £5. So 2% and 1% cashback respectively. Apologies if you didn't want to go down the credit card route, but if you are able to budget what you are spending on them, it's a great way to earn a little treat even with everyday spending.

2. I cater only for myself, so I've learned what groceries I need at low cost and what will not spoil. I buy £1 bags of frozen veg, peppers, sweetcorn, and the cheapest tins of pineapple which I also freeze. Cheap tins of chopped tomatoes. I get quorn chicken pieces and mince when they're on offer and I can make any kind of stir fry, rice dish or pasta with these ingredients, with a few spices. When I was a student I used to spend £40 a week on food and most of it ended up in the bin. My foil is McDonalds, so I've learned to afford this "luxury" at least once a week and just cut down on a normal day's food budget.

3. Haircuts - can you dye your hair yourself? I've never been to a hairdresser in my life. Nor do I want to. I trim my fringe and sides myself and my mum trims the back. I also dye and highlight my hair myself. This means I can get away with £5 box of dye a month. Do you have a friend that can cut in a straight line? Invest in a £8 pair of hairdressing scissors from Boots. For the record, my hair is just as stylish as friends who spend £150 on a cut & colour (if not more so... I'm quite the hairdresser these days!)

4. Socialising - acquire a taste for half pints of Carlsberg. The cheapest drink there is. Also find some pubs which do a "beer & burger" type deal, or "meal & drink for £5/6" - Yates and their related menu chain pubs do a great deal where you can get a full meal with a pint for £5. Then there's buy one get one free desserts. Also get an Orange simcard and take advantage of Orange Wednesdays for 2-4-1 cinema. You can also use it at Pizza Express. If you can, socialise in the week, as you can get cheaper menus in restaurants. It also breaks up the week at work.

5. When your mobile contract runs out, look at Tesco Mobile. I'm on £10 a month 12-month contract sim-free with 500mins, 500MB data and unlimited texts. It was a special offer, but they come around quite often.

Good luck. Don't be down. We're all in this mess together!

determined_new_ms

FreshPrincess wrote: »

Hello AliceBanned, after seeing your SOA I looked at the site you used and did my own. It made for bad reading, but I it's only as I'm unemployed so getting myself into more debt. Some tips for you, that it has taken me a while to realise but now I'll never go back:

1. Clothes shop on eBay. That £35 top you like? Take a picture of it and look for it a couple of months later, and get it for dirt cheap when someone's worn it once and is bored of it. Or, realise that you can get any item of clothing for as little as between £3-4 including postage. Learn to use the filters to your advantage, to find a top in your size, colour, style. Don't buy cheaper store's clothes, just buy the brands you already wear, on eBay. It's also a little pick-me-up when you've had a bad day at work, it's like it's your birthday every day getting lots of parcels! I also got a PayPal Mastercard. Now while I don't rate their customer service at all, for every £250 you spend on sites that accept PayPal (including eBay) you get a £5 voucher back. For normal spending, £500 gives back £5. So 2% and 1% cashback respectively. Apologies if you didn't want to go down the credit card route, but if you are able to budget what you are spending on them, it's a great way to earn a little treat even with everyday spending.

2. I cater only for myself, so I've learned what groceries I need at low cost and what will not spoil. I buy £1 bags of frozen veg, peppers, sweetcorn, and the cheapest tins of pineapple which I also freeze. Cheap tins of chopped tomatoes. I get quorn chicken pieces and mince when they're on offer and I can make any kind of stir fry, rice dish or pasta with these ingredients, with a few spices. When I was a student I used to spend £40 a week on food and most of it ended up in the bin. My foil is McDonalds, so I've learned to afford this "luxury" at least once a week and just cut down on a normal day's food budget.

3. Haircuts - can you dye your hair yourself? I've never been to a hairdresser in my life. Nor do I want to. I trim my fringe and sides myself and my mum trims the back. I also dye and highlight my hair myself. This means I can get away with £5 box of dye a month. Do you have a friend that can cut in a straight line? Invest in a £8 pair of hairdressing scissors from Boots. For the record, my hair is just as stylish as friends who spend £150 on a cut & colour (if not more so... I'm quite the hairdresser these days!)

4. Socialising - acquire a taste for half pints of Carlsberg. The cheapest drink there is. Also find some pubs which do a "beer & burger" type deal, or "meal & drink for £5/6" - Yates and their related menu chain pubs do a great deal where you can get a full meal with a pint for £5. Then there's buy one get one free desserts. Also get an Orange simcard and take advantage of Orange Wednesdays for 2-4-1 cinema. You can also use it at Pizza Express. If you can, socialise in the week, as you can get cheaper menus in restaurants. It also breaks up the week at work.

5. When your mobile contract runs out, look at Tesco Mobile. I'm on £10 a month 12-month contract sim-free with 500mins, 500MB data and unlimited texts. It was a special offer, but they come around quite often.

Good luck. Don't be down. We're all in this mess together!

what a fantastic post! defo gonna steal some of these ideas thank you

thevinternet

AliceBanned wrote: »

Thanks yes and they were fine to just look at it straight away there and then while I watched and they were very relaxed and chatty. Makes me have even more faith in them and I always have felt he was a decent bloke.

It's been a very cheap weekend so far. I usually go to salsa Fri and Sat nights and sometimes Thurs but I went on Thurs and have had a headache all day today. Not been out but done lots of housework. Meeting a friend tomorrow night just for a drink or a night in. Still got very painful head .

How is your weekend going? Up to much?

Sorry for the late reply Alice, was just busy working all weekend really, so now is the first chance I've had to jump online. Hope you are feeling better now. Salsa sounds fun, I've always wanted to try it! Is it good exercise too?

thevinternet

FreshPrincess wrote: »

5. When your mobile contract runs out, look at Tesco Mobile. I'm on £10 a month 12-month contract sim-free with 500mins, 500MB data and unlimited texts. It was a special offer, but they come around quite often.

Good luck. Don't be down. We're all in this mess together!

Great tip - I thought my £15 per month O2 deal was the best, obviously I've been wrong!

Can I also ask which hair dye you recommend? I am trying to avoid ones that are too damaging as I have quite fine hair and it breaks very easily

AliceBanned

mildredalien wrote: »

Hey alice, good to see a nice positive number next to the 'amount left after debt repayments' :j Have you played with the snowball calculator to see how quickly you could pay off your debts if you pile all available cash into paying them off?

Hi mildredalien. Thought I replied to this yesterday but I must have not sent the draft. Many thanks, I didn't know about the snowball calculator; it's great. According to this I would repay my debts by Feb 2013 if I stuck to £350 repayments every month! I am going to do this for six months and then see what I feel i can cope with after that. Pretty sure I can do six months - I am sacrificing a few social things/ meals out and clothes and cutting back on travel a bit, and fewer haircuts and treats like facials. Can do without all of that for six months without feeling deprived I think. I might even enjoy the challenge and as people have pointed out on here, in the long run it should give me more possibilities for the future.

AliceBanned

Thanks FreshPrincess. The Mastercard sounds good - at mo I don't qualify for cashback cards but maybe I will in a couple of weeks when a default drops off my file. So will bear this one in mind. I am learning to control my credit card spending so may be a good idea for me to get the cashback as I can use it for petrol/shopping etc and claim cashback.

I have my next haircut booked - £26 via Groupon and am growing my hair. I wouldn't spend more than £26 per two months now and prefer to get it cut professionally but maybe I'll get some hairdressing scissors and have a go at my fringe, tho the hairdressers always offer to do it for free when it needs doing.

Good idea re Ebay and clothes. I am small size so don't often get my size even in the shops as they sell out quickly. I am doing ok for now without buying clothes but may start looking on Ebay when i can buy again in the summer.

I drink lime and soda lol as I am intolerant to beer and most wines. I do sometimes buy mineral water which is probably more expensive than Carlsberg though!

Food tips very helpful - I am already eating for about half the price I used to just by simplifying my meals and not buying too much and then wasting. It's more nutritious anyway and the last time I went out for a meal I didn't enjoy it as much as my own cooking. Quorn is a good one which I tried recently instead of beef in spag bol and loved it.

Thanks again.

AliceBanned

thevinternet wrote: »

Sorry for the late reply Alice, was just busy working all weekend really, so now is the first chance I've had to jump online. Hope you are feeling better now. Salsa sounds fun, I've always wanted to try it! Is it good exercise too?

HI thevinternet

Yes I was much better from Sun onwards thanks and it gave me a chance to have a rest, probably what I needed.

Yes I'd recommend salsa as a friendly, fun evening. If you go to classes it's so easy to meet people and then socialise afterwards and learning something new is good to take your mind of any problems, I find. I'd recommend it. I go to one venue which is only £4 to get in after 9.30 and is £8 to go in from 7pm which includes lessons. As I can get by without too many lessons this makes a v cheap evening out! There are salsa classes all over the country so you should be able to find one. I also did jive before that but prefer the relaxed nature of salsa and the of the people who do it!

I would also say yes it is excellent exercise - I frequently dance for 2 or 3 hours almost non stop and don't even notice the time passing. OK you don't sweat like a big workout at the gym but it's better than being on the sofa by far and is great for you mentally and physically, the music is so uplifting too. Give it a go if you've been thinking about it, I'm sure you won't regret it.:)

AliceBanned

Just realised I am quite depressed and it is workplace related to a large extent. I really want to leave! have to give two month's notice and in any case I wanted to lower my debts first. Can't see myself staying here. . I've never been happy here but can tolerate a lot at times, then suddenly feel like I'm crashing. There is a lot of bullying which goes ignored, and no union. No one who really understands the issue properly so I have to carry on and ignore as much as I can. My manager is ok and the bullying is from other women on my level but I'm not sure about my plans because of this. I've been crying at work today and yesterday and at home at 5am this morning. It's exhausting.