ok 31 £145k in debt and overweight need to change

Tixy

That statement of affairs is a good start. They key thing is it shows you have £840 spare a month but if you are having to reuse your credit card each month then it looks like you don't.
I'd suggest you also start a spending diary for a few weeks and note down everything you spend to see what is missing from your figures.
What do you think your spending weaknesses are - you mention you spend for something to do - is that shopping online? in the shops on clothes or on electronics etc? Try to pin point when it is you feel like spending and then see if you find an alternative activity (hopefully the gym might help with this).

The £430 rent - is this a lodger living with you? (because that will help us to understand costs better if you are actually paying for elec & gas etc for a house with 2 occupants).

The one cost that does stand out as looking very high is food - is this what you've been spending previously? did you tend to spend a lot on takeaways and snacks? Hopefully if you can target this then it should help both with the debt and losing weight. If you did used to go for a lot of takeaways would it be worth investing some time into a couple of cheap recipie books. These might help you fill your time as well as try to focus on eating healthier. The old style money saving section of the forum also has loads of tips on people who want to reduce food bills or eat heathier.
If you shop a lot at the metro and go frequently this always seems to cost more, so maybe try planning meals for a whole week and then doing an online shop for what you need based on the meal plan.

You are right your gym does look cheap - definitely worth keeping it up if it will motivate you more to keep up the fitness.

Good luck.

FireWyrm

Ho.d on, did I miss something? £400 a month for groceries to feed one person? Yikes, you can definitely do something about that and it might help with other things on your to-list too ;-)

I feed 2 adults and 2 children on around £100 a month, so there's £300 you could be using for debts right off. Before you ask, we eat very well too, it's not just porridge and water, honest.

Tixy is right, moderation in the takeaway department. Now, I'm a sucker for Chinese, especially after a hard day, but I limit it to once a month at £20 max spend. I bought some cook books by Ching He Haung instead and learned how to make Chinese myself. Much more satisfying and unlike my local I don't skimp on the egg fried rice portions....

Personally, I'd ditch the gym. Go for a walk in the countryside, swim at your local pool, or ride a bike to work if you can. Walk up the stairs instead of taking a lift and Hoover the whole house more than once a week...free exercise and if youre cleaning the house properly, you should break a sweat. I wash my kitchen floor by hand, not because I don't have a mop, but just because I can and it gets the heart pumping. Little and often and I guarantee that the weight will fall off. You don't need gyms and weight-watchers, just do things the hard way for a bit. Needing dough for bread is hard work, so is baking cakes if you don't have an electric whisk. Walk just a little faster than normal everywhere, enough to feel uncomfortable. If you can get your heart up to more than 120 for at least 30 minutes a day, you won't need the gym...trust me. I've always tended towards the porky side, but just a little bit of hard work each day seems to keep it in check. Give it a try.

vintagegirl

FireWyrm wrote: »

Ho.d on, did I miss something? £400 a month for groceries to feed one person? Yikes, you can definitely do something about that and it might help with other things on your to-list too ;-)

I feed 2 adults and 2 children on around £100 a month, so there's £300 you could be using for debts right off. Before you ask, we eat very well too, it's not just porridge and water, honest.
.

any chance of a meal planner or an example of what you eat, firewyrm, im trying to get my grocery spend down too x

FireWyrm

Unfortunately I don't have an app for meal planning, it's all down to you I'm afraid. However, I tend to work on 1Lb of meat per day which if you're canny about it will cost around £25-£30 per month. Large 5kilo bags of rice, pasta and noodles from the local ethnic shop - £10ish. Olive oil spread instead of utterly butterly, 2 8oz blocks of butter for cakes etc. 2lbs of assorted pulses, £10 per week at the local fruit and veg Market stall where you can get a 'bowl' for £1...I buy an assortment of whatever is in season split roughly evenly between fruit and veg. I generally buy milk in 4 or 6 pint cartons and freeze one. I always make about 1/3rd more than we actually eat and freeze the left overs. I buy 2 largish chickens a month which are 2 x Sunday roasts and left overs are for sandwiches. Incidentals like cleaning products are bought at cheap supermarkets and rationed. If it can be done with vinegar and baking soda, I use that rather than expensive cif/jif sprays. Toilet paper is bought from same cheap markets in not less than 24 roll packets. I also buy large scale amounts of spice from EBay so things like mixed herbs in 1lb bags which gets used in everything...around 12 bargain basement tins of tomatoes and 6 tins of assorted fruit. I make 1 litre if yogurt each week and a loaf of bread every day. I've been experimenting with soft cheese and have an acceptable Philadelphia type spreadable cheese which I can make. I make things like grain mustard and we've been experimenting with home brew wine and beer. I grow various general herbs like basil, coriander, thyme, mint and chillies in the kitchen as well as making jam when the fruit is in season on next doors' trees. I made a bargain with next door, we'd clear his groaning trees of fruit in return for 3 large fruit crumbles and 2 kilna jars of jam...I get to keep the rest of the fruit...So, next year, mass production on the jam come the summer. I have plans to grow raspberries out back up a trellis and I've already agreed to swap a crochet hat Ive made for two fruit/veg boxes from an aqaintance who has an allotment come the summer.

The first month I tried this all I made a meal plan for every day of the month, but I've found life is too short and my attention span limited so it doesn't work well for me. I've settled on the rough basics that I've listed above and coupled with £20 pin money for incidentals it seems to work for us. I can do it for a £80 a month, but £120 is more comfortable we've found.

Oh, and buy cook books. I usually trawl my books at the beginning of the month for ideas. We eat allot of Chinese style food as well as general standbys like sausage tagine etc. I can't remember the last time I bought a ready meal since you can make everything on offer for far less. The only concession to the packet is fish. I do indulge the kids with birds-eye haddock chunks rather than fresh but mainly because I detest frozen unbreaded fish. If I can't have fresh when I need it, we don't have it. I will buy frozen prawns, mussels and squid for bulking out casseroles but salmon has to be fresh and Alaskan when it's in season. I don't bother with frozen or farmed at all. Things like fish-cakes are made with small pieces of haddock and salmon mashed and then mixed with potatoes for instance. 4 good sized portions come to around £5 total with some left over.

The old style thread has tips for feeding households and some manage it for as little as £2.50 average per day but I've found £3.50 is better and more comfortable. You absolutely can live on a shoe string, but been there, done that.

soxxxxy

Hi MRE ,just want to say good luck with your debt free journey.There are loads of money saving tips on here,just give yourself time to read lots of threads to get ideas.Try some small changes first and the rest will come.Check out the 'discount codes and vouchers thread ' for some money saving coupons etc or join one of the challenges like ' 1 debt in 100 days ' .Good luck,will stop by to see how your doing

MRE_2

Thanks again to everyone for support and ideas, trying to write at work without people seeing broke fat 31yr old needs help on my screen

I am usually negative every month so yes think I am spending somehow but honestly dont know where

I am guessing food and drink is where most of my money goes with the occasional purchase - just spent £100 on fire alarms as mine are 12 years old, also spent £80 on two ps3 games, and £150 for charity event.

I love electronics but will only spend say once a year and then big say £500-£1000

I just cook for myself so quite expensive occassionally I will cook a lasagne which will last for four days, love to cook and Id say Im pretty good, I also do buy take aways say once a week,

I have lots of cookbooks by Ramsey and Oliver and the like

Oh yeah I smoke so there is £200 straight away

I play poker on Fridays usually evens out over the month just a night with friends every week,

£430 is including all bills - yep a lodger - for area seems about right we split cost of household toiletries etc

I do go on the voucher websites and use quidco

I like the debt diary idea, will start asap.

everyone is against the gym and I can see as unnecessary expense but also thought might meet someone there - sad I know

dark^knight

Saving money does not mean you have to sacrifice your health. Exercise will help you de-stress and to improve your health.

I bought a treadmill a while back, and I just go on that every night. I get the exercise I need, without spending anything on gyms.

eyeopener2

Keep going to the gym, don't stop that.

Stop smoking. Health improves and your £200 better off.

E2

remote_control

I lost a couple of stone a couple of years ago by going to the gym and not snacking. Was slow progress but it was more of a lifestyle change which means it hasn't gone back on. Three times a week is good, not too much effort - stick with it.

antonia1

I'm not against the gym! I agree that there are other options, but for me the only way I can motivate myself some days is knowing that I am paying for it. If it was left to exercising at home or going for a long walk I'd simply never do anything! As for meeting people at the gym, that's not sad at all - my mum keeps trying to set me up with people from her church.

I would also agree with quitting smoking if at all possible. I did it 3 years ago, and it was tough but definitely worth the effort - more money, less health concerns. If you think you'd struggle to quit, try switching to roll-ups first. They cost less and you smoke less because its such a faff. Also have it as a separate line in your SOA as that will help you realise that (money-wise) smoking is as big a feature in your life as food and heating.

As for food, I shop for just me and I budget around £80 per month, but I know I could cut it to £60 if I needed to. Try meal planning, batch cooking, freezing, drop a brand and ethnic shops rather than supermarkets for things like spices. Old Style board is definitely the place to go for help on that score.

As for incidental spends - that's where a spending diary will help. There is a lot missing from your SOA, which will hopefully be picked up by the spending diary (eg never buy presents, have haircuts, visit the dentist?!). If you like electronic gadgets then you could try saving a set amount each month so that the annual big purchase doesn't go on a credit card.