Aim high - help us hit the target

mr2jay

Good top tip (Don't like tea but we do feel the same way about coffee )

We are planning to go through everything tonight and come up with a meal plan, maybe even buy some stuff in bulk to make up freezer ready meals - got chilli in there at the moment but there are a few more dishes I am sure I can do that with.

This is going to be such a change in our mentality, we both want to clear the debts off so both have to realise that this means changes. One plus is that I get paid weekly (although this week is rent week so it is a bit tight before we start) but this will mean that it is going to be a little and often approach.

slowlyfading

How you doing?

merlot123

I'm going to stick out my neck and say to you, your OH needs a job, any job, whether its a cleaning job or lollipop lady, anything to help you repay these debts.

merlot123

mr2jay

Hmmm, been an expensive week as this week was rent week.....

BUT

Managed to drop the food bill from £80 down to £50 this week (Unfortunately the saved money had to go elsewhere but that is covered and gone)

Next week we start the debt hammering

wants.to.be.debt.free

Hello,
May i firstly say well done for tackling your debts head on,
and on a lighter note well done to the wife on winning "a bottle of ketchup and a can of ginger beer"

Do you have a lidl near by? They have great offers at the weekend
4 things are half price, this weekend was:
mince 500g - 99p
Carrots 1 kilo - 37p

Plus they have been voted one of the top supermarkets for fresh british meat.

If your wife is at home through the day, she could turn her hand to cooking from scratch : lasagne, shephards pie, quiche, curry etc and she could make these meals for as little as £1 for 2 meals.

There is 1 adult and 1 child in my household and we eat a proper home cooked meal each evening and we have a £90 a month budget at the moment, whilst the debts reduce - this allows for the odd treat as well.

So maybe knock £46.70 off your food budget and see how you get on, if you find you have surplus money over from £300, build up a well stocked store cupboard - pasta,rice,tins,packets,jars ect so each week you just have to buy fresh fruit/veg and then stock up on meat from the half price weekends.
Then eventually the surplus can be put towards your debts.

All the best to you both

mr2jay

I do think our shopping is where we can find the biggest savings quickly. Less money spent there, more money we can spend on reducing our deficit

Like I have said elsewhere, I am trying to almost get ourselves a changes in attitude that will stick as much as clearing the debts. That way, once they are gone, we already have the mindset to live well within our means

This weekends biggest saver? OK, we have a taste for Tesco finest Caramelised onion burgers - guilty as charged. These are £3 for 4 or put it another way 75p a burger.

So, I bought a 1kg block of mince and made some using fresh herbs from the garden, some red onion we already have (we use a lot of red onion), an egg, 2 slices of bread pulverised into crumbs, some chilli, some garlic and a touch of mustard. We had everything but the mince already here which cost £4 for 1kg (on offer at Tesco - premium mince). I made 15 burgers from this, had some last night and froze the rest for another day. Cost per burger - 27p

BIG difference

Going to be making one "use a bit for a meal and freeze the rest" meal every week and really stock up the freezer

mr2jay

Got into work to find we have slipped back to square one....
To be quite honest, I am not surprised as we were due the interest on the Lloyds CC but on top of that, we have now ALSO recieved a final bill for the electric at over £100
Can't get down about it, I need to get it all cleared off and as of this Friday, I can start making a dent in this debt. At least I am learning about cutting our food bill and that will help.

mr2jay

merlot123 wrote: »

I'm going to stick out my neck and say to you, your OH needs a job, any job, whether its a cleaning job or lollipop lady, anything to help you repay these debts.

merlot123

As explained earlier, the lack of work for the OH is not down to any fault of her own....

This is why we are looking into using her talents to work from home. One thing I didn't mention earlier is that she is a VERY good artist, so we have now signed up to an art selling group to place some of her creations up for sale. Hopefully they will grab the eye of someone and we'll have a second source of income

slowlyfading

You still sound determined, which is always a bonus in these things the burgers sound great!

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi, I love your determination - keep this going and you will have it paid off in no time! If your wife isnt working there is a lot she can do to help. Get her across to the Old Style Moneysaving Boards for tips on making the money go further.

As my hubby works full time and I dont I do all the day to day management of our finances. I record every penny we spend, keep track of the income and expenditure spreadsheets, shop about for the best deals etc. I have the time to do this properly and it really makes a difference. For us keeping proper financial records keeps us motivated and stops us slipping back into old habits.

Good luck with it.