Lightbulb moment

moneywaster55

Lensman wrote: »

It is heartening to see your progress here. Well done.

I agree with the savings idea posted by Lannie in #127. You could put the payments (or interest) you were paying in to a savings account at the month.

That way you do not miss the money and you will also build up a cushion against the stuff life throws at you.

I have never been a saver but I have recently started and it does provide quite a good boost to your piece of mind.

I have just used my savings to pay a water debt off in full (I got a shock with 4 years worth of bills land on my mat - £1,800). That will definitely reduce the amount of time I spend awake at 3:00am...

Brilliant progress Lensman. Being able to pay a 1,800 bill straight off. What a brilliant feeling that must have been. I too have never ever been a saver ! but plan to change that. Ace work, well done.

moneywaster55

10% of my wages is going to be £100, that should be fine as I was paying more than that a month in interest payments. But I will start with that and see how it goes.

moneywaster55

Well a funny thing happened in town yesterday.

I drew out £150 from the bank, decided to get everything I needed present wise out of this and was not using anymore. Well I was all over looking for bargains and money off. I was actually loathed to spend any of it :j soo unlike me. Came home with £80, still 3 presents to get but would not pay the price !!! So need to rethink. This is awesome for me, as usually I toss money at stuff. Have I switched my light bulb from a single one, to like the one in my sitting room, which holds 3 bulbs ?

Long may it last.

Thank you :A people. Everyone has helped me soo much. Also people who have posted up there experiences and findings for other to read. Ace site and boards

LannieDuck

lol! That's great

I find myself doing similar with online shopping. I put things in my wishlist, and a day or two later delete them because I've realised I don't really want them.

JAGGS2

Hi Moneywaster55,

Just spent the last hour or two reading your forum, how inspiring you are to others in your situation, keep up the good work.:j It is reassuring to know there are good people out there who are prepared to give their time to helping others.

With reference to Lensmans thread on water bill, we changed 18 months ago to a water metre and reduced our water bill from £56.00 per month to currently £16.00 per month. We save water by not flushing the toilet everytime (if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down), and as there are only two of us in the house we boil the kettle for washing up once a day, also we do not leave the tap running when brushing our teeth, and shower rather than have a bath. It is amazing how you can adjust. Once again very, very well done.:T

FallenArcher

Hi MoneyWaster, I have just read through this thread from the start- what amazing progress you have made. Well done I find it so much easier not to fritter money away when have the cash in a set purse- like your food purse (also had a Christmas one this year!)

Hope you manage to get a good car for your money- sometimes it does pay to invest- we bought a more expensive car nearly 2 years ago and as my OH does a lot of mileage the difference in fuel alone has paid for it! Now approx £220pcm on diesel compared to what would now be about £350 on old car. Plus tax is now £30/£35 instead of over £200. Have had a couple of maintenance bills but the old car was due £850 worth of work when we px it! In addition it feels a lot safer (the brakes had failed on old car at 70mph!).

You know in your heart what the best move is for you on this one, and at least you're not going into debt to finance it. Looks like you should be able to quickly build up some savings to cushion you too.

Have a great Christmas- you deserve it for turning your life around :-) Stick with it- just think of the stress it'll save you.

moneywaster55

Hiya Jaggs2 and FallenArcher, Thank you very much for reading and posting.

Jaggs yes I am learning, that a lot of little things add up, so learning to cut the not so obvious as well as the obvious.

I live in a council house. Gas central heating and fire. Back boiler. We have just had a letter to say, sometime next year we are have elec fire fitted and a combi boiler !!! no idea if this will be better ? I know I have my boiler on the heat the water 2 hours on a morning and 4 hours on a night. combi will just heat what I need, so saving there but not sure about the electric fire ?.

FallenArcher. We have not yet bought our smaller car and not dashing into it. Car tax runs out end of January, hoping a lot of people might be selling after christmas or garage having a sale ? But no not going into debt for one :j.

Well I can now officialy say I will be going into 2013 with only one debt. Just one problem, Bro has set me a task !!! he wants me to keep the money building up and return it in one lump sum !!! So I will need to be strong and not dip into it.

On the whole I have been good spending up till christmas but have gone over my budget but not mega over and Payday loans paid and not renewed.

Merry Christmas to all who have supported me and those whom have put up tips etc, that have helped me enormously. I will be here as much as possible now. As all my spending done for christmas and now need to concentrate on next years finances.

Thank You All :A

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

Hi moneywaster55 - sitting here on Christmas morning waiting for the kids to get up! and came across your thread. Just wanted to say "well done" to you and your OH who appears very supportive. You have made tremendous inroads into your debt and I wanted to wish you a successful 2013. I reckon you will be in a very different place financially this time next year.

All the best!

TMD xx

moneywaster55

Hiya, TMDID, thank you for reading and posting. Its a great help to know people are there to support. I hope to be able to Begin to support others as I go along. At the moment I don't think Ive got any tips on h0w to progress.

NS day yesterday lol easy done. Sales today but I will not be going. NO food needs to be bought for the rest of the week.

Last of my visiting and giving of gifts will be done today. Next years planning of gifts, is going to be done all year through. Tomorrow, its meal plans for next week.

Someone at work has put in 2 weeks holiday for January and I have offered my servies for 6 extra shifts at a total of £480 :jless tax and stamp. so that will be extra for Bro fund, emergency and savings.

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas holidays you :A people

moneywaster55

Happy New Year to everyone who has took the time to read and post, Thank You.

I wish everyone a prosperous New Year :beer:

Here is to lessing our debt further and becoming more money savvy.