Paying off debts by taking money saving to the extreme.

marmiterulesok

Hi fairyface,

Have you thought about going to the 'debt-free wannabe' section and posting a statement of affairs (S.O.A.),listing all your income and expenditures.The idea is that people will post comments on where you could possibly make some savings.I can't find a link,I'm afraid.

That's good that we've got a few extra hours.Good luck with fleabay.:)

[Deleted User]

I know its not everyones cup of tea and I don't know what its like where you live but sometimes a couple of hours cleaning will bring in some extra income If you can clean your own house then its not too much problem doing say a few hours a week doing someone elses i know its maybe not a career choice but years ago when things were tight I did it for an agency and I fitted it around the childrens school time.
Where I live cleaners are like gold dust ands seem to command enormous wages ( well to me anyway I think I got about £2.50 an hou) now it seems to be between £8-10 per hour,just a thought

[Deleted User]

Sorry its been so long as usual, bottled out of keeping a diary, just went off the rails a bit before christmas, I am just so disgusted and ashamed for getting into such a mess, I tried to do a few diaries on the debt free board but they can be harsh on there and I just get more upset, but I am going to try and keep up with this diary again.

I have spent the last few weeks going through all the debts and will post my correct figures at the end of the week, then I will try and negotiate some settlement figures starting with the lowest and take it from there.

The Extreme moneysaving - As I said before I was spending around £400 a month/£4800 a year on groceries etc. I have set a budget of £2500 for the year and from January I have recorded every penny spent, some weeks have been more than others,I have been buying loads of yellow sticker items, my freezer is jam packed now.

Will try and do a post every day now.Off to enjoy the fresh air and clear my head, ready to start again, and be more focused and postitive,

System

Ooh, me, I have a tip, I only heard it recently and I've been dying to share!! Empty the hoover after each use, otherwise it uses more power pushing around the stuff you have already collected!! It probably sounds really obvious if you already do it but I tend to wait until it's full.

I always empty the container once ive vacuumed as i am ashamed to say i get an enormous amount of pleasure in seeing how much dog hair/dust i get up in one vacuuming.:D

[Deleted User]

Just a quickie, took the dog out and outside someones gate there was a 2kg bag of James Wellbeloved duck and kibble complete dog food,some had been used, just over a 1kg in bag, but it 2 months out of date , said free, if you can make use then please help yourself, so I did:j,I only have a smallish dog so , he can eat for free the next few days, I love free:D. That put me in a good mood so grabbed another pile of debt letters and sorted out. Got a reduced Wholemeal loaf to use up so just a couple of tins of spaghetti for tea with toast, so for 3 people under a £1.00 for tonights tea, if the guys are peckish later there are a few tins of value rice pudding they can have.

minniemaus1970

Hi Fairyface,

keep up the good work, have you tried Freecycle and freegle? that helped me saving a lot of money over the last 7 years.
I sometime throw together meals from what I have or only buy what I need for a specific meal that day ( like a tin of sumthing.... nothing expensive until the freezer and cupboards are empty) you won't believe how much money I haven't spent doing that, i once managed avoiding the shop for over a week, then just stocked up on fresh goods


MM

[Deleted User]

Hi Minnie thanks for your reply , yes I have joined freecycle and I will be doing what you mentioned, will only be buying essentials like bread, milk, butter, fruit and veg, been down to the freezer just randomely opened any drawer and the first thing I found was 12 x pork meatballs, reduced to £1.25 so tommorow meatballs in onion gravy, mash, and carrots, another cheap meal. Just loaded up washing machine its out in the shed on a timer and comes on in the night (cheap electric) using a 35 min cycle, the clothes are never really heavily soiled so quicker washes from now on, box of washing powder came from poundland, 10 washes for a £1. Overall I am having a good money saving day.

pennywisepoundstupid

Hi fairyface, well done you really are on a roll today with your money saving, keep up the good work.

[Deleted User]

Well done fairyface its often a bit boring at times and disheartening when you feel that its a big struggle but you are doing well and are persevering which is all that matters .So what if things went a bit haywire over Christmas,I think everyone's budget went a bit wonky then, but climbing back on the frugal wagon is so worthwhile I have made a concious effort to stay away from supermarkets this month and have ,albeit a small amount, but an amount all the same, left over from my budget this month (which I reduced anyway as my cupboards were rather full )
I still have a fairly full freezer and my cupboards still seem to be full,but I am again not going to buy anything unless its really needed during March as any extra cash I have left over will get stashed into my 'Happy cash for the holiday fund' for my August holiday with my DD and family.I would rather use up some stuff in the stores than go to the supermarket and get thoroughy depressed at the prices they seem to want to charge .Tonight I have from my freezer a couple of sausages ,some frozen veg and from my fresh veg bag a medium size jacket potato.This will more than do me for my dinner tonight with maybe a third of a tin of rice pud with some of my cheap pineapple that I got last week for 50p and haven't yet cut up.
I made some biscuits yesterday for DD and have a few left over that I will use during the week for morning and afternoon snacks with a cuppa.
Good luck and keep up the effort its well worth while
JackieO xxx

[Deleted User]

Hi PennyWise and Jackie thanks for your replies, I keeping coming back to my thread to see if there are any more replies, I just went through the thread from the start, and I think the comment about running a home like a business is the right thing,that's it for today, will be back tommorow, time to do tea and chill, but not sure if that is possible as I am in Money Saving Mode:rotfl: bye:rotfl: for now:)