The 1% Challenge - 100 ways to make your 1%

29Found

Hi,

I'm a long term lurker, but I think its about time I joined in if that's ok?

1st debt - Halifax 0% £ 2697.38 = 1% - £27

2nd debt sainsburys loan 8.54% = £7954.09. (This is the total if i let it run full term. If i pay this off early, the total will be less due to interest!) = 1% - £80

Thanks

happytails

Hi 29found, Welcome! :j

Nearly month end now. Woop! Will have to take some money out of my debt 2b saving pot, hopefully not alot, they dog is loosing fur in clumps and thinking he might have a skin issue that needs seeing to and probably anitbiotics. *sigh*

We've spent about £100 less on petrol this month just from hardly going out at weekends. Its meant more fights and 'this is boring' comments from the kids but more money in our pockets. Hoping next weekend will be dry and not too cold and we can go to the zoo (we have annual passes) that should cheer them up! Still 0 takeaways and done ok with the grocery budget aswell. Really feel like im getting the hang of this budgeting and living within our means lark

Sarah x

braddy970

Well done Sarah with 0 take aways, we've also had a very good month with not buying any, when the bf has been peckish and he's mentioned about ordering a pizza at night I've told him to put the oven on theres loadsin the freezer ha soon shuts him up I still have £150 in my purse, I have started withdrawing the weekly spends for aldi, fuel and gas and electric.. Plan on spending £35 at aldi (will be using my £5 off £40 spend on thursday) £40 for gas/electric and £0 for fuel as the bf has been riding on his bike every day to work so hopefully I can put the spare away. Pay day next tuesdayyyy woop and I will finally be out of my overdraft, not by much but it's a start. Managed to get a car insurance quote this year for under £1000 which is fabulous, infact it is only £898 which is the best we have ever had last year it was £1400 so lots of pennies being saved there.. 2014 is going to be a good year I can feel it

troglodyte

Happytails well done on cutting down on the takeaways and trips out! Stocking up the freezer with pizzas etc certainly helps for when you're in a rush, it's great to have your own 'ready meals' at home!


For the weekends, could we help try to think of family things to do to alleviate the boredom issue? Is there anywhere near home that you could walk/ scoot/ bike to? Any local places that put on kids' activities, like museums or libraries? Some round here do treasure trails and even our local church sometimes does craft mornings; anything like that round where you are? Or are there things you could all do at home that everyone could join in with, like making papier mache models or stuff like that? Or making your own pizzas??Sorry if these are all really unsuitable for your family, just trying to help!

liz-paul

I've been planning on changing my current account for ages - partly to get a cashback fee & partly because there are no branches of my bank handy for me. But I'm nervous about it!!! I don't even know why I am nervous - probably because I have had the same account since I was about 15!!! Someone encourage me to make the shift...? Thinking of going to Halifax because I can get £100 for switching, £5 per month 'interest' & the nearest branch is somewhere I go regularly and has good parking...

troglodyte

Liz-Paul I know exactly what you mean, I've had the same current account since I was 16 as well. We used the switching service to change our joint account from one bank to another but took the precaution of leaving the original one open with enough money in it to cover DDs in case they didn't all switch properly in time - and they didn't, so that was just as well. In the end it took about 3 months to get everything switched over. So I would switch to the better, more convenient option, but don't burn your bridges until you're sure everything has worked properly! In fact you don't have to close the original account at all, if it makes you feel more secure you could just keep it open with a little bit in it, just in case you don't like the new bank and want to go back!

happytails

Liz-Paul, I wouldn't recommend Santander or Halifax after bad experiences with both, Santander customer service and online banking were terrible and halifax took our £2700 overdraft off us with 39 days notice for no reason, we always paid in to that account and had been with them 7 years. They couldn't even give me a reason as to why. Also we had a cc with them a year or 2 ago and missed our minimal payment date by 2 hours and they immediately revoked our 0% deal even though we'd paid about3x the minimum theyd requested but just 2 hours late I could go on

We are with first direct but never had any issue with natwest when we were with them xx

Troglodyte - thank you for the suggestions, there is a library and a tiny park close by and about 15 min walk there is the beach, but that's more of a summer thing. Will have to see if the local church halls have anything on or the community centre - that's a 5 min drive. I go to soft play mid week with the younger ones but the husband can't stand it lol

We've got 3 weekend parties out of 5 weekends which will mean we get out

The ages of the kids make it hard to do much at home (5,3 & 15m) but i do bake with the older 2 but paint etc is so messy! Lol

Sarah x

troglodyte

I know what you mean about the mess - my youngest is 19 months - but if they enjoy it it is worth it to see their pleased little faces! My DD isn't so keen on painting but loves scribbling and making collages with scrumpled paper, dry pasta etc and then looks so proud when she shows them to people! I spread out lots of newspaper and they wear an old cut-down shirt safety-pinned on back-to-front. In extreme cases I use a shower curtain on the floor. I bought a cheap one years ago to use for picnicking when the ground is damp and later used it to protect the carpet when my eldest DD was born! (Youngest was born in the kitchen so could just wipe the vinyl. Sorry, TMI there!)

liz-paul

How about 'rubbings' use wax crayons to rub over textured things such as coins, tree bark, etc. Quite clean, simple enough for most kids over 2 years. Also - put them in the bath just to play. Most people don't think of this but most kids love a bath and there is no reason not to do it during the day just for fun. Scavenger hunt around the house: older kids have to find things beginning with different letters of the alphabet & younger ones have to find things of different colours.

Reading stories - another obvious one but something we often don't think of except at story 'times' such as bed time. Arts & crafts of various types (although it's messy). https://www.activityvillage.co.uk is a great resource for ideas. Dressing up/face painting. Simple cookery such as rice crispie cakes or pizza decorating/toppings. Cake decorating - if you make or buy plain cakes and let the kids go wild decorating their own. Time to dig out all the forgotten activity books, gifts that need building etc. Your oldest and probably middle one should be able to play and enjoy simple games like snakes and ladders, noughts & crosses, memory card games etc.

Most kids are happy to do most things if you will do it with them! This obviously is easier said than done especially if you have other stuff you need to do around the house lol

Hope some of this helps xx

k30lly

Ohh why does MSE not have an iphone friendly screen? Just lost what i'd typed. Can i join but do 1% of just one debt to start me off? 1% of the full debt is not manageable given we're only managing to pay minimums atm x