Are we really in debt? YES WE ARE

Bimble_2

Tolip hello, Its GREAT to hear you and your wife have really pulled together with this!
You may do this already, but working out what meal you are going to have each night through the week saves wasteful buying.

I used to be terrible, I never wrote a list and on average used to spend approx £150-200 (or more!) per week on food, half of which didnt make a meal and eventually ended up in the bin..

By making a planned list of meals I have got my food bill down to about £60-70 per week. (1 adult three pretty big kids)

I don't allow myself to wander around the supermarket anymore, I just look at the list, grab the things I need and leave.

Bimble

hypno06

Doing the grocery shop online is also a great way to keep within a budget, because you can see what the total is before you commit to buy!

If it is too much, you simply go back and readjust your shopping list without the embarressment of being at a till, with a queue of people behind you!

Also, if you go onto the shopping threads on MSE, you will get loads of vouchers for extra points or free delivery etc, bringing the cost down even more!

TurnaroundSue

Hi Tolip, well done for all you have achieved so far. Have you got stuff you have bought and no longer use/have need for/like - coz you could start by selling on ebay.

With regards to your car, personally I would sell the car and get an older one, but one that is still in keeping with your job etc. I would then buy a personalised number plate for say £250 and put it on the car and nobody need ever know what age it is. My mate has a T reg BMW, it is in excellent condition and I would not know how old it were if it had a private plate. With the balance from your current car you could then throw this at your debt - would bring your DFD down by quite a lot I would think. Then when you are sorted, you could save and buy yourself a newer car again. Just a thought!

Good luck and keep posting.

Mozette

Is it just me who spends MORE when I shop on line then?

InTheRed

Hi all!

On the question of mortgage holidays, yes the increase in interest will be for the lifetime of the loan, no increase in the capital borrowed, but I have used a spreadsheet to work out the approimate interest on CC's over the 2 years to pay them off and the amount to snowball the mortgage payments (with self control in place!) and it will bring my CC's down to 12 months to pay off.
Once this is done I will make overpayments into my mortgage, which is permitted.
Verbatim, if you would like a copy of the spreadsheet please pm me.

On the shopping control note - I planned to spend forty pounds a week on the food shop, however I alsways tend to go for the buy one get one free offers and alsways overspend, not sure if this is good or bad The good news is theat we never throw away food.

Have a good weekend everyone!

whatatwit

Hi tolip, has your wife signed up the forums, she could browse the moneysaving oldstyle board.

It sounds as though she has really got the bug.
On the OS (oldstyle) board, there are great tips on menuplanning, cheapo cleaning stuff and freezer/storecupboard challenges.

moanymoany

Just got the book 'The Millionaire Next Door' and started to read. The second chapter is called 'Frugal Frugal Frugal'. Budgeting and financial planning are the watchwords. I thought I was ok with these, but I'm not. Next step this morning is to download Martin's spreadsheet. then make DH a cuppa. Over the next week I am going to do some intensive research on investments.....and continue reading the book which I can strongly recommend. Pester your local library, they should have it. This copy came care of expenses!

Tolip, I know what you mean about getting on better. It is that lovely feeling of getting control over your life. As you move down the DFW road you will see more and more ways to achieve the goal. Not a big fan of Chairman Mao, but when he said 'every thousand mile march starts with a first step,' he knew what he was on about.

chevalier

I am really pleased to see that turn around in your thoughts about this. Well done. You seem to have got your self in the right frame of mind. Very liberating isn't it!
best of luck
chev

looby-loo_2

Mozette wrote: »

Is it just me who spends MORE when I shop on line then?

I thought that was me! I only tried it once and the bill was twice as much so I didn't bother.

Tolip - I have almost stopped using supermarkets altogether. I have always tried to shop locally and use farm shops and the market. As I cook most meals from scratch using fresh food I find I have very little need to go to supermarkets.

It's also not too late for you to start a vegetable garden which could be fun and save you money.Normally I grow my own seeds but this year I had no time so today I went to a car boot and bought 12 x lettuce, 12 x broccoli, peppers, courgettes, a cucumber, a pumpkin all for £2.30. The gardening thread will have other ideas and you really can have fun and save a lot!

tolip

Hello everyone!

Just a quick update since its been 2 months since we began our snowball.

We have been inspired by everone on this board, and whilst we have not posted very much, our efforts have been 110%.

Firstly the snowball is fantastic, we review it every few days, even if its just to look at it and say to each other, imagine when we get to a certain point on it! But seriously the snowball has allowed us to not only focus, but also get excited when we make a payment towards the debts. Its now a massive challenge.

We have moved all the debt to the best life of balance cards and we have for the first time contacted the other credit card companies and actually close the accounts, previously we simple stuck the cards in a drawer, only to reappear a few months later to finance something that we did not have the money for!

The budget to be honest is hard work, however we have set a realistic budget and we are sticking to it. A totally new concept are 'No Spend Days' We have had to cut back, but thinking about it, we used to purchase loads of things we did not actually need.

in two months we have managed to knock off just under £7k, now that we have the snowball we can see that we are really making progress.

Thanks to all, will post from time to time to keep everyone updated if you are interested.

Thanks guys, really your encouragement has really spurred us on!