Great 'ways To Cut Back' Hunt

Nancy89_2

This site contains really good articles. You should read them. I got a great help after reading those. One that I found interesting is "Creating A Realistic Budget"
https://www.smartmoneytips.com

sandralovescats

A Brilliant Way of Saving Money at Christmas!

I heard about this whilst I was in the USA last year.

The lady I was talking to had a large family - some 14 of them in total. Somewhere around September they all get together and put their names into a hat. Each family member takes a name at random.
Then you buy ONE present for that person, at a prearranged amount of money - say, £40, or whatever.

I only have a very small family and circle of close friends, but I did think that this was a brilliant idea!

[Deleted User]

I agree with Squeaky and this works! My story...

I'm not hugely in debt (or not by my own standards anyway), I had an overdraft of £600 and a loan that's about £700 (at that point) which I pay £100 off each month. ALL my mortgage etc payments go out automatically of my account and come to about half my monthly salary, plus there's the £100 on top and then I pay about £40 a month for petrol and £40 for nails maintenance (this is something that would cost more in the long run not to continue with otherwise I wouldn't bother).

I HATE being in my overdraft and I used to be really good with money. Not to mention my OH being an Accountant! I decided to be really good for a few months and not spend anything unnecessarily. All I really need to get other than mentioned above is lunch on a Friday.

I've pretty much managed it so far, though I'm slipping a little this month. We're going to France next weekend and then it's my birthday the weekend after so I've asked my OH to be my 'conscience'.

It's not easy and I realise it doesn't work for everyone but so far it's working for me. The thing I keep reminding myself is that the reason I'm doing this is that I need desperately to buy some new clothes for work and I couldn't afford it. I've decided to go in the January sales when I have some more money from my saving before Christmas. I've also told my friend about it, who's coming with me, so she's been really great, reminding me that I shouldn't spend money. It's only little things, like chocolate but every 45p adds up...

As far as having a social life is concerned, I'm currently studying part time at college so have been doing lots of that and cleaning the house. Then using my NUS card has helped save money and I even 'accidentally' saved money with a friend! Me and my OH went into town to watch football with some mates at a pub. To avoid spending money I decided to drive and drink OJ (or similar). Once there I started chatting with my friend there about debt and explained I wasn't buying rounds due to my plan, just my own soft drinks. My OH bought me my first drink and then when it came to my friend's turn she 'Told' me she was buying me a drink despite me not being in the round. I said thanks and apologised perfusely for being considered a '!!!!!!' (this is NOT the sort of thing we do in my circle of friends. Having plans is fine but if you go out you are expected to buy) and I got 1 OJ and 1 White wine spritzer bought! Like I say, I did say no thank you to start with and you do need to let go of a little pride to do this but I really appreciated it and my friend has agreed to be my conscience when we have a girls day out in London at the start of December as well. I think she realised how important it was to me and because it was only £5 to her was really helpful. Essentially, I had a really lovely night out for the cost of some petrol (which I had budgeted for anyway).

The above has only happened once but it's only two months. Like I say, later this month I shall have my birthday so I have had a few social events but to be honest, so far I've not missed not going out or spending money.

So for now, when I want to buy something I remember my birthday and Christmas and think of January. Then I think about how good it will feel when I am debt free (hopefully by April 2007).

So the message is, if it's a small debt and feasible, why not try my option?

dolly73

Its a site where you can offer your unwanted goods for others to take away for free. You won't have to pay for collection of whatever you offer, it keeps your unwanted stuff out of landfill, and you may find something you need - ALL FOR FREE!
There are Freecycle groups all over the world snd there wil be one local to you.
Have a look here:
http://www.freecycle.org/

digitalsigma

This may seem a bit obvious... but the best way to save money is to stop spending money!!

Credit cards are a great way to leverage money, but too many people act irresponsibly with them and believe that it is a pay raise, or worse yet... Free money!

A person who wants to get out of debt must first stop the gushing flow of money out of their pockets. And that flow is called MasterCard, Visa, and Diner's Card.

kalashcats

Keep hardly-used and nearly clean paper towels and serviettes handy in a carrier bag to use when cleaning up spills, etc.:rolleyes:

pyrorus

1/ Sell your dishwasher, you'll get money for the equipment, washing up liquid is cheaper than dishwashing materials and you'll save on electricity.

2/ Don't asmume cheaper is always the best option. I get more miles outta my car buying from the larger companies than I do from supermakets. Meaning I actually save money by buying the more expensive product.

3/ Take a book to work and at lunch time sit and read rather than taking a walk into town. you will avoid temptation of walking into shops and spending. In the summer sit in the local park and read.

4/ if you use the internet at lunch time instead of going out avoid ebay and shop sites.

5/ Drop your speed by 5 mile an hour. Driving at 65 rather than seventy will save you loads in petrol costs, reduce wear and tear on the car and reduce the risk of being done for creeping over the speedlimits and getting done for speeding thus increasing the cost of insurance and the fine.

6/ Hold regular car boots. You make money and tidy you house.

7/ Only ask 2 people to run the carboot stall. you need two to watch the stall. anymore and it allows you to walk round the other stalls, if you can't walk round you can't buy stuff.

Annie021063

sandralovescats wrote:

A Brilliant Way of Saving Money at Christmas!

I heard about this whilst I was in the USA last year.

The lady I was talking to had a large family - some 14 of them in total. Somewhere around September they all get together and put their names into a hat. Each family member takes a name at random.
Then you buy ONE present for that person, at a prearranged amount of money - say, £40, or whatever.

I only have a very small family and circle of close friends, but I did think that this was a brilliant idea!

We do this in our family. We set a budget of £60 to spend but we then split this into 3 first we pick out a name and a theme (say entertainment, food and drink, sports, colour etc) and spend £10 of the £60 on this theme for the person picked out. Then we pick another name and spend £45 on them, everybody e-mails each other with a wish list and you buy them something from the wish list. The final £5 is spent on a lucky dip pressie which has to be suitable for any member of family so it usually ends up being silly/funny. This way you only have to spend £60 and everyone gets at least 3 pressies. It's great fun try it.

hannah:-)_2

Luke wrote:

A few years ago I used to spend loads of money on clothes and going out. I figured that on my two days off I would spend 90% of what I had earnt over that week. My way of dealing with this was to work more, thus having less free time in which I would spend money. This had a double effect I was earning more and spending less.

I've been trying this too - unfortunately I feels so guilty about not spending time with my folks, I end up spending money on 'please don't be cross with me' gifts etc. Doh!

Ladygrim

If you get paid weekly, make your money stretch to cover 8 days instead of 7.