Too much effort on reducing and not enough on growing?

climbgirl

Zulu_Dawn wrote: »

My family currently spend around £500 per month for a family of four. I'm going to try and dig out the bills, do some analysis and see what I am doing that is obviously so different to a lot of you. For example I never buy duck as it is too expensive and yet some of you can afford it on a budget 50% less than mine! perhaps I'll even stick it on here for you all to pull apart.;)

Perhaps my position does come about from the size of my debt. £75 on a dinner party represents one two thousandth of my debt. I'm not going to repay this by cutting that out.

Two points here - absolutely post your food budget (maybe on Old Style is better). You'll be amazed at how people can suggest cheaper options, nobody lives on rice and beans here, not anymore!

And yes, you are going to repay the debt by cutting out the entertaining (or better yet, asking your friends to bring their own stuff to the party, no true friend is going to even question that!). You need to adjust that attitude because every tiny little bit will add up so much quicker than you realise. Try the snowball calculator and see what a difference £75 a week/month will make to the interest you'll pay in the long run. I think it'll surprise you. And hopefully spur you on to making cutbacks or changes without sacrificing fun.

lynzpower

The information offered on this board is just advice and can be taken up according to personal priorities. At the end of the day, I'll offer advice where I feel I can, but I'm not going to lose sleep at night over somebody else's debt. They have to choose to tackle it themselves. But it would be very negligible to not talk about all the expense reduction options on what is a financial website - especially when it's such an obvious and immediate way of maximising money available to clear the debt.

:hello: Not seen enough of your advice recently Climbgirl, youve been missed

Dr_Hook

I don't know if anyone's already made this point cos I've only had a quick scan through the posts, but I think it's the length of time it'll take to clear your debts which is the deciding factor. Living on a tight budget for 6, 12, maybe even 18 months is likely feasible, longer than would probably start affecting your sanity - it would for me!

I think the thing to bear in mind is that an SOA will be one of a newbie's first posts. Having only recently un-ostriched and removed head from sand, they'll probably have spent so long trying to avoid confronting their situation that they'll have no idea what is a good deal or where to start re-structuring their finances. I know that advice on where to cut back/save was exactly what I wanted when I posted my SOA. Getting tips & pointers from people who have been there and done that is surely a large part of what this forum's all about?

sammy115

Just had to add my bit.. We were very skint years ago and then things got better for us. We had salary increases and benefits etc etc. Every time we got a pay rise we upped our spend a little more, and more and more. Then we started to get debts and it was 'we just need to earn more money', or 'if only we earned more money'.

Then when we ended up in the pickle we were in now we tried to maximise our income, I worked two jobs, quidco, matched betting - you name it I tried it. BUT it nearly drove me to the edge of a nervous breakdown trying to fit it all in. I found chilling a little bit and slowing down gave me time to cook from scratch, meal plan and look around for the deals.

I did read somewhere that it is better to decrease your expenditure before maximising your income and I tend to agree.

Seaxwyn

This is an interesting thread and there have been some really good points made. I don't disagree with anything I've read here.

It is relevant to consider people's circumstances and realise that different strategies suit different situations.

I think Zulu Dawn said he earns £45/hour - so the barbeque set him back less than two hours' pay. We don't know who he entertained - maybe some of them were clients.

We all need to understand our income and outgoings, and there's no
one-size-fits-all solution to getting out of debt. For high earners, ZD is right that doing some extra work may be far more fruitful than shaving a few pounds off the grocery budget. And when touting for contracts, it probably helps to give the impression that you're a good money manager and can afford to splash out on a good barbeque or whatever is expected.

Zulu_Dawn

How annoying.

I just made a really long post and it seems to have been lost.

Anyway for those who haven't seen it, I attach a link to my original SOA.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=476482

Try the snowball calculator and see what a difference £75 a week/month will make to the interest you'll pay in the long run. I think it'll surprise you. And hopefully spur you on to making cutbacks or changes without sacrificing fun.

Sadly it moves my DFD from 2019 to 2018!

To paraphrase Jeffrey Archer after he was made bankrupt " you can't pay back £1million by doing an extra paper round.

That was the essence of my OP.

Redbedhead

This has been an interesting discussion post.

For what it is worth, I think it all comes down to your priorities and everyone has different ones.

I know my sister would have a purple fit if she knew how much we spend on our holidays, but conversely I am stunned at how much she spends on things like manicures / treatments / hair cuts. However, she has said she would prefer to go hungry than not have these things and that is her choice.

I don't have debt other than my mortgage but I don't see the point in spending more money than I have to on the essentials. I always shop around for things like insurance etc.

With regards to the food shopping, we also spend more than a lot of people state on here but I am happy with that. We eat the food we like and i don't pay silly money (other than my current Marks & Spencer food habit but I am breaking that:o) for things. I tend to buy things when on special or bogof and store them and ensure that is how we can afford to have steak a few times a week.

i think everyone needs to look at their debts frmo their own personal perspective - some people may find it easy to get extra income - others don't.

Zulu_Dawn

sammy115 wrote: »

I did read somewhere that it is better to decrease your expenditure before maximising your income and I tend to agree.

BTW I totally agree with this. Great point.

beemuzed

Have really enjoyed reading this post - well argued and no nastiness!! However, have just had a thought - bills for food etc. really do depend where you live...we are in a so-called "affluent area" with only Waitrose or Tesco to shop locally. Our Tesco have just stopped selling Value tissues (30p approx a box?) because this is an affluent area (their explanation!!!) and the cheapest available now are over a pound a box!!! Just one example.
I know that when visiting my sisters in South Wales or my Mum in Dorset I can always rely on the supermarket shop being a lot cheaper than here at home. So, yet another thing to factor in...location, location...etc.

Zulu_Dawn

beemuzed wrote: »

Have really enjoyed reading this post - well argued and no nastiness!! However, have just had a thought - bills for food etc. really do depend where you live...we are in a so-called "affluent area" with only Waitrose or Tesco to shop locally. Our Tesco have just stopped selling Value tissues (30p approx a box?) because this is an affluent area (their explanation!!!) and the cheapest available now are over a pound a box!!! Just one example.
I know that when visiting my sisters in South Wales or my Mum in Dorset I can always rely on the supermarket shop being a lot cheaper than here at home. So, yet another thing to factor in...location, location...etc.

Good point. I've never been to an Aldi. I've just looked and our closest is more than nine miles away but on the other side of London - probably an hours drive each way.

There is Lidl four miles away and I will certainly give it a go. Up until recently I've had to battle hard to keep my wife from shopping at M&S!!!