Scrimping behind the scenes - with debt of £31,000!

Seasidegal58

Hello all


Second scrimp day – Cereal breakfast again and egg mayo sandwich for lunch – worked out at another 60p newspaper spend day, so was pleased with that.


I’ve got the day off tomorrow as my sister is taking me out for the day for a belated birthday present of theatre and a meal afterwards. This is where the season ticket comes in handy as I can use it for the train to London! I’ve still got money on my Oyster card for the tube bit so all in all is looking like another good day in DFW-land!


Today I followed up on Chrysalis’s idea of getting my annual travel season ticket through Quidco. I checked on the Quidco site but though there were a few rail networks on there, mine wasn’t. However, I’ve sent an email to my rail network’s customer services suggesting this as an idea to get more customers buying their tickets online. Just got to wait now for their reply.


Toots – I used to have the Delia book years ago when it first came out in paperback - I think I bought it after I split up with my then partner! I’ve not got it now – my daughter eventually borrowed it when she was at uni. Must ask for it back!!


With regard to moving what I save onto to the debt, as this is the first month I’ve gone gung-ho on this, I’m going to see how much I manage to save between now and end May pay day and then move anything saved across then. It’s been relatively easy these last couple of days but I’ve got a couple of theatre tickets that I have to pay for next week (already bought on card last month) and there will probably being a few other things jumping out of the woodwork! As I’m a bit new at this I thought this would be the best way and review once at get the hang of it.


I like your remark on the coffe Apple Muncher ! I must admit that one thing I do like is good coffee. I casually mentioned to my daughter that I was thinking of cutting back on the bought coffees at work and she suggested I make my own decent coffee at home and take it into work in a little flask so I might give this a go.


You seem to be going great guns on your debt tizerbelle and you are right about putting one’s head in the sand when you are just covering the minimums. You get this false sense of security, not missing any payments, but of course you just stay static. £35 per week sounds very money saving for the food, household and toiletries. Is this for two of you?


Yes, Xmas and birthdays do stand out like sore thumbs on my budget. I’ve not got a large family, daughter and OH, plus his two children, sister and OH and sister’s OH’s great nephew/niece who they look after quite a bit. All the adults here have good jobs, especially my daughter, so we have always gone to town a bit. I also have a few friends who I buy for as well. However, it was mentioned last Christmas that perhaps we start cutting down here. I worked out what I spent last year and decided to put it away anyway and will mention the cutting down bit nearer the time and see what the reaction is. Anything saved I can put towards the debt. I’ve actually stopped buying for children and grandchildren of friends. More and more grandchildren were arriving into my circle of friends and it was getting a bit silly. The son of one of my closest friends is 18 later in the year and I told her I will give him a bit more money than I usually do and then that’s that! She agreed with me! Some of my friends are also retiring so we will all be cutting down here on birthdays as well.


Anyway in a funny sort of way I’m quite looking forward to the next month and seeing how I cope.


Night all!

Pippilongstocking

You're doing ace :-)

I've got a coffee caffetiere thingmy at work with a thermal whotsit on it (xmas pressie from ds) I love my coffee too :-) would that work for u?

Re pressies - we've downsized considerably this end. Tbh last year the best pressie i got was a chilli mill (about £2 I'm guessing, although its rude to google it )

I love chilli, and my chum had taken the time to go and find me a wee 'stocking' sized gift. We have a £5 max budget for each other. When you've really got to look and invest in really thinking about that wee thing which will make someone smile, it meant so much more to me. Previous year she knitted me a hat which I use most days and it makes me smile.

(I get her really posh choc bars (she's addicted))

We also have an embargo on buying pressies for each others (older) kids. It's just like swapping tenners. So we stopped a few years back and it's really taken the pressure off)

With most of our rellies we also have an embargo on anything other than buying a wee something for only the wee children, it was a hard convo to have but Most of us were struggling a bit. This year we made new years day meal for the BIL and SIL and gave the. The day off, we bought the grub and cooked it for them and washed up, and tbh nicer to enjoy their "pressie" with them.

Not for everyone, but just saying I think we all (me included) tend to sometimes get a bit lost in 'giving' rather than dong something small,which might mean so much more.

I'll stop havering now, well done on the small things like sandwiches etc. makes a huge difference.

I'm with tizer about £5/day for grub etc works well for us although the noo I'm eating up cupboards and freezers as we're moving soon so I'm spending less.

Goodluck!

tizerbelle

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

£35 per week sounds very money saving for the food, household and toiletries. Is this for two of you?

Not that money saving - its just me! (The dogs and cats have their own budget.) I used to buy lunch every work day and that alone was £3-4 a day so I figured £5 a day for everything was a good start and wouldn't leave me feeling so deprived that I gave up and it seems to be working. This month it looks as if I'll have about £17 of it not spent so that will get chucked at the debt as well at month end.

Yes, I could probably budget less but this is a long term change so there was no point going too severe or I would just give up on it. I work full time so I don't have that much free time and don't want to spend it all hunting for bargains.

And I sold my car as part of my LBM. That was the real tough sacrifice. I love driving - so much so that if I was bored/fed-up I would happily get in the car and just drive, not going anywhere specific, just drive for pleasure (yes I know not very green or pc to admit that these days). So I gave up that pleasure but also the pain of car tax, petrol, insurance and servicing costs etc. But I can walk to work, the local shops are less than 5 minutes away, the retail park is only 2.5 miles away (so also walkable). I will admit to getting a supermarket delivery about once every 2-3 weeks for the cupboard staples, heavier items etc but thats because it saves me lugging it all on the bus or paying for a taxi - even when the delivery was £3 (its now £1) I couldn't get a taxi back for that. And it frees up the time I would have spent getting there, doing the shopping and getting back.

in_need_of_direction

It also keeps you away from temptation.

tizerbelle

Hope you had a lovely belated birthday treat yesterday seasidegal with your sister.

Have to post and run I'm afraid - running late for work.

Seasidegal58

Well I had a lovely day with my sister – thoroughly spoilt!The play was very good – wonderfully acted. We then had delicious meal and I did not get back till late last night. Only spent out on my taxi home from the station - £5 – so added bonus of low spending day

So I will be doing the same for her for her own birthday later on in the year, but it will be budgeted for. We love doing this for our birthdays as we both enjoy the theatre, plus we are rather time poor in our family due to our long working hours, so it’s a treat to do something like this together and have a really nice day out.

Bought Jack’s book with my voucher so will be going over my food stores this weekend. I have a bit in the cupboards and freezer already so will do a kitchen audit and make a meal plan then off to Aldi to check things out. It’s about a 20 minute walk away from me and I don’t think I will have that much to buy this week so will be able to walk home with the shopping rather than get a taxi. Like you tizerbelle, I am walking distance from quite a few shops and I think your idea about an delivery every few weeks for the heavier stuff to save time and lugging things home is excellent – although I don’t think I will be able to do this with Aldi – back to one of the others! You are right inod, - it’ll keep me from filling up with things I don’t need.

I’ve found a little flask at the back of one of the kitchen cupboards pippi and so have decided to brew up my nice coffee for work – make it black then add the free milk at work! Not happy with the instant stuff!

in_need_of_direction

I'm in awe of your positive changes. Best of luck.

Seasidegal58

Thanks inod – year’s not over yet though!:rotfl:

I am feelingvery positive at the moment, but hope dearly I can maintain this shift in lifestyle. It’s only been a short time since the LBM and I did have quite a few things already in place in the new budget like most of my fixed costs. The real test will come over the coming months when day to day life kicks in proper and my initial euphoria settles down.

It was a bit of a funny ol’ day today. I meant to get up a bit earlier so I could sort out my food cupboards, fridge, freeze, etc, do my food audit and meal plan for the week and have a mooch round Aldi.


I ended up sleeping in a bit later than I envisaged (I can only put it down to a really hectic week at work and late night on Thursday). Once I got showered and dressed there was a rap on the window and it was my friend who had popped round for a chat. By the time she left it was getting on a bit so I decided to leave the food till tomorrow.


Instead I dragged out the suitcase under the bed where my summer shoes live during autum/ winter and had a sort-out. I swapped them for the winterish boots/shoes in my wardrobe and these are now in the suitcase under the bed. After going through the spring/summer stuff I found I had seven pairs of sandals/ pumps/sneakers that were good enough to go to our local dress agency down the road. I also went through my clothes and found three good M&S tops that I’ve hardly worn and are not keen on any more.


So I took these down to the agency and she’ll let me know in a week if she’ll sell them for me. If not they can go to the hospice shop. She had also sold the last bit of clothing that I had put with her before Christmas and I received £6.25 which I have immediately transferred over to Santander 1 card! I’m going to look at my bags next to see if there is anything summery there that can go as well.


The other good thing was when I checked my bank account I had £16.99 left in there on Thursday before my pay hit on Friday so that got transferred to Santander card as well!

So all in all the day didn’t go as planned, but I earned £6.25 with perhaps a little more to come and had some extra money left over in the bank!:j

Seasidegal58

Hi there

Well I had my kitchen audit yesterday!I decided to set myself a budget of £30 per week on food and household goods. Quite a few of the DFW regulars spend this or less feeding their whole family, but I thought I would start here and see how I get on.I didn’t have much of a food plan until now and have wasted so much money on expensive M&S ready meals, etc.I had a good look through my cupboards, freezer and fridge and had a clear out.I was still left with quite a bit and made a food plan for the week.

I mentioned in a previous post that I had quite a few clothes in different sizes as I’ve put on weight over the years so I’ve decided to try and drop some pounds to utilise the clothes.I had a bit of success last year with the 5:2 diet before things went haywire in the run-up to Christmas so I’m going to have another bash at this which means two 500 hundred calorie days per week and this will also mean not eating so much and saving some money.So on those days it will be apple, egg and soup in the evening.I’m going to make up a batch of Jack’s tomato and haricot bean soup which will last me for those two days.

So I paid my first visit to Aldi with my shopping list.I ended up spending £12.09 – which consisted of their version of Shredded Wheat Bitesize, bananas, cucumber, mixed peppers, four baps, tub low fat Greek yoghurt, their version of Lurpak spreadable, large roll refuse sacks, “luxury” cookies, vine tomatoes, three little tubs low fat hummus, antibacterial wipes, and a pack of “luxury” croissants.I couldn’t find any Vanish type spray or chocolate digestive/hobnob type biscuits, ryvitas (I like the pumpkin and oat type!).I also wanted to try their baked beans, but by this time was getting worried as I had to carry all the shopping back home and didn’t want it too heavy as I had a twenty minute walk, so I forego the beans!Got it home but had rather achey trapezius muscles!

So what did I think?The low fat yoghurt was ok – not a patch on Total 0% Greek, more like ordinary fat free yoghurt.Likewise the luxury cookies were nothing like M&S’s.They were quite crispy, but not as bad as I thought.The hummus tasted the same as the other low fat versions I’ve had in the other supermarkets.The luxury croissants actually look very nice – not tasted them yet though as they’re in the freezer till the weekend.The fruit and veg are good.Haven’t tried the cereal or spread yet.

All in all was very, very reasonable but I ended up in our local Costcutters to buy the things I couldn’t get so ended up spending another £8.45.I also struggled with the walk home with the shopping so I think I will go back on mysupermarket.com next week to see how cheap I can get the shopping on line.
Anyway it’s so much better having a proper meal plan.I made chilli last night and had some tonight with a jacket potato.I worked a bit later tonight so it was nice to get in and have something quick to cook that was homemade rather than spending out on a takeaway.

On my to-do list this week - negotiating with my broadband/telephone provider to get the monthly bill down.I’m cancelling Lovefilm when I send my current film back.

One last thing – I notice that I’m not a “Newbie” anymore, I’m now a Money Saving Convert” and have a gold star!

boredofbeingathome

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

Hello! - So I’m back a bit earlier today as I’m out later to my sister’s for lunch and will be staying over with her and her OH.

Before I get started I note that I left one “essential” off my list yesterday and that was clothes. Tbh I have loads of clothes (one of the reasons for the debt!) and don’t foresee buying any in the near future. I currently have clothes in four different sizes (some still with tags on - I can’t get into them!) so this will also be an incentive to drop some weight properly. I will probably need some new underwear at some stage but I have £110 in Marks & Spencer’s vouchers which I am keeping for this purpose and perhaps a clothes emergency, though I can’t envisage what this might be!. I like their underwear as I find it’s comfortable for me.

I’m now looking at what you could classify as “non-essential” items. Some of these will be a shock to DFW forumites! These are costs that I can actually foresee exactly what I will be paying each month. The rest are coming in a later post.

• Broadband - £10.50 per month – will be getting on to provider to negotiate this.can you combine this with a better deal?
• Sky TV – this is currently £44.65. It was higher but I negotiated it down a few months ago and am locked in until next February. I enjoy Sky and will keep it, but will definitely get rid of the movie channels when my fixed period is up.Look on the sky negotiating thread-i got full package for 9 months for next to nothing and i could still cancel and tbh i wasn't bothered whether i kept it or not..seriously can you watch all the channels? You could go freeview( just use sky box) and save a fortune
• TV Licence – need that because of above.
• Lovefilm – this is £7.99 monthly and I am cancelling because of Sky.good talktalk and others offer a free package of lovefilm for a year and you could get cheaper
• Dental Plan - £19.99 per month. This is a private plan taken out because of my previous awful NHS dentist. However, my firm are introducing some new staff benefits next month, one of which is s dental plan. You do have to pay but it may well be cheaper but I won’t know till next month.would still use nhs and change dentist what do you get for that? a check up and a clean?
• Hair - £61 per month – I know, I know! I have my hair cut and highlighted every eight weeks. It’s a London rate, but tbh all the perceived “good” local hair salons in my area charge about the same. I’ve been going to my hairdresser for a few years now and he does let me off with the cut now and again and gives me a discount occasionally. Also due to a medical problem my hair has become rather thin and I don’t trust anyone else with my barnet!I understand about this, but maybe you could try a college for one time and see how they would sort it
• Nails/Pedicure - £45 month – again a bit of a bill! I have monthly nail extensions because my nails have never been that strong and never looked good, and a monthly pedicure (well I am from Essex you know!).I am northern and really wouldn't :rotfl:
• Birthdays and non-Christmas gifts - £30 monthly budgeted for this.:eek: look on the old style or craft forums for tips on this, a lot of folk do surveys for vouchers and use these for presents it is never an easy subject really
• Christmas - £80 monthly budgetedsee above that could be over £1200 thrown at your debts over the year and would make a serious dent in them

I don’t smoke or have any pets. I ditched the slimming club and the useless gym membership a couple of months ago.

I know this if you strip out the last five items this comes to over a couple of hundred pounds which a large percentage of committed DFWs could quite easily ditch or bring the amounts down quite radically and then throw at the debt. However, it ties in with my plan of not letting friends or family know there is anything amiss. There is an excellent thread on here called “Keeping up appearances” by a lady called Happynow who had quite a bit of debt and was determined to keep the fact of it to herself . This could also be the title of my own thread!

I have to leave off now, but will post again tomorrow with going forward with what money I have left and my budget.

Have a lovely Easter Sunday everyone and enjoy your eggs!

Good luck with it all. I would also suggest you have a look at some blogs for ideas-Google Frugal Queen and Mortgage free in three All are ex forumites and have done wonders with their debt. Hypno also is another diary from the past that will give you some good tips. It can be done and you can keep up appearances, but i bet those appearances that you are also keeping up with are up to their neck in it as well. BOB x