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

Seasidegal58

Hi there

Well I’ve just eaten my “Girl Called Jack” tomato and haricot bean soup and very tasty it was too!And hardly cost anything!:money:

Also had an email from my train network provider today in answer to my query (thought up very kindly by Chrysalis) whether they would link their website to Quidco so customers can gain when buying tickets (including season) through the website. They are passing on my email to their marketing department for consideration and so hopefully something may come of this.

Thanks very much for posting boardofbeingathome (are you really? – must read your thread!) – After seeing the fruit salad under your name it makes my one little star look very paltry!

My broadband and telephone line are with the same provider – Sky. I wasn’t aware that there was a Sky negotiating thread so I will have a good look through this and give it a go.I do watch a few of their channels - Atlantic and the Arts I especially enjoy.

My dentist is excellent and sorted me out after I had a rotten experience with my local NHS one. I’m hoping to get a better dental plan next month through work.

Did chuckle at your comment on the nails! Although some of the girls I know from Liverpool would give me a run for my money! :rotfl: Tbh though, I am a paranoid about my hair and baulk at the thought of someone inexperienced near it, even though they will be supervised!

The surveys sound very interesting and lots of people on MSE seem to do them. Do they take up a lot of time though? As I’ve mentioned before I’m a bit time poor as I often work long hours. I’m putting away for Christmas what I spent last year but the family spoke of cutting down so I’m going to see if I can bring the cost down a bit this year. Anything left over will go on the debt.

Bright spot of the day – I noticed today from my bank account that there was slightly more in my pay packet this month – decrease in tax and NI - £15 gone over to the credit card!:D

Pippilongstocking

Well done on the extra payment to the cc - its those little things that really count up.

As for keeping up appearances - I'll make you laugh - one of the 'more familiar faces on here' (Essexhebridean, I didn't call us old ) and I met up last week for a weekend and a nice holiday for her and her hubby.

I invited an old chum around for tea (pork with dumplings - cost about 80p as the pork was reduced) - and a reduced rhubarb pie - whole meal for 5 came in under £1.50 - anyway I digress.

MY 'old' RL chum asked me how EH and I met - so you have that bit when you think so do we SAY its a money site - so I did.

My old RL friend dropped down on the floor when she heard I might have had trouble with money as 'it never looked like it and you've always had such full cupboards/nice life'.

If she'd ever looked under the basics she'd have seen the work that went into hiding things from folks and why we ended up in so much debt - appearances can be very deceptive.

BOB's (waves) so right!

We've got freeview and only netflix until the end of May- see what you can get for free! Its coming into the summer - if you cancelled it all down to the basics or reduced it would you really miss it I wonder?

We didn't

Well done again on the overpayment!

Seasidegal58

Hello again

Hi pippi – you sound like you all had a lovely weekend and your budget dinner sounded delicious – did you tell your friend how much it all cost?I bet she didn’t believe you if you did!

Yes it’s funny how we keep our money secrets.I was pondering over this today.Our debt is relative to what we can afford to pay – I think if I announced to my family and friends that I was in £6,000 worth of debt the eyebrows would be raised (“well she’s certainly been spending lately!"), but they would assume I would move it onto 0% interest and have it cleared in a few months and not perceive it as too much of problem. £31,000 is another matter!Yet £6,000 to other people would be a massive deal.

The dress agency called me today to let me know they are taking seven out of the ten pieces I left with them so hopefully these will be sold.

However….. had to make a big payout today, ie theatre tickets that I bought last month for later next month and now have to pay for - £154 (ouch) -:( so that’s made a dent in the budget this month, but should be ok.

Mind you it's nice to feel how the envelope style budgeting system is working. I had to buy some get well/new baby/thank you cards today and some more stamps. But this will come out of the "Birthday and Gifts" budget so in a strange sort of way I didn't feel like I was paying for them because the money was already in that account.

Finally, thinking also about Sky – I’m going to make this my geeky project, i.e. the Sky audit! I’ve read on MSE that you should work out what actual channels you watch over a month and see if you if you are actually getting your money’s worth. So as from tomorrow I will log what I watch and see in a month’s time what the result is!

boredofbeingathome

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

Hi there

Well I’ve just eaten my “Girl Called Jack” tomato and haricot bean soup and very tasty it was too!And hardly cost anything!:money:She is really good-stands by her principles as well as she currently doing 'the living below the poverty line challenge':T

Also had an email from my train network provider today in answer to my query (thought up very kindly by Chrysalis) whether they would link their website to Quidco so customers can gain when buying tickets (including season) through the website. They are passing on my email to their marketing department for consideration and so hopefully something may come of this.

Thanks very much for posting boardofbeingathome (are you really? – must read your thread!) – After seeing the fruit salad under your name it makes my one little star look very paltry! :rotfl::rotfl:It was the day i joined i was bored and funnily enough the usernames i tried were also containing the words bored. I became boredofbeingathome and as i am a Blackadder fan shortened it to BOB. All a happy coincidence:rotfl: Been around a long time:money:

My broadband and telephone line are with the same provider – Sky. I wasn’t aware that there was a Sky negotiating thread so I will have a good look through this and give it a go.I do watch a few of their channels - Atlantic and the Arts I especially enjoy. I had the full package, movies and sports for around £14 this was for 9 months. I have been a long time customer and generally have the basic package. I tend to watch programmes which have been recorded, so really wouldn't bother. Films i have also seen. The trick really is not to bother, i have left a few times and they rang up with good offers. If it suits me i will take them if not i will continue as i am. I honestly don't miss it

My dentist is excellent and sorted me out after I had a rotten experience with my local NHS one. I’m hoping to get a better dental plan next month through work.
Hope that works out better for you then-i often find they are rubbish value, but then again i have a good dentist so have never sought to have one.
Did chuckle at your comment on the nails! Although some of the girls I know from Liverpool would give me a run for my money! :rotfl: Tbh though, I am a paranoid about my hair and baulk at the thought of someone inexperienced near it, even though they will be supervised! Some of the girls in my town would as well-i have never seen so many nail parlours:eek:But being of gritty stock it would be an anathema to me:eek: My nails are quite nice though and i can still pick me nose;):p:rotfl:

The surveys sound very interesting and lots of people on MSE seem to do them. Do they take up a lot of time though? As I’ve mentioned before I’m a bit time poor as I often work long hours. I’m putting away for Christmas what I spent last year but the family spoke of cutting down so I’m going to see if I can bring the cost down a bit this year. Anything left over will go on the debt. Sometimes you get some good ones and it is time dependent.

Bright spot of the day – I noticed today from my bank account that there was slightly more in my pay packet this month – decrease in tax and NI - £15 gone over to the credit card!:D

:T That is a bit of good news. Most folk start with Oldstyle and then read and get tips. I often find the best bits of advice are on there and here.

boredofbeingathome

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Well done on the extra payment to the cc - its those little things that really count up.

As for keeping up appearances - I'll make you laugh - one of the 'more familiar faces on here' (Essexhebridean, I didn't call us old ) and I met up last week for a weekend and a nice holiday for her and her hubby.

I invited an old chum around for tea (pork with dumplings - cost about 80p as the pork was reduced) - and a reduced rhubarb pie - whole meal for 5 came in under £1.50 - anyway I digress.

MY 'old' RL chum asked me how EH and I met - so you have that bit when you think so do we SAY its a money site - so I did.

My old RL friend dropped down on the floor when she heard I might have had trouble with money as 'it never looked like it and you've always had such full cupboards/nice life'.

If she'd ever looked under the basics she'd have seen the work that went into hiding things from folks and why we ended up in so much debt - appearances can be very deceptive.

BOB's (waves) so right!

We've got freeview and only netflix until the end of May- see what you can get for free! Its coming into the summer - if you cancelled it all down to the basics or reduced it would you really miss it I wonder?

We didn't

Well done again on the overpayment!

Waves back to Pipster. :hello::D

I must admit the biggest stress i had was keeping up appearances, until one day i thought-Am i living to please other people or am i living to please myself? That was the wake up call:cool:

It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. Why on earth would i imagine that they are talking about me and my standard of living and why on earth would it matter? :rotfl::rotfl:

I would rather they copy Martin's money saving ways and have a better standard of living than be miserable and trying to cope with what they perceive the imaginary standards that they should live by.

mooomin

To chip in on the keeping up appearances thing:

When I had my "Ooh, I better sort that out" moment, I was in nearly £10,000 of debt. That was over half of my annual salary at the time as I think I was earning about £16k. I only told two close friends that I was working on debt, but got good at turning down invitations for things I knew I couldn't afford. I now have a reputation among my friends for being sensible/good with money :rotfl::rotfl:

I will say though, the weight that comes off your mind when you stop hiding is amazing. I absolutely understand that's not possible though for everyone. I still to this day haven't told family what a pickle I was in. They knew about an overdraft I had (£1500 maybe?) but that's it.

Good luck on your journey

in_need_of_direction

I could never let my family and friends know what debts I'd had. My family see me as the runt of the litter who gets it all wrong. This would just confirm it. My friends see me as being on top of things and I couldn't cope with the change there would be in their perceptions. I just wish I could be as committed to a physical appearance then I too might have a nail habit to support! It's odd how I equate being overweight with failure but can't tackle that while being able to chip away at debt. It's like it's easier to work on the less obvious area because no one can see when you get it wrong. Anyhow, ssg, hope you enjoy the theatre outing. I love live performances and also work with 2 theatres. They have really struggled through the recession so take comfort from supporting them for a time when affording to go won't be such a problem.

Seasidegal58

Good evening

Hi BOB – I’m a Blackadder fan as well!You’ve certainly got Sky covered.I’m going to have a go at them this weekend.

Re the whole keeping up appearances, like you mooomin I’ll have to perfect the art of turning down invitations!I’ve already turned down one “girls’” lunch at work this week – excuse was very busy, which is actually quite true though I probably could have managed it – in fact before I would have managed it and just worked longer to make it up!So the MSE experience is slowly seeping through!

Hopefully, I’ll never have to tell my family/friends about my own pickle – they all think I’m doing well now.I was always the one in the family that was bad with money and now to all “appearances” I’m doing fine.

Don’t worry inod – I’m overweight as well! I keep trying to lose it but find it really hard.You sound very successful and professional at your career and have been so effective in tackling your debt problems that you should definitely not feel a failure. The nail habit is partially because I have to look “polished” and well-turned out for work as I often meet clients and my nail girl does such a better job than me.At home I’m more the leggings and Ugg type!

So, my plus point today was cancelling Lovefilm – they are rebating £5.99 from the streaming service as I didn’t use this month and cancelling the DVD part by end of month.The £8 pm saved in future can go on the debt.Also only spent 60p on newspaper.:)

in_need_of_direction

Hi seaside gal, some of what you said rang true for me about needing to keep a professional appearance. So, today I'm off to get my haircut, coloured, eyebrows and waxing done. Yes, it's more money than I'd like to spend but it should make it easier to be taken seriously if I look better. Being fat is no reason to look neglected. Thank you. Also, am seeing some of my ex in laws on Wednesday, that might also have something to do with it! Over the weekend I'm revisiting my goals for 2014, you've def given me food for thought. Thanks again.

mooomin

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

Also only spent 60p on newspaper.:)

Assuming you're only buying newspapers five days a week at 60p each, that's £156 a year

Could you read the online versions instead? Or read a book if it's for your commute?