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

Chrysalis1976

A great first month, well done you! It won't be long before your first card is paid off although I too hope you manage to secure a good interest rate on the other card so you can carry on in such a positive way.

The debt will soon start with a lovely little 2!

C x

boysma

Wow well done you. I have just subscribed to your thread to help me with the motivation I badly need :oLook forward to the next instalment :beer:

asparagus1968

hi there.
have just finished reading your story up to now. you have done so well this month:)
have you also thought about topcashback.co.uk for insurance and other online shopping? (not that i'm encouraging you to shop, but you can even get cashback for your M&S purchases..)
I have totally fallen off the wagon recently, treated myself to a new bed/mattress.
reading other peoples stories gets me back on track though.
have subscribed! thanks for sharing. it does get addictive I warn you.
good luck

asparagus1968

ps, have you tried millicano instant? lovely, you could just take the tin with you to work:)

Seasidegal58

Hello and thanks to all posting above for your good wishes.

Hi Apple Muncher and Chrysalis – I did call Santander today to see if they would let me have a balance transfer on my card, but it appears the credit card department don’t work on Sundays – the robot on the phone at their end told me to ring back tomorrow! I think they were all sunbathing on the roof at Santander Towers because of the sunshine so I will ring tomorrow.

But…. on checking online Barclaycard was offering me 6.9% till amount is paid off – unfortunately because I am so near my limit they would only let me transfer £432 (at 2.9% fee), but beggars cant be choosers so I’ve gone for it to transfer to my Halifax card which is also on 21.9% like Santander 1, and where I have a large balance.

The other positive thing was that I took a chance and tried for a 0% balance on a new card. At the beginning of the year I got a resounding NO to all my applications as soon as I showed my head online, but the Post Office today told me they would be considering my application and may ask me to provide proof of address, earnings etc. So I am anticipating getting a letter from them later on in the week asking for details. At least this may come to something and help me move some of the balance with awful interest rates.

Thanks for joining me boysma and asparagus and good luck to you both on your journies though I note you're debt free asparagus – well done! If I get accepted for the Post Office card I should earn £40 cashback from Quidco so that can go on the debt as well! I used to be with Greasy Palm but on looking at the Quidco site recently this seems to offer more so I have joined them.

Hope your new bed is nice and comfy asparagus – don’t blame you one bit for buying this – nothing worse than an uncomfortable bed! Thanks also for the coffee tip – I will definitely buy a tin of Millicano Instant on my next big grocery shop next week online at Tesco. Though I’ve been good with making my own lunches for work because I get them ready the night before, I make my coffee to take to work in the morning to keep it hot and if I’m running late some mornings I don’t get round to making it. At least I haven’t succumbed to the temptation of Pret, but have had to use the firm’s instant which isn’t very good.

Well today all I bought was my Sunday paper - £2.50 so good going here!:)


Night all!

asparagus1968

hi, I am debt free, except mortgage, but do sail close to the wind sometimes ,so still need to peruse here quite often!
my old bed was 14 years old so it did last!


apparently the Millicano is quite often on special pffer at one of the big supermarkets, will have a scout round and see if I can find you a bargain..

asparagus1968

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/Shopping/FindProducts.aspx?Query=millicano




woo, £3.99 Tesco, £1.99 morrisons , or BOGOF at waitrose

tizerbelle

Hello seaside, you are doing ever so well. You should feel really proud of ourself, no longer an ostrich but a phoenix getting ready to rise from the ashes of your financial past.

(That's all the imagery and creativity I can cope with for one day - the rest will be plain speech!)

I understand what you mean about food spending and how the laziness and mindless purchasing of ready meals fritters your hard earned money away without you even realising. Its only later when you change your ways that it comes as a resounding shock just how much money you threw away.

Have you got a tesco clubcard, nectar card etc etc. Does M&S do a loyalty card? My supermarket shopping will be at sainsburys for the next three weeks as I got sent 3 vouchers for £4 off a £20 spend plus a bonus 500 points if I use all 3 vouchers. It may mean I have to bulk buy on certain things like loo roll, chopped tomatoes etc to make up the £20 but that will mean less spend in future weeks but as they (well Mr T says) "every little helps"

I see you're trying out YNAB - how are you getting on with it? I use it and I lurve it!! I've never managed to maintain a written budget before (which is odd as I am a spreadsheet freak at work - love excel, data management and report creation) but YNAB has been a godsend. It was the extra support I needed to make this LBM work and not fizzle out like the poorly powered bulbs of the past. I can waste hours staring at it, playing around with different spend levels etc.

Anyway, the doggles are bouncing at my feet as I'm running late and they want to go out so I'll have to sign off for now. Keep up the great work.

Seasidegal58

Hi asparagus – thanks so much for checking out the Milicano :T – will do a mysupermarket shop at the weekend. I normally find Mr T generally comes out cheaper for me, but will do the whole check across the mysupermarket board at the weekend. It may mean having a wander up to waitrose (which is walking distance for me) just to pick up the double bubble Milicano!

Thanks for popping in tizerbelle – I rather like the idea of the phoenix !I cant begin the imagine what I have wasted my money on over the years – you can remember big things like holidays, but I often wonder how much on food I have spent (and wasted! ). I have a tesco clubcard, together with nectar, waitrose and co-op cards as well. M&S don’t offer a loyalty card as such, but I use their credit card for purchases as you rack up vouchers every quarter to spend there. You get more points for shopping in M&S but also get points for shopping elsewhere also. That’s a good idea on the Sainsbury’s vouchers – you know I think they sent me some of these a while back, but I was still on the ready meal splurging at M&S at the time and never used them !:D

I havent’ actually downloaded YNAB yet – I'm going to do it at the weekend when I get paid which will be the actual “spending” month end. I think Im in danger of turning into a nerd if I like it as I tinker around enough with my own funny little spreadsheet, let alone if I end up using the Ferrari of money budget software! Hope you had a good time with your dogs!

I rang Santander but they’re not offering any balance transfers, so waiting on the Post Office now .

Today I spent 60p on my newspaper, but also donated £10 to some colleagues I work closely withwho are doing a charity run. I haven’t donated to charity for a while so I am happy doing this and it’s in a good cause.

I am looking forward to my day out tomorrow with my daughter – we’re off to a fashion exhibition during the day and then to the theatre in the evening. The ticket was paid out of this month’s ad hoc spends but there will be some eats and drinks involved as well so not so MSE tomorrow!

Chrysalis1976

Have a lovely day and evening tomorrow, hope you have a lovely time.

C x