Do you still have your treats?

MrsSave

tintingirl wrote: »

I buy the £3.29 wine from Aldi - 6 bottles on payday and when its gone, it's gone (one a week to drink and two spare for taking to friend's houses - I rarely go "out" with friends like before).

I popped to Aldi yesterday and picked up 4 bottles of their wine, cheaper than any major supermarket one. Also of the opinion that when it's gone it's gone. Or, if I do run out and I have money left in my personal spends then I can choose to spend if like that.

Giraffeseeker

I only have myself to answer to as I am a single parent, so that makes a difference I think. If I spend on clothes then as long as I can make YNAB balance that's OK, I'm not depriving anyone else. I could make overpayments to debts but I don't - my DMP is £650 and that's enough for me, it is going down at a good rate. After 3 years of a DMP (with help from YNAB) I have got a £1K emergency pot, a Christmas pot (£550 at the moment), a car repair pot and a couple of others. I do exam marking and moderation for extra cash and use it for holidays (and that's where most of the EF came from). I work full time and more so I am not going to deprive myself completely to shave a month or two off my debt-free date. If I got rid of all treats and used exam marking money to pay down debts I may have shaved 6 months off in the long term - but by then my kids would be off at Uni and I won't get that time back, so as long as I can meet my DMP payment and not take on any more debt I am happy to treat us!

Big fan of Aldi wine :-)

MrsSave

Love your attitude tintingirl. All those pots you mention, we're building up. We only had our lbm at the beginning of September, so it's very early days, but have a few pounds in these different account and have overpaid on debts.

It does depend on the individual person, and what works best for them

Bobarella

Hiya
Not really at the moment. We have such an erratic income I feel scared to spend on things that I used to take for granted. But I suppose things like my son's piano and dance lessons are a treat because they aren't essential. I'd do anything for him to keep up on those. We have to pick what's important to us don't we.
Bob

racing_blue

Willowpop wrote: »

We still have treats, but we changed how we have them...For example we used to have a pizza delivered on a Saturday night for the family....around £30 a time. We still have pizza but we get 2 large pizzas from the pizza counter in Sainsburys for just under £7 and have a bottle of Lidl own brand cola for 35p if I remember correctly. Anyway, same food but for under £8, instead of £30, and we still feel like we're having a special Saturday night tea.

I agree but you can take it back a step further:

Mix flour, water, yeast. Knead at 1pm and leave to prove. Go for a windy walk on the beach. Collect some firewood to burn later.

As it goes dark, flatten the dough out and spread tomato puree over it with a bit of oregano. Open 1 can of economy sweet corn, chop a few mushrooms, some ham, fresh chilli, chopped onion and a little grated cheese (£ 2 max). Get the kids in and get them to lay the stuff on the raw pizza in the way they like. Put it in the oven.

While the smell drifts out of the oven, crack open some of the Mexican Style Lager you home brewed in the summer using the kit from Wilkinsons (kit £9.99 makes 40 pints)

Pick some lettuce rocket and chives from the bed in the back yard that you grow in an old bath tub. Rinse and chop. (£0)

Serve up with lager (25p/pint) and Sainsbury own brand diet cola (19p / 2l) just as a good film starts of freeview (£0). Duvets on the sofa.

After play that game where you stick a famous name to someone's forehead & make them guess who they are by asking questions (£0).

When the fire dies down tuck them in with a bed time story (£0)

That's a family saturday that the younger kids will *LOVE* for £4 tops. Sounds trite but it really does not have to cost £££ to be special, in fact in some ways the opposite applies, takes a bit of planning is admittedly. But I love the saying: price is what you pay, value is what you get.

thebritishbloke

I think the best "treat" that most people can have now, regardless of their financial situation, is something like Netflix. There's countless thousands of hours of entertainment on it, especially if you figure out how to get US and other countries' Netflix. For £6 a month, I'd rather keep that and give up my TV license.

midlander81

We allow ourselves treats on the condition that it doesn't add to our debt or reduce the amounts that we are paying off each month.


We started with 40kish debts and we are currently knocking about £1300 a month off them. Providing we can maintain this then I have no issue with the odd splurge. The difference now is that I am AWARE that it's a splurge whereas before my LBM it was just normal to have whatever we wanted.


Like many others have said, we could pay off our debts more quickly and perhaps if we didn't have a child then we would take a stricter approach but I want to enjoy our time with our son with the odd day out or treat.

Giraffeseeker

thebritishbloke wrote: »

I think the best "treat" that most people can have now, regardless of their financial situation, is something like Netflix. There's countless thousands of hours of entertainment on it, especially if you figure out how to get US and other countries' Netflix. For £6 a month, I'd rather keep that and give up my TV license.

I agree, I got Netflix for 6 months free as an incentive with something and have continued with the £6 per month. My teenage boys have TONS to watch on there and I love that together we have watched older "classic" films because of Netflix - my 16 y/o was wowed by The Shining for example (yes, I know he technically isn't old enough...) instead of paying to watch a contemporary movie for £4 a go on Virgin. Love the choice of serial dramas - Mad Men kept me going for ages and currently obsessed with Orange is the New Black. Worth the £6 per month definitely.

I am a BBC fan though and like the fact that it is so unique and part of British culture, and I think we'd regret it if we lost it, so I'll always pay my license fee too, but that's just me.

FireWyrm

It isnt about giving up treats, but more about how to have the same treats, but not spend so much. So, as people upthread have pointed out, you can make a pizza for next to nothing, brew your own wine and beer as well as make other things. There are plenty of free days out if you look around as well. Entertainment needn't mean an expensive TV contract, Amazon and Netflix both offer acceptable services for £6 per month.

People are used to being told that they are failures if they dont have this or that. They are used to being told that 'this' is the only way to get something, rather than to make it our source it from a different supplier. The truth is that you can make almost everything we generally consider to be a 'treat', what you are paying a premium for is time.

I shop for the cheapest everything, make what I can and make do with the rest. That leaves me with an acceptable payment plan towards my debts and a small pot of discretionary money to be used for other things that we want. That money doesnt have to be spent and indeed, I prefer a month when it survives in tact, but it is always there if we feel the need to blow off steam. This Saturday was a trip to the local swimming pool - £12 comes out of the pot set aside for that purpose. That was the only planned trip for this month.

Ellieseleven

We still have some treats but as others have said, have changed the way we have them. We don't eat out very much but will do the M&S Two dine for £10.

We love Aldi wine and stock up when we can.

We have days out in the Summer and take a packed lunch (we haven't had a holiday for a few years).

Clothes and shoes were my downfall but now I make do and get my money's worth before buying more. We try to stick to our budget and have built up an emergency fund for those unforseen, unavoidable expenses.

I think to deny yourself completely would be very hard especially if it will take several years to clear the debt.

Ellie xx