Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2015!

Duke_848

Been another busy few days mainly selling motorbike items on eBay that I no longer use or need. Managed to have quite a hefty clear out. This means that I am able to pay off a further £2,500 from my amount which takes me past the magical 50% mark :j:j:j.

#119 £21,525/£42,908 (50.2%)

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to make as big an impact on my debt from now on but I'll keep chipping away and we'll see how it goes. Keep going everyone!:T

greensalad

Paid off lots this weekend! Can you update my total please :beer:

#32 £696.00 / £3,478.00 20%

freightexec2009

Pepperoni wrote: »

YES...

And I don't think I've ever stuck to a budget properly either

It probably doesn't help that I do it and then don't share it with OH as don't want to be controlling with what is equally his money... so he may have stuff coming up that he's forgotten about etc that never makes it into the budget.

We are terrible with our food budget, I absolutely *must* start food planning but everytime I start it I'm like urgh, can't be bothered thinking about what I want to eat in a weeks time!

If anyone has any budget tips do share

Like amr547 we to have a separate bank account for our food shopping - which we transfer over a set amount on pay day.

Switched our main food shop to Ald* & we shop weekly to try and keep to a set budget which works well for us & is also good for buying fresh produce.

Of course we can go occasionally go over, but then it works both ways and we can come under to - so that's a great idea pinkgiraffe2014 think I will take a look at that and transfer any pennies that we haven't spent that week if any!

I have recently signed up to cashback sites to, so I am hoping that helps to gain a few pennies back on the top up shop that we need to do for other bits we do not buy in our main shop xxx

greensalad

Pepperoni wrote: »

YES...

And I don't think I've ever stuck to a budget properly either

It probably doesn't help that I do it and then don't share it with OH as don't want to be controlling with what is equally his money... so he may have stuff coming up that he's forgotten about etc that never makes it into the budget.

We are terrible with our food budget, I absolutely *must* start food planning but everytime I start it I'm like urgh, can't be bothered thinking about what I want to eat in a weeks time!

If anyone has any budget tips do share

I'm pretty strict on my budgeting with my partner, but at the same time it's up to him to do what he wants with the leftovers.

We have two joint accounts. "Utilities" and "Joint spend". The reason we have two is that "Utilities" is a set cost every month (though it can vary) and "joint spend" is variable in what we spend.

Utilities, well, all of our regular bills come out of this. I keep a spreadsheet of all outgoings for the month and our relevant share of the bills (we have a slightly different split on some bills). On our paydays (22nd and 28th) we each pay in the amount we're due and then it just sorts itself out. I go through the spreadsheet and the bank account once a week and tick off things that go out to make sure it's actually gone and is balanced properly. Here's an example (happy to send this to anyone who wants it): http://grab.by/DzOK

Also because my partner is rubbish at checking the spreadsheet I have an auto email that grabs the amount due on his payday and emails him (twice!) on his payday. So he doesn't look, he just gets an email saying "Oi! Pay £750!" and it seems to work well!

Our second "joint spend" account is where our grocery shopping and dinners out shopping goes. I have the Barclays app on my phone so I can usually confer with the balance whether we can afford a dinner out.

In regards to food shopping, we shop online with Sainsburys instead of going to the supermarket. It's a real life changer! It costs £2-3 a delivery however we have an annual pass which was £40 for as many mid-week uses as we like. Getting food delivered to home is definitely a way of saving money IMO. You will easily spend that £2 or more on things you didn't know you needed if you go to the supermarket. So it's an easy save. I budget £40 p/w as that's the minimum for home delivery. Some weeks we've found we can't get the cost up to £40 so I just bulk it up with loo roll and dishwasher tablets. It always seems to even out. So we spend £160 on groceries a week and then the other £160 we pay into our joint account goes for dinners out, alcohol at the pub, coffees when we're in town etc. I have to say we usually spend it all but I'm trying to reduce it.

The idea is that if BF gets paid then he immediately must pay out £910 to the utilities and the groceries. That way he's covered. The rest of his money is his to spend however he chooses. Of course I'd rather he saved and paid off his overdraft but you really can't force anyone.

It's also helped me budget. I can see exactly how much cash I have to last the month to spend on whatever I like, because I know food and bills are covered. I spent too many years as a student with no idea how I was going to reach the end of the month because I blew my food budget on something stupid like clothes or alcohol. But now, even though sometimes I get to the end with zero to spend, I've always got food in the fridge. So I just can't go out with my friends or whatever!

rubywhatashmoo

We do our food shopping online too (mostly because neither of us can drive!) but we do it with Tesco - you can use your clubcard vouchers to pay towards the delivery charges - so ours is £30 a year for anytime deliveries

Definitely easier to budget with that though - can't be tempted by other things that catch your eye as you wander round the shop!

Pepperoni

Thanks all.

I normally go to Aldi but still buy things that never get eaten so perhaps should look at online shopping from ASDA or Tesco!

greensalad

Pepperoni wrote: »

Thanks all.

I normally go to Aldi but still buy things that never get eaten so perhaps should look at online shopping from ASDA or Tesco!

Definitely look into delivery passes too. I don't know about Tesco but the sainsburys one will refund you if you don't "spend" more than the pass cost on deliveries. So the pass cost us £40 but if we don't make enough orders to equal £40 in delivery charges we'll be refunded the difference. As it stands, we'll definitely use it as £3 a delivery at about 45 weeks of the year = £135. So we'll save ourselves £90 on charges!

I also like that you can save your favourites. And i's much easier to search for offers. If I am buying something like fish or meat, I always tick the "offers" box and then I make sure I'm only buying things on offer/a good deal

Pablosammy

minmac wrote: »

PLEASSSEEEEE Can I join. I stupidly joined last year whilst I was on maternity leave so didnt pay anything off!
In a much better financial place this year to be able to get the ball rolling.
Jointly we owe just around £23k

Hoping to pay off £15k by xmas

January

Paid £918/£15000 = 6.12%

Hi minmac! You're number 126, welcome to the thread :T

littlebitbonkers wrote: »

Can I join in please? Total debt (as of 01/01/2015) is £2674.03 which WILL be paid off before Christmas. I am utterly determined to do this, as I'm sick and tired of throwing every spare penny at it and having nothing left to have fun with.

Woo! More determination! Welcome aboard, you're #127.

Duke_848 wrote: »

Been another busy few days mainly selling motorbike items on eBay that I no longer use or need. Managed to have quite a hefty clear out. This means that I am able to pay off a further £2,500 from my amount which takes me past the magical 50% mark :j:j:j.

#119 £21,525/£42,908 (50.2%)

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to make as big an impact on my debt from now on but I'll keep chipping away and we'll see how it goes. Keep going everyone!:T

Well done on reaching 50%, that's a great total already. Chipping away gets you there in the end, keep at it. Think of the feeling when that reaches 100%!

Pablosammy

I've got mixed feelings about online shopping. One the one hand, it makes it INCREDIBLY easy to search for the deals, and probably saves the delivery cost in itself. You don't have to walk past tempting stands with £1 bags of Cadburys chocolate on, and you don't have to run the trolley gauntlet down the middle aisle (deadly at times!).

However, you don't get to pick your fruit and veg, and you almost ALWAYS get a substitute which just doesn't work in that lovely recipe you're trying to throw together that evening. On top of that, I often use the weekly shop as an excuse to go to the gym! :rotfl:

greensalad

Pablosammy wrote: »

I've got mixed feelings about online shopping. One the one hand, it makes it INCREDIBLY easy to search for the deals, and probably saves the delivery cost in itself. You don't have to walk past tempting stands with £1 bags of Cadburys chocolate on, and you don't have to run the trolley gauntlet down the middle aisle (deadly at times!).

However, you don't get to pick your fruit and veg, and you almost ALWAYS get a substitute which just doesn't work in that lovely recipe you're trying to throw together that evening. On top of that, I often use the weekly shop as an excuse to go to the gym! :rotfl:

You can turn off substitutes for things you really need. So at Christmas I made sure to turn off substitutes for my recipe things. I only ended up missing some cinnamon sticks, so popped into my local shop to get them.

I've also never had a problem with the veg they give me. Sometimes it's not the prettiest but it's still good! Ugly vegetables need love too.