New debt-free wannabe

sara_501

Hi CurlyWurly

Welcome to the board, just had a lightbulb moment myself and am finding all the cost cutting and wrangles really addictive ....

regarding your sky subscription, why not get Freeview, a box will only cost £20 one off fee and for that you get CBBC/CITV/CBeebies and the other (abc1) and C5 have other child friendly alternatives in the mornings ....

Freeview = saved sanity and saved pounds - Highly recommend it.

You'll save £551.88 a year - less £20 est. for the digibox = £531.88 if you direct debit that money and channel it to your debts you'll have a grand paid off in 2 years and that's without any big sacrifice.

Add to that any other savings you make and it's definitely worth a shot

I noticed that one of the other users mentioned that your utility bills seemed quite high - 3 tips...

1 - Fit energy saving light bulbs (research online suggests these are a great investment - I have them in every room in the house and my electricity consumption has never been so low)

2 - If you have Gas Central Heating (tip for the colder months) only heat the rooms that you spend a lot of time in, turn the valves off to unused storage areas or spare rooms and only turn bedroom valves on 30-60 mins before bed.

3 - Try www.uswitch.com to make sure you have the cheapest energy suppliers, this site can also help with broadband costs and telephone costs amongst other things. Remember you can get cashback from the site for switching I got £30 recently "every little helps"

curlywurlygirly

Title says it all really....

I have activly cut back in shopping, making saving where possible etc, but am finding it hard to get into the habit of keeping reciepts and recording spending.

Is this an important part on my road to debt-freedom? Do I need to 'just do it'?

Or is it not all that important?

TIA!

Money~Bunny_3

Short version: yes, keep a spending diary for a month, look at where you can cut back as it really helps

Long version: Try doing it for just one month, writing down EVERYTHING you spend, right down to the 29p chewing gum. Either carry around a little notebook, write it in your diary if you have one, or make a spreadsheet in Excel (or download OpenOffice for a free spreadsheet programme).

You will be amazed at what you spend on little bits! I found out that I spent more on snacks than I did on 'real' food :eek: And all those small things - a magazine, stamps, bus fare - added up to a lot.

After a month add it all up and try revising your budget and attempt to reduce spend in 'problem' areas over the next month. :A

I did this for about three months until I was automatically auditing/sticking to my budget. I always do it if my circumstances change a lot to keep myself on track.:D

wow that was long!

curlywurlygirly

Am trying my damndest to cut down outgoings...everything is pared down as low as it can go.

Bringing in as much as poss, all out old stuff is going on ebay, amazon etc.....

Doing my daily clicks....

Husband isn't quite on board with this one, as he can't see the bigger picture (leading to huge arguements about the price of lemonade, milk etc....)....

The loans I have are static...so everything extra I have is going to go into a savings account, untill I have a decent amount saved to pay the loans off....

We're getting there

In_Search_Of_Me

Just wanted to say hi & welcome! Ditch the CC would be my advice! I got mine down to 1700 and then made the fatal error of putting them in my purse & off I went!! Almost back to square one & very hacked off with myself! Spending diary is the one really useful tool for curbing spending! It's quite incredible what you manage to spend on nowt and having it there is great! It does take a change in lifestyle but is well worth it - just dont do what I did & get lulled into false sence of security cos it's coming down!!

msmicawber

I think it's often (usually?) the case with couples that the LBMs don't happen at the same time, but hopefully he'll join in a bit later when he begins to see some results. Try not to let it dishearten you.

It's a big jump to go from just spending whenever you want on whatever you want to constantly checking and monitoring everything but, like anything else in life, it soon becomes a routine and you'll also get more efficient at it. You may well find that like many of the rest of us you become a tad obsessive about monitoring your accounts. I feel quite panicky by proxy now when I come across people who don't open their bank statements or check them. In a very short time, it'll give you a positive feeling of control, also satisfaction at seeing the debts reduce.

You're doing fine - keep it up!

curlywurlygirly

Thanks FF and MrsM...

You reminded me of one more thing I'm doing MrsM.....;)

Doing loads more home cooking....cheap easy recipes. In fact, at the moment I am working through my storecupboard and freezer (as I have a tendency to hoard)...and am only buying what I absolutly need!

I bargain isn't a bargain if I get it home, and end up throwing it out a few days later!

poppy10_2

curlywurlygirly wrote: »

We have cut sky right down to basics with just kids channels as extras (for my sanity) - and sky includes broadband

That can't be true. Sky with all the free channels and two mixes (kids mix [which has all the kids channels] and one other mix of your choice) plus 2meg broadband plus Sky talk would cost only £17 per month.

If you are paying £46/month that suggests you have some naughty Sky Movies or Sky Sports - more likely both - that you are not telling us about.

You need to be truthful with us if you want us to help you! :A

curlywurlygirly

poppy10 wrote: »

That can't be true. Sky with all the free channels and two mixes (kids mix [which has all the kids channels] and one other mix of your choice) plus 2meg broadband plus Sky talk would cost only £17 per month.

If you are paying £46/month that suggests you have some naughty Sky Movies or Sky Sports - more likely both - that you are not telling us about.

You need to be truthful with us if you want us to help you! :A

We have sky sports and movies....reason being that if we get these, then we get the sky+ free....if we don't, we have to pay for the privilage of having sky+....it makes more sense to get something for the extra rather than nothing, iyswim. We also have a faster broadband....

The paring down was getting rid of extra box that we had in bedroom (now being used as a freeview box)

Thanks for your imput;)

[Deleted User]

I would get rid of the sky sports and movies! You really don't need it...rent a DVD if you want to watch a movie.