confessions of a spendthrift!

firesidemaid

ravilious_fan wrote: »

Well, I need to replace my passport.. that's about £70 + photos, so £75-ish. I'm on a low income so £75 is quite a lot to come up with in one go.

Other than that I would just like the peace of mind that if (heaven forbid) I were suddenly without income I wouldn't be starving and destitute. I live literally from hand to mouth at the moment. After Christmas shopping I'm left with about a tenner! :eek: I'm determined to change my bad money habits, and the replies on this thread have given me inspiration

Food - I get through £170 per month for 2 of us. I often get through it half way through the month to be honest.

Mobile, - I pay £10 PAYG and each text costs 14p. It's gone up a lot recently. £10 used to get last me 6 weeks, now I'm lucky if it lasts the month.

sounds like you need to hop over to the old-style board - if you meal plan and take lunches to work you can reduce your food budget. plus use coupons, collect points etc.


re. your mobile, you can get a new phone plus 250 mins, unlimited texts + 500M of data for £7.50 a month with Mr T - other similar deals etc are available. if another person has a similar deal then you will each get 500 Mr T mobile mins on top.


Saving £25 a month off your food bill each month for starters gives you a new passport in 3 months. but are you going to use it? have you saved for a holiday?


It might be good to post your SOA on here - you will be surprised how much you can save

MummyEm

I changed from £35 phone contract a few years back. I always used to overspend on it too. Now on giffgaff spending £10 a month and don't get through all my data and minutes. Really easy to set up, just need to order a sim and your away. It works through the o2 network so I've found the signal really reliable too. You aren't committee to a contract so can cancel easily too.

If you'd like to order a sim and would like to get one through my link I can get a referral bonus. No pressure just pm me if you'd like to or you can order direct from giffgaff website if you prefer.

ravilious_fan

Thanks I have just googled GiffGaff (I don't know much about phones, I just use a basic PAYG O2 sim card). Looks like O2 is the parent company and GiffGaff is run mostly by its members? If I decide to go for it I will PM you, no probs


LOL at the toilet roll comments. No I couldn't be without loo roll :eek:
I knew someone who used to refuse to buy kitchen roll (he used loo roll instead, which was useless as it kept falling to bits!) but I don't know anyone who goes without toilet tissue. Public toilets are bad enough :rotfl:

ravilious_fan

firesidemaid wrote: »

Saving £25 a month off your food bill each month for starters gives you a new passport in 3 months. but are you going to use it? have you saved for a holiday?

No holiday plans, but I don't have a driving licence and my passport has expired, so I currently have no photo ID. I need it to sell on amazon, and it occasionally comes in useful for things like opening a bank account or applying for a job.

firesidemaid

Tesco mobile also uses the O2 network - what I like about them is that you can go in store and they sort everything out for you


If you do buy kitchen roll, then think about not doing - it costs money and all you do is throw it away! Use dish cloths that you can wash and re-use time and time again. you can buy them in home [EMAIL="b@rgs"]b@rgs[/EMAIL] & Wilks.

5erge

ravilious_fan wrote: »

Mobile, - I pay £10 PAYG and each text costs 14p. It's gone up a lot recently. £10 used to last me 6 weeks, now I'm lucky if it lasts the month.

14p a text , why not go with Three and their 321 account.


3p a minute for calls, 2p a text and 1p per meg of data.


http://www.three.co.uk/Store/Pay_As_You_Go_Price_Plans?id=1523&aidset=1


When you top up (I always top up in multiples of £5) you also get 150meg of data free.


Des