NST - January. Bobs post bauble debt busting challenge

Bobarella

Tall_order wrote: »

Have worked out that to pay off my Very account before the interest free period ends, I need to pay £137.90 every payday from now until 1Jul. (7 payments)
Plus I need to pay the minimum payment off my credit card of around £50
I'm off to set up a standing order so I can't ignore this.

Great to see how motivated you are Tall Order. Great work.

Missingursula2 wrote: »

Hello, can I join this please? I have created a terrible take out coffee habit in the last 6 months and NSD will definitely motivate me!

Such an easy habit to get into isn't it. But if someone said here's £40 this is what you are spending every week on coffee alone you'd snap it up wouldn't you. That's what 2 coffees per day works out as roughly. Great you have identified an area for savings:T

The_Only_Girl

Bobarella wrote: »

Great to see how motivated you are Tall Order. Great work.



Such an easy habit to get into isn't it. But if someone said here's £40 this is what you are spending every week on coffee alone you'd snap it up wouldn't you. That's what 2 coffees per day works out as roughly. Great you have identified an area for savings:T

£40 a week on coffee translates to £2080 a year! That's great savings, missingursula2.

chocolatelover93

Thank you Misstara for hosting December

Thank you Bob for hosting this month had a good old read of the rules looking forward to it!!

1. 21 NSD's seems daunting but really going to try hard this month! Previous months have helped me see how much I actually spend :eek: and I buy things unnecessarily! SO I am going to try and keep to what I need rather than "oh I could do with one of those!"

2. Only debt we have is NPower which is paid off by monthly DD so that's good. I also am £50 in OD with Halifax so will get rid of that this month Aiming to save what I can this month as we have a holiday coming up in June.

3. My intentions are to save more money - this is something I need to do as I want to have an emergency fund for when things go wrong.
Loose weight - cliche I know but something that needs to be done! (especially after Christmas)

4. Do this anyway as often as I can, some days it is hard to get on but still make sure I read everyone's posts

5. Not sure yet but will think of one

6. Quite good at this, meet up's are usually round one of our houses and normally a good old cup of tea and a catch up the only thing that might be spendy is we're going up north to see OH's side of the family but his dad normally pays for meals out etc.

7. Swapped my main shop to @ldi and already saved quite a bit so will carry on doing that. Going to make sure I do an "inventroy" of the cupboards/fridge and freezer so I know what I've got in and use them up before getting more. And will try to stick to just my shopping list.

8. Love this!! I am always checking the Freecycle pages on FB and GT etc to see what freebies I can get

9. Like the sound of this too I have so much carp at home that I need to get rid of.

10. I am signed up to ClearScore and it is something I need to improve. I've only ever had 1 CC and that was an Argos card which I used to buy my laptop on. When I applied for our current house for some reason my score is low so need to boost it somehow!

apple_muncher

Now I'm wishing I had a shop-bought coffee habit!! That would reduce our final mortgage date by 2 months!

jeanangeo

Hi all,

It's getting close to the 1st so I thought I should just go through the challenge aims and make sure I know what I'm doing...

1. NSDs

This is the main reason I signed up to this challenge.

I am prone to the odd work cafe visit. That's £3.40 for breakfast or £5 for lunch. Or both. I have also been known to make the odd trip to KFC on the way home. That's £6 minimum.

This kind of spend is a total waste of money and I don't even enjoy the food. I can cook much better at a fraction of the price.

Any money wasted is money that is not being used to reduce my mortgage. My intention is to go for the maximum number of NSDs possible.

2. Pay to your debt first

I have completed this task. My only debt at the moment is my mortgage. I was paid on the 23rd. I made my planned OP the same day. All other money is allocated.

3. State your intentions.

My intention is to be mortgage free as soon as possible.

Being mortgage free means I can survive on lodger rental income from my two spare rooms. I would be working because I could; not because I had too. My whole salary would be for the betterment of my retirement.

I signed up to this particular challenge to keep me focused during January. January is a tough month in general. I have set myself a tough budget to stick to. I need all the motivational help I can get.

4. Check in every day.

OK, I'm assuming that is starting on the 1so so no action yet (apart from this battle plan post).

5. You will donate £5 to a good cause of your choice.

I don't usually involve myself in charity donations due to the pressure tactics they employ. I once made the mistake of signing up to a monthly payment and ended up having to change my number to stop the follow-up calls.

I am an ordinary person. I don't earn mega bucks and I've got massive mortgage debt that I am dealing with on my own. I don't appreciate being hassled to sign up for DDs and I don't like being cold called.

However, I do participate in my work related charity events. Proceeds are donated to our local food bank. In December there were several bake sales, hampers, etc. A lady at work also runs cooking Indian lessons in return for donations to the food bank. That is as far as I am willing to go for the charity part of this challenge.

6. Plan your diary.

I've got this covered. I'm a cinema nut and have a C1n3w0rld card as do most of my friends. Film nights will be my nights out for this month.

7. Plan your grocery spends carefully.

My grocery lists are drawn up already and I am treating January as a non-brand experiment. I am trialling the cheaper supermarket offerings. I tried cheap dishwasher tablets last month and found they work perfectly well. I will be expanding this to other groceries although I cannot promise I can tolerate cheap versions of everything.

My main objective is to ensure that I do not set foot in a shop without a list and that I stick to the list once inside.

8. Get something for free!

I'm not actually sure what I will be doing about this part of the challenge. Look for buy-1-get-1-free offers for items on my shopping lists...?

For now I will commit to keeping my eye out for freebies...

9. Earn extra

OK, this is one of those areas where I suck. I don't seem to have an imagination where it comes to earning outside my usual job. I don't have stuff lying around to sell because I am a clutter-free freak. I don't have craft skills or any other skill actually that isn't my usual job. I am a software developer but am prevented from freelancing by my contract so I can't really use that either.

I am open to suggestions especially since thinking along these lines will help me to expand my mind and break my "employee" mould.

10. Check your credit report

I am signed up to both ClearScore and Noddle aleady. I have a fair-to-good score at the moment.

My score is currently being affected by two issues.

The first is a few late payments from my less than financially savvy past. There is nothing I can do about them now. Only time will reduce their impact. They will soon be 2 years old. Supposedly, their impact reduces after two years (according to my mortgage adviser). All I can do now is make sure there are never any more.

My score is also being affected by the fact that my mortgage is an NRAM Together Mortgage. It is split into two portions; the first secured and the second unsecured. The unsecured part is having a big negative impact on my score (according to Experian). I am directing all my OPs to the unsecured loan until it is cleared. I am hoping my score will improve as the unsecured loan reduces but you never really know what will happen when it comes to credit scores.

So, that is my battle plan for this challenge. Life doesn't always follow plans though so things may not be as easy as all that. However, I'm hoping this thread will at least keep me focused on what I am trying to achieve.

Good luck to us all and thanks to Bob for hosting this challenge and letting me play

stewby

jeanangeo wrote: »

5. You will donate £5 to a good cause of your choice.

I don't usually involve myself in charity donations due to the pressure tactics they employ. I once made the mistake of signing up to a monthly payment and ended up having to change my number to stop the follow-up calls.

I am an ordinary person. I don't earn mega bucks and I've got massive mortgage debt that I am dealing with on my own. I don't appreciate being hassled to sign up for DDs and I don't like being cold called.

However, I do participate in my work related charity events. Proceeds are donated to our local food bank. In December there were several bake sales, hampers, etc. A lady at work also runs cooking Indian lessons in return for donations to the food bank. That is as far as I am willing to go for the charity part of this challenge.

You don't have to sign up to anything jeangeo. Nobody expects it to be a permanent thing, just do whatever you like as long as it is thinking of others who are less fortunate than yourself.


Last month, I gave £10 to our local fire brigade (it is for different charities) as they come round with the fire truck belting out Xmas tunes and covered in fairy lights. Normally, I just throw a fivers worth of food in with the shopping and stick it in the food bank basket on my way out of the shop.
Simple, easy but I still get that feel good factor. Thanks to these challenges, it has become a bit of a monthly habit on the first shop of the month.
It's amazing how quickly something becomes the norm.

The_Only_Girl

I normally give £80 a month to our local church (a registered charity) and give food items to the church's food bank and soup kitchen. Just last week, I learned about a dire situation one of my co-workers is in, no money or food in the kitchen during Christmas. I mentioned it to our church pastor and he dropped three food parcels and £30 to give to my co-worker (anonymously to not make her feel embarrassed). They also help out a lot to giving the people in the neighbourhood a better quality of life. Knowing how ready they are to meet needs in the community gives me confidence that the money I give to them go a long way.

Fmess

jeanangeo wrote: »

7. Plan your grocery spends carefully.

I tried cheap dishwasher tablets last month and found they work perfectly well. I will be expanding this to other groceries although I cannot promise I can tolerate cheap versions of everything.

I found someone on one of the Old Style Money Saving threads suggest that you use half a dishwasher tablet in each load. I've been doing it with Aldees tablets for a year or more and it washes the dishes just as well

must.try.harder

Hi Bobarella, I'd love to join the challenge please? I have been really focussed over the past month to reducing my debt and I'm hoping to keep that momentum going in January. This could be just the thing to help me on my way!

XSpender

1. 21 NSD.
Will aim for 21, have no idea if it is possible but will give it a go.
2. Pay to your debt
Clearing 1 CC, balance on other is being transferred to 0%, Mtg OP of £750 and savings of £500 and £50 towards caravan holiday spends
3. State your intentions.
Our aim is to save enough to move to our forever home in 2016. This month we are intending to reign in all spending and save/OP as much as possible. (See above).
4. Check in every day.
OK, will give it a go
5. You will donate £5 to a good cause of your choice.
I am running a half marathon this year in support of a charity that funds research into a medical condition I have. I will pay the £5 to the amount I need to raise. Hope this is OK, if not will contribute to food bank collection (may do this as well anyway)
6. Plan your diary.
DH and I have agreed on no social outings this month and have cut our personal spending to ZERO! After a very busy December we need a rest and to increase our exercise levels which is free.
7. Plan your grocery spends carefully.
£250 this month which is a huge reduction as we are planning to use up our freezer and cupboard stores. DH does have some nectar points but will save these for our caravan holiday. I have 2 x £5 vouchers for Mr T too.
8. Get something for free!
Oooo will have to think about this one.
9. Earn extra
Will struggle with this. I do get a food allowance at work which often means I get items for nothing but not sure if this would count
10. Check your credit report
DH and I did this last month and a record hadn’t been updated which was seriously impacting our credit score and mortgage prospects. This was removed quickly and easily and our credit scores are now excellent.

Good luck to everyone, I am really looking forward to this challenge. Even though some elements will be tough to achieve, shy bairns get nowt and all that