too skint to start saving?

eco

I started my journey many years ago when my ex left and I realised the £1000 I was in debt would grow if I didn't change my ways.
I have a spending diary, no debt except the mortgage, and savings.
Recently I have been getting the house ready to sell, so I have been through the food cupboards, got rid of the junk and am on a strict no spending, I know i'll need the money when I move, for the next few months its use up first.
Anyway one tip is to iron cotton things when they are wet, put them on coathangers and the clothes dry over night, they can then be put away.

culpepper

I found having one or two money saving things, helped me to save.
I bought us a bread maker from my survey earnings and it paid for itself very quickly. I think it was about £30 at least 8 years ago. Back then it saved about £3 a week on loaves and pizza bases.
Our bread machine died last summer and I bought another one from the British Heart foundation shop for £15 which we have had for a year now.
I have seen them offered on freecycle before now,they also have washing machines,fridges,freezers and cookers and sometimes it is just a matter of patience and a bit of making do while waiting for one to appear. Still, much better than taking out a loan for something which in this country at least, often has built in obsolescence.
A very useful book to read is the Tightwad gazette. It is full of ideas for saving when you don't have a huge income.
There is a man called jeff yeager who has videos on youtube along the same lines.

[Deleted User]

Culpepper do you go to the Heart foundation shop in Maidstone its brilliant and I have had some smashing bargains there.Great place to get spare duvet and pillowcase sets at a reasonable price as well as pots and pans if you are setting up home I got my DGS some bits there for when he went off to Uni two years ago

culpepper

JackieO wrote: »

Culpepper do you go to the Heart foundation shop in Maidstone its brilliant and I have had some smashing bargains there.Great place to get spare duvet and pillowcase sets at a reasonable price as well as pots and pans if you are setting up home I got my DGS some bits there for when he went off to Uni two years ago

Yes that's the one
They have a very large space and so have furniture and appliances too. All the appliances are checked.

Primrose

A reminder for all of you who are building up or storing a savings stash of money notes in your house. Put a reminder of May 2017 in your diary and swap any £5 paper notes for the new polymer ones because they will cease to be legal tender at this date. £10 paper notes go the same way in summer 2017. You'll be able to swap the old notes at the Bank of England by post or in person but your local bank apparently won't take them, so get rid of them before these dates.

LameWolf

Thanks for the heads-up re bank notes, Primrose. Neither DH nor I knew about that. Not that we keep a lot of paper money kicking about, but there's bound to be at least some.

karren

just an idea but have you tried the envelope system we had a few emergencies last year so had to really tighten belt and we are much more money savvy for having started this.

Lynplatinum

Evening all

Thistle-down - 99p is 99p or (in my house/charity shop) a meal for 2 hungry people or a pair of new to me trousers from the sale rail or entrance for a dog to a free to watch dog show or 5 pairs of socks (sale in mr T's) or a 23cm cake etc; etc

PLUS

3 mins walk there - 3 mins walk back = 6 mins
6mins x 52 weeks in a year = 312 mins
312 divided by 60 = 5 hours and aprox 10 mins per year
if walking fairly briskly and being of moderate weight 200 calories used up!!!

Ok not much but every little helps so dont run your trip to the library down :rotfl: Well done!!!! :j

Eco - I just moved house - I would say to allow yourself about £3,000 (although I did have P!ckfords to do a full packing service + Mol! Ma1d to clean the house I left + I moved from one end to the other of the country) but even then I would suggest you budget for £1,500 - if you do most of it yourself. BTW P!ckfords were wonderful, polite,on time, friendly, helpful, easy to get in touch with (I had a bit of a nightmare delayed move). So although not cheap - very good value for money and worth saving for. Also have still ended up moving with rubbish despite a year
decluttering! Good luck!
Nite all

[Deleted User]

I agree Lyn it may not sound a lot but there is so much more you can do with 99p and if local councils get there way we will lose our fabulous 'Free' libraries I use mine as much as possible My book club that I go to once a month is not in my local library but in one 3 miles away Its only a tiny one but if they don't get enough 'footfall' then it will be closed down Although my local library to my house is large I will always get a book out,for example this morning is book club day so I will have my monthly book plus probably a couple more to keep their 'footfall' If I take my DGS to their local one I will borrow a couple from there as well.Our local council would love to close the smaller ones down and just have whats called 'community hub' libraries Awful name, and usually in city centres and no where near where people actually live.They are already cutting back on mobile libraries to save money To me getting people to use them and keep the ones we have is far better because if fol have to take a bus ride or drive to get a library book they will probably either not bother or can't afford it.Our U3A use a bit of the local one for small craft classes.Definately use them or lose them and I'm a great advocate for keeping them.Plus its often a nice outing if you have little ones and they go to a 'story time'
So please, everyone that can, please use the best facility in you are able to before its lost forever,at ours you can use a computer or borrow a jigsaw,dvd,audio book and of course those strange shaped things with covers called Books:):):)The whole world is there for the taking for free :):)
Right I will climb down from my white charger (hobbyhorse) :):)

Plus of course where my little outlying satellite one is, on the way back there is a pretty good co-op where if I go at the right time I can often get a bargain Y/S item win-win I think :):)

Primrose

Libraries are such a valuable feature to the community - it's a tragedy that many councils are closing them. Yes, Jackie, footfall for libraries is very important. Ours has a clicker on the door which counts the number of people who go in through the door so I always walk in and out several times. Our council also measures number of items borrowed as another measure of use of use so I always take out a handful of books whether I have time to read them or not.