£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Treadingonplaymobil

Newchapter wrote: »

Well done for being brave and facing up to your debts. This community has been supportive to me over the years when I have sought advice and I hope you find some helpful and comforting words here too.

Like you, I did have over £65k of debt. I have reduced that slowly, now £40k, but it will take another five years to clear it I expect.
I did use a DMP. It was the only way forward for me. I also stopped pretending to my then teenage kids that we could afford holidays, meals out etc. We cut our social life right back. My kids have learned a lot about budgeting and the value of money as a consequence.

In the beginning of starting a DMP, I was embarrassed and frightened what would happen to me, but as time has gone on, I have become accustomed to the different way of living and its actually ok.

I no longer go to John Lewis, eat organic, or engage in shopping that I cannot afford. One day in the future I might indulge a little, but I am determined not to get into that unhelpful and stressful was of living again.

You can do it. Be brave. Allow yourself to make hard decisions. It will get easier.

Wow, it's always great to hear from someone who's been in a similar situation, thanks for the motivation.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 25: Day 6

Not bothering with a full list for today, as it mainly consists of 'pack for camping single handedly while wrangling 3 DCs and still trying to get the last of the laundry dry from the last camping trip. Oh, and pack a couple of orders and post them too, in all that free time you have before leaving at 2pm'

It was interesting to examine the food list yesterday, even though it's not a normal shop for us. It's clear that the culprit isn't the main meals in themselves - I think their proportion of the shop (<£18 in a £78 shop) is probably fairly representative of the usual situation, so there's a lot of work to be done in other areas as well as any final trimming to be done here. I'm moderately sure that treats/snacks/fruit and baking ingredients will prove to be the culprits, but it's clearly going to be about shaving off a few pounds here and there rather than some amazing overhaul I'll be able to do to drop the food shop down significantly.

Silver_Queen

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Skincare: I must be the only person underwhelmed with The Ordinary. I didn't try loads of products though. The retinoid was ok, not amazing. Hated the moisturiser, really bobbly, and couldn't see a scrap of difference with the HA. On the other hand, I love NIOD (parent company) copper amino isolate (cheaper one, not the £130 job), my skin is visibly better when I use it consistently, and I believe the long term theory. I have however found a lovely moisturiser that suits me really well from a brand called Mizon which isn't too expensive, so I might try a couple more of their products next time I need to stock up.

edited to add: I am mid thirties, but look a bit older - have fine lines and some pigmentation. I blame the three DC and too much time outdoors without sunscreen in my younger days!

I hated the moisturiser - not good. I still stand by my retinoid, niacinamide and Marula though the niacinamide I mostly use because I still get teenage breakouts every so often so if you're not so acne prone it's not really necessary. I absolutely adore CAIS too but it's just way, way, way too expensive for my budget.

Do you get your Mizon off eBay? I get all my Korean skincare from a friend directly from Korea, the poor exchange rate has been awful for it though!!

redofromstart

Hi,

I watched eat well for less the other day (ironing, iplayer) and they baked carrot muffins with the children - only £3.60 for the 12 he said and that made me think just how expensive baking actually is. So what does your baking cover? I am with you on using butter but I buy cheap unsalted for baking rather than branded but I have started looking for cheaper/simpler recipes.

Thriftylesley has some nice cheap, costed bakes on her website. Be-ro rock buns are very cheap if you use basic/value flour, fat, egg and sultanas. If I make them as chocolate chip ones I smash an unopened pack of the simple chocolate (35p/100g?) and use that instead of the sultanas. Twinks hobnobs, beloved of Old Style, are nice biscuits and simple to make.

warby68

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Husband is fully on board, but has to be walked through each issue one at a time, much like me. I suspect that because he never ever buys lunch at work he just went for some nice things without thinking, and they came to £5-6 a time. If he had been buying lunch every day it would be lower
as we'd have tackled it. i can't be too cross as I've had to painfully learn every lesson along the way, as shown in this diary.

No qualms at all about sharing my full receipt, but when I came to type it out (a) it took ages and (b) it didn't make much sense without knowing where things were allocated (e.g. 30 eggs - half to baking, half to breakfasts - wouldn't make sense without that explanation), so I thought categories might actually be more illuminating. Could break it down more, or into individual items, but I'm not sure how much more it will show. Maybe if I upload a photo of the receipt along with the breakdown. There genuinely is no point this week as it contains loads of things like booze, burgers and sweets that just won't be on there for 48 weeks of the year.

Maple syrup also falls into this category - we buy a bottle every few months as a treat when we have guests or similar, rather than it being a regular part of our shop. Having said that, I have noticed that hosting other people forms a part of the problem - we aren't huge social butterflies and I wouldn't have said, pre LBM, that our 'hosting' budget was remotely significant, but even if we have a family over for lunch once a month, it's adding £25+ onto that monthly spend between buying booze/nice juices and nicer food, so that's another interesting point. Not sure how to tackle it without becoming social pariahs, but one for the list.

Perhaps wait the month out and then do some kind of overall summary of your spends rather than individual shops for a few days each - might be easier for people to spot trends and little 'hotspots' then and whether your 'occasional' treats really are that or if there are a couple of different ones every week.

Perhaps 'social' food, or at least the extras, should come from the entertainment budget? Still good that you can see it now though - these things would be 'optional' if your situation got more stressed so you can still work out what a non-discretionary spend level to keep the 5 of you fed would be.

Poor husband, has he felt the shame :rotfl: - I still think that after Day 1 he should have realised though ( finger wagging emoticon please)

My husband is pretty much the same though (although we/he do currently have the leeway to do what he wants more or less). If he wants a lunch or a particular meal once in a blue moon he will just buy exactly what he wants regardless of cost or what's in already as he doesn't follow through to think what if every meal for every person cost this much what would the food bill be? If he buys stupid though he pays from his own spends so no direct impact on my budget I really do think if you're not in charge of a food budget on a regular basis you are quite removed from the true cost and will hugely underestimate just because each item or purchase is not very big in isolation. I've always had a budget because I went from skint student to single home owner fairly quickly so luckily the idea of budget was deeply ingrained even when we were going through the occasional 'rich' patch.

Anyway, enjoy your next camp - I really hope your whether is kinder than ours , it looks like November outside.

Kantankrus_Mare

I agree with the homebaking. I like to make something homemade when I have the time. My favourite at the minute is carrot cake.

Have never costed it but know it would work out much more expensive than shop bought. Much tastier though.

I am trying to cut out my biscuit consumption at the minute. It's a bad habit which is no good for me and I need to break it!

It stems from my love of a cup of tea. Make a cuppa........grab a handful of biscuits for dunking. This happens several times a day:eek: I have managed since last Sunday and the first few days were hard. I think the body gets used to a constant stream of sugar and the cravings were quite strong but I'm through it.(I think) and will try to keep it up.
I take my hat off to anyone that can give sugar up totally.

Sorry , not really related to moneysaving (well it is for me if we buy less biscuits :rotfl:) I'm just rambling.

arsenalbarnie

redofromstart wrote: »

Hi,

I watched eat well for less the other day (ironing, iplayer) and they baked carrot muffins with the children - only £3.60 for the 12 he said and that made me think just how expensive baking actually is. So what does your baking cover? I am with you on using butter but I buy cheap unsalted for baking rather than branded but I have started looking for cheaper/simpler recipes.

Thriftylesley has some nice cheap, costed bakes on her website. Be-ro rock buns are very cheap if you use basic/value flour, fat, egg and sultanas. If I make them as chocolate chip ones I smash an unopened pack of the simple chocolate (35p/100g?) and use that instead of the sultanas. Twinks hobnobs, beloved of Old Style, are nice biscuits and simple to make.

Is that the episode where the woman was baking a cake everyday? She was spending an arm and a leg. Well worth a watch if you haven't seen it. Can't get over when watching these programmes how many people eat tinned soup. They don't seem to encourage them to make their own. I can vouch for twinks hob nobs they are fab. So glad mine are out of the snacking stage but they get the munchies when hungover:rotfl:

Topm have you considered cheap golden syrup on pancakes if they only have them occasionally? It's all sugar at the end of the day.
Good luck with the camping am well jealous. I love it even if it's raining. Mine won't go anymore as all adults and OH has a bad back so we have a caravan which is left on one site but it's not the same. I do miss it and love walking round looking at all the lovely tents. Last time a woman was there with a big teepee tent and it had a wood burner in it according to my dad. Sounds lovely and cosy. Though bit of a nightmare with kids about.

Have a great weekend:T

in_need_of_direction

My cheap go to when mine were small were 15s. Tin of condensed milk then 15 cheap digestives, 15 cheap marshmallows, 15 cherries ( though these were sometimes replaced with 30 white choc buttons or 15 mint aero balls), combine and then either roll into balls and coat in coconut or line a tin with coconut, press in, top with coconut and cut into squares. Does give quite a sugar hit but so much nicer than the total of each part.

redofromstart

Another resource you may find useful was a project that was done by some people on old style, years ago, that was about balanced family meals for pennies. I think it was £100 per month for 2 adults, 2 children so real crisis stuff. I had a google and it looks like Weezl has put the website back up recently (hurrah!):

http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org/index.html?opt=rcost

There is a veggie meal planner that might give you some more ideas but there are also snacks and baking bits on there.

quintwins

I genuinely think your doing really well, this isn't your normal week and considering your away you could have spent an awful lot more. Also maple syrup is a regular on my shopping list especially in winter (it's yummy on porridge), I think it's good to allow for these things when you can. Life is for living after all and my shopping budget has never been a huge issue it's my other spending habits.