Stopping shopping

dionysia

Not a very MSE day today! Rather alarming day on the plumbing front - the kind of day that actually makes me quite pleased to be a renter and not the one who has to worry long-term about the new damp patch on the ceiling - and I have no bathroom sink for the moment! So I popped out for a bottle of wine.

This was a bit naughty as it is supposed to be a very strict month. However, I have freed up a bit of cashflow this month by deciding to pay the TV licence due for renewal by direct debit and not all at once, so instead of paying £145 this month it will be £38 next month and then every quarter. There's a £5 premium for doing that instead of the monthly but I think a bit cheeky that for the monthly they charge for the first year over six months! So nearly £25/month then £12, and paying over £200 in the first year of the dd. I'll pay quarterly this year, take the £5 hit, and then by next year my annual expenses pot will have enough in it to pay for the full year.

dionysia

@LadyP01 I do like Dave Ramsay! He does come from a very religious point of view but if that's not your thing it's not too hard to just tune out those bits (I do). Your library might have his books as well? I haven't read any of them, his podcast is free and also on youtube I think. I find it suits my purposes because most podcasts are weekly which isn't much use for a walk twice a day, but his podcast is actually his radio show which he does every day for three hours, so there's always something new to I can listen to. It's mainly people calling in and he gives them advice so it's a bit like this board in that I find it reassuring to know how many people are both getting into debt and getting themselves out of it in so many different ways!

Your money pots - wow! £1000-3000 is amazing. How long are you typically saving before you have that kind of amount? And your plant pot idea sounds thrifty and practical :T.

dionysia

@georgiana thank you so much for the links! I've actually been showing hairdressers a picture of a Toni & Guy promo pic for years because I love the colour but never been able to afford T&G full price :rotfl: so perhaps at the academy I'll get something like what I've been getting at cheaper hairdressers! It would be good to go to somewhere that's a very established 'name', I've found a local independent salon that asks for models but it feels like that could be a bit more hit and miss.

LadyP01

My last pot I saved for about 5 months and had £3000 I use this to pay off debt and before it used to be for a holiday. I put everything into it though so notes the lot but as I'm debt busting now iv put the pot aside and I'm just going I put lose change in which again is something iv not had for a few weeks as things become tighter. Maybe next year I'll do the pot again as I'll be saving for a deposit on a house once my debts gone.

gonebust

No need to spend a lot on a money pot. All you need is something you can't open and a tin pot from pound land does that . My 20ps are in an old brandy bottle, they fit the neck nicely. My pretty ceramic money boxes are the type with the rubber bungs at the bottom, all either gifts or picked up in charity shops for a few pennies

Guess living in central London there's no charity shops?? Charity shops are my window shopping fix. I love them. Last year I got my husband a brand new with tags on RL polo shirt for just £7 ( label said £95) and I've picked up for myself some good label jumpers for £2 Another shop I check out every week is TK Maxx. Even in there I check the reduction rails first. I got a fabulous pair of leather boots for just £5, reduced from £145 and I buy the grandsons trainers, converse,kicker school shoes for between £7 and £15. Other good buys I've got over the years are my lulu Guiness ankle boots £35 reduced from over £300, and my RL phone case/purse £8 from £79

See, you can still spend without spending . I always weigh up when I'm spending. Do I really need this, will I use it, is this the best price I can get this for? Last year I needed new bedding. The duvet covers and sheets that had cost me £100 in the half price sales 20 years previously were wearing thin. I went to HOF on their blue cross sale day, got the very finest highest thread Egyptian cotton bedding I've ever had in my life, at 70% off, then as they were offering another 10% off for new store card customers, opened one , so got 80% off. Paid the bill off the day it came in and cut the card up the minute in came through the door

So I may be poor as a church mouse but I can always find a bargain so I don't feel poor or deprived and it makes like a little more enjoyable


Food shopping and meal planning has to be no1 towards debt busting. I got very caught out myself yesterday. I hadn't been too well this week so hadn't done a shop, just making meals from what was in the house, no big deal as I'm a scratch cook. Well yesterday there was no bread in the house. Not usually a big deal, only I was working yesterday. I can't eat when I get up and I start at 7am so always take a sandwich for tea break. So I stopped at the shop on my way in £2.95 for the cheapest egg mayo sandwich :eek::eek: Worse thing was it wasn't even nice. I wouldn't spend more then £3 a week for my HM sandwiches. Lesson well and truly learned ( it's been a long time since I bought a shop sandwich, it's going to be a longer time before I do again :rotfl: )

dionysia

NSD today. Good job as I seem to have spent a lot this weekend! A lot on food shopping, although other than more salady bits for lunches I should be sorted for the rest of the week.

One nice thing today, I'd been a bit frightened by economy 7 and have asked my supplier (a new supplier, the rate I was on with the one supplying when I moved in was terrible!) to put me on a £50 direct debit every month and had budgeted an extra £50 to go into savings for if this wasn't enough. I've meter readings today (the meter lives in a locked cupboard so I have to get the reading from my landlord, not very convenient) and accounting for having been on holiday for part of last month I think I'm spending under £30/month. So I'll keep my direct debit as it is to build up some credit for winter but that £50 in-case money can be saved to pay off debt!

dionysia

@gonebust that sounds like excellent bargain hunting! I need to learn your ways . There actually are quite a few charity shops near me. I've never had very good luck with charity shops though, although my sister does well. Perhaps the secret is popping in every time I'm passing for a quick look? I have had some very good things from TK Maxx!

Food is definitely the thing. Everyone seems to be a foodie nowadays but I'd be happy if I could just take a pill and have it all sorted! I do like my salads for lunch at work because then I know at least I've had something green each day and a lazy dinner doesn't seem quite so bad. I do admire your ability to bish-bash-bosh from the cupboards and there's a lovely meal! I'm not unable to cook but I'm not very creative with it.

gonebust

Daily or at least weekly 'shopping' in charity shops is a must imho

Today I spent £2.50 on two retro cookbooks

Cookbooks you may say, but omg, they are a snapshot of food history. I'm reading recipes that explain what a wok is lolololololol. Worth their weight in gold and I've already earmarked at least 3 recipes from each book to try. Win win all round

I'm not a foodie either. I cook for a living , I teach others to cook, I also cook to sell. But I'm not really interested in food for myself I'm as happy with a pot noodle sandwich as anything. Plus I struggle with textures

I even ( with my catering history) come on these boards ( old style) for inspiration.
The best thing that I ever done was to make soup. I say this time and time again. Even the worse cook in the world can make soup. Make soup. Soup is a hug in a mug ( according to Heinz) but it's so true. A few cheap ( usually yellow stickered ) ingredients, and you have a healthy pot of pure loveliness. Something you DESERVE

Soup was my first step in cooking cheap and healthily for myself.

As I say I cook for a living. But us chefs are the worlds worse for cooking for ourselves. After 12 hours in a kitchen, a pot noodle or cheese sandwich is usually all we can deal with

dionysia

Spendy day yesterday, I went for a drink with a friend, but planned for and I stayed in the amount I'd allocated. Then another expense on the leaving collection for someone at work. I hadn't realised but it's going to be a very expensive month there, five people leaving my team this month! I'm one of the more senior people so I do feel a responsibility to make sure cards are got and put a decent amount in the collection and buy a round at the leaving drinks, but the amount this will all add up to this month is a bit silly.

Since I moved, every day I walk past a small coffee cart on the way to work and it smells lovely. For the first few weeks I would always think oh I could it's only a couple of quid and have to be strict with myself, but just noticed today I walked past and it doesn't even occur to me anymore that I might stop for a coffee - it's just not something I do. It's nice to see these hard things start to become habit .

gonebust

dionysia wrote: »

Spendy day yesterday, I went for a drink with a friend, but planned for and I stayed in the amount I'd allocated. Then another expense on the leaving collection for someone at work. I hadn't realised but it's going to be a very expensive month there, five people leaving my team this month! I'm one of the more senior people so I do feel a responsibility to make sure cards are got and put a decent amount in the collection and buy a round at the leaving drinks, but the amount this will all add up to this month is a bit silly.

Since I moved, every day I walk past a small coffee cart on the way to work and it smells lovely. For the first few weeks I would always think oh I could it's only a couple of quid and have to be strict with myself, but just noticed today I walked past and it doesn't even occur to me anymore that I might stop for a coffee - it's just not something I do. It's nice to see these hard things start to become habit .

Well done on the coffee :T. As you say it's "only" a couple of quid, but over a week, it all mounts up.

The office collection, that's a toughie. It's something else needs to be looked at really. As you say, you buy the card, you add to the collection, then buy everyone drinks, that's serious expenditure, esp for 5 people :eek:

Can you not do all that for some of them? I mean are you closer to some then others? So for the ones you aren't so friendly with, buy the card, put a token amount in, then have a prior engagement on drinks night? obviously I don't know the culture of where you work but 5 people leaving in a month seems to say high staff turnover so they can't all be best friends. That's just me though, I wouldn't be spending much on people I don't really know, possibly don't even like and in all probability never see again