Molehill currently feeling like a mountain

[Deleted User]

Hi Katie, just read through your diary.

Have you done a proper SOA? Just to see where all your money goes.

I don't like Swagbucks either. Good sites I've found are:
Ipsos Isay
Prolific Academic (this is by far the best-paying one)
Power of Opinions
Panel Opinion

I also use One poll as you do.

There is also an app called JobSpotter that pays you (in amazon vouchers) for uploading photos of local businesses advertisting jobs in their windows. I made £10 in vouchers from that last month!

Also good is Grassroots mystery shopping.

Have you tried selling some books/CDs/DVDs on Ziffit? It's got a handy barcode scanner app. Some things aren't worth much, but if you have specialist books or cookbooks, it can really add up (and free up some space!)

Definitely downsize your car if you can. A smaller car doesn't necessarily mean less reliability in winter. You'll save a fortune in petrol and other running costs!

£1,400 is not a bad salary at all!

If your OH is earning much more than you, why are you splitting the bills 50:50? That doesn't seem fair to me.

What my husband and I do is splitting bills proportionally to our income. As I earn more than him, I pay a bigger share - this way, we both spend the same percentage of our income on fixed bills - seemed like the fairest solution to us.

I've subscribed to your diary - good luck!

[Deleted User]

A couple of other things you could try:

- is there anything other than a Tesco near where you live? I find it to be by far the most expensive supermarket - have you got an Aldi or Lidl near? Or at least a Morrison's?

- have a look at a budgeting app to help you see where you're losing money each month. A lot of people here swear by YNAB, I just use good old-fashioned spreadsheets ha. Budgeting (and sticking to it) is such an important part of being/becoming debt-free! Unfortunately, this includes saying no to things once the money in that particular budget has run out, but that's the reality of debt-busting!

- you seem to be going on a lot of meals out and things like that - I know that these things are fun, but even just cancelling one of those meals a month will bring in more money than a lot of time on a survey site. - maybe you could try occasionally having pot luck dinners or a BBQ at someone's house instead?

- is your phone in contract? If not, check if you can move to a SIM-only plan.

- do you have any subscriptions you can cancel? gym? Spotify? That kind of thing?

It would really help if you did a proper SOA and then we can try and help you analyse where you could make some savings.

katiepants

Thanks for your comments. Have tried to do a bit of an SOA, but it's tricky as some things are bought yearly/6 weekly rather than monthly.

Income £1400, (rising to £1450 soon now that the new NHS pay agreement has been confirmed)

Monthly expenditure:
Rent/Gas/Leccy/sky: £330 (this is paid to OH as he pays mortgage and bills)
Food shopping: £75
Council Tax: £58.50
Farrier: £43
Livery: variable, but never more than £300
Car maintenance/holiday fund: £120

(annual expenditure/12):
Prepaid prescription card: £8
Horse vaccinations and dentist: £8
Car insurance: £37
Car tax: £21
Breakdown cover: £5
MOT/service: £8
TV licence: £5
House insurance: £6.50
Professional registration membership: £13
Christmas/Birthdays: £16

Total = £1066

That should leave me with £334 to save and spend on other niceties such as meals out and trips away, but somehow it's not working out like that! I'm terrible at Maths so this doesn't come naturally to me. I'm sure I've forgotten something!

I definitely agree that we eat out too much. Growing up we hardly ever ate out, so it was a real treat. Now it seems such a regular thing that it's not a novelty any more, and a lot of the time I'd prefer a home cooked meal anyway. It's just hard to say no sometimes...

GlendaSugarbean

Are you making notes of all your spending? I use Goodbudget on my phone which is free - I used to use the YNAB desktop version but it went wonky and it's no longer supported :mad:. I am disinclined to pay out for budgeting tools! You could also use an old fashioned notebook.

Until you can look back on a few months of detailed expenses it's really hard to see where the spare cash goes. This is where you need some proper data

katiepants

Well, I just realised that I didn't include mobile phone or petrol for a start - what a numpty! It's no wonder I'm in debt!

[Deleted User]

I really think a budgeting app would help you. There are some good free ones - like iSaveMoney.

Working_Mum

katiepants wrote: »

Well, I just realised that I didn't include mobile phone or petrol for a start - what a numpty! It's no wonder I'm in debt!

I write all of my spends down in a notebook - started to do it each evening about 8 years and it is really useful - YNAB wasn't around then and I am a bit of a Luddite. I know what I spend my money on - how I spend my money and what my triggers are - it has been so useful.

YNAB do a free trial so you could decide to log everything you spend (even if it is for a few months) by asking for a receipt and logging it somewhere to help you understand your financial landscape a bit better.

katiepants

This hot weather is making me a bit irritable - I definitely woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning!

I really feel like at the moment that I want to simplify my life and get ride of all my 'things'. Well obviously not everything, but all the clutter and tat. I've put a few bits on ebay, but no idea if they'll sell. One of my camera lenses will definitely sell. It's up to £100 and has 8 watchers.

My actual camera and the other 2 lenses are being taken to a local camera shop tomorrow. They've offered me £475. It seems like a heartbreakingly tiny amount compared to what they cost to buy, but I'm aware they are quite old now and more of a niche brand. So I'll do it just for the ease of it, and the money is desperately needed to pay off the overdraft.

The rest of my camera stuff might make £50 ish, so that's a good £600 towards the debt busting.

Selling my car is a definite. Just working out whether to buy a different car, or buy my OH's car off him so he can upgrade...

Still doing the surveys. Have about £2 on Opinium research and £8.50 on Onepoll. Very slow going!

Anyway, back to work.

[Deleted User]

Sad decisions for you, but you'll feel great getting that amount off the debt!

Have you tried grass roots mystery shopping?

Also panel opinions (they do well-paid week or month long panels sometimes, I just finished one and got £20 same day!), and Prolific Academic.

katiepants

Have woken up feeling really tearful today. I'm not sure why, but just feeling like I don't really know what I'm doing with anything. Plus worrying about absolutely everything as usual!
I much prefer this hot dry weather to the winter dark and cold, but I've no energy to do anything. One cooler day would be nice just so I can be a bit more productive. In a moment of madness I did take the living room and bedroom curtains down today and they are currently in a timed wash. Hoping they'll be done when I get home so can hang them to dry this evening. The rest of the house needs a really good clean, but I'm trying to sort stuff bit at a time. Once I've decluttered as much as I can, I'll have more space to do a proper spring clean (well... summer clean!)

The freezer is groaning full of food that we don't want to eat due to the weather (don't really fancy cottage pie or sausage casserole when its 27 degrees!), but really need to try and plan meals better. At least try and have more salady type stuff in to prevent one-off trips to the shops.

We're off to a Garden Party tomorrow, and staying the night with our friends. It's supposed to be scorching on Sunday - how I wish we had a car with a/c!

Other than that just trying to do as many surveys as possible. Lens on ebay now has 10 watchers! It ends tomorrow morning so fingers crossed it goes for a decent amount. Dropping camera in at the shop tonight. Hoping they can pay me straight on to my card rather than give me a cheque.