Say No to Credit Cards Diary

enthusiasticsaver

I agree with Moguline. Can you reach agreement on people you don't need to buy for any more? We have agreed between my sister and her now adult children and my brother in law and his children and grandchildren that we no longer buy for each other's families. The same with friends. We now only buy for our immediate family so have gone from about 25 people to buy for to just 8 and each other sometimes. DH and I usually just buy each other a gift off amazon wishlist.

Gemsy81

I've also already started thinking about Christmas.....we already have tons of change around the house, as OH can't stop himself from leaving it everywhere! So I'm going to get a pot for each of us, divide up everything that is already in the house, and then everyone is going to have their little Christmas saving pots. Hopefully this will reduce the December anxiety!

System

Moguline wrote: »

As for buying presents for people - are there any you can strike off the list? We have deals with our siblings that we only buy presents for our nieces and nephews and not each other. That's saved a bomb over the years! And we just do £20 token presents with our parents. We've totally binned off any presents with friends too. Christmas is expensive enough as it is. Most of our friends were really happy to do this as it took some cost off their Christmas list too.

Just delurking to say well done for where you have got to, to date. Great diary.

Ref Christmas - what about a secret santa for the adults? I use a website called https://www.drawnames.co.uk - you put in everyone's email address and it randomly generates who will get a present for who and sends an email. It also has a wishlist function so you can select exactly what you want, and saves getting anything rubbish. Because people are only buying one present you can then make the budget a bit more substantial e.g £40 or £50. The best (and unexpected) result with this was that as the men in the party got emails and details with the wishlist, they all actually did the shopping and present wrapping themselves (usually the ladies do it all!) so it was actually really good fun, and saved a bit of cash (not a huge amount as we went for a £50 budget - but at least we got £50 of things we really wanted, rather than a load of cheaper tat.)

How are your CC's doing now you've had a couple of months of focus and debt busting?

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Good Morning Everybody,

Boot camp class done this morning, so feeling up for anything now.

Thank you all so much for dropping by I really appreciate all the help and support as the only time I feel I can talk about all this is on this thread. It is sad I know, but that is just the way it is.

Moguline - I found my christmas list from last year, which is a great starting point. When I looked at the people on it, it was crazy. So I have stuck off ten people, which last year I really would not have done. I just would have gone and purchased a present and used a credit card. So my mindset is changing.
I have decided either today / tomorrow I am going to go into the dreaded loft and see what is up there as any stuff we get given that we all do not want goes in boxes in the loft. So this year I am going to try and regift as many presents as I can.

GeorgianaC - Thank you so much for dropping by. Cash back sites are amazing. Yesterday I found out that the insurance for the house is due on 17th July. I usually just wait to get the reminder and then panic. I tried to do a few comparisons but I was a few days early so will leave that till Monday. I do intend to do comparisons and look at both topcash and quidco, to get decent cover at a great price, but paid for using my debit card.

wishingthemortgaheaway - Thanks for dropping by. I have had a look at the tv licence and you pay a very small amount more if you pay monthly, so I am gong to go with the annual payment for this year. Then go onto the tin weekly payments. I feel like I am starting to sort myself out, which is such a good feeling.

enthusiastic - Once again thank you for all your help. In the past I have tried to approach my family about presents and literally got nowhere at all. I wanted to just buy the children presents and not bother with adults but it went down like a lead balloon. This year I am going to regift the stuff that is in the loft and any other presents that I need to buy I am going to be so careful on the amount I spend. This is my year to start getting sorted out. I am a woman on a mission now.

Gemsy81 Thanks for dropping by. Well if I was you I would be collecting all that change and putting it into one of those sealed tins. I would then open it when you start to get organised for Christmas and use that. That would be amazing.

ramblehan - Thank you so much for dropping in. Your idea of secret santa is a fantastic idea and I would love to do it. However, it is my family they are just not interested in anything like that at all. One year we went away at christmas and told everybody months in advance that because we were going away we were not doing christmas that year. When we got home they had all left bags of presents so I had to go out and buy presents to give them all. It is crazy. I just love Christmas but it is about spending time with each other, watching films, going for walks, playing board games etc not spending tons of money on cr*p that nobody really wants.

As for the credit cards they are coming down. I have been doing this now for seven weeks. At the highest they were £39855. Today the balance is £38100.00. When I have looked back each month they were going up and up and up. So I feel that I have improved in two ways since starting this diary the first being staying in budget and the second actually paying some cash off the card.

This is really sad and I feel silly admitting to it, but I am actually enjoying doing it. Being organised, planning, decluttering it is making me a more focused person.

Right I have really waffled this morning, but once again thank you all for your help.

Going to do some cleaning this morning then into the dreaded loft.

Take care

wishingthemortgaheaway

I'm off to sort my tv icence out... no way is it staying on monthly dd if I'm paying more.

Thank you.

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

I'm off to sort my tv icence out... no way is it staying on monthly dd if I'm paying more.

Thank you.

When I looked it was only £1 / £2 per annum more, but check it out just in case I have calculated it wrong.

Take care

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Morning everybody,

It is a little cloudy outside today, but I don't think we can complain about the weather.

Another ebay sale so after fees and postage profit will be £9.02. That brings my total of extra income this month up to £442.43. I am totally amazed what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

I have another birthday next week so had a look in my cupboard and found a bottle of champaign that was given to me for my birthday. I had a look and it cost £19.99 so I feel fine about giving that to a friend for her birthday. Another £20 saved, or should I say not put onto a credit card!

Tea all sorted for tonight so everybody will be getting fed.

Sorting out and tidying the house went well over the weekend so I have started to get another load of car boot sale items together, will carry on during the week and maybe go and do another one not next week but the week after.

With it being fathers day yesterday I invited my dad around to mine instead of going out, to save some cash really. We all had a really good afternoon. I purchased a card but did not bother with a present as he always says do not buy me anything I do not need or want anything just the company. So this year I decided to take him at his word. We had a great afternoon as I got all the old photograph albums out and we went through them and had such a good laugh. Much better than sitting in a pub that is full to the max eating food that is over cooked because they are so busy. Plus I saved ( did not put a large amount on my CC). Win, win.

Any way must dash as I am off to work. No overtime today but have an hour tomorrow which is great.

Take care everybody and have a great day.

enthusiasticsaver

Well done on the gifts savings. All these little things add up.

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Well done on the gifts savings. All these little things add up.

Morning enthusiastic,

I know two presents would have been about £40 that I would have put on a credit card. I know last week when I started thinking about the two presents I really would not have done that now, which is a massive mindset change for me.

I am so glad I stubbled on this thread as it has help me out so much in the way I think about spending money you really have not got.

Thank you everybody for your help and advice in changing the way I think towards spending money.

[Deleted User]

Well done SNTCC! You're doing so well. I too am enjoying the change in mindset and the feeling of being back in control of my life. I don't think it's sad at all - it's being proud of ourselves and owning up to reality.