Say No to Credit Cards Diary

enthusiasticsaver

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards wrote: »

As for the shopping bill we have four adults and two dogs living in the house. I do know I can reduce it as there is waste in the house and this is one of the first things I intend to sort out. I think with careful planning I could reduce this by £15 / £20 a week. I was thinking of taking £240 out of the bank on the 1st June and having it in a sort of kitty in the kitchen for food for the month. This way I know exactly were I am and I don't think I will spend as much. If anybody has found this works please let me know.

The water in this house is not on a meter and that is how much it is a month. It really would not be worth getting a meter as we live in a big three bed house with four adults. I think I would look into a water meter when the kids have moved out but not before.

I changed Gas/Electric supplier about two months ago to a far better deal than we were originally on, so that has already been done.

I missed the bit where you said your adult children are still living at home. Do they work and contribute financially? I agree it is not worth switching to a meter if there are four adults in the house.

I found the best way of sticking to our food budget was to just do one shop a week with maximum one top up for just fresh food like milk, bread, veg and fruit.

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Good morning everybody, another amazing day.

lindez - Thanks for dropping by. I did the same I read and read and read other peoples diaries and kept thinking I need to do this . But I was so frightening but it is strange it has motivated me so much and somehow made me more accountable for what I am doing.

enthusiasticsaver - Thanks for all your help. I do have two adult kids at home. One is at Uni so cannot contribute. My other child is on a training programme at the moment and he does not get paid that much at the moment. Plus he has a lot to pay in train fares at the moment. However, come January he is moving offices and he will be qualified so his salary increases so much. At that point he was going to start contributing.

I have been good with the food bill this week, but have decided to go with the budget from 1st June. I think you need to be organised and very disciplined.

Got up this morning to another ebay sale so another £6.65 after fees and postage. So total profit this week is £39.47.

Job for today are:

Carry on sorting the garage out.
List at least five things on ebay
I have checked the weather for tomorrow so I am going to pack the car to go to the car boot sale in the morning. I cannot wait to start clearing all the extra stuff in the house.

Everybody have a great day.

Hopeless_Case

Good luck with the journey! I know how easy it is for credit cards to creep up with everyday spending/ nothing to show for it. I don!!!8217;t know if both your kids are students and not earning, but even if they can!!!8217;t contrubute, hopefully you can educate them to see that you don!!!8217;t have a magic pot of money so they!!!8217;re being a bit more careful too. Our final one has just left but they lived with us well into their 20s and it!!!8217;s easy to leach money if they!!!8217;re still in the mindset of expecting us to pay for everything

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Hi Hopeless Case

Thank you for dropping by. I also think young people assume parents pay for stuff if they are with you. At the moment I am trying my hardest to stop this from happening and it is so difficult.

Lately I have been making excuses if we go out to leave the house later and have lunch before we go so we don't have to eat out. This is because I am really really cutting back and sorting this money out.

I have just noticed I have had another ebay sale this afternoon takings out fees and postage it will give me £31.45 profit. The car is also filled with stuff for the car boot sale tomorrow so will see what happens in the morning.

Take care Everybody

enthusiasticsaver

I personally think it is a good idea to discuss finances with your young adult children and perhaps steer them away from thinking there is a magic pot of money and it is limitless. Teaching them that everyone(or almost everyone) has to live within a budget and sometimes there is a cheap or free way of doing things. Keeping them away from a life of debt would be a great lesson to teach them.

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Hi ENTHUSIASTICSAVER

I totally agree with you. My son is amazing with money and always has been. My daughter was the opposite, however, she is getting better. She does not have any debt at all and has recently opened an Savings ISA.

So I feel they are both on the right path.

However, I have started to withdraw the bank of mum and dad, which at first was really hard but they just accept it now, or I avoid situations were I think it may be an issue.

At some point kids need to take responsibility for there own finances, and I think I am at that point with them. Right I am off to bed as I have a car boot sale to go to tomorrow.

Take care everybody and enjoy the bank holiday.

Hopeless_Case

I do agree that the bank of mum and dad is hard to withdraw at first, and I sometimes avoid eating out with them in case they just expect me to pay, rather than just make it clear who's paying for what before we go.

Hope the car boot goes well, and have a lovely bank holiday

allthe7s

I feel like your diary is me in 10 years if I don't sort myself out now!

Dogs, kids, husband who earns more, credit card debt that can't really be explained, I'm definitely going to be subscribing, and focusing on my own DFW diary!

Good luck with your car boot sale

X

enthusiasticsaver

Good luck with the car boot sale. Yes it is hard to withdraw the bank of mum and dad and nothing wrong with that if you can afford it and they don't expect it. When you are financially straight there is nothing nicer than treating your son and daughter to a nice meal out but while you are trying to sort out your cards I would say to them before you go out that if you do this you all need to pay for yourself. That includes your husband as your finances are not joint but I think you said he pays when you go out anyway? Does he treat the kids?

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Hi Everybody,

Back home, took some of the left over stuff to the charity shop on the way home and the rest of the stuff is back in the garage for next time. Car is back to normal.

I have had lunch and my DS counted the cash. After taking out the float and the pitch costs I cannot believe what I made. A grand total of £223.00. I cannot believe it.

I am going to use this for the food budget for June.

I think I am going to try and sort some other stuff out during the week and if the weather is ok go again next weekend.

Hopeless Case - Thank you for looking in on me. Over the past few weeks when my mindset started to change I have avoided going out with them so that the bank of mum and dad situation did not happen. This is the way it is going to be from now on. But it is still hard.

allthe7s - Thank you for dropping by. I am going to go and find your Diary and start to read it as I would love to read about somebody in a similar situation. I just wish I had done something ten years ago and not now.

enthusiasticsaver - Thank you so much for all your help and advice. When we all go out together my DH tends to pay. I have tried to cut this down because it was becoming very expensive for food and drinks for four adults. I dont want the kids to assume everything is paid for when they go out with us, because they need to learn everything does not come for free.

Any way must dash and once again thank you all so much for your help and support, it really does mean a lot.

Take care everybody and have a great bank holiday Monday