New Life Pending.....

Iwantanewlife

It really will be a nice kick start!

so a NSD for me today. Thinking forward to September and my sons birthday, ive managed to save £120 in Topcashback which i should be able to get out to pay for his lego land tickets, and £100 pounds from ebay sales ive sold will cover his present. The remainder of this money will be chucked at the loan.

I am hoping by the end of September to have the awful loan down to £600.

Im sort of dreading Christmas, I have a massive family which we all celebrate together usually 20+ people all together on the big day. Usually it costs me hundreds, this year i need to start thinking where/how i can celebrate with them without using my EF as i do not have any credit cards. What is everyone doing to keep Christmas low cost? I have pre warned my family i will not be giving gifts like i usually do and that im trying to clear debts, but i still dont want to do nothing!

girlatplay

I have a joint savings account with my sister that we both pay into for Christmas. In 2012 we were talking about how skint we were and how we really should save for Christmas in advance and so the joint Christmas savings account idea was born. We just put in what we can afford each month and at the end of November we get back what we put in over the year. I pay in on my payday something around £30-£40. I incorporated it into my budget and now I don't even think about it.

For Christmas gifts, we each write a list with about 3-4 items on it that we would like (little things, nothing huge, with a price limit) and that way we each get gifts that we want and no one has to worry about trying to think of ideas.

As an extra, we all pay in £10 per month to a Christmas dinner "pot". We usually do that for about 7 months of the year. We usually go out for Christmas dinner (not this year but that's another story) which costs about £70 per head including drinks. We've quite often got money left over which we carry forward to the next year.

I know these things don't help you right now but maybe something to consider for next year

[Deleted User]

We do xmas presents only for kids in our family now, both with my brother and OH's sister. We have 5 nieces and nephews so that's still enough people to buy for! Once we had made this suggestion, everyone was relieved haha!

Things for adults that don't cost a lot include homemade food/ cake/cookie recipe kits or hampers with Christmassy things bought from Home Bargains or B&Q. Or you could do vouchers for things that don't cost anything, like "I'll babysit your kids for an evening" or "I'll wash your car" or whatever is useful to people.

Then there's always charity shops as well.

[Deleted User]

And yes, going forward, once your debt is lower, it's a good idea to save a little every month, I've got a separate savings account that's just for gifts and xmas and I only touch it for those things now.

Toni'sfriend

We just buy a token present. Nothing expensive but something that shows you've thought about it. A paperback you know they'll enjoy, favourite chocolate, nice biscuits (all the better if you can make them yourself), etc. Children don't need expensive things especially if they're small - lots of inexpensive things if places like HB.

I bet if you say that's what you're doing you'll be greeted by a sigh of relief from everyone else. Nobody wants to be first to suggest that you should all cut down.

If you have a lot to buy start now and put them away gradually.

Iwantanewlife

Thanks guys, there are some great ideas there!

In my budget i do already have a xmas and birthdays pot, but as ive only just started they are looking very miserable at the moment! next year, wont be an issue.

I am definitely going to cut down the cost of the presents overall. Im very guilty of being quite materialistic and that also goes as far as buying flash presents for others. Now my eyes are open that at the moment, i simply just cannot afford it!

In other news, I should have a pretty low spend weekend. I am going to a wedding tomorrow, and although it has a free bar, i would need to spend on a hotel so ive decided to drive to avoid all cost. My fuel from this weeks budget should stretch too so im pretty pleased with that. Mini win for me, im even not buying a new dress (so unlike me) after looking in my wardrobe (s) properly, ive actually got 5 evening dresses, 2 still with tags on (shocking) so not going to fall into that trap! On Sunday my son has a football tournament which is £2 for spectators which will come out of the family event pot. Apart from that i will not need to spend.

So yesterday, i went through my credit file and noticed how many payday loans i had from 5/6 years ago, all settled, however again was completely irresponsible lending. I was on maternity leave, my sons father had just left and i was using them to keep a roof over our heads (poor saving before hand again). I composed an email to all of them to get the ball rolling to see if i can complain about them. Although, it feels slightly wrong considering i took them out with free will, looking back they should not of allowed someone was young (and stupid) and who wasnt earning full capacity to be able to have multiple loans at 1000%APR. Has anyone got any experience of this process? whats your thoughts on the whole thing? (be honest!!)

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! xx

girlatplay

I don't know anything about payday loans or making claims about them so can't help with that but I just want to say how impressive your fourth paragraph is! That is fabulous budgeting and you should be very proud of that

enthusiasticsaver

There is a thread devoted to claiming from payday loan companies which you may find useful.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5289150

Chat to your family about Christmas and lower expectations and maybe agree just to buy for kids. We did that a few years ago and it makes things so much easier.

Toni'sfriend

Although, it feels slightly wrong considering i took them out with free will, looking back they should not of allowed someone was young (and stupid) and who wasnt earning full capacity to be able to have multiple loans at 1000%APR. Has anyone got any experience of this process? whats your thoughts on the whole thing? (be honest!!)

I completely agree with you. It is at best irresponsible to lend to someone who will struggle to pay it back at such enormous rates of interest. Personally I think it's verging on criminal. Yes, you did take them out of your own free will but when people are desperate (as you obviously were) it's exploiting their vulnerability.

Iwantanewlife

Good Morning All

So my weekend round up - Wedding was lovely, and even better did not spend a penny! Football was also great fun, and my boy scored 5 goals so a very proud mummy moment. I spent £2 to get in and on the way home i treated him to a subway sandwich (fast food in my house is still a treat lol) which was £3 - this came out of my 'eating out' pot so all budgeted. Total spend for the weekend - £5!!

The meat has turned up and my freezer is packed full. My new challenge to my self is to see how long i can stretch this for. My goal is to not buy any more meat for a month, and as my staples cupboard is pretty stocked that should mean only needing to buy fresh veg & fruit and juice/milk. This should make a huge difference, but we will see. If it doesnt work out i will just go back to what i was doing as that was also working really well and averaging a £30 weekly spend vs the £50 that is budgeted.

Monday Joy

So i woke today to see the first payment from easy jet has landed in my bank (£227.13). I have paid this straight off the loan, with the remainder £500 approx to hit my bank by the end of the week.

New loan balance: £1143.97