New SOA - next steps

trailingspouse

A few thoughts on the entertainment/days out/treats/takeaways theme.


Kids don't care how much you spend on them. After a lovely day out, they don't snuggle up on the sofa with you and say 'Thank you for spending so much money on us'. So don't. Do free stuff. Spending time with them is what they'll remember. And actually, kids don't need to be entertained all the time. Let them just do nothing sometimes, it's fine.

Aldi do an 8-pack of mini ice lollies for £2.69. That's 34p per lolly. Why would you spend more?
How often do you have a takeaway? Every time you don't fancy cooking? Or just now and again as a treat? Instead, buy some pizzas to put in the freezer, which you can just whip out and pop in the oven on nights you don't fancy cooking (cheaper, and also quicker than waiting for delivery).

With Indian and Chinese takeaways, be honest - how much gets thrown away? One portion of rice is enough for two or more people. In fact one portion of the main dish is enough for two. You don't need rice and naan, just have one or the other. And only ever have them as a treat. Once a month max.


Well done for starting your journey. There are lots of helpful people on here.

tallyhoh

take a look at Dave Ramsey on youtube to give you some motivation

JennyJukes

Grazeley wrote: »

Thank you all! This is massively helpful advise.

I have written a to do list as part of my masterplan! And today I have taken advantage of some quiet time at work and done the following:

1) cancelled my Amazon music subscription £10.99 per mth

2) cancelled my car insurance 2 mths before renewal and taken out a new policy saving me £18 per mth /£219 per year. I had budgeted for this months car insurance payment which instead covered both the cancellation fee of the old policy and the deposit for the new policy, also the 1st payment on new policy is not due until October which gives me the money from Septembers car insurance budget to pay to debt!

3) changed my vodafone plan to £15 per mth - saving me £5 per mth/ £60 per year

4) I changed my mthly credit card payments on the 4 credit cards from 'minimum amount' to a fixed amount. I settled on a fixed amount by rounding up this mths min amount payment which I know I can afford to pay every mth (e.g my Barclaycard payment this mth £184, I have fixed all my payments on this card at £190, and likewise for all cards). I know the min payment goes down ever so slightly each mth but if I can afford to pay that amount as I paid it last month I can continue to pay it going forward.
3 of my CC's are on 0% so I have calculated by doing this by the time their 0% term ends ( in April, May and last one in October '20) I will have cleared £5830 off of them, amazing!! Key is to not spend on them, I will cut them up.

5) tracked my spending in my spending app - had to buy lunch today at work but went with soup and spent £1.90.

Overpay these savings to debts by snowballing.

Next steps from my to do list:
- change pet insurance to make savings
- check better deal on Virgin or other internet
-check my energy (this confuses me as I am in a contract for another year and the jargon blows my mind. I am in MSE energy club already)

Thanks again!

That's a great start you've made, Grazeley, very productive! It's amazing to see how much you've been wasting on things you don't really need such as prescription, more expensive internet, phone etc. I used to buy things just because everyone else did and "it's only £10" but that £10 adds up when you have debt or low income!

getmore4less

Why change to a £15 phone plan when plenty under £10.

getmore4less

How much more is paying car insurance monthly?
By discount for annual they can hide the high APR.

How much was the cancellation fee.

Grazeley

getmore4less wrote: »

Still something wrong with the secured loan numbers.

In what way? It's defintely the correct balance, mthly payment and APR...

Copied and pasted from my documents:
The annual percentage rate of charge (APRC) is the total cost of the loan expressed as an annual
percentage. The APRC is provided to help You to compare different offers.
The APRC applicable to Your loan is 15.8%.
It comprises:
Interest rate
 a variable rate of 12.90%.

Grazeley

getmore4less wrote: »

Why change to a £15 phone plan when plenty under £10.

Upon spending a good amount of time running through my monthly statements/bills and checking my usuage, to ensure I dont end up taking a plan that then makes me go over that allowance, that told me that I use 1-2GB of data each month.
My new £15 plan gives me 2GB of data.

I am comfortable I am on the correct plan for me.

Grazeley

getmore4less wrote: »

How much more is paying car insurance monthly?
By discount for annual they can hide the high APR.

How much was the cancellation fee.

Yes, £50 more to pay mthly. I have made a note that when I am in a better position I will save to pay annually for my car insurance - so yes agree thank you. One to work on in the future.

Cancellation fee was £11, but no payment due this month. So as mentioned my money set aside this month (£58) paid this £11 and also the £42 deposit for my new plan.

Grazeley

Thanks for the other comments and motivational feedback - helpful and appreciated.

More to look into :-)

Grazeley

Wimbrel wrote: »

You can do this! It's tough but it's so worth it!

Every time you don't spend a £ on something pay it off a debt. I found snowballing a useful technique and set up whatever debt I was prioritising as a payee on my bank account. Every time I didn't buy a coffee or saved a fiver on the week's shopping I transferred that money from the account to pay another tiny bit of the debt

Step by step and £ by £ you'll get there!

This is a fab idea!