First Steps to Solvency

getmore4less

ryanm8655 said:

getmore4less said:

One thing you will find with a lot of threads  after the initial push fall into Monty Python mode where people go down the you don't need to spend that or live in a big house or drive a big car..... 
I live on.......

Your fundamental problem was you had no clue where your money was going.

That is basically solved and now you can now work on where you want your money to go to get best value for you as you know what everything is costing and how much you have to dish out between things.


My Monty Python contribution for today

With food the biggest win for a lot of people is waste management don't buy stuff you are going to throw out.

The second big win is buying reduced stuff and the best place (round us) for those is M&S and Waitrose especially for more expensive items like meat, fish, cheese. most of our meat is 1/2 or less the price in the cheaper stores(like Aldi,Lidl).

Picked up a couple of dry aged sirloin joints ~2kg each for <£9/kg last week,  a couple off seriously good Sunday lunches sorted.

Tonight is a 1.5kg chicken £2 that does us 2 dinners and a lunch sandwich.

(helps to have a decent freezer to stock up on the bargains)

M&S is great for the yellow stickers. Used to live above one when I was living in Clapham, would get a weeks worth of ready meals for 20p each one a Sunday afternoon, ha. Other wins included a £13 tuna steak for £2, that was M&S at London Bridge on a Friday eve. They would massively reduce everything on Friday nights. My trouble was I just bought stuff coz it was cheap and ended up binning it But with some planning you could save a fortune. 

Planning and organisation could be fun if the wife gets into it and by the sounds of things it could save you a fortune...get it though, it’s not something that comes naturally to me either...another reason why my finances have been terrible ha.

I paused at throwing the ready stuff into the mix as some think the cook from scratch is  cheaper when often it is not when you shop properly.

we get loads of super cheap stuff that falls into that "ready" category  especially M&S as they do 90% off  down side is the recycling big gets really full with packaging but most is decent quality and we can't make it for that.

Andyjflet

alt80 said:

@FootyFanDan good to ‘see’ you mate and thanks. Tbh the crux of my problem is my greed knows no bounds haha. I’ve realised there’s no ‘noble’ reason for having spent my whole adult life in some form of debt. Not overly bothered about all of it but am about the cards - stupid spends on those mainly just living it up.

Xmas eve meal out we don’t but a lot of good memories of spending time growing up with parents in a big old country pub at this time of year. Xmas eve / NYE were definitely the highlights of mine and sister’s year. Christmas Day wasn’t usually the main event unless dad had big winnings lol.

@RelievedSheff Son always loves his presents from Greece the most - Never anything really exciting but he’s obsessed with the Greek alphabet lol. So yes I get it’s generally the simple things he likes right now. Tells his schoolmates he’s half-Greek his teacher had a word with wife about it just he doesn’t understand living abroad doesn’t mean from that country. Put a stop on wife buying him a new iPad Air - he’s got an ipad doesn’t need a new one.

We love Xmas markets real shame nothing happening this year tbh. 

@Andyjflet I get you’re not a JLR man but ‘crappy inside, cheap and nasty’ maybe an Evoque but no way would JLR get away with !!!!!! interiors in a FFRR lol. Really not looking to VT the range. 

I worked for the LR part of JLR locally for 3 years, compared to the two German brands i've worked for and IMO they are, but horses for courses. Good Luck

alt80

Thanks re food spends. It’s not something I think I’ve got much control over and can’t face more potential arguments right now. She has improved things a bit so there is less waste / spends don’t want to seem to be interfering. I’ve realised we spend a fair bit on alcohol which is accounted for in the groceries spend - don’t drink every night but realised I drink more than I first thought I did. Would probably be better to cut it down tbf.

Re son - he does get a lot for birthday/ Christmas but not through the year. Do tell him rather than having a cheap toy now when he wants something on impulse he can bank the little toys for a bigger one come birthday/ Christmas time. Wife tends to be a bit more of a soft touch and will buy whatever he sees haha.

alt80

@Andyjflet fair enough. I don’t mind the German brands tbf but owning both BMW and JLR I wouldn’t say the BM is better quality. I know a lot say otherwise think a fair bit of that is bias towards the German marques. Really no intention to VT the RR but a long time to go before any potential move to be made on that - tbh if I could VT it and get a Bentayga I would haha but no way will that be happening in two years time. 

warby68

@alt80
Less alcohol is a good and relatively easy win - health reasons is an easy sell.
Right now I wouldn't be doing battle on the groceries either. You've already lowered the budget and she's working to it. That will do for now while things are fraught. Just try asking for your favourite meals which shouldn't have the experimental waste with them . I don't think everyone realises your grocery budget has a fair chunk for booze and coffees inbuilt and they are the quicker wins.
If you give him a £750 iPad Air at 6, what will you give him at 16? You really are buying for yourselves not him at this age. Even if you had the spare cash, it would be better put away for when he's older or takes up an expensive hobby. I get it, spoiling them, I went a bit mad some early years, not so much in ££ but in quantity - but I learnt. 

stymied

I tackle the Christmas present overbuying by pulling it all out of the hiding places at Christmas and building one pile of the definitely give now and a second pile of it will still be fine for birthday / friends birthdays. I always accidentally overbuy more than will fill the stocking (pillow case) nicely plus a gift for under the tree so end up with quite a few things put back away.

alt80

Waiting for call centre answering phone shouldn’t have mentioned the Bentayga just spent 10 mins speccing one on Bentley website different league def next level. Love it haha. Dream 3 car garage today - Cullinan, AM DBS, 911 GT3RS think that lot worth more than my home... depressing thought of the day. 

@warby68 Going to need a drink if this call centre leave me on hold any longer lol but yeah would be better if I just kept it to weekends. Sounds like I get wasted every night, really don’t haha. I don’t get involved with food - wife does the tracking etc everything has to fit in with MyFitnessPal and her weekly nutrition targets don’t pretend to understand it I just eat and lie about the odd Maccies I have lol.

Agreed re presents for son - wife doesn’t see it like that though.

alt80

@stymied we hide presents all round the house then a massive pile under the tree. Madness ha.

getmore4less

None of this is instant, it's a slow burn.

A lot of stuff can be frozen for later. 

Make bigger meal and keep the cooked left over portion for later use as a quick ding lunch

You can ignore most use by dates for a bit.

Best by, often have months/years before you have to give up on them.

Maybe you could get involved in some meals and lead by example by thinking about what to do with any excess stuff that normally gets thrown out. 

alt80

Not the most amazing afternoon - been on phone trying to sort an issue out but keep being put on hold. Ready to smash the phone through my computer screen right now. 

@getmore4less lol reminds me of uni days and also before I met wife, didn't earn as much but still had toys and spent a lot getting f**ked up at the weekends so wasn't that bothered about used by etc. Never got ill but was careful. Wife never really been through that phase she's always been a goodie two shoes tbf that was an attraction as previous gf was definitely not.

Tbf wife could definitely make extra portions and we could have next week or whatever. Less time cooking for her too should be easy win but not convinced she's going to listen to me about food lol.