2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

debrag

Protogenia wrote: »

Afternoon peeps :blushing:


Thrilled to bits...joined Grass Roots mystery shopping on Thursday last week and my first assignment has just come through...an hours work for £45!

I can never find anything on their site about MS, I'm prob looking in the wrong place

EDIT - I was looking in the wrong place lol

What do you put down as reasons you want to join?

Carlsberg

Hiya guys. Disaster struck last night. We need a new car. Bought out current one for £1600 after DH had a car crash (not his fault) and mine was written off. We share, but must have one to get to work (both work at same place thank god) After the accident, as we didnt have much money, we bought one for £500 and within an hour of driving it away from the auction, the engine blew up and then we got our current on which is now on its last legs (dont laugh) so im bricking buying another. We have decided that it is silly to buy one in cash for £1600 or so and it only last a year like this current one has, so we have decided it is more sensible to go for something a few years old, out of manu warrantly but not tooo old. Im really really sticking to the budget now, as I still want to save my target. Can any one give me any good avice on maybe good deals on finance or loans? Or good places to look? Im sooo worried.

rosieben

mumzyof2 wrote: »

I have one and worste mistake i made, i wanted to pay mine off in one go but they put so many charges on if you pay in full. So i just carried on paying £10 a week and im still paying!

I was once told by a loan company rep (obviously one of the good guys!) that if I wanted to pay off my loan sooner I should pay extra but leave a small balance. When I paid off the last bit they just charged extra interest on that small balance so didnt cost me as much. This was a long time ago, not sure if it would still work that way but maybe worth checking out

I'm addicted to this thread and I'm not even doing the challenge Well done everyone

Frugaldom

Couple of WOWs to start with - first one goes to Rafiki!! :beer: Congratulations on becoming an instantly hooked convert to this addictive way of life :T

Next up is Fizzel81 - your weekly amount is £76.50 plus child benefits and the WOW is because I just read your full signature. Please keep us up to date on your dire-looking situation as the prospect of being made homeless is awful.

Everyone is doing so well! I am sticking to my original challenge - £4000 for everything except rent & council tax. Everything I earn over this amount is being saved in some way, shape or form because I really, really want to buy a house and rid myself of the burden of a short tenancy agreement that can be terminated by a landlord at the drop of a hat. I guess I'd say that living on a shoestring budget is my personal quest for security - no debt and a house you own outright. Ahhh.... the luxury of that.

Today's spend - £10.94 in Somerfield, as per my post in the grocery challenge thread. Gone to check post for any winnings, freebies or offers now :cool:

I'm back, postman brought my 2 x FREE T Mobile PAYG sim cards (registered through a cashback/points site) and my FREE 100 x gloss photograph paper, as spotted in the freebies at www.hotukdeals.com

On the down side, ISA interest rate has been cut, so that'll be less tax free interest accruing each month in my savings! Never mind, just means I need to work hard at generating £3,600 in anticipation of the next ISA year beginning in April, hence the reason for opening the 6.41% HiSave account with ICICI

Rafiki_2

Protogenia - lurve the story about your son! :rotfl:

Tip Time: -

Right, I have quickly established [read: Knew it but ignored it] that a huge amount of my spend goes on 'ready made' meals. I keep going for the quick fix.

However, for ever and after, I have loved www.allrecipes.com - free to join / surf etc. Recipes can be tailored to (family) size on the site - even converted to Metric etc. Loads of reviews, suggestions - oh you name it, it rocks.
You can even add a recipe to a shopping list and adjust ingredients! Ta-dah!

It might help some of us out.
Me, I'm doing a big shop on Sunday & whizzing up a few stews and soups to get me healthily thru time ahead

:j

Burlesque_Babe

£38.99 on a catalogue bill for me. 3 tops I ordered at the beginning of December. Completely forgot I'd not been billed!

Other than that, a NSD.

Burlesque_Babe

And my new weekly amount is £70.39 going into Week 2.

Protogenia

Hi Debrag

I just put down that I liked to meet new people, I liked to get out and about and was looking for a part time job, so mystery shopping would be ideal.

Good luck X x

Frugaldom

Carlsberg wrote: »

Hiya guys. Disaster struck last night. We need a new car. Bought out current one for £1600 after DH had a car crash (not his fault) and mine was written off. We share, but must have one to get to work (both work at same place thank god) After the accident, as we didnt have much money, we bought one for £500 and within an hour of driving it away from the auction, the engine blew up and then we got our current on which is now on its last legs (dont laugh) so im bricking buying another. We have decided that it is silly to buy one in cash for £1600 or so and it only last a year like this current one has, so we have decided it is more sensible to go for something a few years old, out of manu warrantly but not tooo old. Im really really sticking to the budget now, as I still want to save my target. Can any one give me any good avice on maybe good deals on finance or loans? Or good places to look? Im sooo worried.

Depending on how your credit is looking, the following could, maybe, possibly, perhaps, with a lot of juggling, work :rotfl:

Go through a cash back site and register for your free credit report from somewhere like Experian. (Don't forget to cancel before the 30 days is up)
If all looks ok on the credit front, apply for a 0% introductory credit card and pay for the car on that - should give you a year to pay it off at 0% and, if you don't make it to clearing it off, switch the balance to a new 0% balance transfer card next year (Go through a cash back site for your credit cards too.) At worst, you may pay about 2.5% to 3% for the 'loan' in the long run but it certainly beats 0% interest on an overly inflated garage asking price or the current bank loan/hire purchase rates.

Umm... I'm a cedit card tart who just recently discovered a new name for an old game! It's known on here as stoozing :rotfl:

whitewing

I have no time to post right now but had to say, I've finally bought some stardrops!