Newbie SOA Can anyone help?

Izzy44

Will let you know how I get on with Sky - £75 is way too much !!

Jules2000_2

Well done for taking the first step.

Like you, I only joined this forum a couple of days ago, and was appalled at the amount of debt I have got my family into. You've faced up to your debt now and realise that you have a problem with curbing your spending and that's a huge obstacle which you've overcome, well done! It can only get better from now on.

I also spend to make myself feel better. I don't know if you're like me but I'm a very impulsive person, you know the type who, at supermarkets, are suckered into every marketing ploy ever dreamt up. Whoops, there goes my salary! No more though, I'm determined and it sounds like you are too. How did you find the online shopping? I've tried it once before with Tesco and wasn't really impressed with it - I seemed to get more substitutes than what I actually ordered, maybe I should try it again.

My advice to you as a newbie is read these boards, there is absolutely loads of brilliant advice by extremely helpful, non-judgmental people. One thing I've found really, really motivating is the snowball calculator, I'm hoping to budget an extra £100 per month to pay off my debts - if I can keep it up it will make a massive 7 months difference. I'm determined to keep to it to make my debt free date of July 2011.

Take care and keep motivated!
Jules

Izzy44

Hi Jules - thanks so much for your words of support. I really can't believe how great this site is. It's very motivating to recieve advice and support from others and also to read posts made by people in similar situations. I wish you all the best with tackling your debt - I am very impulsive too particularly when it comes to 'bargains'! - I have a house full of them - makes me feel a bit ill actually looking at all the stuff I have. I think the best thing for me to do is stick to internet shopping for now. Will also have a look at the snowball calculator as I haven't yet.

My Tesco online shop went really well. Only one item was out of stock (a salad dressing). It took a while to find everything but it should get easier. I have planned out 4 weeks worth of meals which I intend to repeat each month. Once I've placed four orders week 5 should be much quicker and easier as I think previous orders are saved on the system - all I'll need to do is check over it incase there are any items we already have in. (All sounds good - just hope I can stick at it!)

I'm amazed at how much money I've been wasting each month. Just from a few small changes I've saved

£36 on train fares
£17 on car insurance
approx £35 - £40 on my Virgin package ( spoke to them last night and now expect to pay around £35 - £40 next month)
approx £200 on shopping (ok, that's a little premature as I'm only a week into my budget shopping, but I am confident that I can manage on £320 for food per month)

That's £288 saved in a month!!!

I've been thinking about what else I can reduce - I think I can pay for RAC cover with Tesco clubcard vouchers so will look into that. I also need to look at our electricity and gas again although I don't know that I can get anything cheaper as i only changed a few months ago ( my new supplier came up as cheapest for me on moneysupermarket).

Good luck to everyone