Debt Payers and Savers Support group

[Rhi_Rhi1]

Oh dear, had a flick though... I pay out a month on debt on what some of you have to clear in total :/ wowza that makes for a reality check x


Will be debt free though by the end of the year! so that is encouraging at least
going to be one frugal year haha.

 

[aimee-lou]

morning ladies. will update later on but welcome new people too!

hubby is back tonight....yay. he's been away at hockey training for 3 days so have a shed load of stuff to do today as I've been lazy the last 2 lol.

UPDATE: Think I've updated everyone I can.

Rhi_Rhi - Do you want to be added to the list? What's your target?

Managed to add £6 to my savings today! Every little helps as they say :-D

 

[Natasha2605]

Welcome to everyone who has popped by.

Nothing new here, I did have a spare £60 in bank yesterday so put it towards a debt.

For the minute we've decided to have one takeaway a week. We had one last night and none now till next Friday.

We have decided we will start taking meals into work with us. Today I bought some plastic tubs and OH's food. We currently spend about £100 a month on money for work meals between me and OH. Hoping to cut costs drastically by taking in our own,better quality meals!

For the first time in ages I'm positive about making changes!

 

[weewdy]

As of monday we are starting healthy eating and saving. So we are having our last chinese tonight, so hopefully if i stick to it i can save £15 a week in a savings jar just from the chinese alone.

 

[tasha41]

I'm now at $350 saved. I should have $400 but OH borrowed $50.

 

[catty]

Planning meals is definately best and going to cheaper shops.
I went to asda and got heapsss of fruit to make baby purees, bags of veg to make soup. 5 different meats in the woopsie section (£10 for all 5 although this is unusual) some freezer meals, heaps of treats, cans of juice, all the weekly essentials,cleaning products and I got a blender a toastie maker and next years wrapping paper and crackers all for £55.

Then I got home oh said id forgot to buy bacon and his energy drink so I nipped to the little cornershop coop and spent £9 on bacon and energy drink as I ended up getting a magazine and a paper. I was almost sick when I found out the bacon cost £3.90 - seriousyl?!?!?

So I have made my new years resolution to never just nip to the corner shop ahah

 

[catty]

Im unsure if this is suitable for this thread but have wrote a list of everything we pay in hopes I can find ways to lesson this -

Mortgage £608
Council tax £128
Tv licence £12
Elec & gas £100
Car payment £92
Critial life and health ins - 38
Car ins - 35
House and building ins - 28
Park savings - 25
Sky £50
My phone £25
Oh phone 25
Contact lenses - 25
Sofa payment - 40
Bank charges - 40
Dad £50

I then try and spend £80 on petrol £200 on food and £50 for anything to do with baby

This comes to about £1650 and we give ourselves £80pm each which leaves us with £140 for saving/ birthdays/ urgent things like new shoes or if something breaks

 

[weewdy]

Im unsure if this is suitable for this thread but have wrote a list of everything we pay in hopes I can find ways to lesson this -

Mortgage £608
Council tax £128
Tv licence £12
Elec & gas £100
Car payment £92
Critial life and health ins - 38
Car ins - 35
House and building ins - 28
Park savings - 25
Sky £50
My phone £25
Oh phone 25
Contact lenses - 25
Sofa payment - 40
Bank charges - 40
Dad £50

I then try and spend £80 on petrol £200 on food and £50 for anything to do with baby

This comes to about £1650 and we give ourselves £80pm each which leaves us with £140 for saving/ birthdays/ urgent things like new shoes or if something breaks

Just out of curiosity why is your contact lenses so much per month? My oh got his from specsavers and then changed to ordering them online and the price is alot less. He was £18 a month and now he is £30 for 6 months and he buys solution as and when needed. Also your life insurance seems high, we are £15 a month.

 

[aimee-lou]

Catty - Initial thoughts.

1. Get rid of sky! How much do you really watch of the drivvle?! And if OH complains about the footie, tell him to pay the subs out of his own money, or to go round a mates to watch it! lol We have freeview, and even then it's not been tuned in for 6 months now! We just watch DVD's and use the iplayer and such.

2. Get contact lenses online at a much cheaper rate. I used to pay £12 a month last year from specsavers.

3. PAYG - Hubby and I have giff gaff. He buys himself a new phone after he has saved up/worked overtime for it. He pays £10 a month, I pay £10 every 2-3 months as it just tops up when I drop below £5 credit. It's saved us £100s I reckon as he always used to go over his minutes and end up paying about £40 a month. Plus, it's free for us to call/text each other!

4. Call the council and ask to spread the cost over 12 months. That could help with budgeting but I like the 2 months off as this helps me save up for summer day trips lol.

 

[weewdy]

Catty - Initial thoughts.

1. Get rid of sky! How much do you really watch of the drivvle?! And if OH complains about the footie, tell him to pay the subs out of his own money, or to go round a mates to watch it! lol We have freeview, and even then it's not been tuned in for 6 months now! We just watch DVD's and use the iplayer and such.

2. Get contact lenses online at a much cheaper rate. I used to pay £12 a month last year from specsavers.

3. PAYG - Hubby and I have giff gaff. He buys himself a new phone after he has saved up/worked overtime for it. He pays £10 a month, I pay £10 every 2-3 months as it just tops up when I drop below £5 credit. It's saved us £100s I reckon as he always used to go over his minutes and end up paying about £40 a month. Plus, it's free for us to call/text each other!

4. Call the council and ask to spread the cost over 12 months. That could help with budgeting but I like the 2 months off as this helps me save up for summer day trips lol.

Just on the council tax i pay extra a month so i dont have to pay anything dec, jan, feb. It means im £150 better off over christmas.

 

[catty]

Thanks some good tips!

With the contact lenses I had a really bad infection which hospitalised me for a week from wearing monthly contacts so I now use dailys. I will definately check online to see if there is a better price though.

My oh has told me the sky package is a good price but maybe just because he wants it haha! The only thing about it I like is ig im watching something and baby crys I can pause and watch the rest later thats all really. That includes the phone line and internet - how much is freeview? I wouldnt mind getting rid of sky personally!

I will leave the council tax as it is as I like getting the 2 months where we have more money!

Also about the phone I have an absolutely rubbish package so when my contract is up in feb I am definately changing I will look into that

 

[special_kala]

I am in!

Will do a proper introduction later/tomorrow after i whop the husbands ass at Monopoly.

 

[aimee-lou]

catty - you can pick up freeview boxes from £10 and it's free after that.

 

[weewdy]

Thanks some good tips!

With the contact lenses I had a really bad infection which hospitalised me for a week from wearing monthly contacts so I now use dailys. I will definately check online to see if there is a better price though.

My oh has told me the sky package is a good price but maybe just because he wants it haha! The only thing about it I like is ig im watching something and baby crys I can pause and watch the rest later thats all really. That includes the phone line and internet - how much is freeview? I wouldnt mind getting rid of sky personally!

I will leave the council tax as it is as I like getting the 2 months where we have more money!

Also about the phone I have an absolutely rubbish package so when my contract is up in feb I am definately changing I will look into that

I just cancelled my sky tv and kept the box you still get alot of channels free.

 

[Blah11]

Well it was amelies birthday so she picked bowling and pizza hut. £65 later not too bad really.
My mums helping us get a new pushchair tomorrow so I'll owe her money too but hopefully I'll get extra tax credits for meadow to help.

 

[Jchihuahua]

Well the broken down car has cost us £250 so far and not mended yet and they can't even work out what's the matter with it so I dread to think how much. It is so annoying having to put it on the credit card when I was aiming to clear it!!! I did meal planning for next week and ordered my shopping online partly because we have no car to go and get it but also to stop myself putting things I don't need into the trolley but somehow I ended up spending more than I do on a normal week . I really want to get rid of my debts but I am just not great at budgetting, even though I try.

 

[Natasha2605]

Well the broken down car has cost us £250 so far and not mended yet and they can't even work out what's the matter with it so I dread to think how much. It is so annoying having to put it on the credit card when I was aiming to clear it!!! I did meal planning for next week and ordered my shopping online partly because we have no car to go and get it but also to stop myself putting things I don't need into the trolley but somehow I ended up spending more than I do on a normal week . I really want to get rid of my debts but I am just not great at budgetting, even though I try.

Urgh it's a nightmare when something crops up like that

Going to sit tonight once kids are in bed and I can think straight and make a plan and timeline of paying stuff off. I work better when I can read back what I expect of myself!

 

[Rhi_Rhi1]

morning ladies. will update later on but welcome new people too!

hubby is back tonight....yay. he's been away at hockey training for 3 days so have a shed load of stuff to do today as I've been lazy the last 2 lol.

UPDATE: Think I've updated everyone I can.

Rhi_Rhi - Do you want to be added to the list? What's your target?

Managed to add £6 to my savings today! Every little helps as they say :-D

yeah sure. Will update later with an idea of targets etc
I am pretty sure it will be all debt and no savings though. .. it always seems like one thing after another tbh. For example we should have 300 left after all our bills and debt payments nd food shopping etc but so far all ready I have spent 70 on a new car battery and I had to spend 150 quid on baby bits :/

ds has snapped the handle off the fridge ! And my back car wipers have stopped working !

have made some efforts to free up some money though. Got the sky bill halved and the broadband

Damn you debt! Lol

 

[highhopes19]

Our monthly outgoings are:

Rent: £428
Council tax: £136
Water: £36
Tv licence: £13
Electric: £70 a week (yes you did read right ) but nothing at the moment as HA finally admitted after months that its their fault they put a dodgy heating system inand gave me £280 to put on it
Toms phone: £40 a month
Car insurance: £104
Petrol: £80
My phone: £27
Ipad: £25
Sky: £50 (we have a deal that were keeping till August every channel,phone and internet)


Seems a lot BUT the thing that really crippled us and got us a bit messed up was this electric issue my HA called me a liar saying there is nothing wrong with our electrics untill I did my own research and admitted it was their fault and also happening with our neighbour . £70 a week! Got us so behind on everything we had to get a credit card so we could get food and also petrol for us to get to work .

Other things that will be easier in a few months are:

1- car insurance my OHs insurance will go down from £104 a month to £60 a month so nearly halved this is in march

2- ipad and my mobile phone contracts end: saving us another £50 a month from February

3- Tom gets a pay rise fingers crossed next month so all extra money will be spent paying the last loose ends off then going straight in the savings tin

Was Feeling really optimistic untill Corey corsa has decided to go a bit doolalee on us and is shuddering between 2000-3000 revs but fine any where before or after that... It's been a good little car we've been really lucky just couldn't of come at a worse time really and I've got a really a bad feeling it won't pass its mot in march that's all we need!

 

[QueenMummyToBe]

Hubby rang sky earlier to try and get a better price as we pay a stupid amount and they couldn't do anything for us!!
We are going to have to cancel by April when I go back to work on reduced hours.

Does anyone rate talk talk? Can get tv, unlimited broadband and evening/weekend calls for £22.90 a month (including line rental) then can add monthly bundles like kids etc. We would be saving £40 a month!!

Xx