Judicious January - Long may the credit crunching continue

[roguepixie]

So, the credit crunching team are into Year 2013. Happy New Year everyone.

Let's continue our cost-cutting, , money saving,penny and pound pinching, NSD ways.

Jen - what a nightmare with your house Will you be able to transfer into the school in your new area easily?

Helena - reading your posts is making me go 'uh oh!'. We are planning to live in 5 years to somewhere where the state secondary and 6th form are outstanding rather than the selection of 'satisfactories' we have to choose from here. Plan was to buy a new house and keep this one to rent out for income and eventual capital.
I am now wondering if we would be better to sell it and buy something to rent out once we've been moved a year...

Storm - I'm doing this for a variety of reasons. We have debt that needs paying off, we want to move house in a few years, and DH's income is uncertain as he is self-employed. It is too easy to spend far too much when he is earning as he gets a v.good rate.

NSD yesterday and today

Rogue thank you, I did have a lovely day. How did your anniversary dinner go?

Jenduck hope your DH has a nice birthday tomorrow

Helena it's just crazy, sorry I have no advice for you, only sympathy.

Storm I do this because we need to reign in our spending as a family. Even though I don't include OH's spending it helps in that I no longer say -okay, as long we can afford it- when he suggests things, like my birthday dinner. A couple of year's ago we went to the Grand Hyatt here and the bill, 2 adults and 2 DCs, was nearly £800, I nearly fainted when I realised. So this year when he suggested the same restaurant I nearly lamped him said No, I want to go here instead. Confessing all my financial sins on here helps me keep on track, keep him in check, and teach DDs better habits than their father would.

Spent £9.97 in Lidls today on top-up.
Swapped some plant seeds with a lady too, instead of buying any :)

storm By 'this' I assume you mean this thread, and accompanying frugal living? I am doing it because we are badly in debt, currently close to £2100 when all combined and I am determined to clear that by the end of the year. I was on this thread all of last year too, which helped us to finance a move to our own home from MiL's, and for me to enjoy an extended period of Mat Leave. It's a bit like Weight Watchers - not just a frugal diet, but an entire lifestyle change to spending :)

Probably already been mentioned but- I am playing my nectar card for all its worth this year, just between 15th nov and new year I managed to rack up £25 worth of points, and i dont even spend that much.

I cancelled my AA breakdown cover, then went through nectar eshops and reinstated it-should get about 2000 points for that. I do nectar canvass, a few surveys a week can add a few hundred points to your balance. I downloaded nectar searchbar-2 points for every search up to a max of 100 a month.

Basically anything im buying- i go through nectar eshops page-there are so many retailers on there, Im managing to get points for almost everything i buy, also helps theyve linked with ebay as i spend alot on there!

Always try to use bonus points coupons eg 300 points for buying a particular product that costs me say £2.50- you would have to spend £150 normally to get that many points so always try to use if you can.

Finally, when shopping at sainsburys try and get into my habit of buying a product and taking it through the till before you actually do your shop- 9/10 times i get a voucher for extra points or money off which i can then use immediately after ive done the main shop! ;-)

Storm, I started initially to help me pull together the last of a house deposit, which Ive now achieved. I continue here because Ive realised just how much money I can waste during a month just by not thinking purchases through. Its also great for tips and support frim orher posters

I'm in because when we had dd we decided that both me and dp would reduce working hours to cover childcare so our income has dropped by just under 2 fifths, ouch! I've done all the sums and know we can manage we just need to be careful. So here I am.

Ali the village we want to live to, which is actually where my parents live & where I grew up, is only about 3 miles away from where we live now & so is within our current LEA. So, the worst case scenario, I think, would be DS having to come to school here. Whilst that wouldn't be ideal, it's not a bad commute & he is already in the pre-school here, so at least he would have some friends already & know the school (although he makes friends very easily, so I can't see that being a problem wherever he is). The situation does also mean that we are putting on hold TTC DC3, which I don't want to do for too long, as I am already 35 & early menopause runs in my family (my DMum was only 39).

So, really, the house thing is my main reason for being here. However, I have also had to be frugal for most of the time DH & I have been together, as one or other of us has almost always been studying/newly-graduated, so on a very low income (coupled with high commuting costs), so I guess I'm just used to it. I also kind of think that I'd rather put extra money towards a holiday than labels on clothes or food that no-one sees, or coffees out that I can make & enjoy at home!

move to not live to

jen that's weird - I wrote live instead of move on my last post, autocorrect strikes again!

Fingers crossed for you with school and TTC!

Forgot to say earlier - DH has been offered the other, better paid, contract - also with a start date of Monday! Just need to find out how quickly they will pay our invoices and then I can do an income forecast and a proper budget for the next few months.

That's great news Ali I'm so pleased for you.

Tomorrow will not be another NSD for me, but I've managed 3 in a row.

Woe, so much to catch up with.

Ali - congrat's to your husband. That is fantastic news.

jen and Helena - I hope your respective house situations get sorted soon. Banks are very strange - they will lends millions to some with no collateral or backing then refuse someone who can repay merely because the wording isn't right.

zumba mentioned her nectar card - can I just remind those of us who wear glasses that Nectar cards can be registered with Vision Express - when you have your eye test/buy glasses there you can earn mega Nectar points. My DMum recently had her eye test and bought new glasses (she doesn't pay for the eye test) - she attached my nectar card (she doesn't have, or want one) and I have received all those points. On glasses that cost just over £700 that's a lot of points.

Adora, I had a lovely dinner, thank you. Even though I had to do all the work . Spent about £15 on steak and was given a lovely bottle of Prosecco (which had a little box of chocolate truffles attached) and that was dinner - a fraction of the cost! Where did you go for your birthday dinner? Was it lovely?

storm - my reasons for joining this thread and lifestyle are really because I have never really been in control with spending. I wanted to grow up and take control of myself. So now I take notice of the spending and the cost of things. I exercise control with myself and the family. We do want to move closer to DS's school, sooner rather than later so it would be beneficial to have some savings to do this with.

This thread, and the people I have met on it, are inspirational. The thread has become a daily (sometimes hourly) read. It focusses me, gives me tips, makes me laugh and cry along with you all. The people on it are amazing - everyone is an inspiration. The tips and support are incredible. And I know I have to admit to superfluous spending, when it happens ... it makes me think about what is com ing out of my purse.

WOW, not woe!!!

rogue what a lovely post :)

I slept better last night than I have in about a month!

Today will bring my run of 3 NSDs to an end. We need milk, bread, fruit and vegetables to last until Friday when the next online order comes. I also need to get DS1 some kind of costume for a party he has on Saturday, and a present for the birthday boy.
I still have my £40 cash that I withdrew on Friday, and I think most of that will go - especially as DH is taking DS1 into town for a haircut after school.

Also I've got a plumber coming today to try and sort out our leaky bathroom/shower wall. God knows how much that is going to cost to get fixed. I've managed to save £400 out of our normal monthly spends to go towards it, and hopefully that will be enough.

I do this because I work for myself and sometimes don't get paid for two months after working. Right now I'm owed £1400. After today it will be £17-1800 outstanding invoices.

Plus I think a lot of shops rip you off so I'm on a mission to keep my money to myself. Plus we need a house. Plus I have to pay next years tax this year by July so that's going to be a struggle.

Ali, that's such a relief. The stress of no work really wears you down.

Nsd yesterday.

I lead a thrifty life partly out of necessity as I mentioned earlier but also because my dh realised something last year that has really stuck with me. He said 'Everywhere I go someone is trying to get my money. That makes me think it's valuable. I should try to hold on to more of it and be choosy who I give it to.' I knew that anyway but phrased like that struck a cord.
Have already been to Aldi, Sainsburys and Quality Save for top up shop £6.76. Now heading to soft play. Have packed a drink and snack for dc2 but will probably buy a coffee for me. Will do better tomorrow.

Aw, rogue, how lovely :).

Ali, fantastic news about your DH :).

Jen, fingers crossed for your DS's school application.

Helena, no advice, but sympathy with how frustrating and unsettling that must be for you all. I think the banks should apply a little discretion and a lot of common sense, in your case.

Very snowy here. Left the house 15 minutes early to try to catch a bus, but none showed up. So we had a mile and a half walk in 4 inches of snow! It was actually quite good fun, but I am NOT looking forward to when it turns slushy and icy. We will need to get the bus home this evening (£1.70 fares), but that should be it for today. Also spent 89p on milk.

Zumbaholic I don't have a Nectar card but seeing how your points mount up makes me think I should get one. How do I get one? How do I redeem the points?

Storm I'm on here because I've got debt to pay off. I've been paying it off for six years so it's a long hard slog. I started with around 8k but because I don't earn much, it's taking ages to pay off and I've got approx another 18 months to go. I also have no savings, so if I have an unexpected or one-off cost I have to put it on my overdraft. I'm constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Fluffy What do you do for a living? Can't believe that you're owed so much money! Must be a nightmare for your cash flow.

I've just spent £5.78 in Tesco on some stewing steak, butter beans and toilet rolls. I'm making a lovely beef stew and dumplings tonight but already had the other ingredients at home. I still need bread (they didn't have the kind I like) so will pop to Asda later to pick up a loaf.

Thatsinteresting I love what your DH said - it makes so much sense. I'm going to remember that.

Storm I'm here because DH's income has dropped by 25% because he's gone back into employment, having been self-employed for 6 years. We've relocated (and still haven't sold our house) so every penny does count.

I also realise that we've frittered a lot of money in the past just because we had it. "Don't feel like cooking what's in the fridge?" Have a takeaway! "Fancy a coffee - ooh why not have a cake with that?". Etc etc

If we cut that spending out we can live on this income and DH won't be away 2-4 nights a week. I realised that the children won't remember eating out instead of a homemade picnic on a day out but they will remember Daddy being home every night, being at their shows and sports days.

Hoping for a NSD day today. Don't think I need to buy anything.

We have new friends over tonight so I've just made a cinnamon Nutella cake - except we only had chocolate orange spread!

I've applied for a job and I've asked for an info pack about another one. If I could get a job that would really help our finances.

Bill Angel app sounds potentiallu useful, thanks thatsinteresting. Will see if it's available for Windows phones.

Meal out on Sunday was lovely and cost £25, so not too bad.

Yesterday was spendy as I bought some clothes for me for after the baby is born (just in the H&M sale and charity shops) and some decent ready meals (from the Cook shop) to have in the freezer. Got treated to lunch at Pizza Express by my parents though, so not all bad.

Today has been 50p at playgroup and then need to hit Aldi later.

Woah, loads to read!

Briefly,

storm, I'm here as I've become a stay at home mum (with a bit of tiny freelance work) so we've gone from two salaries down to one, with an extra mouth to feed and another due in two weeks. We were never extravagant with our spending, but we have had to make a few changes.

Whoever asked about Nectar cards. You just apply on the Nectar website and then whenever you do any online shopping, go through the Nectar eShops if the site you want to buy from offers points (amazon, ebay and many many others do). As for spending points, I tend to redeem them into Amazon vouchers and treat myself to something, but you can get other vouchers or spend them in certain stores as well.

I really feel for everybody on here who has experienced a drop in income - an all too familiar story atm .

We are fortunate in that our income has gone up recently (DS1 now gets free nursery, I have started back at work 1 day/week, DH can now negotiate a higher salary each time he starts a new contract, every few months or so, usually), but I know it will dip again in a few months as we will lose tax credits & our mortgage will go up as we will (hopefully) upgrade to a bigger & better house. It will be good to have built a bit of a cushion for that & have good habits in place.

It does seem to me that sometimes people don't necessarily help themselves, though (nobody on here!). Someone close to me is losing £600/month from their income, which they will not be able to make up by changing energy suppliers or shopping at Aldi (they do this already), but they will not entertain the thought of selling their 3-year old Seat which sits in the driveway barely used or removing their reception-aged DC from private school. They are also always posting on FB about meals out & days out enjoyed. I appreciate that these things are nice to have, but surely they are not a priority

Anyway, back to my spending! £2.65 today on a bottle of ale & some chocolate coins for my DH, so that he has something to open from me on his birthday! DCs got him a DVD & I will buy him a ticket to watch 'his' side at football when he has decided when he wants to go, this is just something for the day.

SoftKitty, nectar cards were always issued by Sainsbury's. Get thee hence and register for a card (totally free) - you will be able to do it at Customer Services and they will give you the card straight away. Once you do that you can use it at a variety of places - it's a points loyalty so just hand it over prior to paying and the points are added. Points are automatically converted to £'s and you will receive a 'statement' every so often. You don't, if I recall correctly, have a timeframe to use them within so you can save them for ages then use them whenever you want.

I really need to get better about going through the necter site for online shopping. I get loads from amazon and always forget.

I spent around £10 today mostly on things that I could have avoided if I had just been more organised, so that has rather annoyed me. Ended up buying lunch again today the was late home from work and because I hadn't prepared I ended up picking up some soup for dinner. Must do better in future.

Hoping for a nsd tomorrow.

I'm a podiatrist, one of main places of work doesn't have an authorised signatory for cheques so I'm not getting paid by them at the moment, it would be the biggest one wouldn't it.

We have family in a delicate situation financially who are also living the highlife. I don't get it. How is buying a brand new fancy car more important than keeping a roof over your head? They all think I'm mad for being so frugal though so it cuts both ways.

Yet another NSD that's 9 so far and I'm aiming for 12 this month. Its gradually getting easier to walk past shops rather than through them :) sorry short post baby screaming