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Original poster

April no spend...

75 replies

FoolandFitz · 31/03/2018 18:53

Who's in this month?

March no spend thread here

I've some very big spends in April but I will try very hard to keep my NSDs as high as possible.

OP posts:
Silvertap · 06/04/2018 20:42

No spend day here but have spent the evening googling ski holidays!

NefretForth · 06/04/2018 21:31

Out for dinner to celebrate start of holiday today - £79 for three of us. And dinner out yesterday with some friends - £40 for my share (central London so not cheap). I'm not doing well (though I did have a NSD on Wednesday).

NickyNackyNoodleNoo · 07/04/2018 07:08

NSD yesterday and I saved money by moving existing plants round the garden plus I also got a work out whilst manically gardening.

I did a big Aldi shop on Thursday, I'll need to top up with a few bits plus fruit and veg etc but I'm hoping I can get away with less than £10 for that.

Chimichangaz · 07/04/2018 11:13

I've had an expensive April so far as been away for a few days so spent lots. Am back on it now, got loads of finance paperwork to sort out and YNAB to update so that should motivate me. DS is at his dads this week so I am planning minimal grocery shopping and trying to live on freezer stuff. I'm off work too so planning loads of decluttering and sorting out with hopefully some eBay activity. Trying to keep my grocery shopping below £40 for the next few weeks too until I start my new job. I had an unexpected windfall a few weeks ago so I'm looking at gym membership but will see if I can do it on a rolling month basis in case it's not for me.

Silvertap · 07/04/2018 16:14

Netfrot, I really find eating out hammers the budget so fast

Silvertap · 07/04/2018 16:15

chimichangez, I love a bit of ynabing.

£10 spent today at the local church Easter activity pm. 3 hours of entertainment for the kids and it goes to a good cause so I think money well spent.

Megsmcgoo · 07/04/2018 16:17

Can i join you please? We’re having to leave our flat soon, so deposits, rent and have just been hit with a £500 quid electricity bill Sad

Have food for the week and a freezer stocked with enough meat for about 8 weeks and selling on eBay. I 100% do not need to buy anything this week so hoping to stick with it

Silvertap · 09/04/2018 06:57

Not a good day yesterday. Went shopping and spent about £250. I only do this once in a blue moon and seriously needed some clothes. All within budget too. Got 3 tops and a really smart dress for a few occasions I've got coming up.

We also booked a ski holiday for 2019ShockShock

Squirrel26 · 09/04/2018 09:43

OK. Back at work. I have packed lunch, snacks and coffee, milk and sugar.

I DO NOT need to spend any money today!

MessySurfaces · 09/04/2018 19:56

Two NSDs in a row! Overspent badly on Saturday though. On holiday visiting family so potentially could be cheap. Or could be expensive...

Silvertap · 09/04/2018 20:40

NSD day here today.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 09/04/2018 21:58

Oh failing badly at not spending!

It's DD's 18th in Jan. She will not want a party as is not a very social girl. But she loves history - and I love an excuse to visit somewhere I've never been before - so she's opted for a few days in Athens to see the ancient sights. I'm v excited. But have forked out a £400 deposit today. The cost of the trip came in lower than originally quoted, which confused the travel agent when she put it through the system. Then she shrugged and said "Yep, it's come down in price". So we have a better room for cheaper than the standard room we were going to have.

But it's a really rubbish effort at not spending more money! The hotel we will stay in the night before and the parking won't be paid for until we go, which is something.

Nikkinoodle91 · 10/04/2018 10:15

Can I join please? I have had to dip into savings this week to buy a new rabbit hutch so want to top them back up. Also want to save for some days out during the 6 weeks hols. Got plenty of food in so today will be a NSD.

Silvertap · 10/04/2018 18:08

Drmadeleine what an amazing present!!

Would have been a nSD day here today but about to buy the children electric toothbrushes as the dentist told me they're not brushing well enough today.

Megsmcgoo · 10/04/2018 21:31

Nsd yesterday and today spent £1 on diet coke from Sainsbury’s, also made £45 on ebay so happy happy! Too scared to take it out of PayPal though until at least a week in case anyone wants to return!

Silvertap · 11/04/2018 10:48

£9.80 today in Asda. £3 on pencils sets for ds that I gave in to but he hates writing so anything that will encourage it I'm a bit of a sucker for!

The rest of it was on bread reduced to 20p so that's the freezer full!

justanothercreditissue · 11/04/2018 11:51

Can I join? Have finally got my head out of the sand and decided to tackle our debt issue. It's mostly my husbands issue but he has poor credit and I have finally realised that I need to take control of this otherwise his habits are going to bankrupt us.

I'm ashamed to say we have jointly run up over £30k of unsecured debt(mostly him). Plus a car on finance. It's horrific. We are actually quite high earners so should not be in this situation - been paying minimum on credit cards for literally years. You know those people you know that you don't understand how they afford their lifestyle? That's me. It's all credit and it's a disaster.

Anyhow, I have applied for new credit cards at zero % (can't believe how easy they were to get with massive limits, I've literally wasted 1000's thinking I wouldn't get one so not applying) and am busy transferring all of our balances on. I've worked out if we stop spending on crap between us we can pay all of this off in 2 years.

Can anyone recommend a good budgeting app?

I haven't done so well at no spend April as my washing machine broke down. The rain helps though as I have no desire to go anywhere.

Silvertap · 11/04/2018 12:41

Justanother, have you tried you need a budget. I love it.

justanothercreditissue · 11/04/2018 13:18

Thanks silvertap. I'm going to have a look now. Thanks so much for the recommendation. I do t really know how I've got here. I used to be so good with money and never went overdrawn or put anything small on credit.

It's like it all went wrong so I pretended it wasn't happening and just carried on. Whereas if I had got a handle on it say 6 months in it would all be sorted now. I'm a bit ashamed of my recklessness to be honest.

I haven't missed any payments or anything like that - I've just failed to deal with a problem until it's become a massive problem. We are barely making minimum payments now.

Nikkinoodle91 · 11/04/2018 14:00

It’s my day off work today so stayed in the house, mostly cleaning. Need to pick up some milk & bread and some bits for lasagne so planning to spend no more than £4 today.

Silvertap · 11/04/2018 17:29

Just another - it's also worth frequenting the money saving expert boards. They helped me get out of debt a few years ago. Then I spent a few years just scraping by. Now I use YNAB I'm in a position to have savings and all my yearly bills saved ready to pay. I can't recommend it enough. I start when it was free. There is a charge now but I save that at least every month.

Don't beat yourself up. The important thing is you're dealing with it now. Good luck

Original poster
FoolandFitz · 11/04/2018 18:47

Welcome justanother and nikki, and anyone else who I have missed.

justanother, like silver I rate and rely quite heavily on YNAB for my budgetting.

Hope you don't mind just a few suggestions that might be helpful:

Head over to moneysavingexpert and do their money make over here.

Their debtfreewannabe boards are also very good for keeping you on track and motivated. (I think silver I are on the same wavelength)

I know that you have applied for 0% and have transferred your debt over, which is great, but have you looked at the snowballing any other debt?

Don't pay minimum on cards etc by direct debit - switch it standing orders.

And finally, it may be really helpful for you and (especially) DH to think about your attitude to money and where it came from. You don't want to repay it all and then find that DH has racked up debt again in 5 years. I found Alvin Hall's books on personal finance and getting out of debt books very helpful.

OP posts:
justanothercreditissue · 12/04/2018 09:39

Fool, yes I am definitely looking at my husband for getting us into this mess primarily. It's my fault too for not pulling him up on it earlier. He owns his own business and with that comes very irregular money. My salary is enough to pay the mortgage and bills but I have literally nothing left over.

Anyhow my dh has literally wasted £1000's on fast cars, socialising, boats and other shit. I've enabled it by not demanding his share of our base living expenses every month. Then he gets a tax bill he can't pay and as he has poor credit I end up taking out a loan. By the time I pay it off he has got us into another mess.

Everyone we know thinks he's so successful. It's a joke. Behind the scenes I am literally holding everything together. He doesn't even know how much our electric bill is. 10 years ago we owned both our cars outright and at one stage I had £80k in a savings account (sale of a property). Now we have cars on finance, massive mortgage, moneypit of a house that needs work, increasingly expensive children and debt coming out of our ears.

I def need to re-educate him. Unfortunately I think he thinks any line of credit is his money. He's on his last chance with me as I can't live like this anymore. It's almost like he thinks it's his right to have certain things. Only this morning he was suggesting I put our food shop on a credit card as we haven't got free cash (I actually have enough to get to the end of the month but I'm not telling him that!). I said no, we just need to muddle through and his response was "we've got to eat". Whereas I think we have got baked beans and stuff and we just need to make do and try to get behind this. Anyhow, sorry to bombard you with my woes - probably the wrong thread but I have got to get this sorted out.

I have joined a mystery dining site and am going to use that for some lunches out and stuff. I have my first assignment tomorrow!

What is snowballing?

justanothercreditissue · 12/04/2018 09:41

I've signed up to YNAB- it's a bit of a ball ache putting everything in but it is motivating me already. I am 100% going to beat this.

Squirrel26 · 12/04/2018 11:19

NSD here yesterday and Tuesday. 94p on milk and £2 on coffee (to reward myself for wet dog walk - not really necessary, I should have done without that) on Monday. Shouldn’t need to buy anything today either.