Debt Free 2007.....

[charliecat]

Following on from this thread there are a fair few mumsnetter trying to get out of and stay out of debt....chatting about it and moaning about skint
We are a friendly bunch please come in

A round up of a lot of the tips/links so far:

• Decent food budgetting/planning - Email Flamesparrow at gmail dot com for a copy of Capp?s spreadsheet! (Didn?t want to tell everyone to CAT you Capp unless you wanted them to )
• uswitch
• s/o for savings AND a s/o for treats
• Work out the birthdays that will be coming across the year and make sure I put aside enough each month to cover the hell months.

BUDGET
Work out a spreadsheet for your monthly/weekly spending. Spend a couple of months tracking every penny you spend ? you will be able to see where your money trickles away to!!!

SHOPPING
*Shop online if you make a comprehensive list (it will cost more if you miss lots off)
*Menu plan ? easier to make a stickable to shopping list

• Use Quidco to get money back on shopping
• If you can be trusted to pay it all off before the end of the month, do your shopping on a Tesco credit card to get the points to use elsewhere
• Eat before you shop
• Buy extras like milk and bread at the corner shop ? what slight extra you pay for the milk, you save on not seeing tempting offers!! (4 pts of milk is actually CHEAPER at my corner shop than Tesco Express)
• Sign up for anything that will send you free vouchers
• Pay at the self service machines in Tesco as they accept all vouchers regardless of purchases
• Avoid gift/cleaning aisle in shops ? you buy things you don?t need FOOD ? Menu plan! It can be a 2 or 3 week mix n match type thing, but have some plan to help you shop ? Work out which foods can be economised on, and which are just not worth it ? value mushrooms are just an odd shape, value mince is more fatty, but if you strain it it is fine, but frozen mince tastes like disintergrated cardboard ? Cook bulk meals and freeze ? 2 packs of mince can often make 3 meals, where as 1 pack makes 1 n a bit ? Bulk meals out with lots of veg ? again, a Bolognese sauce goes a lot further if its filled with peppers, grated carrots etc ? Take drinks out with you so you are not forced to buy ? Get Fruit and Veg at markets (have discovered that DH works next to the people who supply the organic veg box people ? we are now getting organic veg for less than basic tesco veg prices

GIFTS
? Keep a list of birthdays with you so you can buy presents as you spot bargains
? Save for Christmas NOW ? Use a club or a separate savings account with a standing order - don?t wait and see what you can afford at the end of the month ? you won?t be able to

GENERAL
? Save up spare £1 coins and coppers etc ? You can get it changed at most Sainsbury?s in a machine ? it does take some of your money in a charge, but I never get it changed if I have to take it to a bank, so it makes more sense.
? Claim back you bank charges if you have them
? Cut up credit cards ? If it is not a matter of starvation or eviction, it is NOT an emergency
ITS NOT A BARGAIN IF YOU DIDN?T NEED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!

I am doing shite at this tbh. although I did change my dentist, saving me £5.50 in bus fare, and I have told xp he has to take dd1 to ballet every week, saving me £4.10 in bus fare.

I am still however constantly robbing peter to pay paul and it is peeing me off.

Got 2 jobs to apply for though so fingers crossed.

Have you written down all your expenses nutty? And how much youve got coming in?
How does it look?
The savings of bus fares is good
Do you buy magazines for you and the kids, £3 in the shop everytime you pass etc?
Thats the sort of thing that used to waffle our money.
Everything you go to buy...DO I NEED IT?
If not put it back.
How do you do your shopping?
Go cheap with the loo roll and kitchen roll if you can bear to
And use cheapy conditioners for nits.
Buy washing powder when its cheap, 2 or 3 boxes, means you dont have to buy it every week, same with washing up liquid etc.
And buy the own brand one for penys and mix it up with surf/bold to make it go further.

I have written it all down yep, and and with all bills and food and am left with £10 a week, according to that, but I never have it.

At the mo I shop online at sainburys. I was using iceland, but they haven't had any drivers for ages now. I have to use sainsburys online because they are the only ones that take Electron cards online.

I really only buy what food we need, I meal plan for the week and do follow it, and i buy the cheapest washing powder, toilet roll and kitchen roll, infact i don't buy kitchen roll if it's a bad week. Oh and i don't buy cheese or meat from sainsburys as it's too much, so i get that from Aldi's in the week.

The kids don't have comics anymore, but Dd1 and 2 do have HSM stickers, but they are only 35p a pack and they have 3 packs each roughly once a fortnight.

Pension- None here either

Still waiting for TC sorting!

Oh nutty
We are the same, dp earns 1400, the bills are 1373. And for 200 hours a month thats a crap amount to have left each week. Under a tenner.

He earns 2000, after tax theres 1400.

God yeah it is CC, and they wonder why people think they'd be better off not working.

I am applying for 2 jos this week, one in a jewellers and one in a nursery. Tbh am hoping i get the nursery one as at least they can train me up and then I could eventually get a job in a school, so i'd get the holidays with the kids. I think if i do 16 hours a week i'll be roughly £30 a week better off than I am now, which would be better than nothing.

Yep, when dp was earning £140 a week we had the same ampoutn of money as now Because we didnt have to pay rent or council tax and we got tax credits.
Now we have to pay everything and get under 10 a week from tax credits so its the same...madness.
So he was as well sitting on his arse for 5 days out of 7.
Bored senseless, but same amount of money in his pocket at the end of the week....er..next to nothing.

Hope you get the job in the nursery I used to work at my dds nursery Good fun....but the boss is a bit shifty, doesnt do things through the books and I dont want to get in trouble so dont do it anymore

Thanks CC, am going to sit and do my CV later and drop it in next week. The nursery is only down the road so i'd have no travel costs either.

I shouldn't have said we hadn't been over the limit. DP took us over by £6 yesterday. I just hope the bank don't charge us.

Good luck with the job(s) Nutty.

I have just added up holiday spending and tile spending and Oh did I mention we brought the kids a trampoline spending...........£450
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......
I an however earning interest on the rent money. Paltry amount but free money is free money

CC and you are the careful one of us!
At least it was all one off stuff though not weekly spending!

Our TCs have gone up £20 a week since I've started work, so now we have each week £100+ wages, £70 TCs, DPs wages, plus approx £150-£200 tips. So we've gone from -£20 a week to +£250 a week. I know the TCs will be clawed back next tax year because they're stupid.

I've been putting my tips into the bank at the end of each week, and paying a lump off of the CCs at the time. The tips also mean I don't have to take any cash out of the bank for bits & bobs .

My aim is to have the Mint card paid by the end of May, and the Tesco card by summer holidays. Then I can start on the others.

Have you checked entitleto.co.uk to see how much your being overpaid by?
You could always, ha ha, stick it in a saving accouht and give them it back as a lump sum

Cheers for that CC, its says our TCs should be £37 p/w.

Right am going to list my debt stuff on here and see if that motivates me to pay it off quicker.

Tesco CC- £950 0%
LTSB-O/d £583.35
Amex -£196 (will be paying that this week though so that will be on my o/d)
Also get paid this week but my o/t not all there so some will be on next months and my TC are still messed up

GG- They should(note the should) notice it whenyou do the annual declaration .

Unfortunately they won't notice it in the annual declaration as I was only working for the last 3wks of the tax year, so they'l base my earnings on that.

They're so stupid, I hate the way they pay you based on the previous years income. DP gets a pay rise every April which buggers us up every year. No matter how much you tell them, it still gets all screwed up. We used to be on benefits & I worked p/t. So our income came in at £6500, then DP was able to work, so they based his earnings as that, but we were getting the higher rate as he works 45 hours+ each week. Then when his earnings were £16K they tried to claw back the overpoayment. (I won btw & didn't have to pay it back because I kept them informed trhe whole thime) Do they really think someone would work for 36p per hour.

You'll have to work out your estmianted earningas and keep telling them and then when they f*ck up you can blame them and keep the money

DP is earning £24 grand this year which means we are entitled to the 40 a week. But im overestimating at 26 grand which is 10 a week as id prefer a cheque next april for an underpayment rather that an overpayment.
and woohoo this cost me a fiver...fingers crossed it sells:)

And it did

WOW Well done , I want one !(to sell )

CELEBRATE!!!

DH has been paid!

I won't get my cash back til he gets April's pay as he's warned me that might be late but hey ho at least the company are paying him again.

We have not spent as much as usual so I will calculate the saving and stash it away

Woohoo How is everyone doing thier budgetting?
I have a scrappy piece of paper with everything on and also a spread sheet on google documents.
I have a bank for DDs and SOs. Leave so much in there, work out to the nearest pound how much will need to be left in there for the month
DPs banks more dds and SOs, leave that much in there.
Then I have my nationwide account with online pots.
So Phone, Gas, Electric, Sewerage, Council Tax, Car Tax etc all visable online to see how much is in there...all earning about 5% interest while waiting for the bills to fall in the door, or sitting there till I move it into the direct debit account when its needed.