Debt Free 2007

[charliecat]

Following on from a previous 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!!!

Oh im that observant whilst at home, not away and mentally clock which ones the cheapest for when I need to fill up

I only fill up every 3 weeks when at home so don't start looking until the car says 80 miles left! I pass Asda and Tesco every day and Morrisons is always the same

CC- wanted to ask you about selling Tesco vouchers, I have loads of deals tokens I converted for my hols and didn't use do people buy them ready changed?

They do but you dont get as much. You can get them put back on your card if theres not TONS.

There are tons, does it matter about the codes? Noone checked any of the ones I used before?

I originally ordered them for Bella Italia and days out north/wales , and for a magazine subscription oh and eng hertiatge .

You could sell them as day out to london zoo 2 adults 2 kids or whatever....thats the days out ones with code S on them...the mag ones etc...hmm, return them

Pleeeeeeeeease get me back into this!!! I started the bloody threads

I did use some for the magazine just not sure if I used the right ones

I know the Bella Italia ones were 2007 though. (may use them at Lancaster soon anyway)

Flame What ya been spending??!!!!

The bella pasta ones are days out vouchers too Just the S code..
Can you flog them to mates at whats on the front value?
I have just done that for some.

Thats ok then. Theres not much round her to use them on , we have used them before at the zoo but now have annual passes and the only other place is Muncaster Castle (may go in the summer).We have Nat Trust membership and Eng Heritage membership.

This all sounds really good ladies but I have cc with balance of about £3500 and roughly £950 into overdraft.
Trying to keep things ticking over but I am sure tax credits will be stopping soon.

Hiya tegan, is the 3500 on a 0%? Or a cheap life of balance card? How much are you paying off it?
Can you cut it up?
Can you sell anything to get your OD looking better?
We are here to help
I will direct you to cheaper card for your cc etc if thats what you want to do

Nyeh, anything, everything...

Oh no Really...you were on the barrel!

Tegan- anything to ebay? We are starting a new challenge if you want to join us?

Started doing the WAHM thing, and I have been so wiped out that it all went out the window in favour of ease.

I am even toying with the veg box idea now . DH stopped working next to the veg place, and we are back onto supermarket fruit etc and it has no flavour - I didn't realise until I had had the good stuff for a few months

My diet has gone completely downhill too because I'm just not wanting to eat the fruit n veg.

trying to get straight again.

I signed up for emails from www.moneysavingexpert.com, its that chap who is on Radio 4 early afternoons. Some very good stuff and hints etc for saving money. Its all free to join up, and you get an email once a week or so with all his latest. Its always very interesting to receive for us scrooges.

ebayallenge

that actually said challenge

Oh very cool
Can I link there...im meant to be in business...got one thing on now Heads to up my arse to list.

Yeah go for itCC its supposed to be motivating us all!

Done it

Hello I'm new on this thread, but it was suggested to me a while back. I reckon we can get £150 back from our old mortgage lender so thanks MN!

We have just signed up for a veg box to save buying crappy overpriced veg from the supermarket. We are also trying to buy local meat from the farmers market again and just eat less of it - I worked out that the meat we bought yesterday was actually cheaper than it would've been in Tesco so that's a bonus.

I'm trying to avoid Tescos altogether if I can because I have found my shopping bills there going up and up recently, and I am not extravagant.

Oh background, btw. I'm a WOHM, my DH is a SAHD trying, unsuccessfully at the mo, to get work for a couple of days a week. Huge mortgage on tiny house, bills take up virtually all my pay. Just enough left for food. Nothing at all left for clothes or anything else.

Twinklemegan hello
If you buy online anywhere quidco is fab
What sort of work is your dh after?
Can he sell online or something? Im thinking ebay..

Hi Charliecat. DH is trying to get a business off the ground doing general home and garden maintenance stuff - he's put adverts up locally but there have been no responses in two months. He also went for a part time job in the local outdoor shop (which really interested him - he couldn't stand retail work otherwise). He was shortlisted but then rejected because he couldn't guarantee he'd be available seven days a week just in case (childcare issues obviously).

Good news though - the CSA has reduced DH's maintenance liability for his daughter to nil. It's not that he's deliberately making his income zero, but it is at the moment and I'm sick of paying maintenance for a child that isn't mine while I can't afford clothes for my own son. (Sorry that rant belongs in another topic, but I'm so pleased they agreed to stop it).

I should say, he used to have regular work through his own company, but that involved working away from home on short contracts for a couple of weeks at a time. He can't do that now because we'd have to pay for full time childcare 52 weeks a year whether we needed it or not, which would defeat the object.