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Money matters

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Original poster

Money Management Boot Camp ..... anyone interested?

390 replies

Twiglett · 18/09/2007 13:33

OK the house of twig has been overspending drastically in recent months, so I'm about to start sorting it out again (took my eye off the ball you see)

I know we do style and healthy living makeovers on here

Anybody want to join my Money Boot Camp? Get control of your money and stay in control?

NB this may be well over my head though but I'm pretty good at this normally

sign-up if you wanna try .. we could start next month?

OP posts:
MadLabOwner · 20/09/2007 10:55

What about getting a water meter if you don't use much water?

MascaraOHara · 20/09/2007 10:55

I have a water meter lol.

Just Anglia is v. expensive I think

MrsPuddleduck · 20/09/2007 11:03

I have just worked out that Cheltenham and Gloucester owe me £175.00 from when we moved house. I have written to them today.

This is really easy and worth doing if you have moved house or re-mortgaged in the last 6 years.

Nemo2007 · 20/09/2007 11:08

Oh I need to join this thread...am just going to read through!

MrsPuddleduck · 20/09/2007 11:27

I have also just decided to go through the toys which are no longer played with and sell them on Ebay to fund this years' christmas presents.

I have a huge Tomy Thomas the Tank engine set which is never played with so I should get quite alot for it.

Nbg · 20/09/2007 11:31

This is my contribution lol.

I have been doing surveys for YouGov since about March this year and so far earnt £100 off them in 2 lots of £50 cheques.

Well worth joining.

Here

tarantula · 20/09/2007 11:52

How much do teh yougov surveys pay? it sounds liek quite a good little earner to me. Might have a go at that during my lunch times. we need to brign in more money rather desperately.

Nbg · 20/09/2007 12:00

They can be anything from 50p to over a £1. PLus you get money from refering people too.

Tbh I earnt virtually all my first £50 just through refering people from my email contacts.

Original poster
Twiglett · 20/09/2007 12:20

OK Thoughts to make this work

some excellent tips and thoughts here .. but to make it work can you
Please put Tips on this TIPS thread

OP posts:
Nbg · 20/09/2007 12:34

Could we maybe have a meal planning thread too?

I really really do need some help with that and I think its going to be a major key for making this a success for us.

Celery · 20/09/2007 13:33

Right I'm joining in. I'm going to lay my cards on the table here. We live on one average salary ( dh's ). Just done the budget on moneysavingexpert, and after standard bills, including minimum credit card payments, we have £545 a month to pay for everything else, including food and petrol. Yikes. We have about £11000 of credit card and overdraft debt.

Time to put the brakes on, as we need to move house next year. I don't think we are going to be able to pay off any of the debt substantially ( not until children are in school and I can get a job ), so my goal at the moment, is to stop the debt increasing, and live within our means.

I'm going to cut back on food spending, I'm not going to buy any more clothes or luxuries unless deemed essential, and I'm going to eBay as much as possible to try to boost our income.

That's the plan

Sniglett · 20/09/2007 13:37

Celery .. look to transfer the credit card debts to a personal loan, or increase your mortgage to pay them off .. paying off minimum on credit cards at such high interest rates is not a great option if you can avoid it

yesmynameisigglepiggle · 20/09/2007 14:01

I am still
here...Not spent a peenny today. I am staying at home (apart from school runs) and having a de-clutter, hopefully going to sell on e-bay. Then going to try and build up money for Christmas in paypal.

Was going to go to the bun shop on the way to school but going to nip of now and make some quick jammy biscuits....

Celery · 20/09/2007 14:09

Will definately look into remortgaging, although as we intend to move this time next year, not sure it's feasible right now.

I have a freezer and cupboards full of food, so am going to meal plan and see how long I can make it all last before going shopping again. I'm terrible usually - just buy tonnes of stuff without checking what I've already got.

MrsPuddleduck · 20/09/2007 14:24

We could do with a cheap meal thread.

I do spag bol once every three weeks. I make a big batch and then freeze two parts of it.

Also buy a mega big chicken for a roast and you can use it for 3 days (we do curry the last day).

MascaraOHara · 20/09/2007 14:29

I'm waiting for my redemption statement after I called the other day.. having a quick look round looks like I can save ~£30 a month - not much in the grand scheme of things but if I add that to the £25 just save on Gas/leccy that will save me ~£900 a year.

I've got a loan that runs out next May at £44 a month again not much but might bite the bullet and pay it off early - won't save me any money as it's interest free but will mean I have an extra £44 per month

Nemo2007 · 20/09/2007 14:41

Right have just been through our budget and once everything is paid bills wise[mortgage, IVA, loan and insurances and household bills] we have £490 to buy everything else like food, clothes, petrol. We dont use much petrol as I use the car to go to shops,swimming and visit friends so maybe twice a week to 3 times for short trips[but too long to walk].Right I need to be saving a lot more money to pay for our booked holiday to Butlins. Also as from jan our tax credits will be going down by £80 a month.

I need to feed 2 adults and 3 young children. I need to buy baby milk[£7 a week] and dog food[£2 a week]. So I need a good food plan and will be writing down all the tit bits I spend too. We had comepltely reigned in on spending but then the past 4 mths it is getting out of control again.

Sniglett · 20/09/2007 15:00

Nemo is there anything you can do with the household bills? Have you checked the switching deals for utilities on the comparison sites? What about your insurances are you still on the best deals?

Earlybird · 20/09/2007 15:05

Yes please, add me to the list.

We have recently relocated to America, and I have no idea if we are going to be 'living within our means' because I can't predict/don't know what things cost here! For instance, I've just bought a car (not had one in decades) as public transport isn't an option where we are. So suddenly I have car payments, petrol, insurance, etc. There are other changes in routine/lifestyle that will mean our expenses are very different to our life in London.

Also, must admit that I've never budgeted. While I'm not in debt (other than aforementioned car payments and mortgage), I am aware I've not contributed to my pension fund since dd was born. I heard a money saving expert on radio the other day who said 'there are many retired people whose homes are paid for, but who don't have any money'. That got me thinking I must focus/plan, so this thread will be very helpful.

Nemo2007 · 20/09/2007 15:17

ON bewst rates we can be on, checked car insureance and they sare more than we pay

CountessDracula · 20/09/2007 15:18

right
I have today for the first time looked at how much my lunch cost
am

Am thinking of bringing lunch but it seems so norbertish

Sniglett · 20/09/2007 15:19

pretend you're on some kind of weirdo diet / health kick .. that will remove norbert-ness

CountessDracula · 20/09/2007 15:19

but then I might have to eat weird food!

Also can I really be arsed?
Plus I like going out at lunchtime

CountessDracula · 20/09/2007 15:20

I did do well thougy
I was about to buy a notebook to record spending in then decided that was a waste and a bit of paper would do

See my thinking is changing already

MascaraOHara · 20/09/2007 15:22

taking lunch is OK once you get used to it.