I am going to have a money saving month- anyone want to join me?

[MarkStretch]

I will be starting maternity leave in 5 months time and I don't want to be in debt anymore.

I have a £1000 overdraft which I use every month and I think if I was careful with my money I could pay it off.

I am going to get a notebook and keep a record of everything I spend because all too often I get to the end of the month and I don't know where my money has gone.

I am going to be more organised and make my lunch for work everyday rather than buying it, use my slowcooker to make dinners and eat the contents of the cupboards rather than shopping all the time.

Anyone want to join in, share money saving tips and encourage each other?

me, i will have a go.

I had to take my dad to trian station yesterday, which is a 20 mile round trip!! BUT i made use of it too go to Morrisons, as had seen they had (wait for it) 4 tins of tuna for £2 ofer on.

I got 3 tins of heinz beans for a pound too.

how exciting!! oh and another booster seat for £4.99

Excellent!

I am also going to make a record of how much I have saved- I would say you've saved about £3 there piratecat!

well yes i guess it paid for the petrol !!!!

i am bargain woman, i love bargains. Yet it is so easy to fritter away money. Sometimes i go to the cashpoint and just think, god i'm here again.

shit that reminds me i have to pay the gas/elec bill.

I don't work, but do remember always doing atleast 4 quid a day on lunch, mind you i did have more money back then.

I have been trying to stay in and grin and bear it (bare it? sp) on the rainy days, of which there have been many.

We have got loads of free events this summer in the city so I am going to try and take dd to those rather than going swiming or cinema which cost money.

I have also been given loads of maternity clothes so hopefully I won't have to spend too much on those either.

I sooooo badly want to clear my overdraft- I hate being in debt

I'm determined to end this month in the black. Just recovering from 3 months unpaid mat leave and a weeks summer holiday!

We are doing cash only this month as much as possible to keep a tight rein

I was thinking about going to the cash machine on a monday and giving myself an allowance for the week.

We do a weekly cash allowance and find it really helps us keep a tight rein on things.

i used to do this, i don't know why i stopped.

i should sit down and work it all out.

try these threads too, all recent

meal planning

general

£15 for weeks shopping

Thanks OTM. Will have a look.

Ive been trying to do this for a few months now-spending as little as possible so I can save for our future house.

I find it really useful to have a separate basic bank account, and put only a set amount of money in there to spend. I take only the cash card for this account with me when I go out so I can't spend on impulse or spend more than Ive got.

We've also really cut back on what we spend on food shopping each week by planning and making sure we use everything.

So far we have been able to put the maximum allowed amount of £500 a month into a Halifax regular saver and hope to be able to keep this up for another year or so.

ime it depends on how you spend, for me its cash. If I take a tenner out I have no idea how it gets spent, so I don't carry it, its more meaningful for me to pay by card that I rarely do it unless I have to and that magazine is very embarrassing to pay for by card. Some are the other way around and think nothing of handing over the card and find it hard to part with cash. Simple but it works, for one week take no money or cards with you unless you NEED something, food etc.

Once you get into the routine of not buying you won't understand what you prev spent on. (been on smp all year and spent last year paying off our debt and saved enough cash to buy a car)

i'll join you.

been needing to do something for a while tbh but just never seem in the right frame of mind.

I definately need to meal plan.

I only go into the office one day a week but buy lunch, so i'll stop that from now (i work friday) so that's a good start.

Right, i'm off to look through the cupboards and see if I can creat a week's worth of dinners

i have to do this.

had been all smug as we'd paid off all our debts when we moved but now we've had work done on house, i haven't done much work myself (I freelance) and whoosh our overdraft is up to the limit again and we've put money on the visacard. and had 2 unexpected bills for the cars last onth (normally we need two sadly)

this morning i added up all outgoings for the last month and nearly had a panic attack. not good at all

so i am trying to reduce my shopping bills and utilities by £500 a month between them. so yes please!!!

did a huge vat of bol sauce last night and will eat our way through freezer too. Usually helps. and library not books/mags which is a real weakness

My car cost me 485 at the start of last week, and since then oh I have been tightfisted and trying not to spend anything.
I spent £40 on food last monday, and £30 today.
I have stopped feeding my mates kids.
I am doing JUST enough food for us all instead of sliding platefuls in the bin.
Last week I opened a tin of mushrooms and sweetcorn...the dds used some on pizza, I threw some with pasta and cheap sauce. Next day I had an omelette
with the rest of them.
Also veg spag bol one night keep half the soya, have with baked spud next night.
Have been quite enjoying it.
Have set up a direct debit to a different account to SAVE some money.
Organised a 0% for 12 months balance transfer to clear the credit card bill.
Have told the dds I am skint and said we will go to the beach for entertainment and when I get my tesco clubcard deals through I wil swop them for days out vouchers and that wont cost anything other than a picnic.
Am freezing bread and milk, to save those journeys to the shop that end up costing so much more.
Cheap child entertaining ideas...marble runs made from loo tubes.
Get them playing chess, my kids have became masters and I cant beat them!!!!!!
Argos catologue houses...let them cut out the argos catalouge and then stick into cardboard boxes...

I made up a excell sheet to record all weekly cash movements. It reveals a lot. I draw money then it seems to disapear. so I keep all the receipts and write tham all in. shows how much you spend each week on what.

hi charliecat! remember you from debt free 2007! (I have namechanged used to be ska)

it's still the unexpected that gets me everytime. and sliding into spending alittle bit extra when feeling flush then carrying on (oreos fgs, what is wrong with value borbons!!! )

I will join in, we meal plan anyway but always buy extras, looked in freezers and cupboards last night and found fifteen teas!

I am definately going to do the spending diary too as I definately wonder where my money has gone (usually the kids).

I have lost a big chunk of income and am seriously going to struggle to pay bills so it's really important for me to reign in my pennies.

I think I will ensure I have money for bills first... but would also love to be debt free one of these days...

I am doing this too. I went to Mossisons last night and got some excellent meal deals. Burges for 50p (not the savers ones) and as I went at 730pm I got rolls cheap to go with the burgers. They also had Coleslaw for 50p (not the savers one) which will go with the burgers and also with the picnic we are having on our free walk today (again sandwiches made from the end of day bread from MOrrisons). Also got chicken for 50p, sausages for 50p (not savers ones) (dd's dont eat burgers but will eat the sausages) I worked out last night that tonights dinner cost me £1.35 for 4 of us. Not bad/

I'm in First baby due in 3 weeks, and I'm officially on maternity leave from this week so today am going to work out the figures of exactly how and when my income will decrease over the next year.

My partner has paid off my overdraft from our savings and I have reduced my limit to £300 (for emergency purposes only, I aim to stay in the black). In the past I've been very bad at checking my balance before taking money out or using my card, so I will be doing that every time from now on - I want to get into the habit and stop it being something I'm scared of

The notebook idea is a good one, think I will start doing that. Meal planning too - I go in fits and starts of doing this but should make it more of a habit as it actually makes life much easier from a practical as well as financial standpoint.

This all makes me/us sound terrible with money, which we're not at all - we don't really spend a lot on ourselves in terms of new clothes, holidays and whatnot - but we're both very conscious that DP is going to be the breadwinner for the foreseeable future. It's a big change for both of us and we want to do it right

cyteen, my bank does a text messaging service which tells you when you are down to £xx (you say what). might help you to start with?

I'll join. In many ways, I'm quite frugal, but we throw away a disgraceful amount of food so I need to start meal planning.

I need to start taking my lunch to work too.

so try
this link

hello overthemill! Nice to see you