This is the year

[Orfy]

If you have any debt you should pay them off first.
Mortgages are the cheapest money you can get.

It is sometimes better to save and invest extra money. (If you can get more interest than you are paying on your mortgage) Then pay the mortgage in a lump some.

Plus this way you can always get at the money in emergencies.

[spudley]

no we have no other debt apart from the mortgage, I have always been a bit of a saver. When I was 18 I got into a lot of trouble with an overdraft and credit card. We (me and nan) had to live hand to mouth intill it was sorted. I promised that I would never get like that again. So since then its been a case of if i didnt have the money then i would go without. Thats why I had to save as you never knew when something would break and need replacing. I have always made sure that we have three months wages put by as well as you never know what is going to happen. It means that often things are very tight, but i feel that compared to others my tightness is a luxury that others have no choice over so i cant complain about it.
I need to get as much paid off the mortgage as possible as the future is looking uncertain. If we have asmaller mortgage if push comes to shove then we could re mortgage with lower payments. I had to put that off this month as I paid of the end of my mums loan, the interest was incredible and if she had carried on then she would have had to pay double what we paid off..

My problem now is that i have come home and the dogs have been on one. They have wrecked two of the scatter back cushion on the sofa in the snug. would replacing these be a luxury or a necessity?

[Mo]

Are the cushions salvageable with a home-made new cover? Made from something that you will never wear again. (Well, once it's been turned into a cushion cover you won't!)

[spudley]

going to salvage the cushions sew the shredded material back together in a patch work pattern

have spent 3.78 on a new book. i stood for ages just holding it weighing up the pros and cons. I would have preferred to have bought it when it first came out rather than the cheaper version. anyway i decided that it was a definate necessity. however when i was leaving the shop the security guard gave me quite a carefull look, it must have been because i had been lurking fo a good half hour before i went to the till.....

[spudley]

Feb only saw me buying a book, bad but good.
March must be a bad month for me as i have already bought two new throws. spent £17.98. I dont know what it is about throws, I know that they protect the sofa, but they make the room look like a new room. Beleive me it was too hard not to buy them. I ma finding it harder not to buy for the house than for myself. All the lovely kitcheny things that are around and nice household stuff, that i dont need but convince myself that i must have them, my life would not be complete without them.
Anyway lets hope that i can leave it at the throws........

[spudley]

good week this week, got some free wood, and have had several loads of washing dry on the line, plus have spent nothing at all this week, off out to get dog food this afternoon and mr Spud is coming, so there could be a chance that food budget is blown, but hey ho, had bank statemnt and not doing too badly, infact will be able to pay of water rates on one hit this year (we only pay water so the bill is really quite good anyway)

[spudley]

feeling quite possitive towards the end of the month, have had no more mad spurges, had to get a new chain for the chainsaw. Had an unexpected vets bill for poor Basil, but could afford to pay it. the urge to shop only comes in short waves now.....
hope that i can keep it together when spring sales start.

one thing that I have learnt though is not to take money out of the bank. Its ok to say to myself this is it no more, but i seem to get through cash faster when it is in my purse than when i have to get my bank card out. Every time i have to get the card out, i have to think is there enough? what else has to come out?, when i have cash its OK as it is there, and even though i am not really buying anything other than what is needed it still seems to go. Started to write every thing down, and i buy more things with cash. such as apack of polos, pegs, gum! I never just buy a pack of gum on a card. Its small £1 items of things that i seem to pick up as i have the £. I would not have even considered them if i had no cash and only the bank card. with cash i have decided that I am a fritterer!!! so no more cash for me. thats my top tip to myself. no cash.

[Jane in London]

I think you are doing really well. We are none of us perfect, and the odd small lapse is understandable - you are so much better off then you would have been otherwise.

I decided last month to not buy any clothes this year. OK, so I would not win any awards for 'best dressed' but I think I have plenty of clothes really. So I will pay for re-heeling shoes, dry cleaning, etc but no new clothes at all.

At first I felt a bit miserable and kept seeing 'bargains' that I agonised about missing. But once I got into the swing of things, I realised that it is a bit of a relief - no new choices required, and I just have to make outfits from what I already have. Looking forward to the weather getting a bit better, when I can get down my summer clothes from the boxes on top of the wardrobe and re-discover what's in there!

Anyway, very best of luck to you!

Jane

[p.penn]

I was interested to hear about your 'no cash' idea as I had been thinking perhaps I would start to draw a months food and spending (not petrol as I need to get around) out on pay day, then when I run out, I run out. No more money.

[Mo]

I suppose different things work for different people.
If 'plastic money' feels as though it comes out of the air, then use cash. If cash encourages frittering, use plastic.

I think I'm very frugal on little things. But if I want something big I don't neccessarily get best value. And all our dance clubs use loads of petrol (but who's counting).

[Steve the Gas]

Is the petrol for getting the dancers going?







Soz, btw - what have you done about your boiler Mo?

[Rowan]

I have stopped using cards for anything except buying online and this is on a card I took out with a £500 limit which I pay off every month and I now take out in cash a fourth of my money every week. When it comes to the end of the week anything in my purse goes into a box and is saved for extras
if I run out of money before the week is up I do without.
Like all systems this breaks down sometimes but I find that money is more real to me when I hold it in my hand but different things work for all of us

PS Did you know that we still have pound notes in Scotland.

[mercymee]

Well done you, I wish we had got to grips with paying off the mortgage much sooner than we did . The feeling of freedom when the roof over your head is your own is just bliss. As long as the essential outgoings can be paid after that - let the world throw at you what it can - that roof is yours!

BTW, there is an oldish thread about a woman who made and wore a dress for a year. Not quite the same, but near enough to be interesting.

http://www.littlebrowndress.com/brown%2 ... 20home.htm

Good luck , I bet you will be amazed when you look back, this time next year. I really think it's fantastic.

[spudley]

Jane in London, yes it really is hard not to buy that bargain. Will be sorting out lighter clothes for summer and all those that i have stashed away over time. It will be like wearing new! i am sure that some of the clothes have not seen the light of day for a couple of years f(hording sometimes has its benefits)

Rowan i have tried the cash in the purse, and am doing that for Mr Spuds slush fund. That part works. However when i have treid it for myself for the weeks shopping ect, i find that i am buying bits that i dont want, odd £ here and there that i wouldnt normally spend. The only card that i have is the debit card (no credit) I would nevert think of getting that out for a bag of crisps. I set myself a limit of what i can spend, and oddly i can do that witht he card but cant with the cash.... plus the vending machine at work doesnt take cards for hula hoops!!

its funny how some people save using cash as opposed to the bank card. Horses for courses, its interesting how we all manage differently.

I can tell you what is our biggest expenditure though DIESEL FUEL. I cant get over how much we spend on it. Now when i get my statments i can see clearly what is going where.... straight to mr Petrol PUMP. Unfirtunately I cant see how to cut it down. We dont do journeys were we dont have to, like popping out to the shops. I shop on the way home from work killing two birds with one stone. I am going to see if converting to chip oil will save us anything. Will the initial expenditure outweigh the savings? Has anyone here converted?

[spudley]

well March was really good, apart from the throws and chain it did good.

but April has started on a splurge. Went out yesterdaya nd got MR S a new coat. It was really good quality and almost half price but was still expensive so i wont say how much. He really did nee a coat, and it is pointless buying a cheap one the way he gets through his clothes. To be honest he doesnt care, but I have got a bit fed up over the years when we go to family things with people saying Oh " its looks like nobody loves you!". I know that its a dig at me. He doessnt care but it bothers me that people are thinking that he is going around like a tramp. Poor Mr S. Its his birthday at the end of this month so i will be buying him new. The thing is I actually have the money to do it. However am going to write a cheque for the mortgae before i blow it all on him!