I'm trying to be extra frugal at the moment. Reason being, I am trying to pay off a credit card balance as soon as I can. I set myself the task of clearing my credit cards this year in my January plan and I've managed to clear one so far, but still have one more to go.
This one is costing me money each month in interest charges and I really don't like wasting money, so I'm all out to rid myself of this debt within the next few months if I can. Trouble is, Christmas is on its way and I need to allow myself some money to spend on presents, food, etc., although I have bought some presents already and I am rounding my spending at ASDA up every visit, to put money on a savings card.
I'm currently half way through Spend Less September and it's going reasonably well so far. I have had a couple of small splurges at a jumble sale and a charity shop and more recently this week I spent £40 on new gym gear. My old gym clothes were getting very old and faded with constant washing. I attend 4-5 classes per week and it does take its toll. As a consequence I decided to replace some of the tops and pick up another pair of harem pants. I did my best to spend as little money as I could and managed to get 4 tops and the pants for the £40 which isn't too bad in terms of value and all of the items were reduced in the sale, some by 70%.
As a consequence of this recent splurge, where I was hoping to halve my credit card bill by the end of the month, it is now more likely that I will only be able to pay off a third of the balance, but even so this is pretty good in one month. For the remainder of this month I'm being ultra careful about spending any money at all on anything other than food, if possible, and I am also sticking pretty closely to my meal plan so that I don't overbuy on food and try to use up all that is in the freezer and cupboards.
I do find it makes life a lot easier to have a meal plan, as I don't have to spend time everyday thinking 'what are we going to have for dinner tonight?'. I just have to remember to take the meat out of the freezer, (which I must admit I've forgotten to do on several occasions and have had to rearrange the plan a little) and then cook it with any vegetables we have in the fridge or freezer. Tonight it's a lamb tagine with cous cous, which is one of my favourites and reminds me of a holiday we took in Morocco at NewYear a few years ago. I digress. Daydreaming doesn't cost anything though.
Anyway, back to reality and the subject of this post, the credit card bill in question arrived yesterday. No nasty surprises thankfully, as I haven't spent on it this month so I knew what the balance would be. I tried to set up payment via internet banking, which I have already done for my other credit card, but my account was having none of it. It is so much easier and it reduces the chances of late payment fees, as well as saving on postage of course, but it was not to be. Back to posting it off for the time being then.
When we were first married my monthly teacher's salary went straight into the bank account, meanwhile Jon received his weekly wage in cash. My salary was really down to me - ie food etc, entertaining - going out. Jons covered the bills. We were not hard up. However my money management was hideous. Week 1 - we would be going out, having take-aways, eating well at home etc etc. By week 5 I was taking the pickings out of mum's freezer. Now I am retired, I have my teachers monthly pension and Jon's business pays us a dividend every 3 months. Now I have to manage over 3 months!!!!!!!!!!!!! I prefer to have my money on a weekly cash basis and this is how we are managing. June was a big hit for us - we are now money managing. Nearly there - next dividend due 1st October - we'll scrape through as we have put stuff we needed - car service, new front tyres and brake discs - all needed and Jon has repaired the drainpipe - had to do this before bad weather set in. .....so he bought a scaffolding tower got the pipe off ebay but it saved a few hundred and he has a scaffolding tower to show for it. This will all come out of Octobers credit card which we pay off at the end of the month. Phew long winded comment but know where you are coming from.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I thought I had it bad trying to last to the end of the month. You must have to be incredibly disciplined. I don't think I could do it. I'd have spent up by the end of the first month.
DeleteCredit cards are very useful things sometimes, especially if you pay them off at the end of the month. That's what I'm aspiring to this year.