Rid Stuff, Save Money – some ways to save.

 

Hopefully we’re well on our way to getting a grip on our finances, or we’re feeling a little bit more in control. Or at the very least we have a pretty file with all our financial paperwork in it?

This is the third and final part of my mini-series all about MONEY.

You know how it is once you break into a twenty (if you even carry cash these days!), before you know it there’s only a quid left in your purse and you haven’t a clue what you spent it on.

Even better than preventing that, maybe we could even save some money. It could be used to buy something useful or even put away for a rainy day.

Here’s some ways that could help:

Fill your face for less

The biggest cost for so many people I talk to, is food!

We’re paying for convenience when really we could just make a bit more effort and save so much money in this area.

 

• Pick a cheaper supermarket
• Brand down a level – if you buy premium try supermarket own, if you buy supermarket own try their value range
• Online shop – you can make a list and stick to it, it’s much less tempting as you’re not seeing all the delicious food on the aisles
• Batch cook – this saves tonnes of money, plus you can fill your freezer with healthy, homemade ready meals
• Use up left overs
• Stock up on your usual’s when they are on offer
• Delete fast food apps

Posh coffee

Waste of money, big money. Make your own or go without.

Flasks and Travel mugs can soon sort this problem, there’s some gorgeous ones out there these days. You’ll save money, look great and help the environment, win-win.

Don’t waste money on tech

Do you really need the latest phone to look at Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp your mates? Didn’t think so.

Getting the latest phone might make you feel happy for half an hour after you’ve taken it out of its shiny box, but the reality is, that soon wears off. Then you’re left paying a small fortune every month for something you’re not really bothered about, and it probably has a cracked screen anyway.

You don’t have to have a brick like a Nokia 3210, but if you just run a couple of models down you will still have a decent phone, but save loads of cash.

Nights in instead of out

My preferred option anyway, but if it’s not yours you can still make the most of a night in. Gather your friends round and think of something a bit out of the box that you can do to entertain yourselves.

• Games night
• Film night
• Pamper night
• PJ Party
• Come Dine With Me

Comparison & Cashback sites

Keep on top of your insurances and utility bills to make sure you are getting the best deals. Shop around online for the best prices before you commit to a purchase. Look into cashback sites to see what you can get before you buy anything online. Quidco and Top Cash Back are a couple of good ones.

Auto round up savings

A modern day copper jar. You can now get apps and bank accounts that automatically round up your card payments to the nearest pound. The small change is then moved into a savings account for you.

Simplify your wardrobe

When you need to replace things consider non-branded simple clothing of good quality.

This way you can mix and match to create a capsule wardrobe that will looks stylish as hell but save you money in the long run.

Sell online

Auction or Selling sites can bring you some money in for items you no longer need if you’re having a clear out.

Learn to say NO!

If you can’t afford that night out, say no. If your child is screaming in the store for something unnecessary, stand your ground. If you’re drawn in by clever marketing or product placement… Remember what you are trying to do here and say NO.

Bollocks to the Joneses

Care less about what others have or are doing. Be yourself and you won’t ever feel the need to spend money on pointless crap to impress anyone but yourself.

Cancel gym memberships and other extortionate subscriptions

If you’re serious about saving some cash this is an easy way to do it. Exercise outside, watch things and listen to music in other free ways such as YouTube. It might not be as convenient or easy… But it’s soooo much cheaper.

Some of these ideas are honestly so easy, it’s just a case of biting the bullet and giving up some of your first world privileges. Generations before survived without half of this crap and I’m sure they’d say they were happier times. Food for thought, cheaper food for thought.

Rid Stuff, Reap Savings.

🖤

 

Money Madness… 15 things you can do right now to reduce financial chaos.

How good are you with money?

Gaining control of my money has been one of the most beneficial things I have done so far since I began to revamp my life. I am a control freak, so it brings me great peace of mind to know I have things sorted in this area of my life.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very capable of getting a bit carried away and going off the beaten track every now and then (hello Next online & ASOS!). At least I know I have a fall back now, and with my plan of action I can always get back on the right road pretty swiftly.

During this mini blog series (I’m planning three posts) I will talk in depth about how I’ve learned to manage my money with a great budgeting technique, and how you can too.

Before I jump in to the main event, I thought I would ease in gently with a quick blast of ideas on how to start looking after the pennies.

 

Create a financial storage solution

A folder, a box, a drawer, it’s up to you. Having everything in one place is the main aim here. You can’t sort out your money if you can’t find anything you need. If you can afford it this is a great excuse to buy some cute new stationary; if you can’t, an empty shoebox would do.

Go paperless

This is my preferred option. I still have a storage solution for the odd document, but the majority of my documents and statements are not sent to me and I can just view them online.

If you want to go paperless you can usually do this through your online banking website or app and choose your preferences from there.

Work out what works best for you, because there’s a risk with paperless that you will just never read a thing, hundreds of unread statements will stack up, and you could miss important information. You will need to make the effort!

Weekly inbox-zero

This is the same principle as the paperless note. Keep on top of your emails. Aim to clear it completely as least once per week and set up folders to organise anything you need to keep. Don’t keep things for the sake of it though, be ruthless and only keep what you really do need.

Gather all useful contacts

Keep a record of any useful phone numbers and addresses that could come in handy when dealing with your cash. Obvious ones such as your telephone banking, but also things like credit cards and insurance companies would be useful to have in one place. You could even keep them in your financial storage solution from idea number 1.

List all incomes

Wages or benefits would be the most obvious here, but don’t forget about any others. Cashback and dividends might be things that people could easily forget.

Make a note of them all and include how much they are and when you receive them.

List all outgoings

It’s so easy to set up something on a Direct Debit and then just forget all about its existence! Keep a list of all your regular outgoings, including the amounts and the date the go out.

Putting your eggs in one basket

This can be debatable and it’s not the best solution for everyone, but for me personally I like to keep most of my accounts with one bank. This is so I can log into my online banking and see everything in one place. You might not always get the best rates this way so work out the pros and cons for yourself and decide what works best for you.

Cash envelopes

One way to help stick to a budget is by using the envelope method. This involves drawing out the cash and placing it in envelopes for certain categories; fuel, food, entertainment and so on. By having the cash in front of you it is much more visual and easier for you to realise how much you are spending and how quickly your money might be dwindling.

Emergency stash

Easier said than done for some, but try if you can to put away some emergency money and leave it alone, if you haven’t already. It should literally only be used for emergencies. This way you should feel a little bit of peace of mind, and hopefully have a bit less stress and sleepless nights over your financial situation.

Never bury your head

If you do have financial difficulties, always speak to your bank and creditors. Tackle it straight on – You’ll be pleasantly surprised how much they can help you if you explain your situation.

Keep yourself in the know

Have a look at the financial news every now and then, follow some financial blogs, look for Facebook groups, gander on Twitter… There are so many places to keep yourself informed these days, It’s just about paying a little bit of attention to he boring grown up stuff.

Use comparison sites

Don’t fall into the trap of accepting your renewal prices. Use comparison sites regularly to make sure you’ve got the best price for things like insurance and utilities.

Track daily spending

Pen and paper, spreadsheet, app, however you please… Just do it. Keeping a log of where your money goes can be a real eye opener and help you evaluate and decide if you need to make any changes.

Automate everything

If you still pay your bills manually, are you living in the dark ages?! Seriously though, consider direct debits – sometimes you’ll get a discount and you won’t forget to pay.

If you’re a saver, congratulations! Consider a regular standing order; you don’t have to thick about it and it becomes the norm.

Pay debt first

Apart from some emergency money, don’t bother saving if you have debt. Aim to pay it off instead. Start with smaller balances first as paying them off will give you the feeling of achievement.

 

There we have it, 15 simple ideas to get us started on the road to calming the #@&$ out of our finances. Nothing too strenuous here.

If I had to pick one thing that I think would be the most beneficial of them all, it would probably be tracking daily spending. It’s the best way to see what unnecessary purchases are eating away at the cash… The odd coffee here, magazine there, grabbing a sandwich, eating out. It all adds up and can be a shocker!

As soon as I stopped pretending to myself that I was good with money, I actually became good with money. It’s self discipline, that’s all it comes down to. Living intentionally and organised rather than just winging it or going with the flow.

It’s all about grabbing the responsibility with both hands and getting on with it. It was time to be a real grown up even if it did take me nearly 30 years…..

In the next episode of this mini series I will talk about how I complete my budget month on month. I’ll go in depth with what I’ve found works for me and let you know what website I use for tracking everything. I’ll talk about debts I have cleared and how I now  save up for things we want or need, rather than slapping them on a 0% credit card.

See you then!

Who is Rid It & Reap?

I’m Julie.

From Leeds, West Yorkshire. I live with my husband Ben and our two border collies, Beau and Bear.

Blogging is fairly new to me, but when you feel like you’ve had a bit of a lightbulb moment in life you sort of feel compelled to share it with whoever will listen; and wonder if it could possibly help other people too.

So, let’s get to the nitty gritty of Rid It & Reap.

In complete honesty, I spent a lot of my twenties in despair. I don’t think I even realised it myself at the time. I just thought it was normal life.

I was overwhelmed, tired, constantly worried about something… anything… Self-consumed, angry, selfish, always poorly, probably full of self pity. Sounds great doesn’t it? Looking back now, I dread to think how it looked from the outside.

It wasn’t all bad, I loved life, it was the naughties after all. I had some amazing times, but my brain was always niggling away at me.

What I didn’t actually know was, I was unwell. At some point during that time I was told by a medical professional that I showed symptoms of OCD but nothing went any further and I just carried on with life.

I always thought I was just a bit of a perfectionist. I remember a time when I was about six years old, and all my coloured pens fell out of their case (I loved stationary even back then, I mean, who doesn’t?!). I was inconsolable and when Mum suggested we just put them back in the case, I explained through my tears,  that it wouldn’t be good enough; We would never get them back in the exact colour order they arrived in… now you’re probably thinking, okaaaaaaay?

Even in recent times, I barely had visitors at my house, I always thought they would judge if things were out of place. It made me incredibly tense and unfun, I couldn’t even relax in my own home! Deep down I know now that the reality is they wouldn’t even have known if something was out of place… because how would they know where things were kept in my house?!

Imagine constantly cleaning the same things over and over, but then running out of time, so the rest of your home gradually becomes messier, dirtier and more cluttered. I was moving things round to different piles, in different rooms but never finding an actual home for them or getting rid of anything, hoarding. This was my life, and my home was basically a pig-sty… even though I was constantly cleaning! I could never find anything, I’d end up buying things again and then finding the original item a few weeks later and so on.

It didn’t only impact me at home, I would worry constantly about how I looked, was dressed, my hair, my weight, how I walked, would people judge me for my disability, did I say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing? The list was never ending but the reality was it all came back to perfectionism… being judged… OCD.

I even stopped blogging for a while because of it. Every time I posted, I would have a few hours completely filled with dread about what people might think, or believing no one would read it, or thinking someone might comment something negative.

Finally, I went back to the doctors with a list of all the things I was struggling with. I wrote it all down as it was easier than saying the things out loud, because out loud they sounded stupid. The doctor was so understanding and I was prescribed something to help, then PING!!.. My life was changed for the better. Well, it wasn’t actually instant but after a month or so, it was like a weight lifted.

That’s when the real fun began; The real lightbulb moment!

The overwhelm dissipated, and this meant I could tackle things head on with a clear mind. I was able to stop hoarding and start organising. It’s almost like the benefits of having OCD were freed, I’m good at organising, but the niggle in my brain went away. I started to ‘enjoy’ sorting out my home and my life. But rather than feeling the constant need clean and organise, without ever achieving the desired result (perfection), it just became a normal life.

And this is where I am at now. A long way from perfection, something I probably do still desire deep down, but the chaos is lifting. I am embracing my own version of minimalism through decluttering, and I am enjoying making my home feel good again. I’ve even had visitors… unannounced visitors!

And that’s why I decided to take up this blog again. I thought it might be worth sharing what I’m doing, plus I love writing! Vlogging on the other hand, scares me to death… I have a few friends trying to persuade me into that but it feels like it’ll be a while away yet.

As it stands, I guess I will be documenting my ‘journey’, I’m not sure if I like that term, but I can’t think of another one right now.

My aims are to slow down, stress less, live simply and enjoy it. I want to take the time to think about the why’s and what’s of things I’m doing rather than just being dragged along by the chaos that is life. It all sounds a bit ‘hippy’ on paper, but the great thing these days is that I care much, much less if people might judge me on that!

Live Organised. Live Positively. Live Intentionally.

Rid chaos, Reap rewards. Oh, and here is my face…

 

 

 

Is it too early to start planning for Christmas… or too late?

Look at me, throwing the C-Word around already. Although I think it’s accepted more these days anyway!

The word planning was chucked in there too and to me that does mean starting early.

In our house we work towards Christmas from January. Is that a little extreme? I just find it easier this way. I mean, I’m not buying the Turkey in January but I do start saving and I also make notes of gift ideas all throughout the year.

I’ve talked before in other posts about using a website called Everydollar for budgeting and this is no different. It’s straightforward for us to save for Christmas, we just put away the same amount each month into an online account called ‘Christmas’ – creative or what?!

This means that throughout the year I can buy gifts as and when I see them as long as I have enough saved to cover it. One of the perks of doing it this way is I can snap up a bargain or two in the sales. I feel less ripped off than I would buying everything late in the year, when things will just halve in price on Boxing Day.

I take a similar approach to gift wrap and boxed cards here too, I’m more than happy to pick these up in the January sales and stash them away. This means I can afford to buy good quality wrapping paper… not the type that tears into a hole on every corner of a box!

Any gifts I do buy early are stored away in a spare drawer. Storage can be an issue in my little house so I have to be careful with this part. I might need to work out a plan B for this bit so that I can stock up more in the future. Any suggestions for this are more than welcome…

Now let’s talk spreadsheets. Call me a loser but I couldn’t live without my planning spreadsheets, I use them to organise just about everything. I have two just for Christmas.

The Christmas Card/Gift List – this might sound simple but I also use it to track gift ideas I come up with throughout the year; the budget for each gift; the type of card I send and the addresses for each person. I make a new tab each year to allow me to remember what gifts I have previously given.

The Christmas Dinner Plan – This one is only used if I am making the Christmas dinner at home, which is rare. I use this to know what needs to be done at what time and for the oven timings too. I’ll admit this one takes it a bit too far and you’re all probably groaning at the thought… but it works and there are no burnt spuds in our house!

With all that out of the way I can spend more time nearer the big day doing all the Christmassy things I enjoy; like wandering round the local garden centre and late night shopping in Leeds on a crisp night, all wrapped up warm.

I buy a new Christmas decoration for my tree each year and have an annual trip to a Christmas Market with a friend I only see that one time per year… this year we are visiting the York Markets. I won’t have any gifts to buy by this time though, which means I just get to treat myself!

This leaves me with just one last thing that I like to plan. It’s something that I have done since being a kid. I have to buy the Christmas TV Guide. I know we have it all available online and on the digital boxes now… but it’s just nostalgic to me. I go through the guide and highlight all the Christmas TV that I want to watch. These days I follow it up by adding it in to my Sky planner, so I have moved on from the dark ages a bit!