www.iva.co.uk

Well hopefully we will be having our creditors meeting at the end of October. And hopefully it will go through.

We was wondering if anybody had some real top tips for getting through the next 5-6 years with two young daughters in a IVA.

It would be really nice to hear about any thing that you have found that has really made a differance to you and your family.

This is going to be the first time that we have ever had to really watch what we spend our money on, and work to a budget.

We do understand that probley not working to a budget and giving in to the constant offer of credit has got us to this point, but its been really nice so far to know we have not put one penny on credit cards.

Your ideas would be really welcome.

Hi Baldy,

I am still trying to get to grips with the budget as I'm always broke at the end of the month.

I recently sold a mobile phone for the grand sum of £32 and got a great buzz. I'm now looking into other ways of making money such as online surveys. Surprisingly, given my huge debts, I don't have anything to flog on ebay but lots of people mention this as a great way of getting through Xmas.

Food is the other thing for me. I'm very greedy and so generally happy as long as I have good food to look forward to. It is possible to eat well and cheaply, my favourites are:
- chocolate Krispie or cornflake cakes are a brilliantly economical way of keeping treats in the cupboard [:I]
- I do lots of curry as tinned tomatoes and onions are so cheap and you can hide all the vegetable on the turn in there and not notice!![:0]

hi baldy,
my tips are
shop at markets and fruit and veg shops etc as they tend to be cheaper than supermarkets.
If any veg is on offer at a supermarket buy it and portion freeze it, e.g Asda had a 2lb carrots for 50p last week.
I buy the own make sauces and enhance them with onions etc.
Buy a slow cooker. Approx £20-£30 but you can cook the cheaper cuts of meat in in an it only use the same amount of electricity as a light bulb.
Get knitting, scarves and gloves (or mittens) are ideal stocking filler gifts and you can buy wool for £1 ball at some of the pound shops.
Buy colouring books, felt tips and other stocking filler gifts in the £1 shops.

Wilkinson is fab for washing powder and househod cleaning stuff.

Last week I got my favourite washing powder and softener for £1 each. Absolute bargain. [:D]

if your used to luxury holidays abroad,try camping its cheaper and great fun.

A lot of people on here save vouchers from the Sun for holidays. I can't see anything fun in camping!

Seriously, look out for buy one get one free deals, especially on things that can be frozen.

If you shop at Tesco you can ask to have your clubcard points saved until November so you have them in time for Christmas.

Online surveys are another good way of making money - I use Valued Opinions, YouGov and New Vista Live.

My tip, for what it s worth is to accept the re eduction that the iva gives you as soon as you can, the pre conception of life with credit tends to make you purchase with out question, take great pleasure from the fact that you have paid everything that month with out credit, and be proud of it. Life does get better, and there is a lot of people out there living beyond there means, just like most of us in iva's. You are way ahead by realising your situation and dealing with, budgeting is stressfull but not as stressfull, as the sleepless nights worrying about debt and the effect tis has on your family.

Be proud is my advice.

Good Luck

Rob

could,nt agree more.

Here Here on-the-up,

I love knowing that I have paid for everything that I buy and that my account is always in credit.

Now I might be vexed when I can't have something but I don't have sleepless nights over it.

I also enjoy knowing that needing a new party dress isn't an emergency!

It is quite liberating in some ways as your limits are your limits - there is no grey area of overdrafts and credit cards.

great tips guys!! will take them all on board!!! be glad when creditors meeting done 2 wks today.....feel so anxious today, feel sick.........the only way is up!!! x

I've got savings cards too. will be paying to park hampers so I get vouchers for next christmas. I've beendoing it for a few years and will continue to do so.

Asda and farm foods, i put a couple of pound on each week, and for the most part you can spend during the year if there is a short week, I bought daughtes coat that way. Failing that you can leave them till christmas.

I buy from places like Aldi when they have super six veg I like, and Lidl quite often have half price fruit and veg.

Pandy, how do you freeze your veg, do you just cut it and then freeze, or do you blanche first. I'm always unsure about it.

I've been putting £10 a month from my housekeeping into a savings account for Christmas. Some months I've needed the tenner, but it's nice knowing it's there for Christmas, and £120 will be useful then!

Thats good skippy, iv been trying cut back on shopping weekly once in supermarket put things back dont really need then......pop £5 on my sainsburys gift card to xmas shop!!! got 65 now

Hey everybody, many thanks for all the tips you have been posting. You know your right about living within your means. Im starting to feel a bit different in the fact that we are not using credit cards and overdrafts and just using our wages.

Its been a way of life for me having a credit card, starting with the Access card all those years ago.

I guess like on-the-up said its an education learning to live within your means.

Ive read some great tips on here which will help me and my family through the next 5-6 years which we are very grateful for.

I hope that if there is anybody reading these posts wondering how they are going to pay the bill's, buy the next lot of shopping, or wondering when the phone will ring about missed payments.

PICK UP THE PHONE AND TALK TO SOMEONE ABOUT YOUR DEBTS BECAUSE THEY CAN HELP YOU, 100% SURE ABOUT THAT.IT WILL PROBLEY BE THE BEST CALL YOU HAVE EVER MADE.

WE DID AND I LIKE TO THINK ITS GOING TO BE A GREAT NEW START TO A MORE HAPPY AND LESS STRESSFULL LIFE.

Many thanks, cheers!

Hi Leakybrain,
depends on the veg if it is a hard veg like swede, carrot etc I blanche it first, just bringing it to the boil then plunging it into a bowl with the coldest water I can get out of my tap and all the ice cubes from the freezer. Wait until it is cold before bagging it and freezing, soft veg like runner beans, cabbage I just cut up, bag and freeze. I always do it into portion size amounts otherwise you end up defrosting loads you do not need.
Because there is only 2 of us and a bag of spuds lasts ages, I freeze mashed potato as well, to save throwing the spuds out, but i freeze that in double layer foil, and do not add much milk or butter to it so it is quite a dry one. it is ideal if you want to make a shephards pie etc. I used some with some cabbage we froze about a month ago to have bubble and squeak last weekend absolutly yummy and didn't cost us a penny from this months allowance.