Sam89's spending diary.

sam89

Hi everyone,

I hope you'll allow me to start a spending diary to try and keep me on the straight and narrow. I'm hoping that if I have to admit to all you lovely people what I buy it will make me think twice :rolleyes: .

We've been on a DMP now for 10 months and it's going quite well with a fairly substantial reduction in our debt :j . But we've been spending all of our monthly budget and I just know that there is room there for savings. My aim is to cut our spending by £50 a month for the next 2 months and if I can do this I'm going to start an ISA .

So,
Tuesday 1st July

Flowers for Granny's Birthday- £18.99 includes delivery and "free" chocolates, also went through Quidco so earned £2.85.

I had never heard of Quidco until I found MSE and I already have £37.13 in my account which I'm not going to take out until November to help with Christmas. Hopefully I'll have a bit more saved in there by then .

So please feel free to comment, criticise and kick me up the bottom over the next few months.

Thanks,
Sam,
x.

scrooge2008

Good Luck Sam89. I haven't looked at Quidco yet, there are so many wonderful tips on these boards to work through. Will take a look at it next week.

My father and step-mother are coming tomorrow. I normally spend a fortune on flowers to fill the house for their arrival. This time I am using a mixture of wild flowers and garden flowers for the arrangements.

Not suggesting you do this for your granny though.

sam89

Thanks Scrooge, wild and garden flowers sound wonderful and I bet they'll smell much better than bought ones :T .

Granny would love those too but lives 200 miles away though so delivery would definitely be a problem :cool: .

Sam,
x.

Tonylpool

Hi Sam,

I think your spending diary is a great idea! You sound like your really focussed and its people like you on here that have got me to face up to my situation! Just wish I had done this 2 years ago!

Gonna try Quidco myself now!

Keep up the good work!

Tony x

sam89

Thanks Tony,

I think everyone on here wishes they'd had their LBM sooner but better late than never .

Quidco is great :T . When I'm bored I do lots of "virtual shopping" on it's websites, but I'm very careful not to press the checkout button :rotfl: .

Sam,
x.

Tonylpool

Can you earn cash by doing 'virtual shopping' ?

Yes, you are right, I'm enjoying also doing things in life that dont require money!

Tony x

sam89

Tonylpool wrote: »

Can you earn cash by doing 'virtual shopping' ?

Unfortunately not, but I consider all the stuff I don't buy to be money "saved" :rotfl: .

caz876

Hi Sam89,

good luck with your speanding Diary, writting it down really helps you see where the money you spend is all going.

Since starting on my DMP I try to pay everything possible with cash as this way I can physically see where all the money is going, and by doing this I spend alot less than when using my debit card..

all the best

Caz.....

sam89

Thanks Caz,

That's a good tip . My only worry is that if I have change in my purse I'll fritter it away on stuff I don't really need :rolleyes: .

Might try this month with the debit card and next month with cash and see which works best for me .

Sam,
x.

sam89

Been out this morning to Tescos and the chemist.

Spent in Tescos £60.06 :eek: but this was my "big" shop of the month with more than a months supply of dog food, loo roll, washing powder, etc. I've also got enough food to last until at least the end of next week so shouldn't need anything except milk and fruit until then (hopefully :rolleyes:).

Spent in chemist £2.24 on decongestant for DH's summer cold. This was essential as he was in danger of becoming exDH at 0300 with all the noise he was making :rotfl: .

So, 2nd July,

spent so far = £81.29.
NSDs = 0.

That doesn't look very good, does it? But hopefully the next few days will be NSDs and the ratio of money to month should improve .

Sam,
x.

Tonylpool

Well done Sam! Like you say its stuff you need and probably in the next 2 weeks you may have more NSDs then!

If thats your monthly shop then you have done really well!

Keep up the good work!

Tony x