Sammieb's 'taking control diary'

sammiebmouse

Hi All,

Only discovered this forum last week, and after reading some of the diaries-I had my own LBM.

I am unsure how much I currently owe-due to trying to bury my head in the sand, and spending irresponsibly!

I spent a lot of my money trying to make myself feel better after a relationship break up,having moved country to get a clean break-weekends were free and lonely so spent money on stuff for me, places to go etc…:rolleyes:

I am currently living with my lovely fianc! in rented accommodation. Unfortunately he has had the same attitude to money as me-and is yet to have his LBM (though I have been trying to convince him to read MSE!!). We keep our finances separate-though pay half to bills, household etc.

Anyway the main reason for my LBM is that I am 23 weeks pregnant, and am aware that my wages will seriously decrease and we will struggle-90% for 1st 6 weeks then 117.00 per week. (OH earns less than me-though has bit more disposable income each month-but not enough for us to live off), so really want to try decrease debts before lo arrives.

We are also hoping to move home by Christmas/New year-as will be best for us (if we stay, we will be in one bed flat, and as we don’t know many people,I will be quite isolated while he works 8-8 –if at home we have friends and family who can help out esp if I return to work)

I am calling into my bank tomorrow to discuss how much I owe (scary) .
I will then try get my finances in order.
I have 2loans with abbey (??), a credit card –which I have decreased from 2600.00 to 1018.00, an overdraft –again I decreased with my work bonus from 1700.00 to 100.00:T

My wages are 1700.00 per month-and usually I’m in my overdraft due to spending on treats for us, cinema, maternity clothes etc.

I have revised my budget as follows:

Rent £325.00 (oh pays ½ also)
Water rates £40.00 (oh pays tv license)
Council tax £63.00 (oh pays ½ also)
Petrol £50.00 (oh pays loan repayment, tax and ins –I really should contribute more to this!!
Travel £150.00 (weekly travel card 30.50 )
Phone £100.00 (mostly calls to eire-try to make these on the work phone when I can)
Food £100.00 (we always spend loads on food, though never have anything ?and don’t bring lunch)
Driving lessons £100.00 (20 per lesson-hoping to do test soon)
Electric £40.00 (we have prepay which seems to eat funds?)
Loans £330.00
This comes t 1298.00 so should have 402.00- 300 on cred card, 50 for baby fund, and 50 for misc.

I don’t know if this budget is realistic but need to start somewhere!

If anyone has tips/suggestions, they would be appreciated!

I will update my SOA once I have discussed with bank –then do up my aims, and also day to day diary.

Wish me luck!

sammiebmouse

Good Morning sll,

Ok, been to bank (slightly depressed now, but suppose had to be done!)

My finances look as follows:
1st loan - £6137.91 at 9.9% apr - 27payments left - £227 per month)
2nd loan - £2272.05 at 7.9% apr -27 payments left - £85.00 per month)

Credit card £1018.14 -at 17.9% apr
Overdraft was at 19.9%, but have changed it to 12.9%-so I was thinking I would extend my overdraft-and put that money on the credit card. Was in the queue to do so-but remembered I received a barclaycard letter yest with an offer of 0% on balance transfers so I'm going to apply for that first and if declined (which it will be as all my applications have been), I will just do as above with the overdraft (sigh).


My list of things to do today are as follows:
Fill in barclays application
Eat proper lunch (soup? got to check whats in cupboard, but growing bump needs good food!)
log in to quidco/pigsback
make scones
clean house :-(
hang out washing
check freezers cupboards-as need to start taking lunches and spending less
clean out car
go through clothes/bags etc for things to ebay
Get some exercise (quick walk to shop to get postcards so can enter competitions)
try draw up a more realistic budget!!!!

I will be doing well getting all of the above done as bump is making me tired, coz kicks are waking me up at all hours (i love it really!)

Also realised we have a wedding at end of aug-i've already paid for flights, but need to get dress altered,hire car and spending money.Really need to get hair done aswell (colour-usually pay 130 plus-so im trying to find cheaper way-though wont do home colour, two sisters are hairdressers and know how bad can be for hair-unfortunately they both live in Ireland so its not an option for me to get them to do it :-(

Anyway-am going to have a quick nosey round the site,see if i can sort my signature, and then i'd better get started!

Have a lovely day dfw's!

rubydoiwannabee

Welcome Sammy
Congratulations on your pregnancy and well done on having your LBM. You will get lots of support and encouragement from these boards.

Keep posting.

x

thepinkladez_2

hi sammie, welcome to the dfw board! congratulations on your lbm , oh and the bump!! like ruby says please keep posting for advice, help and support!
x

pixiechick99

Hi there,
Congratulations on your impending arrival!
Keep posting on here....I keep talking to my diary, even if I think no-one's reading just to keep me focussed!!

sammiebmouse

Hello all,

Well yesterday was productive after all! got mosts of my tasks on my list done and a few more besides :j

Fill in barclays application Done
Eat proper lunch (soup? got to check whats in cupboard, but growing bump needs good food!)had a cheese omelette and yoghurt
log in to quidco/pigsback logged into pigsback and entered some comps
make scones -made fruit scones and some fairy cakes-yummy!
clean house :-(- done!
hang out washing-did this today
check freezers cupboards-as need to start taking lunches and spending less-listed everything in cupboards and freezer and will cross off as I use
clean out car-done!
go through clothes/bags etc for things to ebay- will finish this today
Get some exercise (quick walk to shop to get postcards so can enter competitions)only had a little walk,forgot postcards but did post letters that have been waiting for ages-including my barclays application-so fingers crossed!!
try draw up a more realistic budget!!!! have to do this later

I also went through all post/bills/paperwork-shredded anything private,have a pile marked to file, pregnancy stuff, and also have all vouchers I can use :T (mothercare,tesco,free coffee etc)

Today hasnt been such a good day however, was really sick last night,think bump is fine but as a result, i havent much energy to do much!

I have hoovered,hung out clothes to dry,put on another wash and tidied a little.
Electric nearly ran out, so oh had to come home earlyish to get some as our nearest place to top up is about 25mins walk each way and i didnt have the energy.

OH wanted to go out to get a roast dinner,but I rummaged in freezer, and we had some chicken and mushroom pies, so we are having those with mash,garden peas and sweetcorn, then some tinned fruit with ice cream afterwards:D

Spent £6.00 today-had to get some bits-and couldnt face long walk so went to corner shop- got eggs,cereal,toilet roll,and a paper-hate spending at little shops like that as its so hard to save!!!:mad:

Will put on some pasta now to make tuna pasta with sweetcorn for lunch tomorrow-as im hoping to have a NSD.

Had two of oh items on ebay-running equipment and they sold for 260-so oh says we can have that for wedding/baby fund:T

Got to go dish up dinner-will prob be back on later
Oh and hello and thanks to millyscarlett,thepinkladez and rubydoiwannabe-for poppin into say hi and the well wishes re bubs!
Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend!

sammiebmouse

Morning!
Monday already-where did the weekend go??:rolleyes:

List for today:
Apply for theory test (unsure of cost-but sooner i get it out of way, the sooner i do my driving test, and HOPEFULLY pass-so no more paying for lessons!!)
Order Tesco's delivery (this is to save on time, and also save on impulse purchases as we have no will power/restraint and always buy stuff we dont need!!)
Letter to move funds from savings (full amount is 200-thats ALL my savings in the world:eek: but will need it this month to pay for test, groceries,lessons and wedding that I (stupidly) didnt budget for. If i dont use it-it will go straight to C Card-but want to move it to avoid any charges)

Play lotto for Wednesday and Sat

Charge phones in work

Try have LSD (would have been NSD, as made my lunch yest, but have to sort tesco's and test)

Read highway code

Check items ending on ebay (dont think this will be too productive-no1 is spending anymore-and have listed some lovely stuff-oh well-il save it for boot sale!)

Hopefully it will be a productive monday-have a good one!

Julesiep

Hi,
I'm on maternity leave and getting a third of what I use to earn. My baby was born in May. Don't forget when baby is born you get £18.80 a week child benefit and in the first year most first children get around £90 a month child tax credit depending on wages... maybe more. I wasn't sure about breast feeding but the amount I saved not buying formula, bottles, steralising equipment was loads! But remember breast feeding is not for everyone so don't feel pressured to do it if you don't want to. I'm now at the stage of working out the best way to go back to work without spending to much on childcare. Good luck.

sammiebmouse

Hi All,

Well got most of my list sorted yest, see below

Apply for theory test (couldnt get this sorted as they have dates free next week and week after but as office manager isnt in until tomorrow, I cant ask for the time off!)
Order Tesco's delivery (done-spent £39.00 incl delivery charge of £4.25 so not too bad-thought I could order through quidco/pb-but only when its first order-and it was my second :mad: ) food was delivered this morning as OH is off today-and I ordered 1 banana :rotfl: i was sure it was a bunch!! oh well!:D
Letter to move funds from savings (managed to move this myself online-as forgot i had asked the advisor in branch to link my accounts-this money is sitting in my second account-so that i wont use it unless necessary! )

Play lotto for Wednesday and Sat -played online!

Charge phones in work - charged work phone

Read highway code -em didnt do-soz!!:rolleyes:

Check items ending on ebay (only sold 1 item-annoying as will be charged-will relist on thurs as think its half price listing!)


Have transferred the £200 from ebay to account so that should hit it next week-OH wants to use it for baby bits, but we will need it for wedding in eire this month and loads of other bits that he think the fairies pay!:rolleyes:

Have bought a moses basket on ebay last week -paid 11.25 for it, with covers,and stand-and its perfect-paid 15.00 for courier-but 26.25 for a lovely little moses basket and stand is good, dont you think? I'm impressed as its my 1st and ideally everything would be brand new for her, but realistically (sp?)-there isnt much point!! OH thinks im crazy, but its the new me!:j
Showed it to a friend who was visiting last week and she looked appalled that I had bought it from ebay-though she is one of these people who has to have the best, and better than you type!each to their own i sppose!;)


Today, im running out of motivation though, I went home yest, put away washing,put on some veg and chicken i had defrosted to make chicken soup for today's lunch, and had driving lesson. When i got in-no sign of OH so had to finish the tidying,put on dinner and was just feeling fed up really. I always get in before him and have to do dinner, set table, tidy, and when he gets home its all done and nice and comfy, and he just comes in and plops down on sofa-its really getting to me as I have to ask him to get things like a drink or salt/pepper- Im 24 weeks pregnant and would be nice to not be taken for granted, y'kno?

Also, he doesnt want to save-i've tried to have conversations with him re money but he says he has all his sorted. Im trying to save money to pay off debts before little one arrives and take pressure off him and us, and he is going around paying full price for things. He is off today and wnts a new phone even though his current one is perfect-and has gone in to get one-has told me he gets an ipod aswell. And now he has mailed me to tell me he has signed us up for internet??done and dusted and no say from me:mad:

Anywhoooo...apologies for the moan-blame the pregnancy hormones-would just be nice to have my partner on the same page as me, trying to sort things together and have that bit of support.

have spent 1.99 on lunch today-had no flask at home to bring my home-made soup!:rolleyes:

Will try have a NSD tomorrow, and get myself back on track.

Hope everyone else is doing better than me!! xx:o

Oh and hi Julesiep-thanks for reading and the message-unfortunately everything will be mesed up for me re child benefit/child tax credit-as we intend to move home to Ireland a few weeks after lo is born (so effectively starting again-and will have to apply over there-guna be a tight few months till we get all sorted!!):eek:

sammiebmouse

Just me:D

Trying to pop some books on Amazon to sell-but I cant figure it out:o prob being really blond-but am selling some used books, and it says they will take 86p off for sellin and then 17.5% of the final sale (i think this is what it says?)-I was only intending to ask for £2/£3? so its hardly worth it or am i missing something? I've loads of good books, recent ones that will sell so would be grateful if someone could help me out (or put me out of my misery!!:rotfl: )

Have the oven on now-so guna make a baked potato with beans and cheese for my lunch tomorrow-hoping to have a NSD

Will put a wash on now and then gona have some down time with OH as we both been working too hard and he has been great today-got home and have some lovely maternity trousers from mothercare!:T

He also paid for my dress to be altered for wedding at end of month, its a beautiful one from monsoon that i got in the sale for £48 last month(down from £160!!-and OH wanted to buy it for me at full price). Unfortunately it cost £45!! :eek: to be taken in a bit and material taken up-but it looks fab-so am sorted for the wedding!:j

Gota go,its getting late and we watching a film later -have a nice evening all!

sammiebmouse

WOOOOHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:j :j :j

My office manager has just come to me re my maternity leave (they haven't anything in contract regarding maternity and im the first lady in office to be pregnant), and she has told me that they have decided the following:;

26weeks at 100%!!!!! :eek: (SMP is 90% for 6weeks)
13weeks at 117.18 and a further 13weeks at no pay if i want to take it!!:rotfl:

This is fantastic for me-really really fantastic-as I was so worried about the wage decrease and how we would survive.

I have worked really hard for the company, and was promised (not in writing, but verbally), and then was given to someone else as I would be going on mat leave (this wasnt the reason that was given obviously), but I've been really good and bit my tongue and just went with the flow (more to do with not wanting stress passed to baby), but it seems they have noticed and now want to pay me back!!!!im so so delighted-it takes so much pressure off us-and will mean i can pay off bits and hopefully save !!!:T :T :T

Just wanted to share my good news!! xxx