Tinkabell's Fresh Start...Eek!!

Tinkabell25

Ok we spent £44 on a trip to Longleat at the weekedn which although was naughty, it was so good to go out and enjoy ourselves for a change! We've cut back our food bidget this month and we're reducing our Boiler maintenance. We're also being very strict about using the electricity and gas. Haven't got any further with the SBT idea yet as i think OH is a bit reluctant to take on the debt in his name. More money has gone into the pot this weekend thanks to cleaning out the sofa and some drawers! Am up to around £12 now. Made my minimum payment to credit card but plan to make another one or two this month if possible. All going according to plan, i am still hoping to be less in my O/d than usual but looks like it will be aorundd £200 in rather than £150. Not sure, we'll see! Here's to a new month!!! Tink xx

Any

HI Tinkabell,
If you didn't go for the trip all your life would be only about going to work and sit on the sofa. That wouldn't be good:-)
I don't know where you live, but my friend was also recently looking for second job to boost up her income as she just bought a house and she now works for Manchester City as a waitress in the box. It's fairly seasonal, but maybe there might be something like that in your area? Or might be worth put an advert in a window of your local post office for cleaning or ironing? At our Co-op was advert for a cleaner the other day and when my hubby rung the next day (as I need a help in the house, going to full time job and college every weekend) she had no more hours for anyone left! And she charged £7 an hour. My other friend works for my sister as a cleaner for 3 hours every Saturday and she also pays her £7 an hour..:rolleyes:

clarew

top tip for longleat next time....use the tesco clubcard deals its much cheaper. I priced it up for hubby, me and 2kids and managed to scoop days out vouchers from tesco's to get us all in for around the £20 mark.

lucielle

Can you reduce your overdraft byh x amount each month?
L

Tinkabell25

I live in wiltshire so no good football teams!! :P but i may try that advertising idea (crap at ironing tho!!!) Thanks Any! I didn't realise you could use tesco points at Longleat! Thanks!!! That's next year's idea sorted. As for the overdraft, i will be looking at reducing my personal one but at the moment we can't reduce the joint as we're almost at the full amount!! I'm doing the £10 a day challenge but aiming for £5 at first to see how i do. Fingers crossed!

Any

Tinkabell25 wrote: »

I live in wiltshire so no good football teams!! :P but i may try that advertising idea (crap at ironing tho!!!) Thanks Any! I didn't realise you could use tesco points at Longleat! Thanks!!! That's next year's idea sorted. As for the overdraft, i will be looking at reducing my personal one but at the moment we can't reduce the joint as we're almost at the full amount!! I'm doing the £10 a day challenge but aiming for £5 at first to see how i do. Fingers crossed!

You can now also use the Tesco points for Airmiles.. And with airmiles you can now pay even the airport taxes and charges. Which is good.
O.k., not good at ironing is not unusual.. What are you good at?

Tinkabell25

I can clean in general...and i can do washing etc. I could become good at ironing with a bit more practice i expect! I want to save for us to go on holiday next year so that airmiles tip will come in handy too, thanks!

dancingfairy

Hi. Just noticed your thread and thought I'd pop in and say hi.
Here are my suggestions:
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1003.78 interest only or repayment?
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 143 can you pay over 12 months not 10 if poss. - will be cheaper per month and easier to budget.
Electricity............................. 20 energy saving lightbulbs, turn lights off when not in use, turn things off standby when not in use etc.
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 11.5
Mobile phone............................ 50 how many mobiles? contract or pay as you go? what are the contracts? are you making the most of your mintues and can you downgrade at all?
TV Licence.............................. 20
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 53 Internet, phonecalls and sky boxes etc. Partner will not get rid of this but is in middle of renegotiating with sky quite high - need to get this down as you have said.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 how many for? there are 2 of us and we aim to spend 200 a month on this - head over to moneysavingoldstyle for help here, bulk buy, menu plan and buy BOGOFS etc for staples eg loo roll, pasta, rice, tootpaste, tins (anything you use a lot and will keep o.k) and cook double meals and freeze for lazy nights - it works out cheaper
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 330
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0 should there be an amount here?
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 13 what's this fo dentists or prescriptions or other? could look into prepayment certificate if you get a lot of prescriptions
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 14.31 no idea on this but have you shopped around
Buildings insurance..................... 13.65 Includes contents insurance sounds quite good
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2142.24

My other suggestions are a spending diary to record everything you spend to see if there is anything you have missed off.
How about deciding with your OH - this month we will only spend up to 20 pounds of our overdraft, the next month we will have a buffer of 40 etc.
The other way of doing it is to change bank accounts and not get an overdraft at new bank (well not use it) and set up a set amount each month to pay off old overdraft like you do for credit cards.


Anyway I hope some of these suggestions will help.
df x

Tinkabell25

Hi DF, Thanks for these suggestions. In response...!Our mortgage is repayment, fixed for 5 years, lowest we could get it as 1st time buyers last year. I pay council tax over 12 months already. everything in our house is electric so we are trying to save on that front (we spend evenings sat in the dark with candles! very romantic!) We have 2 mobiles, oh's is 22 a month and mine is the rest. Due to renew in 4 months and may be aiming for pay as you go. Grocery wise its just me and him as well as 2 cats so we just overspend but am looking at ways to shave off this by using cupboard foods! Pet insurance is for 2 cats and is lowest i could find for life long insurance. I no longer use the car park unless i'm really late so didn't add that in. The medical is a dentists pay plan. The house insurance was through my ad gold account with natwest which i no longer have, great deal last christmas. OH and i are trying to shave off everywhere and i'm doing lots of surveys and using cashback sites so hopefully that will help. Also i heard ebay has a 5p listing day tomorrow, does anyone know if that's true and how i use it to my advantage?

dancingfairy

Sounds like you are on top of it all there. Just the food bill then. It might be worth splitting them up so you can see how much is going on your food and how much on the pets - then it will be easier to compare against other people's food spends etc.
Good Luck with it all
df