the 'back on track' diary 3 years in and its going to pot!!

inamess200

Hello everyone - i have been lurking on here a while and have decided it is time to take a stand and get my self sorted ( again)

Our story is in July 2005 everything came to a head - husband off sick with bad back, baby no 3 (unplanned and a big shock) and me on maternity pay - we could not sustain our life or even afford to eat so went to payplan and arranged a DMP orginally over 24 years however I went back to work fulltime while DH looked after children ( saved on nursery fees) we were able to increase the payments however latey our income has increased but we seem to be alot worse off - so i kept a spreadsheet on spending and found food bills have doubled!! :mad: Scarey - mainly because I have become so disorganised i am doing daily shopping at Mt T's :eek: - not good. i need to go back to basics - i want to increase the debt payments - or save a little for full and finals but at the moment we get to the end of the month we have nothing left.

So have decided to join the grocery challenge and am spending alot of time on here reading everyones story and their tips for saving which has inspired me to get everything back under control . I have my spreadsheet budget that i have been updating for actuals over the last month , have planned my menus for the next week and am going to start ebaying everything in site (again).

So hello to everyone and the journey restarts here!!:j :j :j I am quite excited by it all again!!

Verbatim

Welcome back. menu planning crtainly worked a treat for me. Good luck with the challenge.

inamess200

Ok so day one of no spending didn't go great!! Ran out of a few essentials but nipped to the local shop and managed to pick up 4 whole chickens at 50p each - so that was good.

I read everyone elses diary and they are so inspiring so i am hoping posting on here will focus my mind - has any one else found that a few years in they run out of steam so to speak. I have spent so long watching every penny it gets hard especially as the children want so much. they are good and understand money is tight - sometimes I wonder if they know too much but when they see friends jetting away for their holidays and we have only been to the local park - its hard to explain to them why.

Any way no more ramblings today - I had better get washing up done before i go to bed - I spend way too much time reading on here!!