New year, new start - Purpletea65's 2009 Plan

[Deleted User]

Lula - Thanks

I’m back; I have been away for a while and am now ready to face up to getting things in order. One of the reasons why I haven’t updated my diary until today is just that I wasn’t sure what to write and am a bit worried that people will criticize that fact that I needed a break.

So I have now got my head around things and what I need to do to get us debt free and sorted enough that we can then save to move. I even [STRIKE]borrowed[/STRIKE] nabbed the squares idea from Hypno’s thread so that I can see how much of the moving fund we have.

I have opened an account with ING Direct that whilst there is a bonus that they are paying for 12 months I figured it could be used solely for that purpose; any money made in 2009 is also going in to that account to build it up.

For the time being I have stopped with the daily clicks as I just don’t have time for them but am still doing the competitions in an effort to win something – anything!

DH gets paid at the end of this week, with any luck as it might be Monday, fingers and toes crossed and then I can work out our revised SOA…it will be posted next week. We have made some changes, for instance we now only go to the pub once a week instead of every day at the weekend (Fri, Sat & Sun), we have tried takeaway but can’t find any pizza that compares to ASDA’s Frozen Pizza’s and we have bought the odd curry this past month.

Christmas is now sorted, to which I am very pleased and can stop panicking about and can concentrate on other things. I was going to use the money in the demi-john for Christmas but I think that this can be used as an overpayment to SiL when I count it in December….tempted to just hand her the demi-john and leaving her to count it :rotfl:

I am trying to not spend anything during the week as I am notorious for just buying something (anything) for the sake of it when I’m bored and so far the NSD’s are going well. Might try and increase it next month to 12 instead of my usual 10.

Amazon – I have listed a load on there and have sold two books so far.

E-bay – I need to get on with the photographing of the kids clothes and get them listed. My aim next week is to get them all photographed.

Once a month I am going to go through and work out how much I have saved with the shopping and transfer it over to the ING Account…on the subject of shopping, I have decided that I will do a big shop once a month (pay day) and the rest of the month will be top up shops.

That’s it for now, I think.

Lula-Hula

Yay :j hello ,

glad you're back & I'm quite sure that no one will criticize you for taking a step back to reassess & come up with a new plan. It's the sensible thing to do when everything's milling about in your mind & you can no longer see the wood for the trees.

Good idea to stop on daily clicks if they're not worth the time involved & I love the idea of donating the demi john to SIL for her to count :T .

It's so easy to get bogged down with trying to do to much & run family & home as well so good plan on doing all the photography next week, when that's done you can find another plan to work on .

Well done for cutting down on the pub visists too - it will make it seem more of a treat if you just go once at the weekend.

Look forward to reading your next post

hugs
lula
xx

[Deleted User]

Afternoon,

I'm sorry that I haven't updated for a day or two but DD is poorly and not sleeping as a result.

Anyway, I am still plugging away at the debt and have just sold a book on Amazon that I put on there a few hours ago...Way to go me. I have changed the settings with Amazon for the money to go directly in to a savings account, so have made approximately £5.05 this month so far

Got the shopping being delivered this evening, big shop of the month.

DH is getting paid tomorrow, so back into the red again as the wage clears the overdraft and puts us back in there again...sigh! WE are getting there, so that's something I guess.

I got a £2 coin today when I got the fruit and veg from the market.

My mate also text me to let me know her mum had died this morning, it was expected but it's also her son's 18th birthday today too.

Catch you later.

Lula-Hula

Hi Tea,

well done on the book & keeping all proceeds out of your reach So sad about your friend - a very difficult day for all

Hope DD gets better soon
lula
xx

[Deleted User]

I probably won’t get chance to update my diary over the weekend and this one is going to be a quick update as it is.

The good news is that I sold another book overnight, so that will be some money coming in to the savings account. I just want some more people to buy some more now.

DH got paid and we have a bit more money in the account than previously thought (for once we are in the black) however it will be short lived as I have bought some things we needed as well as petrol and Asda haven’t taken payment for the shopping yet, besides all the usual bills.

Used some of the £1 coins that I saved up to get some savings stamps for Tesco’s, which was good especially as some people were walking past me with a rather bemused look on their faces. I am now part way through saving for the food/alcohol for Christmas.

Will sort out SOA in time for Monday and I will then post it for you to [STRIKE]tear to shreds[/STRIKE] offer constructive criticism.

Karmacat

Hi Tea! Hadn't realised you were back, glad to see you. I think stepping back is incredibly important sometimes - I've just done it myself a bit, on a kind of emergency basis, I'm still not fully back, which is probably why I didn't see you posting.

The changes you've made sound good, dropping down the pub visits etc, and not buying for the sake of it - and changing your Amazon settings too, that'll help timewise, I'm sure - that sort of thing mounts up.

Very sorry to hear about your friend, and how it impacts on her son's birthday, thats a tough one.

Have a good weekend.
xx

[Deleted User]

Another new week has started and its half term and I can foresee my eldest getting rather bored rather quickly. We are meeting up with some school friends on Wednesday and will be spending money there but have budgeted £30 for the week and £20 of that will get spent at the soft play centre.

Okay, as promised here is my new revised and updated S.O.A. Looking at it, it is baaaaadddd!:o Even though it was DH’s 40th last month, we still overspent tremendously and despite cutting down on going to the pub we spent much more on groceries and alcohol and taking out of the cashpoint than was necessary.

Figures are as follows:

DH Salary: £2825.18
C.B: £129.10 – This has increased this month
Expenses: £257.30 – Don’t count as it cancels itself out
Terramundi Money: £540.00

Home/Buildings Insurance: £35.62
DH Car Insurance: £27.62
Me Car Insurance: £30.47
Water: £0.00 – runs from April to November
Insurances: £266.90 – Includes decreasing mortgage insurance cover
Council Tax: £0.00 – runs from April to January
Mortgage: £884.62 – reduces by £40 from this month
DH Car: £229.60
Sky & Broadband: £29.50
SiL: £200.00
Overpayment to SiL: £200.00 – one off due to money saved in terramundi
Utilities, car tax, T.V etc: £100.00
Mobile: £55.41 – this was mine alone last month, need to cut out texting, which I am working on
B.T: £26.22
Groceries/Alcohol: £526.99 :mad:
Petrol: £161.36
Pub/Takeaways: £101.81
Cashpoint: £481.65 :mad:
DH NicAssist/nappies: £91.97
Other spends: £430.93

This was the over all finances for Jan – Feb; pretty grim . As with the last S.O.A I appreciate any comments/criticism/tearing to tatters of it.

DH got paid early this month (13th) and we were in the black by £100 for a change despite the above

My aim for this month is to reduce what gets spent as and where I can. The child benefit from this month now goes into a separate account to cover anything the kids need.

Karmacat

:rotfl: Wow, thats a lot of money!!!

So, you know about the groceries/alcohol and the cash and the texting - how much do you text? I have a payg, and when I top up £10 I get 300 texts in a month (embarrassingly, I use about 6 .... but they're there, at least).

Have you ever been on the Old Style board here? I'm sure you could easily cut that figure in half in a few months, and you could probably cut it even further if you wanted to, tho that takes a lot of work.

Anyway .... the other thing that strikes me is all the insurances. The home and contents, is that a 12 monthly figure? Its *really* expensive if so .... I'm paying £207 p.a., and I could have got £40 less than that if I'd had my wits about me (and hadn't left it too late to do the necessary fiddling) .....

But then you have an item "insurances" £266.90 .... what else needs insuring? Oh wait, the £35 odd is just for home insurance? And this one is for contents? Tea, you're paying **way** too much (unless you live in a ten-bedded detached mansion in a gated community on Prince Charles' land, of course). I'd have said that £200 p.a. for a combo home and contents should get most people through, £250 if you have a huge amount of stuff.

£100 on takeaways and the pub .... well, you've got the money, so its your call, but it seems like an awful lot to me.... if you want a treat where you don't cook, wouldn't even a supermarket ready meal be cheaper than that? And at the pub, I suppose its about cutting down rather than stopping - for instance, having a drink at home before you go (i.e. at supermarket prices) then just staying for one drink, rather than buying 3 drinks at pub prices. Up to you.

Separate account for the CB is a good idea, that'll encourage you to budget.

Good for you for posting!

[Deleted User]

So, you know about the groceries/alcohol and the cash and the texting - how much do you text? I have a payg, and when I top up £10 I get 300 texts in a month (embarrassingly, I use about 6 .... but they're there, at least).

I text lots but know that I need to cut down. The only person I really used to text a lot was my mum and we’ve agreed to once a day and to ring on Tuesday when she has a night off.

Have you ever been on the Old Style board here? I'm sure you could easily cut that figure in half in a few months, and you could probably cut it even further if you wanted to, tho that takes a lot of work.

I have in the past looked at the Old Style board but the problem we have is that we tend to go to Tesco’s for the odd bit every day rather than once a week for the top up shop.

Anyway .... the other thing that strikes me is all the insurances. The home and contents, is that a 12 monthly figure? Its *really* expensive if so .... I'm paying £207 p.a., and I could have got £40 less than that if I'd had my wits about me (and hadn't left it too late to do the necessary fiddling) .....

The home and contents will be reviewed when it’s due in May. Definitely a Quidco thing that day.

But then you have an item "insurances" £266.90 .... what else needs insuring? Oh wait, the £35 odd is just for home insurance? And this one is for contents? Tea, you're paying **way** too much (unless you live in a ten-bedded detached mansion in a gated community on Prince Charles' land, of course). I'd have said that £200 p.a. for a combo home and contents should get most people through, £250 if you have a huge amount of stuff.

This insurances is Life insurances for both DH & I as well as decreasing mortgage cover, DH will not cut down the insurances. DH’s half is high because he flies and because cancer runs very high in his side of the family.

£100 on takeaways and the pub .... well, you've got the money, so its your call, but it seems like an awful lot to me.... if you want a treat where you don't cook, wouldn't even a supermarket ready meal be cheaper than that? And at the pub, I suppose its about cutting down rather than stopping - for instance, having a drink at home before you go (i.e. at supermarket prices) then just staying for one drink, rather than buying 3 drinks at pub prices. Up to you.

I know what you mean about this. We do only go to the pub once a week now where as before it was Fri, Sat and Sun. We do get takeaway but even now I can’t find anything I like. The pizza place is carp and gives me heartburn all night and the curry house although it is nice, I sometimes feel dehydrated during the night.

Separate account for the CB is a good idea, that'll encourage you to budget.

Thanks

Good for you for posting!

Thanks again.

Karmacat

Thats clear, thanks. One thing about phoning your mum - will that be on your mobile or your landline? I can't help with mobiles, but if its your landline, make sure you belong to 1899 or use discountdial or something - 1899 is just a connection fee, and the call is free, and discountdial is cheap too - I use them when I phone France about that dratted investment property of mine, and its half a pence per minute to France, which I consider to be really good, I don't worry about the time the security questions take etc.