Jo_R's debt-free diary, slow and steady progress!

Jo_R_2

Really need to deal with shopping -I'm not buying enough to last the week (fresh stuff does need topping up anyway but other stuff that lasts) and we're having to pick up bits midweek onwards which are more pricey from local shops. OH is getting fed up so I have suggested opening a separate grocery account, transferring our weekly budget from OH's account into it (he gets paid weekly and pays for shopping) and having a cashcard for it so either of us can use it - then when it's gone it's gone etc:D

Also means I'm having to dip into other pots and need to juggle some money around to account for top-up shop I did yesterday afternoon - spent nearly £25 - had to get DD1 a new lunchbag and bottle (£11:eek:)as I'm a bit scrupulous (sp LOL!) about hygiene and the ones from last year are discolouring a bit. Promised DDs a small treat as well at a total of £3, then the rest was organic milk, loaf wholemeal bread, eco nappies, nappy bags, organic cordial, wholewheat spaghetti and cheese - we get through a tonne of cheese each week!

Eco nappies cheaper at Asda than Boots - mental note made! Tesco sell same ones as Boots but at same price and mostly out of stock so have to buy them separately from weekly shop.

Main thing to do (tonight probably) is balance said shop out, update running total of spends and make sure have money left for diesel and spends for sister's wedding in two weeks. Need to ask sis for difference between what we thought DDs' wedding shoes would cost and what they actually cost - only £12 but keeps everything balanced out.

Becoming more and more aware that if OH doesn't plan his spends then it's impacting on me - he wanted me to do grocery shopping as he had to pay for car insurance (got a new little runaround given to us by his stepdad!) as he had to pay a deposit for the insurance and I panic that because he doesn't plan forwards he won't have enough money for rent which he is now responsible for - maybe separate account for rent which have suggested already?

Jo_R_2

Bad news... Spreadsheet is in trial version of Microsoft Office and can't find code to activate it so my spreadsheet is now defunct I love that spreadsheet LOL!

Good news is managed to balance out midweek shop in budget - I have a sheet on which I printed out my SOA for September and have been using that to update my spends in each 'pot' ie clothing, pocket money etc and have fitted it in quite well. Have £20 pocket money left out of £40 - considering we're pretty much halfway through the month that's fairly good going. I want to save some of it for sister's wedding in a couple of weeks although whether that happens will be down to me being really strict.

OH had to top up diesel by £20 as we were out quite a bit yesterday and will be later... I already used £20 from my £40 allowance and know we will need to fill up properly in a couple of weeks as it'll be a fair few miles to drive to where sister is getting married. I may end up eating into the surplus so it may not all end up going towards overpayments but at least it means we're not short so not a bad thing I guess considering how much I've already overpaid this month on Virgin cc:j

I need to set a fixed payment for my Virgin cc - the minimum will go down considerably now I've balance transferred most of it over to my Tesco cc so I need to make sure I keep the momentum going each month - keeping the £50 or so I have been paying each month as a fixed payment will mean the Virgin card will be paid off by April 2010 - but being as any overpayments are currently being thrown at that then it's more than likely it will be sooner!

beanielou

Good news on Virgin.
Im doing that with one of mine too whem my loan finishes next week.

bevan840

Hi Jo

Try downloading the free version that MSE advises It works the same. OpenOffice

xx

In_my_dreams

All this juggling of bank accounts is a nightmare isn't it!

Our plan is that we have main account that all bills get paid out, inc school dinners, dancing lessons etc and we don't have a cash card for that account but just a cheque book. We have another account for general spends that we allow ourselves every week and once it's gone it's gone, online savings account that we save up for the bigger things and then transfer it across when we need it. Finally (!!!) we use Tesco credit card to pay for shopping and petrol and pay it off at the end of the month so we get clubcard vouchers as well.

All the accounts are online with immediate transfers so if we need anything we can get the money, but it seems to be the only way to keep on top of the budget!

Good news on the Virgin balance!!

Jo_R_2

I am daring to go to the supermarket for shopping tomorrow:eek: I figured that as we now have car then I begrudge spending £5 on delivery when I could use that £5 for extra shopping Will have baby and DD2 so going to shortly refine and clarify my shopping list so I know exactly what I'm getting - only thing I'll miss is not having a running total - I've tried using a calculator walking round before and it's a good way round it but when have kids with me I get so distracted and forget to add stuff on or lose my total and have to guess what it was at:o

I'm thinking a lot about Christmas at the mo, I want to be super-organised! Currently saving £30 a month for Christmas and presents so should have around £120 minus mum's birthday present come December - although it would be really useful to have stuff bought before Dec. Hoping to have some vouchers and extra pennies saved up in the penny jar.

Have already asked OH what he'd like - it would be lovely to be able to buy him something nice (not necessarily expensive but to have enough pennies to buy him something more than just a card!)

DDs I know I want to get them some kind of little CD player each, nothing fancy but so they can each listen to their music, along with a CD for each of them to put in it They love a party dress so going to get hunting on ebay for something suitably sparkly and festive-looking! Baby will prob get a couple of decent wooden toys and a few clothes too.

As for me? I'd like a new stereo - again nothing fancy but something we can put in the living room. I'm also desperate to get some living/dining room furniture but we will definitely have to save up for that!

What else I'd really like is some stuff to personalise up the home - think I mentioned this before but I realised we're short of things like photos and pictures, vases, stuff like that. Seen some nice stuff in Wilkos but being super-careful with pennies so looks like I'm waiting til next month for those

I also DESPERATELY need some new clothes but am finding it terribly hard to actually buy some - I have to spend aaaages thinking of what to buy and where I can get it cheapest... Plus my clothing budget for the month is all used up bar £3 so won't be getting much for that! I've seen a dress and a top on ebay so hopefully can list some more stuff and go money-neutral on them.

I also noticed after doing some sums the other night that I actually have a buffer zone in my current account of about £135... I daren't touch it even to pay towards the Virgin cc just in case something happens but I may be geeky and use the £35 for the cc so I have a nice round £100... In all honesty it could just sit there as I do eventually need to pay off my overdraft but I've put it down the list of debts after Virgin cc, loan and Tesco cc.

Anyhow my Sunday evening (and most other!) posts always seem to ramble on and on so I'm going to go and cobble together some pack ups for DD1 and OH for tomorrow before I drop LOL!

Keeping_Positive

I do begrudge the delivery charge yet Im more disciplined online so find it more cost effective. Hope its not too stressful. I dont take kids and end up with high blood pressure!

Jo_R_2

Aaarrrgghhh I'm losing my momentum... Help!

Everything going not quite according to plan... Since DD1 back at school and DD2 started nursery a couple of weeks ago, somehow or other, crazy as it sounds, I have actually been getting LESS done in the house.

As I speak, all the washing up from dinner is sat in the kitchen, no lunches done for tomorrow, the table hasn't been cleaned, the washing is still out on the line and the washing from the day before that is sat on one of the ktichen counters waiting to be taken upstairs to be put away...:eek:

Today I've managed to do a load of washing and peg it out, wash up everything from yesterday and from breakfast, throw all the recyclables into the blue bin, make a half-decent dinner but not anything else I wanted to do (mop floors, vacuum upstairs and down, put laundry away...)

I haven't been as active with my moneysaving, partly because it's mid-month and is usually quite quiet, but also because I haven't set aside time to balance the figures, make notes and to-do lists and everything else that helps me keep on top of it. The car has broken (nothing too bad I gather from OH but he just needs the time to sort it so won't be til the weekend) which means today and the rest of the week we're getting bus to and from DD1's school so that's got to come out of somewhere

So I guess all in all what I'm trying to say is... WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING ON HERE WHEN I COULD BE GETTING STUFF DONE?!?!?

Oh yeah - I'm just a teensy bit tired as baby has only just gone to bed and have been here, there and everywhere on the bus today.

So quick little list for rest of tonight (lists always help me feel better LOL:D):

• make headway with washing up - doesn't matter if not all done, rest can wait til tomorrow, just some worktop space is good so I can...
• make pack ups for tomorrow
• to do list for tomorrow (LOL this should have probably started as "list: make another list" :rotfl:)
• remove clothes from kitchen at least into laundry basket to whisk away tomorrow

bevan840

Jo_R wrote: »

So quick little list for rest of tonight (lists always help me feel better LOL:D):

• make headway with washing up - doesn't matter if not all done, rest can wait til tomorrow, just some worktop space is good so I can... *Agree with this one completely, when I'm not good I do it in little bursts, normally during the adverts if I'm watching something on TV *

Hi Jo

Hope you've managed to get some sleep and feeling a little better today, if trying to do housework do it in short bursts, set a timer if you have to. Do half hour of something, then have 15 mins break (of course if baby needs you you can start again once he's settled)

I haven't put anything away for christmas but it is programmed into my spreadsheet so that I know what money will be coming out when, we're budgeting for £200 to cover everyone, my family will be getting cheques so I know they wont be coming out till January sometime, his family and the kids will be cash so put that at the beginning of Dec as unsure when it will come out

Hope your doing ok
xxx

Jo_R_2

Accomplished everything on my list from last night - hurray!:D

Managed to get on top of housework today... Washing up all done, table is cleared and clean and all dry laundry put away (we don't think about ironing in that equation unless absolutely necessary LOL!) Breakfast stuff is ready for the morning.

I always feel better when those things are in order - I even managed to mop the kitchen and bathroom floors and peg today's load of washing out on the line. Bonus of this is I have my Home Start visitor coming round in the morning so can get lots done when she's here as she helps out with baby.

Just been organising my spends. Main spends this week are bus fares to and from school twice a day (on Wed, Thur and Fri) and packing and posting ebay items. Realised I was kidding myself when working out how much I'd raised through ebaying because I've been including postage and packing costs in my profits, keeping proceeds in my paypal account then shelling out for packaging and postage out of my 'pocket money' and wondering where my pennies are going LOL...:o

Planned spends for tomorrow are: DD2's breakfast and lunch at nursery @ £2.35. Other sort-of planned spends will be: postage for two ebay items and a letter, and bus fares to and from school.