Goals for w/c 12th March 2006?

PaleScene

tired_mum wrote:

hi how do i start a week saving plan just seem to make a dent in debts and something else pops up!!!!!HELP

Hi tired mum, welcome in

I know the unexpected stuff bites, but perhaps it'll help to have some plans for the usual costs and worries?
As you are brand new, perhaps one of your goals could be to check out the rest of the DebtFreeWannabe board and see if posting a thread with a statement of account (if you don't mind giving out this info) could be helpful for you. There are loads of people who will be able to suggest how moving things around would probably save you some cash.

PaleScene

Goals for last week:
1. Continue with spreadsheets - I *finally* knuckled down and got through all of it which feels much better. Leaving it so long definitely makes me slipshod and I had to manually adjust a couple of categories because I could see things like cash for the window cleaner and OH's lottery money hadn't been included.
2. Visit the Halifax and make enquiries about using another 7% saver account - didn't do this. Mid week I had worked out that I'd be able to do this on Friday when I'd be in town, but by Friday I wasn't able to remember what that thing I was intending to do was...
3. Buy toilet paper (from the only place that still does mauve - I'm over that way on Weds) - turned out I had my days in a muddle and was lucky I had Weds mixed with Thurs. Now have as much tp as the airing cupboard holds (er, 16 rolls)
4. Tidy clothes - I could be underhand and claim yes, I started washing some of OHs lighter clothes ready for spring weather, but since the original intention was to tackle my wardrobe...
5. Find an instant soup with the lowest possible salt - yes, I gave this one quite a lot of energy researching it online and checking packets. Plus Dad was pleased, if bemused, to be presented with soup that won't be so damaging to his blood pressure. For the record, the Ainsley Harriot healthier range (low fat?) came out much the best.
6. Close/Cancel dead accounts and cards - pfft. No. Forgot this one.
7. Have 2 no-spend days - Achieved. Monday and Wednesday. Possibly today as well if I don't get in gear and order my sister's birthday present. *cough* Yes, 3 no spend days...
I also have an abstention for Lent in force - I am not buying any ready meals - I've stuck to this :A
Summary: A quite difficult week as I struggle when I lose my normal routines which I did this week. I also slept very erratically so towards the end of the week I was swimming through quicksand mentally.

And this week:
1. 2 No spend days
2. Make a decision about a new mobile phone before mine dies entirely
3. Tidy an area of the house
4. Find out about borrowing a wheelbarrow
5. Book MOT
6. Ebay an ornament I've got landed with *or* politely hand it back
7. REMEMBER the racing is on this week and will have a big impact on travel and town

benedictadams

Hi

Last week my goals were

1 Sort out claiming back charges on Student Loans.

Posted a letter recorded delivery to both Student Loans and to Capital One. Better than I thought as I am not the most organised person in the world

2 Pay off some money on one of my credit cards

Paid off a small amount of one of the credit cards, but the total is going down

3 Sort out some free stuff which could make money on the car boot sale

Have been through the flat and everything i don't need is in boxes ready for when the warmer weather comes

4 Sell stuff on ebay

Listed two things, not as much as i could have done, but again better than it could have been

This week my goals are

1 List at least an item a day on ebay

2 Sort out the money which was in my Post Office Ordinary Account. Have had the form for ages

3 If i see a penny on the street, to pick it up (every penny is a penny less on the debt)

4 To sort out my council tax direct debit (not money saving but so i don't forgot to pay and get one of their lovely reminder letters)

Peppa_Pig_5

Great to read everyone's replies. Below are my goals for last week:

1. Post letters to bank and credit card companies requesting list of all charges over the last 6 years.Letters are typed and ready, just gotta post in the morning
2. Put money in Credit union account. Try again!!Yes, now have £11 in there, still more to go
3. Move the last £100 off halifax, then transfer debt back at 6.95%Done, tomorrow will get ball rolling to transfer everything except 0% on Halifax @ 6.95% apr
4. Reduce sky package down from £18 to £15, even try to get the 3 months at £7.50 if I can!! Not done, must make that call

My goals for this week are:

1. Transfer debt onto 6.95% with halifax
2. Have 2 no spend days
3. Get ready for Butlins Adult weekend Friday 17th March

Enough for this week
Good luck
Peppa
x

fairylights_2

Hey SS! Thanks for starting this off again.

Let's see, last week's goals were:

1. Try for three no spend days (am hoping for four - but Friday will have to pay to park - although that's work money, not personal money, IYKWIM!) Managed Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Monday and Tuesday spent less than £2.50 each day, Saturday a treat to drink and cake whilst we all went out for the morning. Wednesday was diesel and groceries (boo!)

2. Keep our big fortnightly grocery shop under £60 - and get a big tesco points bonus code to use!Didn't do a fortnight shop, but did a week one at a Tesco whilst going to get points buying a tank of diesel. Cost less than £25 for the week, so happy with that

3. Sell more than £500 of books this week (lots of lovely commission for me!)I think I've done this. We'll see when I go to fetch the payment from the school on Thursday.

4. Get things ready to list on Ebay on the next special offer listing day. It's just such a pain, I can't be bothered Still haven't done this. I'm not sure I want to part with all the baby stuff yet. Just in case we decide to have more.

5. Add three more £2 coins - can't believe how fast that's mounting up!Did it. In fact, did more than it. Have £40 to put in the bank along with £5 in 10ps. I'm liking this collecting spare change!

This week's targets continue in the same vein.

1. Try for three no spend days (make up party tomorrow night at a friends may be tempting - I only buy make up once a year so might not be too tempting though. Need a haircut BADLY)
2. Keep our big fortnightly grocery shop under £60 - and get a big tesco points bonus code to use! - OH's turn to pay, too.
3. Sell more than £750 of books this week (lots more lovely commission for me!)
4. Add three more £2 coins - see if we can pass £50 this week!

Fingers crossed for a successful week all!

roversbabe

Great thread,

This is my 1st week so I've nothing to report from last week. This weeks goals are

1. 2 no spend days
2. Clear my dressing table and get rid of clothes that I'll no longer wear - sort the clothes into Ebay and charity shop piles
3. Finish the jacket that I'm working on for the baby
4. Make a meal planner and stick to it.
5. Clear my stuff out of the baby's room and start on turning this room into a proper nursery.

Baby is due in July and I want his room finished as soon as possible.

That'll do for this week

LookingAhead

My goals were:

1) Make many frugal but healthy meals.

Hooray! Think I passed this one as 5 out of 7 were home made & frugal!

- One was frugal but out of packets (oven chips, beans & egg).
- One was out of packets & not so frugal = bean burgers, oven chips & peas…needed something in a hurry!

I am totally disgusted I have eaten oven chips twice in one week!!

2) Have 3 no spend days

I FAILED MISERABLY. Only had one no spend day…I am very disappointed with myself.

3) Limit tumble dryer usage to 2 times maximum - make the most of the dry albeit cold windy weather we're having!

Met target! Used twice & considering the amount of rain that was had over my fair city this week, I am very pleased with myself.

4) Try not to say anything negative about money to OH - try & replace with something positive but still remaining realistic about the situation.

I think I passed this one. Money didn’t really come up although OH did mention getting a new car…I just said if he wanted to get one with his money that was his decision but I wasn’t in a position to buy one with him. What do you think…? Did I pass this one?


5) Find something free or *very* cheap to do on Friday/Saturday when my Mum visits.
Hmmm. Mum wasn’t up to doing much (sciatica in hip – ouch) so we just went to M & S so I could take a top back but I got another one…and another one on top of that. Then we went for a coffee but Mum bought that. I didn’t spend any other money apart from that. I think I failed though as I did buy the extra top.


6) Add at least one £2 coin to collection if possible and some more to our 1p,2p & 5p tin for grocery voucher swap @ Sainsburys.

Met target! Added three more £2 coins and a few pieces of shrapnel to grocery tin. I also started 20p savings/Smartie tube savings as well.


A bit of a mixed week there…..not too bad but could do better (story of my life…).

Will try again this week with:


1. Use tumble dryer once only this week (just as I look out of the window & see it's starting to snow and I have two lots of washing to do...... :rolleyes: )
2. Add one £2 coint to collect and something to the other savings pots too - anything at all possible.
3. Have at least 2 no spend days.
4. Spend no more than £5 on the remaining fresh groceries needed for the end of the week.
5. Start a spend diary either on Excel or in a little book.

Am now off to amend signature as I have made a teeny bit of progress today in a couple of areas :j <"repeats mantra of every little helps">

Good luck everyone.....

MrsTinks

1) List at least 5 items on Ebay (some are going on tonight - plus I already have a mobile phone/PDA on there which should fetch £150 fingers crossed ) DONE - Mobile fetched £186 + postage and the buyer has paid up. Also sold to items of clothes but not really much profit on them *bummer* have lots of DVDs and a couple of clothes bit on there (over 10 total) so feeling proud!

2) Cancel loan protection through Egg as have gotten better quote and it willl save me a LOT DONE - Saved a total of £2200 on my loan and decided to reduce my monthly payment instead of reducing the time I am paying it in over as I can pay over the odds at no penalty so any extra pennies eac month will be put towards this.

3) Re-vamp shop website. Look into legalities etc of what we have to declare about the shop to Mr Brown to ensure we don't get into trouble about that. Ah... right... yes.... hmmm..... have started looking into the tax part of it and it's blooming confusing... This this one will be an ongoing thing for a while.

4) Go through wardrobe for stuff I'll never fit into again for a continued Ebay pile *sigh* Well sold 2 items and have another 2 listed, still more to go through though after which I'll think about hitting the loft for hidden treasured

5) Only spend £1 on treats each day at work (eg a scotch egg or a fizzy drink etc) Big huge failure... mainly due to work to be honest and have been interviewing lots of people for jobs which means I often haveto grab something quick like a sandwich and not what I have been good and brought to work with me.

6) Obtain copy of MS money (ebay or sweet talk a friend who works for MS to get me a copy, feeling a bit guilty about the sweet talking as had a keyboard last month when mine died... And he won't accept any money for it and it's a £100+ keyboard and mouse!)Acchieved! It arrived yesterday and I am having great fun getting the darned thing to d everything the way I think it ought to do them... *sigh*

7) Next grocery order for Tesco to be online as have 1000 tesco points for online order over £50. Need to find out if it's possible to get free delivery too... Haven't done a big shop this week but will do one this coming week. 1000 points is after all £10 OR £40 which means my shopping will only really have been £10 and not £40.

8) Buy anything I can from boots instead of tesco if prices are same. I have become a Boots Tart! Lots of goodies for pressies for people (I am lucky as I have lots of relatives in Denmark who'll never know that these were freebies and they'll make me look really nice when I give them all gift sets in pretty purple bags )

9) Start an emergency saving fund for things like car tax, heating oil bill, and so on. Not done... but trying to work out the best account to use for this at the moment so I have done some fo the work on it!

Other things worthy of a note this week was that I finally got my bits from Alliance and leicester for my new account with them YAY. I Paid £500 into my loan which I am really proud of

This weeks targets:

1) Letter to Lloyds requesting details of bank charges in the last 6 years (to be honest I don't think it'll amount ot much but I am leaving them anyway and every £ is a £ less debt

2) Continue search on emergency fund bank account for unexpected bills

3) SPEND LESS ON LUNCHES! GAH!!!

4) List more on Ebay - check books and stuff in loft

5) Continue to work out how MSMoney actually works GAAAAH!

6) Sell non running mondeo on Ebay... looks liek non runners still fetch £50 upward and it's certainly better selling it than paying for someone to remove it!

That'll do for this week I think

beanielou

I Love reading these posts.
Thanks to you all for sharing
scott.Spenaholic- I really liked your point about going to vist your friend and not worry about the cost.Sometimes i get so caught in trying to get on top of my debts that I just want to not have to spend any money at all & not go over my budget for petrol or whatever.Sometimes I forget that people are important as well.
Good luck this week everyone

forsya

Goals:

1 - Have at least 2 no spending days, haven't had one in a while.
2 - Least at least 5 items on e-bay
3 - Take library books back tom so I don't get charged
4 - Take pack lunch in every day except mon when i am going out for lunch, stick within budget for this though
5 - Stay positive!!!! Motivation is fading as months go on, need to keep focused :T