Champagne Lifestyle Lemonade Budget (My attempts to get debt free by April 2010)

Sun_Addict

I've decided to start a fresh new diary as old one (link below) was getting stale:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1564813

I've got a small debt on a 0% credit card which finishes on 31 March 2010. This should be easy to do but at the moment OH and I are living on a very reduced income due to recession in construction industry. My job is ok at the moment so only guaranteed income is my (below average) wage and DD's board money (which covers bills and food). I would love to pay this credit card off by 31 March as otherwise it means I will have to slide it on to a new 0% deal. I also want to have a life at the same time, eg still go on holiday and buy the odd treat. I'm also trying to lose a bit of weight for my holiday. This diary is to record my attempts at this.

I'll start with my targets for June:

1. Lose 4½lbs - this is all I need to lose and is proving VERY difficult.:mad:

2. £280 June Grocery Challenge

3. £5 Weekly Spending Challenge - a bit drastic but after taking off my Avon order, a couple of magazines and lottery money that's all that's left for personal "pocket money".

4. Get debt down to below £2000 - another attempt! :rolleyes: Last month's attempt was unsuccessful.

5. Save £300 towards holiday spending money

My main downfall is unbudgeted spending - the little bits and bobs that all add up. I try very hard but it's difficult when you are used to having a good income coming in and now have much less to live on (hopefully this is a temporary situation). Last month we spent just over £200 on unbudgeted for items and they had to be paid for out of savings, which is not good as our savings are dwindling at an alarming rate. I'm hoping to use this diary as an incentive to myself to remedy this.

Let the challenge begin! :beer:

Sun_Addict

Hi everyone

First day back at work today after having last week off. Far too sunny to be stuck inside all day but hey ho!

Not helped with the losing weight as I ate a slice of homemade chocolate cake this morning as it was someone's birthday. I don't normally indulge in cakes unless they're WeightWatchers so don't know what I was thinking of really:rolleyes: but it was lovely

I've made a hole in my grocery budget already by spending £13.44 in Sainsburys this lunchtime. Not too bad as I've got quite a lot of stuff, although I paid 99p for a galia melon and have just found out Aldi's are doing them for 49p! I usually go to Aldi's on Wednesdays to take advantage of their brilliant Super 6 offers so I wish I'd waited.

Got to work this morning to find out I owed someone £1.50 for a go in last week's Euromillions (having not won anything :rolleyes:). Nice one!

Looking forward to getting home and sitting in the sun for a bit before I have to do my stint in the gym. Already walked to work this morning (3 miles) so I'm only doing 30 minutes toning exercises. (For those who don't know I turned DS's bedroom into a mini gym when he left home 2 years ago so don't have far to travel!)

Logging off now as going home in 8 minutes - yipee!

Horace

Don't beat yourself up over a bit of cake - also 4 and a half pounds isnt much to lose but is it fat or is it muscle? Remember that muscle weighs more than fat.

Keeping a spending diary might help with the unbudgeted for frivolous spends because you will think along the lines of "can I afford it?" as opposed to "I want it"

You're not doing so bad..keep your chin up.:D

fluffymuffin

I am with you on so many of those points. I really want to loose half a stone but then its always someones darn birthday lol. Don;t worry though is only one piece of cake.

I find I have to be really strict with myself re spending or it spirals out of control. What I do find helps is at the start of each month I write down what I want to do - night outs, p[laces I wanna go, stuff I wanna buy, then whatever is left I have an idea when I'm spending how quickly I am going through it. Works a treat. Although saying that I've not done it in a couple of months and have deon exactly what you just said - so I better do as I say as well!

Good luck :-)

Swinstie73

Hi Sun Addict,

Happy new home! Will subscribe and try to keep you motivated!

P.S. My jars are so well hidden, I can't even find them, lol! x

Sun_Addict

Thank you Horace, fluffymuffin and Swinstie for your encouraging replies

I don't actually need to lose any more weight but I like to go under my WeightWatchers goal weight for holidays so I can relax and have what I want for once Then I spend the best part of the next 3 months trying to lose it all again! Why is it that you can put so much weight on in just two weeks on holiday and it takes forever to lose again? :rolleyes: (I can answer my own question here - alcohol!)

I usually have a budget for all my spends but as circumstances have been unusual just lately, with OH not having much work on, by the time I've paid the bills, put some money aside for groceries, paid something towards debt and holiday savings there's nothing left. Fortunately this month so far is looking better and there's a danger of there being money left over to budget for some extras! Shock! OH is the worst one at unbudgeted for spends - his favourite expression seems to be "we're going to have to buy..." and my heart sinks. Once we've been on holiday things will improve and there will be a budget for these things - I'm planning on splitting into three pots whatever is left over after bills and food and these three "pots" will be debt, holidays, spends. After the debt is paid off this pot will become savings (hallelujah).

Sun_Addict

Hi everyone

Today's plans are:

Exercise:

Walk to work 3 miles (done this morning), walk at lunchtime (done), run 2 miles on treadmill, 100 squats, 100 sit ups (doing this tonight), collapse in heap somewhere

Food:

Breakfast - porridge, Lunch - Home made Thai butternut squash soup, crispbreads and cottage cheese, Evening meal - Quorn cottage pie and veg. Snacks - fruit.

No alcohol today and no cake (sob).

Spent £7.06 out of grocery budget in Wilkinson this lunchtime - didn't buy anything unplanned :j Managed to walk through TK Maxx without coming out with a handbag or shoes!!:T

Have had some interest in the things I'm selling on Ebay but no bids as yet. I'm hoping to make enough to pay for pre-holiday manicure and pedicure.

I've spent £1.50 out of personal spending money on another Euromillions syndicate stake. Apparently we won £12 last week so this is being put on this week's ticketas extra lines, there are about 20 of us in this syndicate so we need to win a decent amount to share anything out. Not that we're all trying to escape our jobs :rolleyes:

Need to update signature. Have a good day!

Sun_Addict

Today's plans:

Exercise - walk to work (done), walk at lunchtime (done), gym free night tonight as Tesco's order coming and also have housework to do.

Meal plan:

Breakfast - porridge
Lunch - Thai butternut squash soup and mini naan bread
Evening meal - salmon, new potatoes, loads of veg
Snacks - yoghurt, fruit
Another alcohol and cake free day

Shopping wise I've not had much luck today. I usually have a walk up to Aldi's on Wednesdays but colleague at work went at lunchtime and they had run out of this month's Super 6 fruit. So no point me walking all that way for nothing. They are getting deliveries later today so will wait until tomorrow. So went to Sainsburys at lunchtime and spent £13.21. They charged me for something I didn't buy and I had to get a refund from customer services where they blamed it on their new scanners!

Big monthly Tesco shop coming tonight so grocery budget will be severely reduced after today. You must all think all I do is grocery shop. When OH picks me up from work every day he says "not more food". But this is the only way I can save money on groceries by taking advantage of the offers in different stores plus it keeps me fit and best of all when I'm in food shops I'm not in clothes shops!

I was very good today when it was yet another person's birthday and they brought cakes in. I didn't have one! Actually there was nothing there that really tempted me and none of it was WeightWatchers so no point having one for the sake of it. There are over 50 people in our office so it's always someone's birthday, leaving do, promotion, exam pass, any excuse for cakes!

My weekly spending budget is now very unhealthy looking as I've spent rather a lot on magazines today. I always buy Woman and Woman's Own but also bought Grazia as (a) I had a voucher to buy it for £1 off and (b) noticed on MSE weekly newsletter that there is a voucher in it for free body scrub from Boots. So I spent £2.75 today, which means I have 75p to last until Friday! Have Avon order of £18.75 :eek: coming tonight but I had already put this money to one side thank goodness. Don't normally spend this much on Avon but there was an offer of an Oasis watch for £5 if you spent £10 or more on make up. Don't really need any more make up but I'm such a sucker for a bargain! :rolleyes:

Update on Euromillions - we actually won £22! This has all been reinvested on this week's game.

Sadly it was the last Gok's Fashion Fix last night, although OH is glad as I make him sit through it with me. He always says he feels he needs a "man fix" after watching it - he feels he needs to watch a footie match or war film! :rolleyes:

Fire_Fox

Just read through your new diary - I am a qualified personal trainer so thought I might be able to help with the weight loss if you would like? :cool:

Swinstie73

Hi Sun Addict,

Ah what is a couple of magazines! You've done really well on your diet though, think I have eaten triple that today!

Hope having a nice nite, watching Desperate Housewives then bed for me x

barrys-lass

Hi Sun Addict, just thought i would say hi instead of reading and running, iv had to stop buying my weekly mags as soooo skint its unreal, so have taken to playing online games (not ones you have to pay for) to keep me occupied, or googling what im interested in. keep up with the diary i will be subscribing to keep up with you.

Take care and good luck

Oh and fire fox, can you help me with weight loss and exercise please?????????