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

Swinstie73

Hi SA,

That's brilliant that you are only £199 away from being at £1K, I can only dream! Will need to start with Christmas shopping too but I have not idea what to buy anyone this year.

Sun_Addict

Thanks Swinstie - it won't be that long before you're down to your last £1k!

Had a NSD yesterday. Stayed at home and caught up with a lot of bits and bobs that needed doing. Still tons on my to do list though - eg I've been knitting a scarf for 2 years now and not that many rows away from finishing it! I'm not really a knitting sort of person but obviously I thought it was a good idea at the time! I WILL finish it this year!!!

Pre-booked the airline seats at the weekend for the March holiday. I reckoned on them costing about £30 in total but of course we ended up booking the extra leg room which cost us £144 in total!! The basic seats were £52 in total so we thought we might as well go for the extra leg room as OH is over 6ft and likes to stretch his legs out. So a bit more to save than first calculated but isn't that always the case.

Sun_Addict

Got my annual repayment from Atlantic Gas & Electric today - £136.00 (yes I spend a lot of money on gas and electricity unfortunately). Have stashed this in my "float" but may need it to go towards debt repayment at the end of October depending on how much I've managed to accumulate. I know I will be able to pay £284.54 out of October's pay after bills have gone out so need to find another £115.46 to make this up to my target of £400 to keep on track to be debt free by Christmas.

Have decided to buy DS an England football shirt for his birthday (which is just before Christmas) as I don't think he has an up to date one. He's football mad and will be avidly watching the World Cup next year so it may come in handy. So this means I will be trying to find the cheapest place to obtain one! I think they're about £50 which I think is extortionate for a glorified t shirt but it is for a present and I know he'll love it so hey ho! I'll see if I can find one for a bit less.

Sun_Addict

Hi everyone!

Is it really October already :eek:

Tried to work out today if I could feasibly be debt free by the end of the 12 week challenge I've joined (7 December) but my calculator says no I think it would be too much to commit to in too short a time and after all it's only a couple of weeks later I should be debt free anyway. Am sensibly aiming for December's payday which should be week commencing 21 December. But you never know.

By the end of October I aim to:

1. Pay £400 off debt which will bring my total down to £799.

2. Pay £234 towards March holiday - this is to cover £144 for extra legroom seats (extortionate!), £50 for taxi fares to and from local airport and £40 for buying food/drinks at the airport and on board plane.

3. The old faithful (but seemingly impossible) aim of getting back to my WW goal weight - only 2¼lbs to lose that's all it is, why is it so difficult?

4. Make some more progress towards buying all Christmas presents. I have actually got the majority of them as I have been buying bits and bobs all year when there's a good bargain to be had but still have a few to get. I have pledged to have bought everything by 7 December (the 12 week challenge again).

Here we go again!

Swinstie73

Hi SA,

I think you could do it, another 2 payments of £400 would be all it takes. Or does the challenge finish before December pay or something?

Is the £230 in your Christmas fund all you spend? And when I say all, I mean that's brilliant, cos I spent £420 last year and have cut it down to £350 this year, but I still think that's too much. I'm going for dinner for my friend's birthday tomorrow and going to suggest myself, her and another friend do a Lucky Dip thing so we only buy one present. She's got a kid who we buy for but it means she buys her something, I'm sure she could do without that expense (and it'll save me money too, ha). Good luck with the Christmas shopping too, x

Sun_Addict

Hi Swinstie

Yes the challenge finishes on 7 December before payday so it would be a bit of a struggle but you never know.

I wish I did only spend £230 on Christmas presents. This pot is to finish off my Christmas shopping. I have been buying bits and bobs throughout the year when I've seen a good bargain so have a lot of stuff already. It's also DD and DS's birthdays just before and just after Christmas (bad timing there) so it gets quite expensive. I reckon I must spend in total around £400. OH is the one to watch when he buys my present as he wanders into town with not a clue what to buy and is influenced by sales people and ends up spending a fortune. He has no idea how much women's stuff is (bless him!). I'm just off to peep at your thread to see what your plan is. Have a good weekend.

Sun_Addict

Don't usually post at the weekend but just a quick update today.

OH has got himself a good deal with Tesco Mobile - unlimited calls and texts for £30 a month (subject to £500 usage but he would never use that much anyway). This should save him at least £10 a month. He also gets to keep his own number - you have to get PAC off network provider for this, they were a bit difficult but he got it eventually.

Only went in Tesco Homestore this morning for a cup of coffee and we ended up spending nearly £20 in there! However, some of it was for Christmas present for DS. We got him a duvet cover and sheet as since he moved out 2 years ago I doubt he's updated his old one (or even washed it come to that - yeuch!). Got a great bargain with Ambre Solaire factor 15 sun spray £1.62 a bottle instead of usual £12 ish. Will come in handy for next year's holidays. Also got another bargain in vanilla scented tealights for 25p per pack of 12 - bought 4 packs and also bought an wooden art ornament type thing reduced to £1.87 from £15. OH thinks it's horrible and says it looks like a TV awards trophy but I like it. He wouldn't let me put it in living room as he said everyone would know we'd only paid £1.87 for it from Tesco so it is in dining room!

Got DS's England shirt for his birthday (December) today from Sports Direct website for £40 plus £3.95 postage so a bit cheaper than I was expecting. He will be really chuffed with it. Hardly got any Christmas presents left to get now so doing well.

And finally - the scales have finally shifted and I have lost a whole three quarters of a pound this week!!!!! This means I am now only 1.5 pounds over my WW goal weight.

Have a good Saturday everyone - I'm staying in tonight and watching X Factor - sad I know but cheap! Love X Factor though so don't mind.

Sun_Addict

It's Monday again!

I read an article in a magazine at the weekend about alcohol units and it showed you what 14 units (the recommended maximum for women) looked like. Now I love my wine and normally get through 2 bottles per week between Thursday and Monday. I always have at least 2 alcohol free days a week. Apparently I am going over my units as 14 units of wine is only 1 bottle plus 1 big glass :eek: However, 9 small bottles of ordinary strength cider is 13½ units. Now that sounds like a lot to me so for a month's trial I am drinking cider (which I do quite like by the way). Each bottle is 1½ units so it sounds like I'm going to be drinking more for less units - bargain!!;) We'll see how I go! Popped into Morrisons yesterday and small bottles of Gaymers cider were on offer 4 for £2 so bought 9 packs to last me the month. I felt like a right alcoholic and OH keeps singing "I am a cider drinker":rolleyes:. He thinks I won't do it as he reckons I'll say I don't feel like I've had a drink but this just makes me all the more determined. Have decided to allow myself 1 bottle on a Monday, 3 on Friday and Saturday and 2 on Sunday.

Made a huge batch of soup yesterday to last me all week at work - roasted some butternut squash, swede and red onions with a sprinkle of thyme then liquidised it with a vegi oxo cube and a litre of hot water and a bit of fresh ginger. After liquidising I added a small tin of sweetcorn to it. It is gorgeous!!

Gym tonight - toning exercises and weights today. Still walking to work everyday. Also started a 9 week running plan 3 times a week - I'm only on week 3 at the moment, it gets harder week by week, not looking forward to week 9!!

Sun_Addict

Resisted going to the M&S sale today. I don't have any money to spare to spend there and anything I bought would have had to have gone on my M&S card so kept well away. According to work colleagues I didn't miss anything anyway.

Have decided to make a list of all the niggly little jobs that I never get around to doing (like finishing the scarf I've been knitting for the last 2 years!). Once I've made this list I'm going to try and complete at least one job off it a week (so maybe by this time next year I'll have come to the end of it!).

Getting worried about DD - she has hung washing out for me twice now in the last week. She must have an ulterior motive - it's not her usual style.

Tried a bottle of the cider last night - it was very nice. Despite what OH says I did feel a glow after only one drink.

Sun_Addict

Not posted for nearly a week but am here today to confess some naughty spending since last week. Despite what I said about avoiding M&S sale I ended up in there on Friday "just looking" and came out with a skirt, trousers and top! They only came to £28.37 for all three so not too much damage done! The big damage came on Saturday. Me and OH went to Costa Coffee in Tesco "just for a coffee" and came out with a Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit. A very expensive cup of coffee! However, most of the cost of this is covered by gas and electric rebate and we have been considering getting one for a while now. We have tried to justify it by saying it's an early Christmas present to ourselves but I know I will end up buying OH a little something else to open on the day (which means he had better be planning on getting me a little something else!). On the plus side the Wii is great and OH and DD spent hours on it over the weekend. I finally managed to get on my bit (the Wii Fit) yesterday and I thought it was brilliant and am planning on buying a workout game for it as a change from going in the gym. So all in all I don't regret this purchase at all.

Anyway confession over and I'm now back to my debt busting. Only 3 more payments to go!!!