I want to be a MFW........ LP's Diary

LilacPixie

Thank you MoneyQueen.

StuartGMC

LilacPixie wrote: »

Thank you for you imput Stuart. We currently have two cars, one was bought outright but is now 7 and the other that the finance has finished is a 55 plate so is just under 4 year old at the moment. We will probably downsie the older car to a small city run about in 2-3 years time unless something happens.

Sounds like a plan; say £5k to replace assuming you buy used and the 9/10yr old would be worth only £1k trade-in? So £2500 per year or £208.33 per month required to savings to hit a 2yr replacement plan. Your newer car is then 6yrs old, so then replace 3yrs later at same annual saving requirement rate?

Be realistic with cars, they're a necessary evil but your budget should be real not idealised in terms of both the cost to purchase and run.

With regards to money, i know exactly where it goes.... I spend too much on non-nessesities and it has too stop. I need to start sticking exactly to my budget whenever possible.

Grooceries I am quite good with as i tend to make the vast majority of meals from scratch. I also bake own bread and biscuits/cakes as I have a real hatred of additives and I refuse to give my kids cakes that have a 12-18 month shelf life.

I would love your budgetting sheet Stuart. I am not very excel savvy. Would you like me to PM you my email address??

I hope the spreadsheet will help, once you've recovered from the shock of it the ability to generate real data on spend rather than guessing should give a more accurate picture for you.

LilacPixie

I called my mortgage company and OP by £10 today. I know its a smal amount but i have been doing thsoe free scratch cards daily and was at my witdrawal limit of £10 so I withdrew it, it landed in my account today so I thought i may as well throw it at the mortgage.

LilacPixie

I'm ticking onwards. Slowly getting to grips with the budget planner Stuart sent me and looking at overpaying again around the 31st July

SmlSave

Keep up the good work LP!

MrC-117

Sounds like you're on the right track. Keeping a spreadsheet is definitely the thing to do. I also like to write things down in a sort of mortgage free diary as it's easier to pick up and look at if you're wanting a bit of motivation. It's not as easy to use as my spreadsheet, which gives it a sort of extra appeal.

Perhaps it's just me that likes doing that......

LilacPixie

I have been lookinginto things and I think I need to look at ways to increase my income as well as reducing my/our outgoings.

Budget planner is almost complete and it makes for :eek::eek: reading

Floxxie

Just saw your post on Stuart's thread - what job do you do for 60+ hours a week with two little ones?! You must be Superwoman to cope with the children and a home on top.

LilacPixie

Floxxie I am not superhuman by any stretch of the imagination. I work 40 hours in the office and 20-25 a week at home with my regular job and I also run a small business from home. I am lucky I am married and my husband amuses the kids while I work in the evenings plus the kids are in bed for 8pm anyway so i do a few hours after that

do_it_today!

Hi Lilac Pixie :hello:

Well done for making a start I sympathise with you completely about the shopping on non essentials!