So here's to you, Mrs R....

beanielou

Actually if I had £20 to do me til Monday i would be really happy:rotfl:

mrs_robinson_3

Thanks Hypno and Beanie. Think the £20 was just reminding me not to be complacent, and not to spend money before it arrives in my a/c, which was never a concern in the past.....

Anyway, the CHB has now arrived in my a/c, and also £20 from HSA for half the cost of my dental check up, which only filed last week, so was v quick, so feeling better all told.....

And great day, starting with listing stuff on eBay (finally), then walk on beach with puppy, in lovely sun, then lovely walk with Mr R (all DSs out at things not requiring parental involvement, bonus) to local outlet shopping, but spent only £2.50, then super frugal supper of homemade chickpea, tomato, lentil and chilli soup.....oh, and two glasses of red wine......and now chilling on own, Mr R out, DSs in bed, dog snoring.....

So, brimming over with good things, I am

Mrs R

Snowmoredebt

Hi Mrs R

Still loving your diary it makes me chuckle, hope your having a good weekend.

BEAT_THE_DEBT

Have you seen the price of emma bridgewater on ebay!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek:

rtandon27

Morning Mrs R

:wave:

You are doing amazingly well with your frugality! The fact that you are actually thinking about where and when the money goes in and out is a huge step to having control over it rather than the other way round.

Please send some of that E-Bay motivation this way, as I've yet to get past the gathering stage and take pictures of the bits that should go on. We all have roadblocks on this path to being debt free & E-Bay is definitely mine!

:rotfl:Just googled Emma Bridgewater:rotfl:only to realize it's the lovely stuff I've been coveting in the posh kitchen store:rotfl:

Have a lovely week & as always can't wait to read your next instalment!

RT
xox

mrs_robinson_3

Hhm, never bothered to post an SOA as this diary is just about clearing up my own personal debt, and thought an SOA was more of a household thing. But realise is perfectly possible to set out here own personal state of affairs, as is v. simple, and good for posterity if nothing else!

So here goes:

In per month £1982 (made up of former salary of £1797, which am now drawing from my redundancy pay, plus my CHB of £185)

Out to joint a/c £930 (this pays for my share of mortgage and bills and generally covers my share of food and other incidentals)

Out to school fees a/c £305 (we have 2 DSs in an independent school and we put £650 per month away for them. This effectively covers DS1. Due to Mr R's foresight we have money for DS2 in an ISA which we draw on each term. We still have DS3 to go. When he goes, our mortgage will be nearly finished, thankfully. Though there will be one year, in 2 year's time, when all 3 of them will need funding, hence my need to pay my debts off asap)

Contact lenses £20 per month

Hair £35 per month (I know......is an indulgence, but have v high maint hair, both cut and colour wise, so not prepared to forego this!)

Phone top up £10 per month - normally can manage OK on this.....

Leaves £682 by my reckoning

So from this, am paying about £320 off my RBS card, and £90 off my Egg

Leaves £272

Allow myself £30 p wk personal spending - have cut back dramatically on clothes spending, but if there's something I need/want, it has to come from here....hence ebay and charity shopping are my friends now. Also covers any other incidentals and any nights out/drinks with friends. Generally manage with just 4 lots of personal spends, so budget this at £120 p.m, but sometimes £150.

So that leaves £152/£122

And then allow £18.50 per week for petrol - generally this lasts, but allow an extra £10 for the last few days of the month, so that's £84-ish

Thus leaving me with either £70ish or £40ish "spare". Especially now have no OD charges! But it feels tight, and is tight, as in not allowing any room to go off piste - but so long as can stick to the plan, is eminently do-able.....and will be well on my way to debt freedom by July (well, as in sub £4k...can dream of when it's all gone ) - though that's the crunch time re whether need to return to work......as if have no income, will necessitate a major re-engineering of the family finances, though at least will be just down to the Egg card.... if only had a year's worth of redundancy pay! Still, am grateful for what I do have......

Oh, and on top of this, will be getting JSA...but am vieiwing that as untouchable, as have referred to above......

That's enough for now, will be back later in week with an update on Mr R's situ. (which is looking v good.....)

Mrs R

mrs_robinson_3

Ok, short update.

Got to Thursday with £15 of my £30 for the week remaining......but had to give £5 to DSs for lunch and bus fare - therefore have decided to switch to new system for their lunches and fares, where I'll take money out of the joint a/c on a Friday and change it into pound coins. Sensible, don't know why didn't think of that ages ago! Two DSs take packed lunches anyway, but the third likes to have a cooked lunch a few times a week, and whilst I can collect them from school, they like the independence of the bus, so all in, think it's about £15 p. wk we're looking at here, so better for it to be jointly funded......

Then, Thursday evening, was out to dinner with a friend, in a non-chain place so no voucher possibilities! We both chose cheap-ish things, but even so the bill was £36, and as I owed her £7 from our last outing, had to pay £25....so had taken out my £30 for-the-week in adavnce, and had the remaining £10 from the previous week.....so now have to last the rest of this week on the £12 left in my purse......and have another evening out next Thursday.....but feeling confident can make that £12 last! Amazing, as never used to think of things in this way before.....

My eBay's been pants - didn't sell any of the business stock, must have got the prices wrong for eBay, have a few personal items on but they're not doing much either! Added something else to Green Metropolis but no sales to report.....

In brighter news though, if stick to my budget, will end the month with a small surplus, which intend to pay off my RBS - and amazingly, more cleaning in the pipeline for me - people are asking for me and my ministrations.... well, am really offering more of a cleaning and home styling service, don't you know......is fine, and fun, to do it though

Mr R is being made redundant, but we have now entered period of wrangling about his notice - he has to leave by end March to qualify for pension + pension lump sum + redundancy payment ....bit stressful but sure he'll get there.....

Anyway, more later maybe......

Mrs R

rtandon27

Happy Monday Mrs R!

Thanks you for sharing your SOA - it's really great to see the thought process behind the budgeting.

Please don't take on any angst from personal spends! Nice Hair, make-up & decent cloths are all necessities as they boost self-confidence!

mrs_robinson wrote: »

Amazing, as never used to think of things in this way before.....

Dare I say you'll never go back to any other way of thinking! - OH asked the other day how much each serving of a particularly nice meal cost & within 60 seconds I had proudly come back to him with £1.25, thanks to some nice Ocado sale items & 'FREE' luxury wine was from Xmas pressies (we have some posh clients at work)!

xox
RT

mrs_robinson_3

Well RT, on cost per head, just got to share last night's thrifty meal - left over pork from a big roAST ON SUNDAY (WHICH IN ITSELF ONLY COST £4 DUE TO SOME KIND OF HALF PRICE THING IN SAINSBURY'S - OOPS SORRY RE CAPS, CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO RETYPE! ).

With a bubble and squeak made with mashed potato, cooked specially, as a means of eeking out some left over savoy cabbage. And to it, added some cauliflower florets, which had a bought at a bargain price reduction of 32p, but they were in danger of "turning", and causing me angst....so added them to the mash....and fried an onion, mashed it all up and added cumin, turmeric and chilli flakes.....it was beyond delicious!

And a salad, again using up odds and ends....

And my thrifty halo, it shone brightly

Thanks again RT for your encouragement....

Mrs R

mrs_robinson_3

Hhm, feeling disciplined today.....just made a tiny payment of £5.06 to the RBS card....this is the balance of my recent sales on eBay - another £20- ish in total but I used £15 to buy a pinboard for my office (in the Cath Kidston red spot, which am wild about....)....and have another £64 from cleaning that am keeping aside to pay off at end of month.....and have two more cleaning clients.....which will be 8 hours per week in total, which is enough....and will probably give up the JSA as a result.....never know, might need it later, and as it's the conts based one, it only lasts a few months anyway.....still have to do the "proper" freelance work as well .....and Mr R has a meeting about his redundancy today, so hoping for positive progress here....and am checking online banking daily and balancing it to the last penny.....friend's BD tomorrow so got to make cake today....blueberry and lemon curd, not the most economical....and decluttering boys' rooms and swapping clothes down the line, which is always most satisfying....got to do foot measuring and consequent school shoes today...always expensive, wish me luck.....

Phew, it's all go.....

Mrs R