Smart Mart - Health, wealth and happiness

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Hi SmartMart, apart from the football(!), my dd and I spent yesterday doing much the same. We spent the afternoon in, dd watching a dvd while I did some paperwork and misc, then we had supper, and snuggled up to watch Harry Hill and X factor. We just love our sat eves doing that! Take care Smart mart!

Smart_Mart

Well that's a month nearly over and am sat here considering how I've done. The answer is "not very well" and I am quite disappointed with myself....

I'll do a proper summary tomorrow but it looks a wee bit worse than I'd hoped. I'm still spending too much on sweets, snacks and general c**p. I think it would really help if I limited myself to only buying that sort of thing in the weekly shop as when I buy on an adhoc basis, I spend more.:mad:

I've written a note to my landlord tonight asking to pay him fortnightly instead of monthly. I've struggled with the rent these past few months, partly my own fault and partly because my HB claim was delayed. My rent is £600 a month here for a 3 bed terrace (only four in the terrace) and that's a village between Bristol and Bath - this is a good price believe me. A two bed in the area might only save me £25 a month tops and I wouldn't get such a nice, flexible landlord. The rent would drop to £280 a fortnight (26 fortnights instead of 12 months) and as my courier money and HB comes to £360 a fortnight, I could cope with that....:T, here's hoping he'll agree.

Full summary tomorrow then....:eek:

Haven't spent a bean today but off to the pub quiz at 7.30pm. Have got £8.40 left till tomorrow so will stick £5.00 of petrol in the car, £1 on the quiz and £2.40 for a pint and that will be it!!

ladypinkof66

Smart_Mart wrote: »

Well that's a month nearly over and am sat here considering how I've done. The answer is "not very well" and I am quite disappointed with myself....

I'll do a proper summary tomorrow but it looks a wee bit worse than I'd hoped. I'm still spending too much on sweets, snacks and general c**p. I think it would really help if I limited myself to only buying that sort of thing in the weekly shop as when I buy on an adhoc basis, I spend more.:mad:

I've written a note to my landlord tonight asking to pay him fortnightly instead of monthly. I've struggled with the rent these past few months, partly my own fault and partly because my HB claim was delayed. My rent is £600 a month here for a 3 bed terrace (only four in the terrace) and that's a village between Bristol and Bath - this is a good price believe me. A two bed in the area might only save me £25 a month tops and I wouldn't get such a nice, flexible landlord. The rent would drop to £280 a fortnight (26 fortnights instead of 12 months) and as my courier money and HB comes to £360 a fortnight, I could cope with that....:T, here's hoping he'll agree.

Full summary tomorrow then....:eek:

Haven't spent a bean today but off to the pub quiz at 7.30pm. Have got £8.40 left till tomorrow so will stick £5.00 of petrol in the car, £1 on the quiz and £2.40 for a pint and that will be it!!

Hi Smart Mart I avidly read your diary when you post and I live near Bristol, you are doing really good with the amount of money you spend compared to the money you have coming in so dont be too down on yourself. You are doing splendidly. So keep going

benbenandme

Yep I agree with Ladypink, whether your first month has gone as well as you'd have liked or not, you have stuck to it for the whole month, which with the usual chaotic madness that is the build up to Christmas, then I think thats pretty good Keep going mate

Smart_Mart

Thanks Ladypink and Benben, kind words for an old fool...:D

Went to the quiz last night and we came second, winning eight free pints for our trouble. I popped in for a quick snack on the way home (:mad:) which cost me my last £1.40 but the quiz only cost a pound and my share of the drinks vouchers will be worth a fiver...:T

HB, courier work AND the football club all paid today meaning that £760 went into the account this morning.:j. I've been round to drop the rent into the landlord's house £600), put £25 of petrol in the car and £15 on the gas meter then did the weekly shop in Asda which cost £43.38. That sounds high but I desperately needed a pair of shoes as the heel was falling off the last pair - they were £15 so really only spent £28.38.

I'll do the summary later on once I've crunched some numbers. Not going to be a very accurate assessment as I paid two months rent in November (the arrears plus this month's rent) and I also got a wedge from housing benefit where they hadn't paid me for six weeks or so. Will give me some idea as to where my money goes (as if I didn't know already).

Smart_Mart

Got a dreadful shock tonight when crunching these numbers.:eek: If nothing else, this month has taught me that I need to have a serious talk with myself.

With some of the spending, there are extenuating circumstances. The figures are all awry as I had a lump sum from HB that paid off last month's rent plus I paid this months' too. The twins had a birthday in November too which won't happen for a year (obviously), that said it will be Christmas next month....:eek:

Here goes and be as shocked as you want - it still won't be as shocked as I was...

Rent - £1,200
Housekeeping (food + other shopping + mini-shops) - £263.80
Fuel - £255.00
Twins presents - £144.73
Gas - £85.00
Virgin bill - £49.49
Football tickets - £35.00
Tea/lunch out - £28.65
Household misc - £23.75 ( set of bedding, set of four mugs)
TV Licence - £23.75
Quiz nights - £17.40
Cards/presents - £13.66
Haircut - £12.00
Fireworks night - £11.00
Debt repayment - £10.50
Stationery - £10.22
Football stickers - £8.00
Postage - £6.42
Laundry - £6.00
Football programme & lottery ticket - £5.00
Car Wash - £4.00
Parking - £2.00
Advent calendars - £2.97
Bank charges - £1.85 ( withdrew money from an ATM that wasn't free)

The housekeeping shocked me most of all. That is around £9 a day just to eat, drink and live which is way too much. I'd budgeted ( I think) about a fiver a day (£150 a month) but all the crap that I eat soon adds up. You could add the £28.65 that I spent on "eating out" to the housekeeping if you wanted an even worse total.

Fuel surprised me too. I have to cover pretty much all of the football matches with the website job. Travelling wasn't too bad in November with a trip to Oxford, one to Kent and two to Yeovil to drive to. My oldest two kids live an hour away and it's an hour to work once a week too but I'm surrpised that I spent nearly £8 a day on fuel. FWIW, December sees three home games plus trips to Milton Keynes and Swindon. I'm not covering the Hartlepool game as that would be the best part of £80 fuel.

Big eye-opener for me but it will encourage me to work harder at increasing my income and decreasing my outgoings big time.

benbenandme

Only small bits but the car wash stands out as an easy one to cut out, and the haircut seems steep for a guy (unless it was the twins?), realistically you know what you spend on food and maybe rather than trying to cut back on it you could go for cheaper options of food? I dont mean the brands, but things like buying a huge bag of pasta (about £3 in tescos) and bulking out loads of cheap meals with it? Really filling and may help stop the snacking?? Says me, the eternal snacker :rolleyes:

Smart_Mart

Thanks for going easy on me, BB, much appreciated.

£12.00 for a haircut is a bit steep. It actually costs £10.50 but I've always tipped him £1.50 since I started going there nine years ago. I only get my hair cut every other month so it's really only £6 a month.

I'm definitely looking to cut out around £100 a month from the housekeeping bill for starters....might give that a try.

Smart_Mart

Well December has started quite well really...:D

Went down to Yeovil yesterday for the match - when I'm working on a match night, I generally don't get down there till 11am as that still makes a twelve hour day!!:eek:. It was sadly my turn to buy the cakes and tea though I did pack a lunch for dinner. It'll be my boss's turn next time....:p

One of our former players, a hero of mine, has just signed for the team about 7/8 miles up the road and he made his debut last night. There was no train back to Yeovil last night so I did the decent thing and offered him my spare room which he accepted....:j. We sat up talking football till 1.30am - he's good company!!

Dropped him back at the station this morning and now have to get on and deliver papers galore today!:D

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Hi Smart Mart, I have to say to you do not be cross with yourself too much. Its taken me a good few months to cut my spending and get it to where I more or less want it to be. I am now still certain I can cut it back even more, its amazing what you can do without if you really have to. Keep going, you are doing so well.