Onwards & Upwards - Part 2

[Deleted User]

Friday and the end of the week…this one seems to have gone very quickly, can’t believe that we are in to March already next week :eek:

Didn’t manage a NSD yesterday, despite getting the veg and the fruit which is included in the food budget, I was naughty and spent £2 on two bits for the kids for their stockings at Christmas oh and I did have £1.40 parking to pay for.

Today I need to finish off the top up shop at Tesco’s and catch up on the house work so today will be a NSD.

I also need to check the finances, DH’s expenses finally got paid into the bank and I need to figure out how much we have left to spend before DH gets paid in two weeks and if I can make a small overpayment to the credit card.

DH is working at the flying club tomorrow and DS has a birthday party on Sunday to go to. So Saturday will be the last NSD of the month for me. I have joined the March thread and am determined to make a bigger dent than the last couple of months.

On the plus side of things, DH has been taking his lunch and has said that he’s trying not to spend money despite some weeks not having much of a choice, at least he’s trying

On the insurance side of things, DH has a medical at the end of March for it. He needs to stop the NicAssist as it shows up on the results apparently but if he can kick that habit it will save us £8.99 a week as well as £50 a month when it changes over to AXA and DH has been promised some new rock shoes to go climbing with if he can do it.

I need to do my summary and round up of February and also my new list for March of what I need to sort/achieve.

Have a good day everyone.

taxi73

Sounds like you had a positive month.
Great that DH is on board and trying and you've had plenty of no spend days as well so thats good.
Lets hope March is a better month for us all.

[Deleted User]

Thought that I should update as I have gone through the finances and we have a grand total of £300 to last us until DH gets paid again. I still need to transfer the money over from Paypal which will be done this weekend and once it arrives will be done as an overpayment to the credit card.

I’m going to make my target this month for the NSD’s but will need to do more next month as it will be 5 weeks until DH gets paid again.

I also need to sort out my mum’s birthday present, she’s told me what she wants I just need to buy it. I’ve also got DH’s niece’s birthday coming up, she’s 17 so money will probably be easy for her.

I need to get my head in gear and get my plan sorted for next month.

ETA: Got the statement through for the mortgage and we owe £145444.51 and there is 20yrs left to run on it. I am hoping that once I start working again once DD is at school full time I can make inroads and try and pay some of it off. Apparently we can pay 10% off per year so if I can make just 5% overpayment a year initially I will be happy but this is in the future and not for the moment.

taxi73

Is that £300 to get your shopping with or have you already budgetted for that?

[Deleted User]

Morning Taxi, the £300 is what we have left until DH gets paid again so any remaining top up shops etc will come out of it.

taxi73

I'm sure you'll manage on that amount.Its amazing how far money can be stretched especially with all the tips on here.

[Deleted User]

So I have been thinking about March and how I am going to get through the month with minimal impact on us financially. In March there are several things going on, my birthday & Mother’s Day (same day) DH’s niece’s birthday & DS’s friends birthday party.

Plan as per other months is as follows:

• 20 NSD’s – I have managed 15 for the last two months but as DH won’t get paid for 5 weeks this time more effort is needed if we are to stay on track
• Meal plan – still going strong on this one
• E-bay – have found lots of other bits and pieces that can be sold
• Walking and not using car – was lax on this last week so need to improve it
• House work – Flylady is doing wonders for my house and beats it becoming monotonous and boring as there is a different room/area every day.
• Cut down on the Tesco shops! – About two diaries ago I made myself prove that I will not nip to Tesco’s every other day just for the sake of it, this is going to have to happen again.
• Surveys – Seriously need to get back on track with this especially the Lightspeed ones, I’m sure if DH can find time to do his and work full time so can I.
• Declutter the conservatory – This is desperately in need of sorting and I think that I am going to have to be ruthless but will only get done in stages.
• Exercise – I really need to do this as my back has been playing up a bit lately, the Pilates book that I bought the other week has some good exercises in a lot of which I did when I had Physio a while back.

Reflecting back on January and February I don’t think that we have done too badly on some areas but other areas need improving

Today I checked Paypal and there was more in there than I anticipated, so I withdrew £30 and paid off £20 off the credit card. The extra £10 will be useful for something even if it gets eked out for next two weeks.

So on to today, I need to nip to Tesco’s…I know! The lightbulb in the kitchen went and I need to pick up birthday cards and wrapping paper for DS’s classmates party tomorrow. I already have the money saved up from during the week so don’t need to spend anything out of the account IYSWIM?? Bang goes my NSD for today and my target for the month.

I also need to finish off the washing and get the washing up done and then a spot of ironing needs to be done before it starts to overtake the conservatory again.

The kids can have an easy day playing and colouring etc.

Have a good day/weekend everyone.

Jo_R_2

Good planning for the month, I don't think it can be overestimated how much it helps minimise or eliminate potential problems so def the right thing to do.

I think the NSDs are a good idea along with the meal planning - personally I find this is the key to really cutting down those midweek spends. Hope it goes well x

taxi73

Jo_R wrote: »

Good planning for the month, I don't think it can be overestimated how much it helps minimise or eliminate potential problems so def the right thing to do.

I think the NSDs are a good idea along with the meal planning - personally I find this is the key to really cutting down those midweek spends. Hope it goes well x

I totally agree with all this.I used to be terrible for nipping in to buy just milk and coming out with £20 of shopping.

[Deleted User]

Happy March to all you lovely peeps, here’s to a successful one.

So I have had a look at the finances this morning to see where we stand now the 1st of the month payments have come out and what is due next week before DH gets paid. I have deducted this off my previous total and this leaves us with £143 or £71 per week. We can do this!

We have a top up shop coming on Friday but I need to get some milk and fruit as the last lot I bought rapidly depleted over the weekend…not complaining as I don’t mind the kids eating fruit. I will be keeping it as low as possible though.

This week’s aim is to have 5 NSD’s, which theoretically should be achievable as I do not need to buy anything.

I need to go through the freezer and see what we have in there and meal plan for the next two weeks.

DS has climbing club tonight and I will be there with my flask again, money already put aside to pay for his sessions so no money spent

I listed a lot on e-bay on Saturday and some these have watchers, I don’t care if they don’t make masses of money but a bit wouldn’t go amiss.

Have a good day everyone, off to get the kids motivated and out the house so we can go to the dump before school.