Floozie does Frugal 2010

Intergalactic_Floozie

Yo people of the internet, welcome to 2010!

Well, seeing how I didn’t really achieve very much by myself in 2009, I felt it was time for a new, shiny diary.

I did harbour some vague notion that I would like to pay off my credit card and loan debts but it never really happened. I bumbled along adding to it until DH got made redundant in April (bloody recession) and so my mum and dad paid off my credit cards for us leaving us with three loans…..however during several weeks of madness in the summer when I didn’t post I ran my sodding Tesco credit card up again.

My main 2010 resolution to myself is to NOT SPEND ON THE CREDIT CARD and this means learning to budget properly. I’ve done that with the help of this board by doing a daily spending diary. I’m doing very well, even if I do say so myself!

DEBTS
I’ve got £2750 outstanding on the Tesco credit card
£3585.40 on Loan 1 (Natwest – 26 payments left)
£5201.68 on Loan 2 (A&L – 21 payments left
£6493.92 on Loan 3 (Natwest – I think approximately 48 or 49 payments left)
£18031

SAVINGS
£ 1100 - this is my emergency money.

FINANCIAL PLAN FOR 2010

• Live off what we’ve got coming in without resorting to spending on credit cards(aka budgeting)
• Save up £365 for Christmas (have joined the £365 in 365 challenge).
• Pay minimums only on CC with a view to attacking it when loans are paid off.
• Hopefully I will have a little bit of money left each month (hahhhahahahahahah) which I will put to oneside to cover cost of living rises, interest rate rises which will invariably see my mortgage rise

LIFE LAUNDRY PLAN

• DECLUTTER. This must be done! I have loads of storage space in the house, yet my house is badly cluttered because all storage space is taken up with keeping stuff I haven’t used or looked at in yonks. I plan to do this one day at a time and the only solid rule is 5 items must leave the house every single day. (this doesn’t count stuff I routinely chuck out such as newspapers)
• LOSE WEIGHT. This must also be done! I have clothes in my wardrobe in sizes 10, 12, 14, 16 (and a couple of 18s) - well, when I say inmy wardrobe, I don't mean on the rails as they're all in black bin liners taking up space. I’ve battled with my weight for the past 12 years. I’ve been going to WW since the beginning of October and lost a stone, but I think I may have gained half of that back over Christmas. I want to keep going until the beginning of October this year, and whatever clothes in the house fit me then, will be the clothes I keep. Anything that doesn’t fit on 01/12/10 will go to charity!

OBSTACLES

• May – Car Insurance due (probably £500-£600)
• June – Footy season ticket due (around £200, but they do an easy payment plan over 8 months - May have to take deep breath and not renew, which might be easy seeing how they have been a shower of sh1te this year).
• August – Breakdown cover, road tax, service & MOT due (say £550?)
• August – House insurance due. (Hopefully less than £200)
• Getting bored. That’s a big obstacle. I have zero staying power.

CHALLENGES
1. £365 in 365 days challenge (For Xmas)
2. See how long I can go without buying clothes (on day 1 so far :rotfl:)

FINALLY OUTGOINGS VS INCOME....
Income at moment:
£1174.91 (my wage - will get an increment in April)
£1022.86 (DH wage)
£132.80 (child benefit)
£4.40 per week tax credits (will go back up in April, got a bit overpayed)
£2348.17
Outgoings at moment:
Gas: £110 (just had this decreased by £20 per month, was in credit at last bill)
Electricity: £50 (just had this decreased by £5 per month, was in credit at last bill)
Water: £36.60 (paid over 12 months, wouldn’t be cheaper on a meter)
Council: £82.00 (paid over 12 months, Band
Virgin: £53.00 + phone calls
TV Licence: £12.12
Mortgage: £361.64 (this is currently discounted at 0.34% above baserate, but next month will be going up to 1% above the base rate, which I estimate will be an extra £50 per month-ish, plus it’s probable interest rates will rise again generally before my loans are anywhere near paid off - £84k left on mortgage)).
Life Insurance: £21.46 (this is for £100k)
Loan 1: £236.44
Loan 2: £137.90
Loan 3: £172.89
Mobile phone (DH): £30.00
Mobile Phone (me): £18.00
Mobile Phone: (DS1): £12.00
DH: £200 (pocket money – non negotiable)
Tesco CC - £55.00 (minimum)
£1536.05
Leaves me: £812 (ish)

Which the following has to come out of:
My bus fares: £3 per day, or £56 for a bus pass (only worth it if I am working each week day between paydays).
DS1 bus fares: £0.90 per day. (say £20 per month)
Petrol: £110 (but realistically, judging on last couple of months will need to up this)
Newspapers: £3.40 per week
Kids activities. £44-£70 per month (depending on when subs for cubs & school footy is due).
Groceries; Am budgeting £280 (2 adults, 2 kids, 1 cat)

The rest I call my ‘everything else’ money which pays for….erm…everything else!!!

(God, sorry it is so long – well done if you’ve got this far)

moo2moo

Blimey that is organised. Good luck with it and

For the love of god stop saying you didn't achieve very much in 2009. you achieved shed loads!

Happy shiny new diary and even happier body shape whatever that may be. Can't believe you have 18s in your wardrobe though. You certainly don't look it.

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 14
Money in bank : £241.53
Money in purse: £11.00 +21.00 in a separate purse for bus fares
Grand Total: £273.53

Money spent since last update:.£0.00 (1/5 non spend days for January done)

Grocery budget: £280.00 / £127.30 spent / £152.70 remaining (prob will have to go shopping Saturday)
Petrol Budget: £110.00 / £105.79 spent / £4.21 remaining
My bus fare budget: £39 / £18.00 spent / £21.00 remaining
Everything else budget: £297.67 / £95.62

Started the New Year off well, with a non-spend day AND six hours overtime!! (That's 12 hours this week roughly netting hopefully around £150). Mind you, it's been so cold I've had to put the heating on (overriding the timer) because I thought I was in danger of seizing up.

As you can see from the above post, I've done my grand master plan for the year and I can't see anything that's not achieveable with a bit of determination.

Decluttering:
Am currently trying to find another 4 items to throw out seeing how the charity shops aren't open today. Yesterday's decluttering happened after my money update, I had to find things to throw out because I knew I wouldn't get to the charity shops:

1. Empty watch box.
2. Past sell-by-date vitamins (BBE August 2008!!!)
3. 2009 calendar
4. Cheap Ugg-style boots (with a hole in them - don't need them now I have got REAL ones!!!!).
5. Shoe box filled with reciepts and mystery shopping paperwork from 2004!!!

Diet: Not good - still too many things in the fridge that need eating. Was also bored at work, so had 7 chocolate biscuits rather than breakfast and a healthy snack....

Intergalactic_Floozie

moo2moo wrote: »

Blimey that is organised. Good luck with it and

For the love of god stop saying you didn't achieve very much in 2009. you achieved shed loads!

Happy shiny new diary and even happier body shape whatever that may be. Can't believe you have 18s in your wardrobe though. You certainly don't look it.

Thank you for that Moo, admittedly there are not loads of size 18's, I had a couple of pairs of jeans I got rid of, and there's two pairs of trousers that I need to take to the charity shop but it still says 18 on the label. I don't believe in clothes sizing anyway, it's merely a guide rather than gospel....

I have said I didn't achieve much because it was November before I got to grips with budgeting, hopefully this time next year I will be really patting myself on the back!

moo2moo

Rumour has it that flea bay are offering free listings for items under £4.99 in the books category until late January. Perhaps you could list some unwanted books if you can't find anything to chuck out.

Intergalactic_Floozie

moo2moo wrote: »

Rumour has it that flea bay are offering free listings for items under £4.99 in the books category until late January. Perhaps you could list some unwanted books if you can't find anything to chuck out.

I've got gazillions of unwanted books, that would be brilliant!!!!

Intergalactic_Floozie

PROJECT DECLUTTER: Yesterday's items that got thrown out.
1. Leather bean-bag that had lost it’s shape.
2. A box full of letters from my pen-pal from late 2007/early 2008 that I had not got around to replying to!
3. Useless roller ball glue pen I wish I’d never wasted my money on.
4. A friendship bracelet this lass made for DS1 and he’s never bothered with.
5. One of my new nail varnishes, which was part of a set bought for Xmas, which was all gloopy and thick (the other two that came with it were alright though, so I don’t understand!

I also decluttered two shelves of a six shelf book case so the top of it looks a bit tidier.

PROJECT FATBUSTING: AIMS FOR TODAY:
1. Take Christmas decorations down (although personally I think fairy lights at your window 365 days per year should be acceptable).
2. Take down Christmas cards, put them in a separate bag and take them to Morrisons to be recycled.
3. Take Books from book shelf declutter up to the library as donations.
*****************************************
PROJECT FAT BUSTING: AIMS FOR TODAY
1. Make sensible choices.
2. Aim to not have ANY chocolate today.
*****************************************
PROJECT BUDGET: AIMS FOR TODAY
1. Low spend day
2. Get something in for tonight's tea and spend less than £5 at Morrisons in doing so.
************************

OBSTACLES ENCOUNTERED:
I went online to see how much my Tesco CC was. On last month's statement I had gone over the limit by £25 so a £12 fee had been applied. I made a payment that I thought would take me under the limit however I discovered last night I was £2.50 short. :mad::mad: so next month I will be charged £12 again.

Upon checking my bills account I find myself £183.58 overdrawn with £21 still to debit, and only £141.60 still to credit so I've obviously done my sums wrong somewhere. I will need to transfer some money from the savings account in order to bring this back to zero.

My money saving parade has been well rained on today. GRRRRR.

mooomin

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

1. Take Christmas decorations down (although personally I think fairy lights at your window 365 days per year should be acceptable).

Our Christmas tree is one of those that has the lights attached, so my fairy lights are currently over my headboard and won't be getting taken down EVER!! I don't use them often but they make the room look pretty

sparkleisshopping

Ooh a new thread! Good luck with everything this year Floozie I have subscribed to your thread.

Verbatim

Happy New Year from another subsciber. you're getting there on all fronts Floozie.

emmie26

Happy new year I'll be watching with anticipation, this is not a debt free diary but a life overhaul, I don't know where you get the energy! Good Luck