My lose lbs save £'s diary

missylaney

:hello:

Hello, I'm a newbie (long-time lurker) and having read lots of other diaries its time to start my own. I'm a bit of a spendaholic so I need to try and keep that in check, and I thought that if I make myself a promise to log everything I spend in an honest daily diary it might help me keep on the straight and narrow :A

I've set myself a "lose lbs save £'s" challenge to start off with. I've been going to Slimming World for just over a year and although I'd lost just under two stone of baby weight within the first 4 months the last 10lbs just won't come off - mainly because I'm not sticking to the diet very well. So, SW costs me £4.50 per week. If I can lose those last 10lbs and get to my target weight I can carry on going for free, and use the money against the CC debt. Fingers crossed the double incentive will do the trick this time.

I've signed up for 10 NSD's in April and am ashamed to say that this is really quite an alien concept for me as I think I pretty much spend money every day even if its just milk, fruit or sweets for the kids :embarasse. I'm feeling pretty determined though so I think I can do it.

Finally, I'm going to pull my finger out and go through my loft and cellar to see what can be sold on ebay or at a boot sale. I know there are lots of toys and baby bits that can go so perhaps I could raise enough to pay for my daughters birthday pressie and party in May...

I think that'll do for now, thanks for reading and I'll be back tomorrow with my first update

Choc-addict

Hello,

Welcome to debt diary land! I'm a long time lurker/newbie to keeping a diary too. Just wanted to wish you lots of luck on your journey!

missylaney

Hi Choc-addict, thank you - lots of luck to you too!

tiny_courageous

Good luck!

Spending diaries are scary at first but I couldn't do without mine now to keep me on the straight and narrow

missylaney

Thanks tiny_corageous - and well done with reducing your debts!

I have to be quick this morning - I slept till my alarm this morning so only got a couple of minutes before I have to wake the children.

Yesterdays spend total was £6.80, not brilliant but less than it would have been if I hadn't had my DFW head on and been keeping a mental tally. I took my DDs (3 and 1) swimming yesterday for £3 (usually £3.65 but my mum paid the odd 65p); DS (11) had karate in the evening which is also £3 and I realised at about 8pm that I didn't have enough milk to last until today's grocery shop so had to go to the corner shop across the road and spend 80p - very annoyed and will have to plan better so it doesn't happen again!

So, as mentioned am off to Sainsburys today for the weekly shop. This usually costs between £130 and £150 per week for 5 of us, so I'm aiming lower, but got to buy Easter eggs for my 3 children (did relatives last week); a get well soon pressie for my niece and stuff for a nice meal on Easter Monday. I have done my meal plan and am using up stuff in the freezer so hopefully with my new frugal outlook I can come in around the £100 mark.

missylaney

Managed a big shop for £118 yesterday, quite good by my standards. That included a couple of easter eggs, a birthday card, a small get well present (£2.50), everything I needed for the meals on the weeks meal plan (including a £10 leg of lamb for Easter lunch) plus a "spare" large chicken - they were on special so have frozen it for next weeks sunday lunch.

Have just checked my bank account and its looking a bit precarious, just under the od limit and I've got DD's still to come out :eek: I get paid from my part-time job on Saturday so that should ease things a bit. DH is self-employed and as yet none of his clients have paid their invoices for February so thats not helping :mad:, I've issued all the March invoices today and chased Feb so hopefully some of them will cough up quickly!!

missylaney

Happy Easter to all!

Having to work on Good Friday for the first time ever still it should only be for about 3 hours so could be worse.

Luckily some money has arrived in my personal bank account to pull me back from the brink but I'm not sure where its from or how much it is as just the balance had updated. The only money I'm expecting is my wages that were due on Saturday so can only assume they have come in a day early - won't find out till after the bank hols's on Tuesday now! Still no sign of any payments in DH's business account though, this'll become a problem on the 8th as we have 4 DD's that come out of that account starting from then.

All that aside, I'm thrilled to report that the only money I spent yesterday was £3 for DS's karate. Today I shouldn't need to spend anything at all so I'm hoping for an NSD

missylaney

Have taken advice on the NSD April thread and decided to allocate karate money on a Monday, thereby giving myself 2 NSD's for April so far!! Didn't even take my purse out with me yesterday so was pretty easy not to spend. I will need to spend today but only actually need the following so will try to avoid buying anything else:

Veg for Monday's Easter lunch
Fruit
8 pints milk (we get through 4 pints a day)
Stamps

Also need to xfer £23 to a friend who's booked some tickets for us to take our DS's on a special day out next week. Am off now to browse the threads for cheap/free days out for the rest of the easter holidays that the kids'll enjoy and that won't bore me to tears - there's a challenge:o

missylaney

Yesterday turned into quite a big spending day, disappointing but at least most of the money was well spent. The full list:

Groceries 12.04
Stamps 4.68
Petrol 52.09
Stuff DH had to buy in Homebase to fix & paint shed and playhouse 45
Marshmallows bought in garage and pigged in the car thus making me feel physically sick & annoyed with myself for the unneccessary calories & expenditure £1.29 :embarasse but at least I've "confessed" - seriously considered forgetting to put them on the list...

Total: £115.10

Had drinks with DH's family last night and had a horrible time getting ready to go, tried on 3 or 4 outfits all of which would have looked good if it wasn't for the ridiculous size of my stomach! I've really got to buckle down and a) stick to SW cos I know it works if I do and b) find the time to exercise more. Once DH manages to move his hangover from the bed to the sofa this afternoon I'm going to see if my DS will come for a long power walk with me (will have to make it a challenge and/or bribe him)

Have just checked weather forecast on BBC and noticed that today, Monday and Tuesday has changed from rainy to sunny/cloudy every day so thats cheered me up a bit. I'm going to take the kids to the park for an hour this morning after breakfast. Also need to tackle the ironing mountain, do some washing and sort out a few bits to list on Ebay this evening.

Aiming for NSD's today and tomorrow, can't see any reason why they can't be :):)

Intergalactic_Floozie

Miss Laney, I've decided to adopt you as your diary is new and sparkly. Do you fancy a challenge with me as to who can spend the least on a daily basis, and see who is the winner at the end of the month? I really need to get into the habit of updating my spending diary. You'd have won yesterday, if that gives you a bit of a boost!!!

I'll even join you on the dieting front as I need to lose weight too but a lot more than you!!! (think 50lbs)

Quick potted history of me: 34, mum of 2 boys (13 & 7), got a big consolidation loan which will be paid off in five years, just have to learn to budget better and curb spending.

missylaney

Hello Floozie, yes I'm up for the challenge - maybe then I'll think twice & step away from the marshmallows! I had a look at your diary & I like how organised you are, might nick some of your ideas when I've got a bit more time.

I'm going for 10lbs because if I can lose that I'll have a normal BMI, I do OK with all my meals but got such a sweet tooth I can't seem to stop the odd sugar binge. Off to SW in a minute to get weighed for first time in too weeks and have a horrible feeling I'm going to have gained... will post later.

I'm 38, 39 in June with an 11 yr old son and two daughters 3 and 14 months. Have been a bit of a spendaholic and trying hard to reform!

Had an NSD yesterday, got to pay for SW today and need (yes need!) a bottle of wine to go with lunch today so will have to spend