Roxies £3K diary - help!

tiff

I think you still need to have another chat with your OH, you cant do all this on your own if he's going to go out and spend a few hundred pounds and everything you've done to save money will be for nothing.

RoxieW

Thanks for the suggestion mags but the shopping town is half an hour away by bus. Where I live is only a tiny town. Also to be honest I'm completely swamped as it is with work and the kids and the house and now mseing as well lol! And traipsing round the shops with a 1 year old in tow? Umm.... All I had to do today while in town was return a bracelet that I got for my bday and the kids were driving me bonkers.
Anyway returns said bracelet and exchanged it for a gift to put away for sister in laws birthday in November so saved £20 to add to my ten pound a day challenge running total. DIdn't buy myself a coffee all day either! I am using the budget planner on the iPad so that's coming in useful but Im finding it hard to get along with word processing on it and hate the fact that you have to look for bloody wifi everywhere you go as I'm used to having mobile network on my phone.

Have planned a big day out for the boys tomorrow but am going to make it last all day. Ikea for one of their 99p breakfasts and then the play centre nearby. It will be an expensive day out - probably £30 but there is money in the budget for it and it is the first day out they have had this week. Had planned to take them to a free event at the childrens centre but it has been cancelled. But if it is nice weather I will try to persuade the friend we are going with to go picnic in the park instead of play centre. I did suggest that but she said shed rather do play centre as we have had rain today but she only has one child to pay for whereas I have 3.
Tiff I have said this to OH and he reckons he's knocking that on the head. We shall see. I'll be making sure that I'm checking the bank accounts like he is lol!

vasseur

RoxieW wrote: »

I have said this to OH and he reckons he's knocking that on the head. We shall see. I'll be making sure that I'm checking the bank accounts like he is lol!

You both have to be on the same page otherwise it's pointless. When you get some spare time (I know with kids it's hard) would it be an idea to go through the credit card/bank statements to see where all the money has gone? If some of it is down to your husband he's not really in a position to preach to you.

As for general money saving why not keep a spending diary to see where all the money's going. You've mentioned having a coffee out a few times on here - what I do is add up that up for the month, then the year and it's really easy to see a hole in the budget. Say it's £2 for a decent latte, that's in the region of £60 a month or £720 a year !!! Think what you could do with that money! Sometimes when you think outside the box it's a real eye opener. I'm not saying cut it out completely, but it does make it a nice treat if you only have the odd one.

P x

RoxieW

polesalot wrote: »

You both have to be on the same page otherwise it's pointless. When you get some spare time (I know with kids it's hard) would it be an idea to go through the credit card/bank statements to see where all the money has gone? If some of it is down to your husband he's not really in a position to preach to you.

As for general money saving why not keep a spending diary to see where all the money's going. You've mentioned having a coffee out a few times on here - what I do is add up that up for the month, then the year and it's really easy to see a hole in the budget. Say it's £2 for a decent latte, that's in the region of £60 a month or £720 a year !!! Think what you could do with that money! Sometimes when you think outside the box it's a real eye opener. I'm not saying cut it out completely, but it does make it a nice treat if you only have the odd one.

P x

Yes you're right I'm starting to appreciate these things that I just took for granted before.

The trouble is that I had control of the money for the most part so it was technically me but then he would ask for cash or for a takeaway or orde a new keyboard etc etc. Even when I said clearly 'we can't afford it' he would just say course we can or its only a tenner or whatever. He's still saying that really - he doesn't get that these small amounts add up to big ones. I really don't know how to explain how he's acting apart from that he wants to have the same lifestyle but not spend the same money - and I have to be the one that manages that lol. I'm also confused but I'm just letting the dust settle as vie not done a week on the budget yet and I'm already sick of talking about money. Am planning the see how it goes approach for the next couple of weeks.

Decided tomo am going to take drinks with us so we don't have to buy them at a pound fifty a go when we get there. Will save about a fiver I think.

But the big news of the day is that I avoided the shops in town!!

vasseur

RoxieW wrote: »

The trouble is that I had control of the money for the most part so it was technically me but then he would ask for cash or for a takeaway or orde a new keyboard etc etc. Even when I said clearly 'we can't afford it' he would just say course we can or its only a tenner or whatever. He's still saying that really - he doesn't get that these small amounts add up to big ones. I really don't know how to explain how he's acting apart from that he wants to have the same lifestyle but not spend the same money - and I have to be the one that manages that lol. I'm also confused but I'm just letting the dust settle as vie not done a week on the budget yet and I'm already sick of talking about money. Am planning the see how it goes approach for the next couple of weeks. Well he's just not being fair here. Would it be worth just keeping a note of what he spends?


Decided tomo am going to take drinks with us so we don't have to buy them at a pound fifty a go when we get there. Will save about a fiver I think. This is good thinking and what I do most of the time. You will actually start getting a buzz out of this kind of thing!

But the big news of the day is that I avoided the shops in town!! Good girl!! [/QUOTE]

This is probably the hardest time to start this - on the school holidays. You will find things a lot easier once your eldest 2 are back at school. Look in the local papers and the internet for vouchers to nearby attractions or maybe you can go somewhere and buy tickets that last a year - just make sure you make good use of them, take a picnic and drinks and the only thing you'll need to pay out for will be an ice cream :T

dancingfairy

Hi Roxy - have you tried the demotivator tool on here? There's a link to it on the right hand side of the page under free tools ----> it's the 4th one down. Basically if you show him that spending x amount per day will add up to this much over a month, this much over a year etc - it's quite shocking.
With regards to the money thing - you might have to lead from the front and wait for your OH to follow - if he can see how well you're doing - by the way it sounds like your doing fab then hopefully he'll follow you. It's a perennial problem on here - one half wants to change but their other half has their head firmly stuck in the sand still.
Are you keeping track of how much you've spent vs what you would have spent? apart from on here in your diary?
Keep Going
df

RoxieW

Hi dancing fairy. Yes I'm using the budget app on my iPad lol so it is coming in useful after all!
Yes poles I think the summer hols is definitely a hard time to do this but I'm doing im so far.
Am up to £190 on my claw back 3k challenge - thanks to the £10 a day challenge. Am counting money saved as well as earned so its a bit of a cheat really but I figure if it motivates me then it's all good.
Did the playcntre today - was raining so but although it was an expensive day out I found ways to inimise the cost. Ie bought a group bus ticket which saved £5, took a drink each for the boys which saved about the same again and got free coffees from ikea so only bought one in the playcntre. Still managed to spend £30 though but did make the outing last all day due to a walk round ikea and petsathome (free zoo lol). Left the house at 9 and didn't get back until 5. I fed them at the playcntre at about 3 so that served at lunch/dinner. And staying in tomo to catch up on work and chores so that will be a free day and with £30 left in the budget we will be able to have our friday night takeaway woo!
Also found an interesting website called wozzon which is not online great for finding local events but also for every event that I submit I earn 50p. Not much I know but as a busy mum I have my ear to the ground. I submitted 15 today in about half an hour so that's a quick £7.50. will try to do as many of those as I can while its the summer hols as it's a busy time for whatsons.
So all in all had a lovely busy day. The only snag was the boys fighting on the bus on the way home so they had to go straight to bed with no DVD when we got home. Am finding it a challenge with all 3 of them at home. Esp as I have a lot on work wise at the mo. Am hoping they let me get on with some bits tomorrow and then I'm working out of the house on Saturday so can catch up on the train with my new toy (:
Any ideas for other ways to up the income or occupy 3 boys ages 7,6 and 1 most welcome!

RoxieW

Oh and please excuse typos. Getting used to the iPad and also sneakily watching emmerdale while I type.

SkintGypsy

What budget app are you using Roxie? Is it on the pad already, cos I want a good one for my phone and haven't found one yet I can get along with. Many thanks.

Gypsy

RoxieW

Oh and yesterday I cancelled our magazine subscriptions. I also very guiltily cancelled our charity donations. Feel bad about it and was in two minds but it's done now.