The Final Push - Getting Rid of the Last Loan and CC

WelshWoofer

Morning!
It's Saturday and at last I have a few minutes to sit and think about the finances.
Some good news - I've had a payslip (won't be paid until Weds) and so at least I know what I'll get paid this month and can budget accordingly. I can't tell you what a relief it is to get paid again! It seems like forever since the last time (my last bursary payment was in June). The tax is wrong this month but I've worked out that I'm about £110 short and payroll have told me that this will be adjusted for next month. Still, at least its a "proper" amount of money going in the bank - phew!

So this month (15th) I'll get £1320 in wages and £500 from OH for his half of the bills etc totalling £1820. (Will be more next month due to tax rebate and proper amount of wages). The outgoings are £1250 (including all DDs, loan, mortgage etc leaving approx £570 for food and petrol and a life!

My food budget is £45 a week and there will be 4 shopping days between paydays this month requiring a total budget of £180 for food. I think £30 for petrol will be enough this month.
So that leaves me with £570-£180-£30 = £360

This "leftover" £360 needs to pay the spending money for the month, a doggy haircut and a haircut and colour for me. I hope to have at least £100 of it left over to put towards either paying off the overdraft if the PPI claim cheque doesn't arrive when it should or in the savings account to try to start building up a little cushion again.

I'm sorry if this doesn't make much sense to anyone else but I know what I mean!

The only question that I have to work on this month is how to make the most of the £360.

I'm thinking.....
£40 spending money a week (to include all incidentals, extras, going out etc) - £160
£25 dog haircut
£50 hair for me
£20 extra cash for going to the boxing in Birmingham next weekend (tickets and hotel already paid for, so its just half of the petrol and drinks and food etc)

Total = £255
In theory that leaves just over £100 - hmmm, it always works out on paper but in real life never quite tallies!

Right, that's enough waffle from me I have to get on with housework, food shopping with a £6 off voucher for Mr T, going to the library and all the other stuff that seems to crop up on a Saturday.

NeverEnough

Hi Welshwoofer,
Have just subscribed to your diary and wish you all the best with your journey to be debt free!
I've been around on these boards reading things for a long time now, but not posting..so I've taken the plunge and will start a diary myself soon hopefully to help with the strength to plough on through the mortgage and other debts!:)

I wonder if you'd share how you get your food bill to £45 a week? I'd really appreciate an approximate list, if you or any other members have the time....;)
Our household is two adults, an old dog, a parrot and some exotic aquatic toads (they just eat frozen fish food, so nothing special there!) We have to buy some special food products as OH is very allergic to wheat, but I never seem to be able to go much under £100 a week :eek: for food shopping. We don't waste, don't eat out much, and don't smoke or use alcohol more than occasionally......luckily, our income is good and there is no debt crisis but I would love to make some savings where I can and throw it at clearing the remaining debts......:D

WelshWoofer

Hello Never Enough!
It always amazes me that somebody bothers to read my diary!

You've asked about shopping at just the right time as I'm just back from Tescos! This week I spent £43.58 but had a £6 off voucher given to me with the receipt of last weeks shop so the total spend was £37.48.

I always write a list before I go - I can easily spend double without one:o. I also write a meal plan looking at what we have in, what we fancy for the week and what we're doing that week. There are 2 adults and 1 greedy little dog to feed and I include toiletries, cleaning and laundry stuff and dog food. I'ma veggie and my OH and dog and most definitely not! Although my OH will suffer 1 veggie meal a week if forced! We tend to have cereal for breakfast, take packed lunches to work (rolls filled wth ham, beef etc for OH and salad, veggie stuff for me with fruit and maybe a small biscuit bar) and I cook most evenings. I'm not a fab cook so will use things like pasta sauce and curry jars but use veg etc to pad them out.

In general, I tend to buy most stuff at either Sainsburys or Tescos and buy some meat from a nice butcher we have in the village - I find this better as there's only one meat eater and you can usually buy just what you need rather than a big tray of something that either has to be frozen or not used. I also buy F&V at a greengrocers if I have time - I got the lot at Tesco this week.

I must admit that some weeks the bill is more like £60 but that's maybe once a month when I need to stock up on things like rice and pasta and household stuff.

If you look at the Old Style board there's loads of people that can do this much better than I can and they're all really helpful. I used to spend more like £70 a week and have cut down through necessity - oh, and I don't include any wine/beer we may get as this is a treat!

Hope that makes sense at least - thanks for reading!

WelshWoofer

Just some quick figures to look back at later....

NSDs September so far 5
Money in purse £25
Surveys £8.65
CC balance £18
OD at payday will be £750
Grocery budget £0/£180
Spending budget £0/£180
Untouchable Savings £2500
Money pots (car and Xmas 2011) £2 each
Internet savings pot £8



The aims for this week (ending Friday) are to

• have at least 3 NSDs
• get paid!
• sort out tax rebate
• get survey balance to £10 so I can get a payout
• not spend more than the £25 in my purse and hopefully keep at least a fiver of it
• do one more PPI reclaim form (the last one worked!)
• pay £10 off CC by making little savings elsewhere
• not put petrol in
• do a meal plan and list for next weekend's shopping (will be away on Saturday so will probably shop on Sunday next week)
• start thinking about Xmas pressies
• cross my fingers for some movement on Quidco

WelshWoofer

Money pots (car and Xmas 2011) £4 each
Money in purse £20

Purposefully changed a £5 note to put £2 in each of the pots this afternoon. The other £1 was spent on a lottery ticket - I can live in hope!:)

WelshWoofer

Not much to report today - had an exhausting day at school (no breaks at all today) followed by a dept meeting but i have managed the following...

• Walked dogs for free exercise
• Got a cheque from Music Magpie for £8
• Checked banks
• Yesterday's leftover curry for tea
• Had a NSD!
• Put dry washing away
• Cleaned kitchen
• Took lunch today

and I will...

• Have a nice bath and relax after the soaps
• Write 1 lesson and do one set of marking tonight
• Make packed lunch for tomorrow

Other than that its a countdown to payday - Wednesday!:j
NSDs September so far 6
Money in purse £17.90

WelshWoofer

Pay day at last!
Its not quite what it should be (£110 short due to wrong tax code) but extra good news I got an unexpected pay cheque from the other council I did supply for with a tax rebate of £237:j:j
That goes a long way to helping pay off the overdraft - phew!

Had a NSD today too - again without thinking about it.
I will need to spend tomorrow - need dog food and a few bits but shouldn't be more than a fiver.
Only got home at 8.45pm so will do a proper post tomorrow.

NSDs September so far 7

WelshWoofer

Quick post - a spendy day today...
A bottle of wine, some pop and milk:o
Oh, and the bl**dy window cleaner came for payment - booo!

WelshWoofer

NSDs September so far 7
Money in purse £0.75
Surveys £10.15
CC balance £10
Grocery budget £0/£180
Spending budget £0/£180
Untouchable Savings £2500
Money pots (car and Xmas 2011) £4 each
Internet savings pot £8

Had a madly busy week and am shattered!
Tomorrow I have to put a cheque for £8 in the bank to pay off my massive CC balance of £18!:D Pop to Boots for some makeup (run out), get some cash out of the bank, maybe go to Tescos to use a £6 off voucher before it expires and drop the dog off at the kennels for the night as we're going to the boxing in Birmingham for the night.
AND if I get some spare time, write a couple of lessons to reduce what I have to do on Sunday.

Just as a reminder to myself I also need to phone the hairdressers and pay the council tax before I get a stroppy letter!

I must try to stick to the budget I have set myself and not get carried away now I've been paid;)

WelshWoofer

WelshWoofer wrote: »

The aims for this week (ending Friday) are to

• have at least 3 NSDs done
• get paid! done
• sort out tax rebate done
• get survey balance to £10 so I can get a payout done
• not spend more than the £25 in my purse and hopefully keep at least a fiver of it 75p left!
• do one more PPI reclaim form (the last one worked!) haven't had time yet
• pay £10 off CC by making little savings elsewhere paid off £8
• not put petrol in done, just! (the petrol light came on today)
• do a meal plan and list for next weekend's shopping (will be away on Saturday so will probably shop on Sunday next week) will do in the morning
• start thinking about Xmas pressies can't bring myself to do this yet!
• cross my fingers for some movement on Quidco nothing happening grrr!

Managed quite a bit this week - I'm amazed!