£5000 by hook or by crook

keelni

So glad to hear your DD is fully recovered.
I'm not doing that well on the savings front haven't been keeping an eye on our spending and things are getting a little out of control sounds like we are similar in that respect to I can't believe how quick you lose track of things. On a more positive note I have bought an A4 diary for next year which is just for finances and have started filling in all the direct debit dates and paydays and am determind to use it to record everything.
Nov and Dec are always difficult with 3 children plus loads of neices and nephews plus this year I'm doing a big joint party for the girls at the beginning of December. It's gonna cost a bomb didn't realise how much I needed to buy however they are so excited I think it will be worth it.
Take care

ILGPink

well I have a bit of saving mews at long last!!!! have managed to put another £80 into the xmas fund so that is now at the £800 Target :j:j:j. Feels so happy having reached this target has now motivated me to concerntrate on the main £5000 challenge :T.

Keelni have taken inspiration form your post about getting a diary and I've decided to follow by ur example and get my thinking hat on for the upcoming year and write down what i want our goals to be each week/month ect and write all this down in the hope i will be keept focused and by setting smaller goals im hoping i will be able to achieve them.

I feel that sometimes we have such a long way to go till we have the £5000 i kinda give up b4 even giving it a proper go you know. so if i break it down to bite size chunks as such I'm thinking we may feel a bit more motivateda nd feel more achievable!?

anyhow hope your ok and look forward to your big reveal hun

TTFN for now x

ILGPink

well im not sure if I have done the right thing or not

My mum gave me some money to spend on getting me summat for xmas off her nd my dad. Had been thinking of putting this in the savings to boost it but that idea has now been blown out of the water as I have just bought my self a pair of new boots online.

Ok so they were on sale nd ive also managed to get an extra 10%off with a discount code and I did need a new smart pair of boots as mine are heading into their 4th winter nd look like it. Problem is I can't shake off the guilty feeling of spending when I could have saved it ect.

Prehaps i'm just being abit silly bcz I had secretly hoped we would be not far off the £2000 marker by now rather than stuck at £1590 since weeks and weeks. We seem to be struggling to get beyond this point at the moment and i'm struggling to keep my jolly we can do it attitude.

I admit we have had the odd few takeaways more than usual but in all honesty the majority of tiny surplus we did have has had to go on several gifts for family (3xB-Day's nd a christening) and a family meal eating out which we couldn't get out of . I feel like no matter how hard we try to look after the pennies and keep some aside we just dont get a fair crack at it; it's one thing after another.

Sorry for the rant I guess i'm just in need of a good vent and sometimes talkin/typing away my thought worries and dreams on here helps me put it out of my mind for a short while and atleast get a bit of sleep.

Really wish that sometimes life wasn't such a struggle for the good guys who bust a gut trying to survive and save.

night x

keelni

Hi Firstly don't feel guilty about the boots your mum gave you the money to buy yourself something, you desreve a treat now and again and I'm sure thats what your mums thinking too. Don't be so hard on yourself it's all well and good saving and having goals but lifes for living. £1590 is a really good amount to have saved plus you've got your christmas money. Wear the boots and enjoy them.

as usual my weekly reveal is late we are currently at £1651this might look like I've been doing really well as it's nearly £400 more since my last update but it's because I've had a student grant of £1095 so I should of had more than this to put in the savings however things never work out as planned.

Glad you like the diary idea I've already spent two hours on mine filling in all the paydays and direct debits just got to convince dh to use it too

Enjoy your shiny new boots AND DON'T FEEL GUILTY YOU DESERVE THEM

ILGPink

Hi sorry I know ive been awol again for a while been busy busy bee and savings are still at a standstill 2b honest. Am x-fingers nd toes that we will have some money spare come OH payday fridday so we can finally put something to savings!:mad:

Keelni thanks for your message I am glad that ive had the boots now they are lovely and like you say my mum gave me the money to treat my self. Hope all is well with you and welldone on the total thus far nd dont be to hard/dissapointed with yourself for not saving more; real life can often get in the way and knock you off course (look at me havent added a blinking bean for weeks!!! ). Do you mind me asking what you are studing??

I also see that mary also popped in really must have a look at her thread and post a little message of support *promise I will stop by this weekend Mary*

Well not much else to report but like I said im hoping to have some kind of savings update this weekend all depends on if OH's car passes MOT and how much it will cost if not

ILGPink

well am back!

had what can only be desribed as a crap week. OH car needs £300 spending on it to even get it through the MOT and to top it all off he hasn't been paid this week as is boss doesn't/isn't able to get the money from the business account :mad:

Cant say to much of the circs what with it being an open forum ect

Feel soo down about it; no idea when hes going to get paid and we have no way of paying for his car without using the savings we have already scraped together. The situation is made all the more complicated as we are friends with his boss and his family (him and his wife are my daughters god parents) and we feel very let down by them. They know that im currently earning hardly anything and that we survive week to week on his money it's what feeds us for christ sake. I know that the issue with the account is not his fault but I also know for a fact they have their personal money and kinda feel if shoe was on the other foot OH would NEVER let his working lads go without wages even if it ment we had to go without.

Prehaps im expecting to much but when you've just been told how much they have spent on the kids for xmas it's a hard pill 2swollow that hes getting no wages. It's 2weeks till xmas and now I have no idea if we will have money to buy the xmas food. I know we have £1500 in savings but im scared to touch that now incase we need it for the mortgage and bills. It's all such a mess and I feel we are letting the baby down it's her 1st xmas and we may not even have an xmas meal to give her what sort of parents are we

x

ILGPink

Well wages have arrived atlast!!

However OHs car has cost us £275 to get road worthy so weve had to use the bloody saving we had to do that :mad:. DD Nursery fees (1month in advance) had had to be paid this week £345. so we are basically skint.

But I am feeling oddly posotive about this as its lead to OH having a wakeup call and realising we need to save/cutback on what we spend even the usual day to day expense (water leci ect); this is a massive break thru as yes he has always said lets save but has always been rather wishy washy with it (ie shell sort it all ill just need to nod and smile ). Now hes fully on board and sees that savings are sooo important I feel we can get out of this blip and get back on track. Ok so we are down £275 and need to make up mega ground but we will make it im sure of that.

Xmas gifts all bought and paid for gifts for family/friends has come in at a very healthy £185 (loads of stuff on offer and we have really tried to get things that are not expensive but show we have put thought into it. had a budget of £150 for DD but have gone slightly over by £25 which i dont really mind as it s her 1st xmas and i think that we have bought her a lot and still managed to put £100 of it in her trust fund (we got her Di Li plush doll, playskool busy ball popper, leap frog music maracas, 3 CD's with various nursery rhymes baby songs ect, big and small sing along book and CD, red pre walker ballet pumps, red cord skirt, 3 pairs of winter tights and a lovely disney faux fur all in one coat and mitts)

Anyhow now the car is Tax's MOT'd fixed all this month alone :eek: nursery is paid ect we are full steam ahead on the savings front.

How are savings going with you Keelni? hope your ok hun havent heard from you in a while x

keelni

Glad to hear the wages finally came through must of been a worry for you.
We've had a nightmare financially the last few weeks and are back to around £900 not happy was doing so well.
It's going to be tight again next month as all the xmas shopping has gone on the credit card and we were both off work unpaid yesterday because of the snow.

Great news on OH being on board and youre right sometimes you need a real downer in order to get the wake up call.

DH agrees with me that we need to sort our finances out next year and is agreeing to use the diary as well (yeah right).

ILGPink

well it sounds like we have both had a right crap few weeks money wise then hun . Hope you have been able to get into work; know what it feels like to not have any wages coming in after OH taking unpaid leave with DD!

nawnt much to report here just trying to make sure that i keep a mega close eye on the incomings and outgoings now so that we can start the new year with a bang and a good wack of savings! well fingers-x.

Tryna tackle whats happend as a lesson learnt and am busy trying to re do my calculations on budgets ect so that we are putting more money in the car repair/maintenance pot for any other big hickups with OH car.

Well I'm hoping that we both get a lot better luck the next few weeks, I deffo think we deserve some!!!!!

TTFN x

keelni

Hi hope everyone is well and enjoyed christmas. We had a fab time.
Nothing to report money wise still around £900 won't be able to report the exact figure until the credit card is paid in January hopefully once thats out of the way we can get back to concentrating on the savings.
Hope everyone has a good new year.