Ecoelles journey to a debt free future

ecoelle

Right, i'm back from shopping and had to knock a couple of things off the list but they were not essentials so that's fine. Grand total of £7.18 spent and £1.35 still in my purse. I've already updated my signature and am going to spend this afternoon planning how we are going to be in a better situation next month!

ecoelle

OK, so i've looked over the SOA, baked some flapjacks and then thought i'd have a little nap, i love Sundays off work!

So here's the plan.

On Friday my hubby gets paid, then on the 1st of December all the bills for the house will go out, including Decembers loan payment. Until his pay slip comes i won't know how much we will have left after all the billa are paid because he's on commision so sometimes there's money left over, and sometimes there's a shortfall. I have put the money to one side for Decembers payment already so although i 'have no money' the loan payment is sitting in a seperate account waiting to be paid.

I then get paid on the 2nd of December. And i'm planning on putting January's loan payment into the savings account again straight away so i don't spend it. Then i have labelled up some jars for all the things we pay by cash, each label has the amount on it and what it is for each month. So hopefully when the tv license needs paying, the money for it should be in there rather than having to say, oh the reason we have no money this month is because xxx needed paying...

I hope that this way we should not have to use the debit cards at all throughout the month and the money for everything we do have to pay for each month will either go out vis DD or will be drawn in cash on payday!

Right that's that sorted, will keep you all posted on how it goes.

brizzledfw

The different pots ideas for different things has always seemed s good idea to me. Haven't ever got around to it (except once for the entertainment/going out etc fund) so keen to know whether it works for you.

Hope this weekend is better than last..

Brizzle

ecoelle

Morning all, right, had loads planned for today and now the car won't start so am waiting in fo rhte nice breakdown person to come and fix it for me! Hoping it's just in need of a jump start after the cold spell and not a new battery! If i ever get going i'm going to have to go and spend some money, the condensation i have in the front room is beyond a joke now and i'm off to invest in some of those crystal thingys! Hope they help, just going to go and check how much they should be and then i'm going tosign off ready for the day. I'll pop back later and update the sig and diary. Have a good day all.

ecoelle

Right, so i've made my purchases and the car is fixed. I have put some leek and potato soup on to cook, but have no stock cubes so i've added some mixed pepper corns and some grated nutmeg in the hope that it will taste of more than just potatoey water.

I've been thinking about my planning and so far have decided on the meal plan for the rest of the week which should mean NSD on food anyway.

Tuesday
Cottage pie and veg and gravy, this is coming out of the freezer and using up some sad carrots from the bottom of the fridge.

Wednesday
I'm on late at work so will grab some soup when i get in , for hubby it's curry from the freezer and some rice

Thursday
Spag bol out of the freezer for me and hubby

Friday
Coconut and lentil daal, mung bean daal, and rice out of the freezer again...anyone spotting a theme!

Saturday
Veggie burgers, potato wedges and beans aka Kids tea!

Sunday
Chilli and rice

Monday
errrrrmmm?

Ok so it's not perfect but it'll do and it means no morefood shopping until beginning of next week, at least not for main meal stuff. May need to get some bread and milk but that should be all. Food shopping is something of an obsession of mine. you'd think i spent enough time in supermarkets, but it's not just those, market stalls, independants, farmers markets, anywhere you can get food i'm there, this brings me on to the next plan...Allotment!

Or rather back garden. I did so little with the veggie patch this year and now i'm feeling the pain of not having my own onions, potoatoes and leeks, although i have a few it's not going to be enough and i need a plan of action for this coming year. So i'm off to dig out my old notebooks and have a read through my Carol Klein, while i wait for the soup to cook and have a cuppa!

ecoelle

Well had a meeting at work today and it could mean promotion...or redundancy:( They ar erestructuring the entire workforce because they want all stores on the same structure in all stores which at the moment they don't have. And they want people doing the same jobs in different stores to be on the same pay scales which at the moment they aren't. The decision will be made in January as to what they are going to do. My boss says there won't be any job losses, but i can't see how that can be true there has to be some, they aren't just going to up everyone's pay because one person in one shop happens to have wangled a higher wage than the rest of us. On the plus side if they decide to go with the other structure then a new position might open up in store for me to apply for. I'm a bit stuck you see, don't want to stay in the position i'm in for the next 30 years but don't want to be a store manager either. Anyway, hubby got paid today so the account looks really healthy, this will last about 3 days until all the DD go out then we'll be screwed again. Oh well keep smiling

Hope everyone has had a good Friday, seems a little quiet round here at the mo, is it because it's the end of the month and everyone is miserable? Possibly is i suppose, i'm feeling pretty rubbish at the moment so no reason others shouldn't be.

Hugs ((())) for those who need them

elle

brizzledfw

oh lord that sounds stressy to say the least. well keep calm and carry on ecoelle..as you say big hugs for everyone thats needs them and heres to a good weekend for all xxxx

ecoelle

Ok, so had a chat with my sister today and we have decided on £15 for the secret santa, ao that's £30 for me and hubby. We're not doing gifts for each other, we've both booked Christmas eve off work and are having a silly movie and carpet picnic day! So in other words, basically free Then there's the parents so i think i'm allocating £25 per couple for their hampers. So that's £50, so £80 all together, going to draw that out on payday along with my £330 for the jars and pay £90 council tax. The nothing to come out of the account until next month. Not sure if this'll work or if i'll just end up robbing from the little jars when things get tough!

Herewego

Hope the work changes work out for the best for you, I have changed jobs 3 times in a year not always because of me so i now think whats meant to be will be. This promted me to have my LBM and if we didnt have the debt finding work would not have been such a worry.
Good luck with the jars I have mine in envelopes and after a few months it's nice to see the money building I look forawrd to adding to it each month.

ecoelle

Morning all, looking forward to updating my sig tomorrow as there will be another debt payment gone, also looking forward to getting paid on Thursday and getting that money into the jars to see how it works. I think it'll be a good thing and hopefully might lead to being debt free sooner. Just trying to get up the energy to do some cleaning, but to be honest think i'm fighting a losing battle today. I have to walk to work at 1 and don't fininsh til 10 then a walk home and back to bed, so might reserve my energy! Anyway, look after yourselves in this weather, back tomorrow...can't wait!