Forget Onwards and Upwards....Side to Side is much more fun

taxi73

hypno06 wrote: »

So, the main thing is that you are not burying your head in the sand and blindly putting everything on the card....you are looking forward, trying to assess the needs, and making adjustments (eg walking, packed lunches) to achieve what you need to achieve. OK, so it may not plug the gap fully, but if it goes part way there, then that is actually pretty good when you compare it with years gone by!

i agree with Hypno above..you are thinking forward a lot more and adjusting.That is a great achievement and things will get better.

Lula-Hula

You're doing well, there will always be unexpected things so you then just deal with them as you can.
Interesting to hear you were allowed to do council tax over 12 months, I've never been allowed to in the past, but might try again now

[Deleted User]

Thanks girlies

I know you're right, it's just one of those things. It hasn't half given me a headache, I was contemplating not going up North to see my mum that weekend but I know she'd be very disappointed and upset if we didn't go.

Lula - Definately worth ringing them, I was expecting a flat No but the lady just said no problem and I got confirmation through the post today.

I rang someone up over the oven, he's going to come on Monday to have a look at it. He said that he may need to order the part but will confirm once he's looked at it...more bloody expense! Never mind.

I forgot to mention before that we are looking at fixing the rate on the mortgage. It will cost us £100 more per month if we decide to do it but will probably save us money in the long run especially if the interest rates go up ten fold and we don't fix. I told hubby that ok so we can't move especially if we are going to do this so we will carry on and do the house up and make it look nice for us whilst we are here.

[Deleted User]

Still here, Diary has gone in for maintenance.

Trying to formulate a plan to move forwards once April is out of the way.

Back soon xx

hypno06

Hiya! I look forward to hearing your new plans.

Take care x

Lula-Hula

Glad you're still about hon,

we'll all be here once servicing is complete & progress continues

xx

taxi73

looking forward to it

[Deleted User]

Okay, so I have been away for a little while whilst I put my diary in for a service. Not good news as my diary is looking quite dire at the moment.

So here is the latest plan, Plan number 3 I think.

Financial

Total credit card debt after the end of April will be approximately £4.5K…I will confirm this once April is out of the way. Unfortunately this is due to a number of factors which I won’t bore you with the details. Needless to say I am not happy about this and need to formulate how we are going to move forward to clear it or at least reduce it by half.

Moving Forward

In order for the reduction to be achieved, there are a number of changes that need to be made both on the home front and on the personal front.

Meal Plan: As I seem to spend an exorbitant amount of time in Tesco’s (so much that one of the staff knows me by name) I need to change this. I need to get back into meal planning for the month and reduce the amount of trips to Tesco’s; this should reduce the amount of money spent in there and should save us a fortune.

Grocery: I am the one that buys the food and the alcohol for the month, so I need to try and stick to a realistic budget; I think we have been spending £400+ per month lately when I did manage to reduce it to £300, so this is my challenge for May.

Car: As the weather is getting nicer, I need to walk more with the kids. They enjoy walking to and from school and as they do I think I should encourage this more. I need to stop using my car for unnecessary trips and ensure that once petrol is in the car and it is filled up I make it last for the month.

Money: I need to keep saving any change, this hasn’t been happening recently. I have been putting the change and £2 coins in the bank every month as they have been needed.

I am still in need of another part time job, I love the one I have at the school so don’t ideally want to change this unless a position comes up at the kids school. There will be something I just need to bide my time a while.

Christmas: I seriously need to budget for this. I have some points from Tesco and would love to increase this so that the food is covered in December. I need to put money aside so that presents are sorted too.

Savings: We have a bit but not much, I want to build up enough so that the overdraft can be paid off in full, this will save us a bit once it is as we won’t be paying overdraft charges.

Personal

A lot of the above relates to this, I go to Tesco’s I buy junk food and snack this in turn makes me feel guilty because I’ve spent money we haven’t really got and I feel bad because I’ve just pigged out.

I want to stop drinking as much during the week, this all adds to the grocery side of things and I’m sure that I can save money if I cut down on this.

I need to carry on with the decluttering and decorating of the house, DD’s room has been done and I am trying to get DS’s room done over next week.

I feel I should add that I know it seems that it’s me on my own coping with the finances etc, which in a way it is but I have taken charge of the house and the finances as I spend the most time in it whilst DH works full time. It is mutual agreement and one that I don’t regret (not that DH has a choice lol). We do support each other on all aspects both financially and on the home front.

So now to put the plan in to action. Next week we won’t be spending anything, I have an appointment with the building society to see if they can change the mortgage deal and save us some money, if not well nothing lost in asking. I am decorating DS’s room as well as working on Monday and cooking food ready for the week after when we go on holiday.

The plan won’t totally come in to action until after the holiday, I will then be able to assess the extent of the damage to the credit card and work out what extra money we have left at the end of the month to pay off it.

[Deleted User]

Happy Friday and the end of the first week of the Easter holidays, I know I haven’t posted but have been working on things behind the scenes.

So first things first, I have got my cuppa next to me

Looking at my last post and the list I put on there a few things have changed since I wrote that.

My meal plan is now up and running, we like a good fair few different meals so have managed to do an 8 week rotation so we will always have something different every week.

Although I have used the car this week, I haven’t used it unnecessarily and it won’t be used at all next week as we are away on holiday and we’ll be using DH’s car for that. The week after the kids go back to school so I won’t be using it except for work then.

This week I managed to decorate DS’s bedroom, all courtesy of mum who gave us a voucher for £200 for B&Q for Christmas, we still have £81.00 left on it which will do our bedroom.

The bad news, although we haven’t gone on holiday yet I have totalled up the credit card debt for the past few weeks and it is up to £5000…Deep Breath! Ok down but not out, will properly update the sig once I have the final figure.

I doubt that I will be able to totally clear it but need to make inroads to reduce it substantially. I am aiming to make slight overpayments to initially make an indent and then any clear months make bigger over payments to make a bigger dent. My initial plan of using the Child Benefit on top as well needs a rethink.

DH got paid today, which is always a good thing and I get paid in two weeks’ time. The shopping is coming today and the only thing I need to get is a few bits from Tesco’s, I am going to go through the meal plan and double check that we have everything in that we need for the next few weeks so that I am not going in there on a whim.

Off to get motivated, have a good day everyone.

Lula-Hula

Hiya Tea,

glad to see you back & determined as ever.

It will happen, you will make it work & you are doing a good job. It's so nice to read about a couple who have a very clear understanding & agreement about the finances & have a system that works for them.

Full credit to you on meal planning :A, I struggle on an 8 day rotation, let alone 8 weeks :rotfl: