Thinking Of The Future - TOTF

TOTF

Lovely weather this bank holiday but I've been feeling a little overwhelmed by our mountain of debt. It just seems never-ending, and I feel like I am fighting it on my own most of the time. Bills are left to me to pay, and money gets spent on things it really doesn't need to be and I'm too weak to put my foot down.

Although I did yesterday morning when OH wanted to take money out my purse for food for the week in work. I buy things in the weekly shop for lunches which end up going to waste. So I said no! And felt good for it, then of I went to the bank and put the money in there.

Need to really focus on this. Get the Non-Essential spending down and pay more at the debt.

So positive thinking for the day:-

1. Introduce myself to the May £10 a day thread
2. clean downstairs
3. make a meal ready for tonight so not tempted by take out
4. tidy through paperwork

There are a few other bits and pieces I need to do including tweaking my money spreadsheet.

So off I go for now. I will be back later. Even if I spend all my time talking to myself here I WILL log on! :rotfl:

May2013

Hi TOTF -Just thought I'd drop by and give you a few words of encouragement, you're doing so well on what looks to be a very tight budget. 5.6% of your debt cleared in 4 short months is a fantastic achievement!!

I'm having a bit of a wobble at the moment too, although feeling much more positive today. Managing a budget can be the easy bit, it's keeping the motivation going that's a little harder....from what I can see you're doing everything right, setting yourself short term goals is definitely the way forward.

Good luck...you can do this!! *subscribe*

TOTF

Hi May2013, thanks for popping in and for the encouragement.

I know we are doing well, I guess its just hard spending the little bit extra money we do have on debts. We got ourselves into this though so we shall fix it! We are lucky now that 3 loans we have are now at the point where interest has been paid off so the big chunks are now falling off the total. Once these are clear we can really hit the evil credit cards.

I cant wait for the next 36 months to pass (financially) and get to a point where we have so much money we dont know what to do with it lol :rotfl: Retirement fund here we come!!

So today I have achieved the following goals I set:
introduced myself on the May £10 a day board - YES
Clean downstairs - YES
Make Tea - YES

I have also returned some clothes so £25.00 off my bill :-)

The next job on my list is this mountain of paperwork....the shredder has broken so its piled up. I also need to file letters away neatly and find homes for things - need a bigger house :-)

Virgin CC bill is ready for this month and again its jumped up by £30.....I really don't understand how they work it out, one month its one thing the next its up by £30 and then back down again. Ah well, maybe I should focus my attention on this debt first?

So now Im off to read a few more threads and then look at my spreadsheet.

TOTF

Quick update before I hit the sack for the night.

Paperwork....done!! YEY.
Also listed lots on ebay tonight so hopefully make some pennies on that over the next week.

Back tomorrow for another positive day. :-)

TOTF

Well time for a weekly update on spends. So like last week I will break it down into Food shop. Essentials. Non-essentials & Overpayments:-

Food Shop £24.79
Essentials £494.93
Non - Essentials £78.64
Over-payments £0.00

So although the non essentials is less than last week it still is a lot to be "wasting".

Today is a good day as the debt has reduced by £233.75 through 2 of the loans we have One month nearer to getting rid of them.

Plans for today:

- Weekly food shop
- Ironing
- More boxes of paperwork to sort/tidy
- Clean downstairs.
- Hunt for more ebaying items
- Enjoy a little bit of the sunshine.
- Have a NSD apart from the food shop.

check in later :-)

TOTF

Well a lovely day today. Enjoyed watching some of the wedding. house clean and tidy ready for a quiet weekend.

So yesterday was food shop day.......and drum roll please....it came in at £20.58. That brings my April's food shop (3 weeks) to a total of £66.99. :j
So by all accounts for a full month I should be able to do £90.00.....May will reveal all. Very proud of this achievement.

Made an overpayment of £6 on my storecard yesterday....every little helps.

Signed up for the May challenge make £10 a day and I have items on ebay ending on Sunday so looking for a very good start to that challenge :T

Going to have a quiet night in tonight, not much on tv so will spend a bit of time looking at finances and reading some threads. Its always interesting to read other people's diaries.

Maybe back later.

TOTF

Well an excellent start to the Make £10 a day May challenge for me....£150.14 made by the end of last night. This is after ebay fees too. Happy me!!

This will come in well for general purposes at the moment as things are quite tight in terms of money.

We have no savings which always worries me. It has often been the reason for the spends on credit cards as in emergencies we have had to look to them. So as well as tackle the debt it is also a goal to have some sort of savings pot even if it is just £1000.00. So I am hoping by the end of the year this may be a possibility.

Goals for today:-

-Find away to make £50 this week.
-Go for a 30 minute walk.

clippy_girl

Hi TOTF! just wanted to say you are doing a fantastic job clearing that much since jan after being made redundant! well done you :T

i am very interested in your grocery challenge, there is just me and i spend around £70 per month which i thought was very good :think: all my friends are amazed by how little i spend but you are in a different league so very impressed! so far i have stuck to it (since jan) but i had lots of mince and sausages in freezer which are about to run out! o dear

Itsadogslife_2

TOTF just wanted to pop in and say hi

We are like you, we don't have any savings and so when things have happened historically we have had to resort to the cards. I can't wait for the day that I can put money into a account that isnt already ear marked for something. I sometimes wonder whether I will ever get there but I can keep hoping.

I walk nearly every day for nearly an hour, my dog looks at me when it is raining as if to say "you have got to be kidding?" but it really helps my mental health. I reached my weight watchers goal weight about 18 months ago, but I have to watch it as when I fall off the band wagon, I really go and am a very gluttonous person and will eat and eat and eat if I am feeling fed up. This is then the viscous circle as if you eat a good healthy diet and get a bit of exercise this makes me feel much better physically and more energy.

So now my challenge is to eat healthily for as cheap as possible, whilst getting as much exercise as possible whilst working and looking after the family and the animals - SIMPLES! :rotfl:

TOTF

Evening all.

Clippy-girl - thanks for popping in. May will be the month to watch in terms of the food budget. 4 weeks at a total of £90 will be tough....but im going to give it a good shop and lasts month wasn't too bad. Sausage casserole is a big favourite in the house which is really cheap to make, pasta is another favourite....i think we are just lucky that the simple recipes are the most enjoyed. We shall see what the first week shop brings on friday

Itsadogslife - I did not manage my walk the other day!! whoops, but i did manage 30mins today and will now keep at it. The debt will come down one day. I too cant wait for the day when we owe people nothing!! Life will be sooo good. we shall get there :-)

So a quick update, a couple more loan payments have gone out so total owed has gone down again :j getting there slowly, I have just worked out that in another 2 months we should have reached the 10% paid mark since January.

Early night now i think. Back tomorrow morning with some goals for the rest of the week.