Thinking Of The Future - TOTF

TOTF

Morning all.

Well I went and did the first food shop of May today and got to the till with a grand total of £19.06 :T

Very pleased with that, and a good start to my little challenge.

Have cleaned the house and now just relaxing / scanning the boards. Got some ironing to do later but just waiting for the last lot of washing to dry and then will do it all in one go.

Not much else to report really. Debt has decreased a little more as a few more direct debits have gone out, so that's a good thing.

Check in again soon.

mrs_motivated

hi TOTF,

i have just started a diary too, my thinking is writing everything down will make me more motivated.

you have made a great start and i will be fiollowing your progress from now on!

keep up the good work x

Itsadogslife_2

Well done for spending under £20.00 on the shopping. I would love to be able to reduce my shopping a bit more but if I am being completely honest, I am sure I have not budgeted enough for shopping anyway so am currently keeping a spending diary to see how much I do actually spend. I have got so much ironing to do it puts me off starting it. I know it wouldn't be too bad if I just did a bit at a time but I look at the pile and think, I'll start it tomorrow :-(

I am not normally very good with being money saving from a washing point of view, I tend to try and tumble dry lots of stuff because it saves me the time of ironing it but I would imagine it is not very cost effective!

TOTF

Ah thanks for popping in fellow peeps!! It is lovely to get replies / chat as it motivates me to keep going. I am going to try to be good and pop into other diaries to say hi! yours will be on top of my list tomorrow :-)

The ironing pile is very much in the same place it was earlier!! lol.....i will do it tomorrow. weather has been rubbish today so I had to use the tumble drier, although not too bad as it is the first time in a couple of months at least.

I am craving a take away tonight but have been good and peeled the potatoes in prep so I am not tempted when hubby arrives home. :T

TOTF

Hey diary,

Not been on much over the last week. Not much to report really.

No significant change in the debt figure...roll on the end of the month when lots of SO go out.

On the £90 in May food challenge I have set myself, week 2 shop came to £29.22, this included the cleaning products for the month so week 3 & week 4 should be cheaper. Total over 2 weeks now stands at £48.28 so I am optimistic I can do the £90!! :j

OH had some overtime so added that to my make £310.00 extra in May so that total no adds up to £194.18/£310.00.

Trying to motivate myself but struggling at the moment, really wish we could pay more off inbetween the usual monthly payments.

Ah well, chin up.

TOTF

Well after getting back into reading MSE I have hunted down my password and signed back in.

Can't believe its so long since I last posted. So a quick update on my situation: I found another job so am now back in work, although I don't earn much after paying for childcare its a little extra and more than that it makes me feel like I am helping, providing and gives me a little bit of self worth. (if that is a word?).

I will update my signature after posting this but we will hopefully be under the 40k mark by New Year. It must be 5years or more since our debts were under that amount! We have added to the debt over the last year or so as redundancy made things tight. We have bought things that were not essential as well but I feel like a balance is a good thing. BUT I am back and I am focused now on hitting these debts one by one.

I will be brave soon and post where all the debts are at. I look at them everyday, so I am by no means burying my head in the sand by not posting them. I think my bank checking and debt watching borders on OCD most of the time.

Today I am going to start my PAD.
I am also awaiting a response from a PPI claim which should drop through the door any day now fingers crossed!

My main motivation for getting my bum back here is to avoid overspending on Christmas. Unlike any previous years no Credit Cards will be used this Christmas. I will not buy what I cannot afford!!

So welcome back to my diary. Here is to getting under the 40k mark for the New Year.

TOTF :wave:

TOTF

Day 2 of my return to MSE diaryland!

Had to alter the signature to reflect some interest but hey ho, on the plus side its nearly the end of the month, so all loan payments will be leaving the bank and reducing that nasty big number.

Started my payment a day today aswell. Paid £10.00 to the nasty Next Storecard, then found a giftcard with £2.00 left on it so paid that odd as well. Total to date £12.00.

So the NEXT card is my first target. There is a total of £279.00 on it so Im hoping to clear it by christmas!

Challenge for tomorrow!!.......do the weekly shop with just the £12.70 I have in my purse!! Im hoping its do-able as it is half term so I can cut back on all the snacks that usually go into lunch box making. We shall see. I have allowed £40 in the weekly spend for food but I like a challenge. :-)

Going to spend the rest of the evening relaxing and going through some more diaries.

Will report back tomorrow on how successful the £12.70 shop goes.

TOTF

was saved for SOA

TOTF

Morning diary!

Well yesterdays food challenge failed! I blame hubbys last minute addition of eggs! Total did only come to £13.60 though so I'm pleased with that. I am on a mission to use the food in the freezer that never gets used and just sits at the bottom of the tray. Same goes for the tin cupboard. I should be able to do another cheap shop next week too.

We have also come to the agreement that if either of us mentions take away we are to go straight to our first mini goal and pay of the cost of take away and then get our lazy bums into the kitchen and cook something yummy.

I mentioned chips last night so am off to pay another £5 off the next store card any moment!! That will take my PAD up to £17.00.

Going to look into changing our landline it seems to be going up and up each month. The only thing which puts me off is the change over, if I loose the internet I will feel like my arm has been chopped off. Its the only way I keep track of our pennies.

Have a good day.

TOTF

Early morning post for me thanks to children who are up at 4am!!

Well I have paid another £10.00 to the Next card. So that is my payment a day up to £27.00. Pleased with that. One loan payment gone today, its interest free so a big £30 off the debts. :rotfl: but every little helps!!

We currently are in overdrafts, this is not reflected in the debt - I know it should be. I really need to sort out using separate accounts and then adding it to the debt sheet :mad: I will try and get around to this soon. What I have done already is transfer all remaining money each month into a separate accounts so we know what we have to spend. But the bills still all come out of the overdrawn accounts. Will this work or should I transfer all bills to the non overdrawn accounts and have wages payments changed too?

So as a little pick me up I worked out from my signature that we have paid 14.15% off debts (although knowing we have overdrafts then its not a true figure).

Anyway today will be a no spend day. Have a handful of change in my purse which amounts to 75p and that can stay there.