Lois_E begins a long MFW journey

Onecoincloser

Lois_E wrote: »

Succumbed to the temptation to go out for a coffee with a friend this afternoon.

the odd treat just keeps us sane....:rotfl: glad to hear about the salary increase.....just had a very small pay rise myself...not much but at least its an extra couple of quid to the mortgage op every month!!!!:T

Dragonrider

Coffee and a chinwag makes everything seem better, so don't worry about it!

Hope you enjoy your weekend,

Dragonrider

Lois_E

Thanks grateful, Onecoin and Dragonrider.

A few bits of good news:

1) NSD on Sunday
2) Diary not actually up to date but it's only a couple of days behind and I have all the receipts and can remember the cash. I'll do it tomorrow.
3) Think I'm going to survive the month 7th June - 6th July without having to get anything out of savings. Not perfectly sure yet - might have to get a bit out but we'll see how the bank balance is looking once the bills start going out in the first few days of July. This may not seem amazing, but I had a childcare bill for £480, and another bill for £200+, both of which are for things that only need paying every few months, so if I can deal with those without having to get anything out, that's progress. I'm hoping to be able to put stuff in during 7th July - 6th August.
4) DD is beginning to understand that she is hopeless at saving her money, and declaring her intentions of learning to save "before she's grown-up". For my impulsive little spender this is a huge step forward.

Bad news MFW-wise:
1) The builder is busy again this week and won't be able to come back until at least next week.
2) I have inadvertently promised to take my kids to the cinema tomorrow. I'm not sure quite how I got myself into that. Oops. At least I have put my foot down and said in advance that I am certainly not coughing up for any overpriced sweets & drinks when we get there.

Lois_E

So, I have kept up with my minichallenge and kept my spending diary for TWO MONTHS

Little grocery shop today - just stuff for lunchboxes and kept it under £10 - and also spent £10 on some spare keys for my house. Two of the doors only had one key each and no spare. That's not good for someone not perfectly organised like me with a DD who is :eek: about moving things when she's not supposed to.

LilB_3

Lois_E wrote: »

So, I have kept up with my minichallenge and kept my spending diary for TWO MONTHS

Keep going! :T

I did it for a year and although it was an expensive year (setting up our first home together) it was surprising to see how much I spent, saved and wasted

AuntieMabel

LilB wrote: »

Keep going! :T

I did it for a year and although it was an expensive year (setting up our first home together) it was surprising to see how much I spent, saved and wasted

Wow, well done on keeping a spending diary for a year - that's a great achievement in itself!

LilB_3

AuntieMabel wrote: »

Wow, well done on keeping a spending diary for a year - that's a great achievement in itself!

Thank you

It becomes second nature after a while. No two years are the same though but you do learn a lot from it.

gratefulforhelp_2

Builders, hmphhhh!

Lois_E

I've changed my spending diary categories slightly. I decided not to bother separating mortgage payments into standard and OPs, but to split them into interest and capital repayment instead. So my standard payment goes into the spreadsheet as part interest and part capital, and any OPs will go in as extra capital repayments to add to the capital bit of the standard payment.

Also I've made a new spreadsheet column for "everything I owe the world" - thanks Michelle for the phrase. It's really encouraging. I thought I hadn't been doing very well this month, but I'm on track for EIOTW to be definitely lower on 6th July than it was on 6th June, and I've backdated the spreadsheet so I can see that EIOTW was lower on 6th June than on 6th May. (My months are calculated 7th-6th because all my bills go out between payday at the end of the month and mortgage on 6th.) I've got a graph for it, and you can see it wiggling about but each time not getting quite as big as just before the previous payday. So things are definitely moving in the right direction!

Nothing booked for today. Am aiming for today as NSD, although might have to pop out for some fruit and salad if the kids have been eating it all. Also going to try to do lots of washing and sorting out of the clean-but-not-put-away clothes mountain, and finish the spreadsheet I promised to email to Froggy weeks ago.

ETA Have done Froggy's spreadsheet and emailed it to him. Haven't done washing and clothes mountain yet. A few hours remain before bedtime!

Onecoincloser

Lois_E wrote: »

So, I have kept up with my minichallenge and kept my spending diary for TWO MONTHS

:j:j:j Well done you!!!! :T:T:T:T

That's really good - and you are doing brilliantly at staying focused... I seem to keep being sidetracked :mad::o