Blinded by the LBM...!

Beencounting

caeler wrote: »

Hi OP - Just been reading your diary. It sounds like you and your husband have a united front and are clearly supporting each other despite your challenges. Well done and keep up the amazing work! :-)

Thanks Caeler I think we work well as a team; we have our ups and downs like most couples, but we're pretty much on the same page

Beencounting

Pay day today, woo hoo :T and another fresh start!

I've been looking at our budget for the month, and it's looking doable. The downside though is that January will be a 5-week-month, so the food, travel and spends budgets need to be divided by 5 to make them last .

I've agreed with OH that we will go back to weekly Asd4 deliveries for this month. There are a couple of reasons for this - 1) even though Aldi/Lidl are cheaper, we can't get everything we need there, this then results in us picking up extra bits through the week and then it completely messes the budget up; 2) because it's done online I have complete control over the amount we spend as it tots up, so can limit it to the 'exact' amount I want to spend; and, 3) I hate going shopping after work .

Train fares go up from Monday (we're back in work on Tuesday), a monthly will now cost just over £80 each, and increase of £3.90/month. Whilst not welcome, I think it can be absorbed.

'Spends' budget for the month is £285, or £57/week. I'll round this to £60 as I've had a bit more pay than expected. I'll draw this out every Friday as cash.

So today I need to:

• book 5 Asd4 slots for the coming weeks
• draw out £60 cash for misc 'spends'

This all sounds easy while I sit here sipping a cup of coffee, but it'll be far more difficult once we're back in work and in the thick of juggling everything. I'm not the most disciplined person, but I think this is a skill I need to develop and practice. I'll be relying on you guys to keep me on the straight and narrow...please feel free to remind me if I haven't posted my weekly figures or general progress .

Been

Beencounting

Mealplan now sorted for the week, shopping ordered for delivery tomorrow. Indicative spend is £60.60 . I've also booked the following two weeks slots and put a 'holding' order in place, but will adjust these nearer the time.

debtfreewannabe321

wow you are so organised with the booking slots, this is why i gave up on internet food shopping lol i could never get a slot, but i guess if you leave it till the last day there won't be any left :eek: !

Seems to be lots of people's pay day today let's hope we all have some money left after new year celebrations lol xx

Beencounting

Need to record some extra...unplanned...spends .

We went to B&Q yesterday to get a few last bits to finish DS's and DD2's bedrooms, that was ok as it was planned, but then on the way home we called into Dunelm Mills. I've never been there before...and there was a sale on....and there were so many bits we needed...and £33 later :eek:.

Having said that I was pleased with all the stuff we managed to get - 2 bedroom lamps (DS will now have one of the ones being replaced for his bedroom), tea and coffee canisters, the ones replaced really were awful , 2 bath towels (always short of these), oven gloves, again these have replaced some pretty grotty ones , laundry basket...

I felt that we actually got loads for the money, so am not feeling too bad about it .

Beencounting

The New Year, and therefore a new month start tomorrow, so I'm using this post to kick off my January budgets. So, my January budget looks like this:

Budget

Food 435.00
Travel 355.00
Misc Spends 300.00
Clothes 30.00

These budgets are to cover the 5-week-month. So far, I've got a weeks shopping due to be delivered today, about £60s-worth, and I've also used all the clothes budget (and more) on a new pair of shoes for OH. OH has been instructed to make-up the £18 difference from ebay sales . I'll update both these amounts once they clear my bank account.

My debt-busting plans for January are to pay £100 off the target card (per earlier post), and look like this:

Plan

From Budget 40.00
Av0n 20.00
Ebay 10.00
Other? 30.00
Unplanneds 51.00

This represents money we need to either save or generate. The latter is my preference. The bottom row relates to overspend on OHs shoes and Dunelm Mills spends yesterday so is in addition to the planned £100.

Again, I'll update these as we go along .

ETA: Anyone know how to copy in info from Excel? It drives me nuts when I post up a little table from excel but it then turns into one long line on here :mad:

Beencounting

I've spent half an hour clearing through some paperwork tonight and have found £11 of vouchers (£10 Arg0s and £1 M&S). I knew about the Arg0s voucher but thought we'd already used it, but the M&S one I'd forgotten about. Have now put them away in my voucher stash envelope

Wishing you all a Happy New Year.

Been

Beencounting

Well the Arg0s voucher didn't last long , we've used it today to replace our broken DVD player, had to put £8.50 cash towards it.

Have also spent on laundry baskets (£5.37), cat food (£1), chocolates (£5) which I'm currently tucking into and a scratchcard (£1).

So, not a particularly good MSE day.

Tomorrow will be my last day of leave, which will be a good thing as it gives me/us less opportunity to spend . Not looking forward to going back though.

hillside777

I know what you mean about being easier to spend money when not at work.

Once my DW goes into Dunelm Mill she always sees things we 'need' and we usually come out with more than we planned on buying.

Your spend on cat food is less than mine. unfortunately we have a fussy cat who will only eat Whiskas dried and pouches, although does not like turkey or duck. We tried him on other makes, but to no avail.

Have a good week.

banwa

Beencounting wrote: »

Need to record some extra...unplanned...spends .

We went to B&Q yesterday to get a few last bits to finish DS's and DD2's bedrooms, that was ok as it was planned, but then on the way home we called into Dunelm Mills. I've never been there before...and there was a sale on....and there were so many bits we needed...and £33 later :eek:.

Been I LOVE Dunlem mill, so I think you showed remarkable restraint only spending £33. So well done.

bonnington wrote: »

Your spend on cat food is less than mine. unfortunately we have a fussy cat who will only eat Whiskas dried and pouches, although does not like turkey or duck. We tried him on other makes, but to no avail.

Have a good week.

You have probably already tried this but my cats will only eat Felix AGAIL and, thankfully, Aldi supercuts