Blinded by the LBM...!

Beencounting · 23 April 2012 at 1:45PM

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

i still have about 20 diaries to catch up on :eek: do you think i could get a paid job doing this! :rotfl:

:rotfl:it's worth a try!!

Beencounting · 23 April 2012 at 1:50PM

It's a rainy Monday...bleurgh!!

So, back on the straight and narrow, so here are my spends today:

£3.02 - lunch
59p - birthday card
£1.52 - choccie

(bought a bar for tomorrow, too

)
£10.00 - DD2 dinner money

£15.15 Total

:o

Cash left: £19.56

Beencounting · 26 April 2012 at 1:53PM

Beencounting wrote: »

given my disappointment with current debt-busting progress, I'm going to set myself a mini target of getting the target card below £700 by next statement date. This will require that I make payments of at least £86 to allow for the interest that will be applied, but to make it a stretch I'm going to set the target at £100.

Well, the quote above was from March, 28th I think. So didn't manage to get the card balance below £700, it now stands at just under £748, having reduced by only £26 after interest

:mad:. I'm trying to not get upset/annoyed about it, I know that I couldn't really have done any better. As I've said before, at least it hasn't increased :cool:.

Payday is just a few days away, but most annoyingly, it's the other side of the weekend :doh:so we just need to keep plodding along until Monday. I've managed to stay within my pocket money spend this week and still have a few ££s in my purse and I could draw a bit out of the bank if necessary. I will try to avoid that though

.

Been

CC Mini target to 23/5 - £0.00/£100.00

hillside777 · 29 April 2012 at 9:33PM

I assume tomorrow must be pay day. You said it is the other side of the week-end and Tuesday is 1 May. :eek: Where is the year going to? One third has gone already.

I'm hoping we may get some kind of summer this year as the whole country seems to have had a lot of rain recently.

Don't be too concerned about not missing your target for CC payments. Prior to your LBM you probably wouldn't have been making overpayments.

Keep up the good work you're doing fab. :j

blessedlife · 29 April 2012 at 9:47PM

Beencounting wrote: »

Hi Blessedlife...thanks for popping in and taking the time to post, I'm always humbled by peoples' kind words .

I was pondering your comments about the stuff we pay for for the kids. I guess it could be a further saving, but tbh, we don't buy much for them, which I and my OH find quite sad. As parents, we want to do much more, but of course, we can't, so these spends are relatively small. We allow up to £25pm on each of the mobiles, but anything above that they have to pay for themselves and their pocket money is only £5pw.

With the lifts to work (and other places), it would be far more expensive for them to get the bus, so in that sense it's more economical to drive. Also, when I was teenager, my parents wouldn't take me anywhere in the car and I promised myself I would never do the same to my kids. I missed out on loads when I was growing up and to some extent was an outsider. I want my kids to feel like they fit in/belong and this is one small way we can do that.

In the end, it's about striking a balance that we (the family) are comfortable with. The kids aren't responsible for the debt, and whilst we can't completely shield them from it, we do as much as we can.

Sorry, that's a bit of a long post! I appreciate your comments...hope I haven't bored you too much with my reply !

Been

Hi Been!

You have obviously thought about it a lot, and I hope you didn't mind me posting my thoughts. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself though about what you can give your kids. Hopefully if they grow up learning about budgeting and taking care of money, life will be easier for them to manage when they're on their own!

:T Well done on getting your credit card down this month. Every little counts! Good luck for next month.

Beencounting · 30 April 2012 at 12:24PM

Well, payday has finally arrived, but due to a mistake on my part, I haven’t had the pay I was expecting _pale_

. My pay is about £250 down. This put me into an immediate panic, as I’ve agreed to pay DD1s rent this month (£260), so can’t afford to be without the extra money. So, I’ve sent a begging email

to our salaries dept and asked if they can make the payment some time soon (and before next payday). They have agreed to do this, but I don’t think I’ll be settled until the cheque is in my hand. I need to treat this as a learning point and not let it happen again.

Anyway, putting that aside, May looks like being yet another very tight month. Our money needs to stretch to five weeks and I’ve told OH that I’m aiming to stick strictly to the budget as I’m fed up with running out of money by the time we get to the middle of the month.

So to get things moving, here's a list of things to do this week:

Check bank account regularly
Pay target CC
Pay PO CC
Update budget spreadsheet
Prep mealplan for the week
Aim for 3 NSDs
Check for/do any surveys
Send rent cheque to DD
Work out how much weekly (spends) cash we have and draw it out of the bank

No doubt there'll be other bits to do too, but it's a start

.

Weather here today is pants again, it's soooo cold, my feet are freezing! It's May tomorrow, come on sunshine, get your act together

!

Been

CC Mini target to 23/5 - £0.00/£100.00

Beencounting · 30 April 2012 at 12:26PM

bonnington wrote: »

Don't be too concerned about not missing your target for CC payments. Prior to your LBM you probably wouldn't have been making overpayments.

That's very true Bonnington, a timely reminder, thank you

.

Beencounting · 30 April 2012 at 12:28PM

blessedlife wrote: »

Hi Been!

You have obviously thought about it a lot, and I hope you didn't mind me posting my thoughts. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself though about what you can give your kids. Hopefully if they grow up learning about budgeting and taking care of money, life will be easier for them to manage when they're on their own!

:T Well done on getting your credit card down this month. Every little counts! Good luck for next month.

Thanks Blessedlife, I hope they learn by our mistakes, I wouldn't wish this struggle on anyone

.

Been

brizzledfw · 30 April 2012 at 12:57PM

Hi Been

Just popping in as haven't been on the diaries as much as usual recently..not deliberate have just been away for work. To echo what Mr B and Blessedlife (cool name btw!) have said you need to recogise that if you had not had your LBM you wouldnt be making OPs at all! So well done.

We almost ran out of money for this last week. moment of shock when I reconciled everything on the 23rd....this has seemed a long month. It was a hard week but we just about managed it. The mantra was when its gone its gone and it seems to work for us. DD1 has her birthday this month and already OH has said she will be getting 1 larger present (for her room so useful!;)) and a couple of smaller things..which I plan to also be useful like PJs!

The NSDs challenge on here has also helped me. OK I missed my target of 10..only did 6 but I do not make it easy on myself as under the Brizzle Rules a NSD is only when OH and myself spend not a bean. I know everyone has their own criteria which is cool but I am sometimes comforted a little that its a strict set of rules. I will go for the same amount this month and see where we get to!

Have a great day

Brizzle