A Little bit of an extra push

leimichellecat

Two paydays a month has made money management very confusing in the past (3rd Friday of the month/26th) so this month I am taking a stand.

I have collected the bill money from PD1, and will not touch that until PD2 money arrives, so no food/petrol dipping for the weekend. Hopefully I will have a better view of where our money is going!

leimichellecat

A new year, and new targets! A few things have happened over the past couple of months, dramatically changing our financial situation.

Uni is now off the cards, sadly the financial support I had planned on has fallen through, but never mind I can give it another go in a couple of years when OH has built up the savings! The bonus of this is more focus can be put on clearing the debts and not surviving!

I am still doing battle with the airline, so frustratingly that money is still sat on the CC collecting interest and more debt for me. In addition to that is the vet bill for cats surgery, waiting for the insurance to cough up, I pay that much for insurance, they had better cough up!

The parent loan and car loan still going down, with every payment being met so very happy with that.

A bit of cash fluttering has left another dent in the CC (oops) to the sum of £1000 (BIG oops) and that is my big goal now! Very naught I know, but the CC has been put away for good (or until another unplanned vets trip!).

The plan:

I'm owned a little on overtime shifts (£300), but that requires me to post some paper work, which I will do this afternoon, which will all go one paying the CC.

Write my complaint letter to the airline, as advised by citizens advice.

NO SPEND MONTH!!!! two birthdays coming up, but I will just have to be creative, any suggestions? 32yr old male and 26yr old male!

My goal it shift £600 off CC by the end of January... let the battle commence!

leimichellecat

£5 win on the lottery... straight towards the cc!

leimichellecat

As planned, my only spend until the end of next month was a new fridge freezer (Christmas money from the family). Was on sale £280 off, only had to contribute £30 of our own money and went through Quidco (2.5% CB). Hopefully the old fridge will make that £30 on eBay. Also Play.com have finally acknowledged a missing parcel, and the refund will cover the two birthdays, whoopi!!!

leimichellecat

Consumer rights finally paid off this weekend, after 7 long and frustrating months, I finally got a near full refund on the flight tickets! And I have finally got myself back on the nursing agency for extra shifts, which cushions the epic fail of my no spends month, oops!!!

Not been quite so proactive with the eBaying, I have a cluttered kitchen with 2 fridges and a door that need to be sold ASAP (any offers in the Nottingham area are welcome!).

leimichellecat

Re visiting my diary after a year, quite a few changes have been made, the biggest being the birth of our PFB, our boy was born on 6th December. My wages took a big blow from the start of pregnancy, due to the nature of my work I was not allowed to work my usual unsocial hours or extra shifts so short £200-£500 per month since April.

We have continued to make our car repayments and cleared parents loan, however the over drafts are still there (OH's is still free, mine is £5 per month) and the credit card is £3000, however have that on 0% until July.

OH finished uni last month, and while waiting for his job to start in February (no specific date yet) he has some training date with a nursing agency, can do some random shifts and is helping me adjust to the little monster that has entered our life!

For the next couple of months, the goal is not to shift great chunks of debt, but to reign in spending (not adding more to the cc) and making little changes. I have joined the £2 savers club, and going to join the grocery challenge. Then as soon as OH starts greeting paid, it's mission debt free and book a holiday!

leimichellecat

As well as clearing this debt, I have another target of returning to pre pregnancy weight. I have no intention of wasting money on lots of new clothes when I have stacks of perfectly good size 10 clothes. So as of this afternoon, I am 11st 3lb, and need to get back to 9st 7lb, 23lbs it is! So today we have done a 5k walk, and kick started the healthy diet.

Today I have spent £35 on the food shop, plus baby supplies. Resisted temptation to buy son more clothes (he looks so cute in his little outfits). Stayed away from buying buying snack foods, and anything that wasn't part of my meal plan. OH has recommended the Atkins diet so he was easy to buy for (eggs, bacon, cheese), and I'm on a 5 a day, breast feeding diet (I'm sure my recent chocolate diet has not been making the best milk!). Bargains included-
Baby wipes - 3 for £2.70
Muller light - half price
Cat food - half price

Still not taken the Christmas tree down though!

leimichellecat

Updated my signature to include grocery spends and weight targets. Really excited about the changes we have made, can't wait for payday so I can say "I have money left for bills"

leimichellecat

Day 4 and I have slipped already! Cabin fever kicked in last night, so off we went to the pub (£10) and today I ate a whole pack of biscuits! Justified this with the fact I am breast feeding, and had a very nutritious salad for tea.

Tried to update my phone and iPad, but laptop has run out of space to store my photos so spending the last of my Christmas money on an external hard drive