Time to 'grow up' - the slippery slope to 30.

beanielou

Looking good.
Have a nice night tonight

immoral_angeluk

Double hurrah!

My musicmagpie cheque arrived today, so I've paid another £13.18 off the CC. Bout time too, it's only been about a month.....

Off to update the siggy

immoral_angeluk

HOW IS IT MONDAY ALREADY??
*weeps for a lost weekend*

I swear one weekend I am going to plant my bum on the sofa and not move until Monday morning. lol!

Off on another work course today and tomorrow so that's £16 worth of train tickets this week alone *rolls eyes* I don't know how commuters manage, it would drive me crazy (and skint!).

Over the weekend I overspent by £10.73, so that'll be being made up by my budgets this week. Will do my budgets later when I get in as haven't got chance this morning, so will update again later.

Otherwise planning on a no spend day and I'm taking my own lunch. From this week on I'm going to be buying xmas presents and not paying off the CC again until they're all bought seeing as it's less than 3 weeks to go :eek: but I'm going to only use available money and not the CC so I don't undo all the good work or risk overspending.


Happy Monday all! If there is such a thing...

immoral_angeluk

Quick spending diary update before putting the kids to bed and sorting out my budgets.

£1.20 on snacks for lunch
66p on a sausage roll for brunch.

I did take my own lunch, but what can I say, I've had a hungry day :rotfl:

immoral_angeluk

It's christmas budget tiiiiiiiiiime
:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree:

I'm putting off paying off the CC now until my xmas shopping is complete. New mission, to complete by Xmas shopping in budget...

Having worked out my budgets and repaid what I initially spent on the CC to ge
t the first round of xmas presents, I'm now planning my 'final haul' to get my xmas shopping well and truly completed.


This of course gives me an excuse to complete a brand spanking new budget plan :rotfl:

So... I've worked out my estimate budgets over the next few weeks until xmas :eek:


This week's weekly budget:
Food £60.00
Petrol £30.00
Social £10.00
School dinners £21.00
Dance £10.00 (Already have the money out ready, but should be able to save some of this.)
Bills £313.96

total out £444.96
total in £501.57
surplus to xmas fund £56.61 (less than normal this week due to having 2 train trips to Brum and making up for overspending on the weekend.)

Based on this I've come up with the following savings assumption:

Dec 9th 56.61
Dec 16th 70 (Could probably save more, but playing on the safe side)
Dec 23rd 70
Payday (23rd) 300

Total 496.61

So... My aim is to get my xmas shopping completed for a little of this £500ish as I can, so then I can use the surplus to pay off the CC :rotfl:


I've still got to buy for...
My girls (to finish off their shopping, their santa list grows daily so it's hard picking what to sacrifice!!)
Extra bit for DP
My 3 best friends
ExMIL
The girls's neice/nephew
DP's parents
My dad
Best friend's kids.
Work secret Santa.

I think I can pretty much cover everyone comfortably with £425, based on quickly giving each person on the list an estimated budget, but I'm going to keep track of it and try and keep it down as much as poss. I think the girls I'm going to allocate £100 each to though, as so far I've spent maybe £100 each on their presents, but the others will be like £10/£20/£30's.

What I am concerned about though is getting all of this sorted before xmas, as there's no guarantee I'll get paid any earlier than the 23rd, which is going to be a nightmare for shopping. As much as I begrudge it I'm tempted to use the card and pay it off with the saving's money. It'll still get paid before xmas, and it won't cost me any interest, but so long as I adamantly stick to my budget and don't go over I can't really see any harm. I just don't want to be shopping on Christmas eve :eek::eek:

I've been emotionally reeling over the thought of it, BUT, if it's going to be paid off (plus extra) before xmas anyway, isn't that the whole idea of having a credit card in the first place....?


Argh!

slowlyfading

Just wanted to say :hello: and that it's nice to see you posting! Don't know how I missed your diary? Re: christmas presents, just see how much you can done before christmas, and if you need to put some on the CC, then do so, as long as you can pay it off

immoral_angeluk

slowlyfading wrote: »

Just wanted to say :hello: and that it's nice to see you posting! Don't know how I missed your diary? Re: christmas presents, just see how much you can done before christmas, and if you need to put some on the CC, then do so, as long as you can pay it off

Thanks hun, it's like I mentally punish myself for even CONSIDERING putting stuff on the card. It's a nightmare! It's understandable considering I'm trying to get it paid off ASAP, but still :rotfl::rotfl:

ZTD

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

Thanks hun, it's like I mentally punish myself for even CONSIDERING putting stuff on the card. It's a nightmare! It's understandable considering I'm trying to get it paid off ASAP, but still :rotfl::rotfl:

It is because you're now very well aware of the dangers of thinking "I have X until my credit limit, therefore that is my budget."

If you've cured yourself of thinking like that, then you'll be fine. If not, then you're going to have to be extra-specially careful.

Either way, you're right to be aware of the dangers of it. Trepidation is a good response, especially with a tight budget. You should be pleased with yourself.

immoral_angeluk

ZTD wrote: »

It is because you're now very well aware of the dangers of thinking "I have X until my credit limit, therefore that is my budget."

If you've cured yourself of thinking like that, then you'll be fine. If not, then you're going to have to be extra-specially careful.

Either way, you're right to be aware of the dangers of it. Trepidation is a good response, especially with a tight budget. You should be pleased with yourself.

This is true. I've definitely got rid of the thinking I used to have pre LBM which was 'so long as I can afford the monthly payment it's fine'. That's a dangerous thought to have! Now I like to get rid of what I owe ASAP and get annoyed if I have to use it, say if something breaks on the car for example and I haven't got savings to back it up. During a previous spell of anxiety/depression I'd also go on little 'retail therapy' splurges where I'd run up the card by £2-300 and then immediately regret it. It never got to be a problem per se as I'd always pay it off within a month or so, but still :eek:

hypno06

Ah yes, the wonder that is "retail therapy".....I have partaken of that once or twice myself in the last year. It is easy to do, and definitely needs to be kept under appropriate control.

Hello. My name is hypno and I like spending money on nice things. I have been clean for .....oh, about a week :rotfl: