Finally seeing the right track getting closer

freebyfifty

Good morning Muffy,

Really just wanted to say 'Hi'.

I'm glad your Christmas shopping is going to plan and in budget

Here's to avoiding the Christmas money hangover in January :beer:

MuffinTops

freebyfifty wrote: »

Good morning Muffy,

Really just wanted to say 'Hi'.

I'm glad your Christmas shopping is going to plan and in budget

Here's to avoiding the Christmas money hangover in January :beer:

Thanks Freeby. It's such a relief to know that I'm on top of it this year and have a way of staying organised.
Ooh, the Christmas money hangover is a long drawn out painful affair!

MuffinTops

So, the weekend was fairly uneventful financially. I did manage to stay within budget and I was prepared for all expenditures.

I actually managed to have £6.52 left over the whole weekend. So this morning I decided to see how long I could make that last me, and bought myself a guilt free round of toast! I'm so extravagant! But then I received the email subscriptions to here and in popped the Sealed Pot Challenge #5 which I've joined! So that's put paid to the guilt free round of toast tomorrow as my £5.82 (left after 70p on today's toast) will now go into my sealed pot. A fresh £10 has found it's way into my purse and I'm planning 2 more NSD's this week being tomorrow and Wednesday.

I've got a night out planned on Thursday but it's just a meet up with a friend for a chain Italian food place that isn't too expensive, so I'm fairly sure I'll only go slightly over budget.

I've also noticed that I eat much better now I watch the pennies each day. I may have said that before, but when I have £5 in my purse to get shopping then I avoid the naughty foods like crisps and chocolate. I realised today that I've not had chocolate in 3 days. Anyone who knows me knows how unheard of that is. It doesn't feel like I'm trying not to eat it either. It's more about thinking that I need more nutritious food as it lasts longer therefore my money will too! There's some psychology in there somewhere, but I'm just glad that I'm not relying on a chocolate bar and 2 packets of crisps for my dinner!

I hope everyone had a successful money saving weekend, even with the Christmas shopping!

Oh yes, my shop and scan things arrived on Friday so I submitted my first shopping bar codes and receipt yesterday. This morning my points have already been added! :T

It's raining outside quite heavily so I'm really hoping it rains itself out for the morning as I don't want to get drenched on my bike! I've still not worked out what to wear each day as the temperatures change so much! Oh well. It saves me at least £7.10 a day so I can't complain.

Night all.

MuffinTops

I checked my budget account yesterday and have £10 over what I need for my £10 a day, which I'm really happy with, especially considering I won't be spending anything on a few of the days over Christmas.

I also checked the balances on my survey sites and am almost up to £10 payout on 3 of them. So, £30 vouchers for the New Year! I just need to work out the best plan of which stores to get them for. I basically need to decide if I want to use them to save me money on everyday things, meaning I'll use them one day instead of a daily budget actual note. Or do I store them away for things like birthdays and christmas, even though I have a budget for that. Hmmm! More thought on this I think before I send off for anything.

Yesterday I logged onto my internet banking to reconcile my phone app and other than £11.41 which I took ages trying to find (it was from my christmas shopping day last week) I'm still quite a way in credit now. That's never happened to me in my working life. Never. By now I've blown the lot and am anxious for payday to blow some more! But by having a budget I managed to sit and decide what I'd buy before going out and getting things. The things I just couldn't decide on, or knew I needed extra inspiration, had a highest spend amount that I knew I couldn't go over. So, now I have nothing left to buy, money in the bank and a feeling that I've obviously missed something. As happy as I am with how organised I am, I feel completely disconcerted too.

I think that feeling is the culprit to me spending like a mad person when I've not had a budget. It's a feeling that of course I still have more to buy as there's still loads of days until Christmas. I think that I actually shopped for presents every day until Christmas Eve! It was more about how much time was left rather than how much money I had. No wonder I was still paying it back in March and April!

I've enjoyed working to a budget and being organised in this area too, so I'm going to be putting a small amount aside every month to save for extras like presents and insurances that cost more if you pay monthly.

Yesterday I had a fresh look through my wardrobe and oh my goodness! That's a place I've obviously really economised on! I can't actually remember the last time I bought anything new! Because I don't like how I currently look I don't feel it's worth dressing me up right now! So, I've decided to put a small amount aside on "personal upkeep" as I think that deserves more attention than it's currently getting.

Since starting this diary I feel things are slowly coming into focus. All those times I've created a superficial outlook or had the attitude that next month will sort things out are coming to a natural end, and as it's all slowly happening it's not a wrench and doesn't feel too uncomfortable. I've always known that writing things down is good, but never done it. Now I don't want to be without it!

debtfree2015_2

wow those vouchers will be handy - have you been working towards them for long? Mine seem to take an eternity to build!
I usually split mine, so Il target say £30 for DD, to put towards presents, then the next £30 I will decide to use for clothes, or household bits, or days out.

You are doing really well with your budgeting:T

LondonGirl252

Muffin! You're doing so well!!

Hope you have a lovely MSE weekend!

MuffinTops

debtfree2015 wrote: »

wow those vouchers will be handy - have you been working towards them for long? Mine seem to take an eternity to build!
I usually split mine, so Il target say £30 for DD, to put towards presents, then the next £30 I will decide to use for clothes, or household bits, or days out.

You are doing really well with your budgeting:T

Thanks DF2015. I've never really had a proper budget like this before, but it's working really well for me.

I started using survey sites a few months back and was quite intermittent with them, but I've found that the more I fill in the more regularly I seem to be hearing from them. I just received a survey request from a company I'd forgotten about and I'm almost up to £5 on that one too!

I like the idea of splitting the amounts and have been toying with the idea of 50% on saving and 50% on me. I think that's the best compromise really.

MuffinTops

LondonGirl252 wrote: »

Muffin! You're doing so well!!

Hope you have a lovely MSE weekend!

Thanks LG. I've just been reading your updates and it sounds like you're getting the same type of inspiration flashes. It's funny that once I scratched the surface of wanting to be better with money, other things (like the reasons things started to get so bad) pop to the forefront. This site is amazing financial therapy for me.

LondonGirl252

MuffinTops wrote: »

Thanks LG. I've just been reading your updates and it sounds like you're getting the same type of inspiration flashes. It's funny that once I scratched the surface of wanting to be better with money, other things (like the reasons things started to get so bad) pop to the forefront. This site is amazing financial therapy for me.

Yeah absolutley!! I feel exactly the same, I hate to think what mess I'd be in now if I hadn't found this site and everyone on here :j

MuffinTops

Well, I've been pretty quiet for a while now, but I'm still on the MSE ways. I was actually away to regroup and make some definite financial decisions (deep ).

My main debt, of which I pay interest is one credit card, which is well under £1k. It's £658.32 today. The other larger debt I have is a default so there's no interest on it and a set amount each month with no hassles. I know I should feel a little more urgency towards that one (and embarrassment) but I've pushed past those feelings and accept the fact that this is now under control and not accummulating. It has a definite end date of which I can't add to while my DD is in place and comfortable.

So, I have been looking at my mortgage. Currently the end date is August 2020 - which I'm not comfortable with. I've had a mortgage far too many years to be ok with another 8 years. I'm in a variable rate mortgage with no early payment fees so I can OP on this as often as I want to.

So, my new plan of action is to work harder at clearing that credit card. In reality I should be able to force that out within 2-3 pay days. Once that's done I'll be working hard to over pay as much as muffinly possible onto my mortgage. Every spare penny, every NSD day everything will all go towards whittling that away as the thought of seeing my mortgage crumble away is incredibly exciting to me.

My monthly salary can include a budget for home maintenance & decorating, as that's improtant this year as there are a lot of minor things that desperately need looking at. I need to create a snag list for myself to keep that in order which will be very motivating crossing things off as I go along.

This month I have had 2 NSD's already and the weather is perfect for my cycle commute too which saves me a fortune each day.

I actually have some money in the bank today too! That never happens on the 10th of any month, let alone January!!!! So that's my reason to celebrate this month! I have a couple more bills which come out close to the end of the month so that money is already earmarked, but even so. This is the first month in a LLLLOOONNNNGGGG time where I know I won't be getting any overdrawn fees :T.

Well, apologies for being so quiet for so long, but I'm back and I've got a real mission! Wooh!