No Money - but BIG ambitions

Weronika

I have finished my spreadsheet for last month and we spend massive £800:eek:
I was worried about the food, but that bill was lower than I expected £350 instead of £400, but all the other things are just scary! Household (toilet paper etc) exp came around £70, baby related £150, £81 on haircuts (that's incl my highlights and I won't have them for 6 months), petrol £127 (but the 2nd tank will last for another 2-3 weeks, so it's only the £64 that counts for the Feb.

Petrol is definitely cheaper (at least 1 more week on each tank) since we changed the car, but because of £600 unexpected car repair bill it will take a year to see any benefits:mad:

All in all I now know why we don't have any money left when we should have - it all goes towards family emergencies on my OH side:( When I think how much dent in our mortgage this extra 2-3k a year could do...:(

But hopefully now we have set OP and it comes out by DD he'll see we don't have that much spare cash:D especially that all the savings from now on will sit safely in MY reg saver account:p

The mortgage OP is calculated so the LTV goes down to 60% and enables us to get better fix when current is finished next April. In case of any shortage, I have my reg saver finishing next Feb.

Any extra money (like cashbacks, vouchers) will go towards treats for us and kids. We decided that will give us nice balance so we don't feel like saving all the time. And I probably will need it most - being sleep deprived with new baby:rotfl:

Still the big expenses coming up: ~£400 for mattress this month, £4000 CC in July (we got £2500 already), water bill ~£370 and possibly ~£600 new laptop near Christmas as I work from home on a laptop and this one is slowly giving up after 3-4 years I had it. I will finish my maternity in Dec, so it will tie up nicely with sales:D Dec is an awful month we have to pay the car insurance as well~£800:eek: I don't even want to think about it now...:A

It could be better, but as long as we OP the mortgage and put some savings aside we should manage just fine. I knew it will be tight with new baby, but actually it looks like we are going to manage. If I keep repeating that we will manage will it make it true?
My updated SOA actually shows £220 monthly underspend, we should also have some more WTC and CTC and CB since I'm going to have 2nd baby in April (surely it cannot be less??) - all will go for rebuilding the £4000 CC saving pot and other unexpected expenses.
Overall, positive:j
I deserve some ice creams now

themadvix

I know what you mean about an ambitious goal - as they say, it's better to shoot for the moon and miss than never to really try I want to set targets for overpayments for this year, but I know I'll have to wait until we're actually living in the house!

I didn't know you could have KIT days with MA - that's interesting (files it away for future reference if she ever decides to have children!) Thanks for sharing that.

I think it's very wise to use the vouchers for treats etc - everyone needs balance and if you use the vouchers then you have the motivation to do all the bits to get them!

Enjoy the ice cream!

Weronika

I am bit down as it's not very good month money saving wise.

Payment wise not good either - I send 3rd reminder about my invoices (it's more than £1000 and 3 months of work so it does matter to me!) but still no response:mad:

Car is at the garage again - should be free as it's the same thing as last time, but I'm sure they will come up with something to say it's not their fault and we have to pay for fixing it again.

Both mobiles need replacing: his is a complete wreck, mine got a camera lens scratched (I do all the videos with my mobile and send them to my parents straight away so I need good one), luckily OH is not bothered, so we'll swap - he'll get mine and I get new one. I wanted new motorola razr but it's expensive without contract. I need to keep PAYG as no contract gives me the same allowance.

I'm stuck under house arrest until baby is born so the OH is doing all the shopping and I just gave up on any chance of keeping to the budget for the sake of our relationship. (How on earth you fail to notice you picked up carrier bags that were 43p each instead of free ones???:eek:)

It's just too much at the moment - I'll wait till LO is safely with us and than do damage control. I'm not saying I'll go out and splurge (I can't anyway:rotfl:) but I'm not going to update my grocery spreadsheet or anything like that this month. I would probably have a nervous breakdown if I looked at his receipts too closely:cool:.

I'll start in April, new tax year, with fresh goals, and it should be easier to see what I got to play with as all maternity, tax credits and such should be sorted than. I still hope for £500 reg savings though:rotfl:

themadvix

I've not quoted before so I hope this comes out alright!

Weronika wrote: »

Payment wise not good either - I send 3rd reminder about my invoices (it's more than £1000 and 3 months of work so it does matter to me!) but still no response:mad:
I totally understand how frustrating this is - have you tried the 'My solicitor will be in touch' line yet? I find that tends to get a good response! If they really don't pay up you could try taking them to the Small Claims Court - from what I've read it's fairly straightforward (but I've never done it myself!)

How on earth you fail to notice you picked up carrier bags that were 43p each instead of free ones???:eek: Yes I agree with you here!:eek:

I'll start in April, new tax year, with fresh goals, and it should be easier to see what I got to play with as all maternity, tax credits and such should be sorted than. I still hope for £500 reg savings though:rotfl:

- I think this is a very wise plan!

Vicky

misscousinitt

I echo the thing about the small claims court - have looked into it before, but not actually done it. Just google the information. Make sure you say to them that if it goes that far that they will need to pay costs too...then you won't be out of pocket.

Take care.

MCI

Weronika

I can't go to court, have no written contract

it's two of the oldest clients, they would just tell me what they want and usually I would do it, send invoice and they would pay it. What worries me is that there is no response, not even sorry no, we are not paying that.

If there is no payment by next Monday all the work I done will disappear though:D I'm very sorry to do that, as they were a nice steady clients for ages, but I won't pay from my very empty pocket right now for them (they are not struggling, despite economy, the opposite in fact). They have a week to pay up.

on the 2nd upsetting news were that my payments from account were stopped! I just wanted to transfer some over to diff bank account. Not happy bunny. I called customer support and apparently they were stopped for security reasons.I need to wait for their fraud dep to call me to confirm I really wanted to pay it! WHY I couldn't just confirm with customer services???!

And my toddler who was slightly unwell since Sat is now seriously unwell with some stomach bug. 3 washloads, cleaning floors and carpet my back is killing me.:( still, no sign of little madame coming out.she decided to stay put:cool:

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Poor you, it is a very tough time. Good luck to you all,

Squirrel

Weronika

Thanks Squirrel, I definitely need some

Good news, payments released:T
bad news, I tried 3 times and all 3 went through:mad:
luckily I had just enough in a account not to incur any fees:cool:

I tried to transfer back 2 of the payments and now those are stopped :mad: (another bank). I guess it did look suspicious, money in and out without sense or purpose:rotfl:

Little monkey just vomited all over just washed blanket:eek:
he is asking for food and it's breaking my heart I can only give him a spoon of water at the time:(

Weronika

*********RANT ALERT*************

Yup, I knew it, estimated car repair bill £300 and no guarantee that will be the end of it.:mad:
I'm due any moment and the car is staying in garage till Friday at least.
Does it EVER became any easier?? Can I for once win a lottery or something??

I've read debt free diaries and some people are in real trouble. I think I'm moaning mostly because I thought I have everything sorted and ready for baby and will have no financial worries for at least the 9 months leave - but now the savings are eaten up even before the baby is born. That was my safety net but again, I thought I wouldn't have to touch it until much later.

I called again this morning for refund of the yearly fee of the canceled CC, this time definitely should be credited to my account:cool: I'll wait and see.

I called again for my vouchers that were not delivered - I got email response to wait 10 days for replay (not delivery, mind you).

no payments of invoices today again, so I still cannot fill up my papers for maternity leave in case they need some tweaks - I'm not allowed to work on MA so I have to wait with that.

I think I'll just grab a pillow and scream coz this list can go on an on.
Loads of little annoying mildly irritating things that are driving me nuts!

Sepa74

HI Weronika, I'm sorry things are so difficult for you at the moment! But give it a few days and these worries will be the last thing on your mind, as you will be holding your 'little bundle of joy', all being well.

Keep holding on there and don't stress too much!!