Cleggie's frugaltastic journey to financial freedom!!

cleggie

Thanks Spigs,

all of you on the GC (and here) have been so amazing with giving advice and support, so its no wonder i have managed to keep under budget with you all on my side

Where are you off to on your hols? Have a great time!

PennyGrabber

cleggie wrote: »

One benefit of them doing that, is that when i am due to get my CB on the monday, it is always available on the Sat

However, these days i dont touch my CB, it goes straight into my ISA.

I opened a new account last week, its an e-savings one. My plan now is to Split my CB every month.
I get £134 (approx, plus a few p extra) so i am going to put the £100 into my ISA (for xmas, car stuff, birthdays etc) and then the remaining £34ish will go into the e-savings account and that will be my emergency fund account. At the end of every week, whatever money is left from my food shop will also go into the e-s account.

Good plan - having that to fall back on will make you feel so much better - not so hand-to-mouth type living! It certainly does me, anyway.

cleggie wrote: »

Thanks Spigs,

all of you on the GC (and here) have been so amazing with giving advice and support, so its no wonder i have managed to keep under budget with you all on my side

Where are you off to on your hols? Have a great time!

Thanks - wish I could take my own advice!!


Re banking, I'm with HSBC and I can't fault them. There's a button that says 'pending transactions' and anything due to come in or go out on the following day is listed there, so I can make sure I'm covered for it. I don't know how I'd cope without olb now. I said as much to my mum, and she didn't understand as she doesn't have it. She is also, by the way, at the bottom of her overdraft every month, and had to take out a loan to cover credit card debts... Is there a link?!!

Food for thought, maybe! (At least that kind's free...!)

PG x

cleggie

Morning!

I agree PG, its a relief not to live hand-to-mouth. Although i will find things tight without the CB to rely on every month, but not as tight as things would be if i didnt save it!

My cat is currently out in the garden hunting down birds. We have loads of birds sround here, but she normally brings in mice. She woke us up this morning at 6am!!

Today i am off to my sisters house to pick up my older son. He went to wembley to watch the rugby with my sis and BIL yesterday and had a great time!
So, we are going to be having a roast dinner there, although i will take fish to eat, instead of eating their beef, as i'm not a huge fan of beef (or any red meat), and need to use up the fish!

I am thinking about becoming a vegetarian. I was veggie from the age of 13-19 but gave in when i was pregnant and craving a ham sandwich!!

Positives for today:
-Dont have to provide dinner
-Can relax instead of running around like a headless chicken like a normal sunday. usually sundays involve me getting everything ready for uni and school, but i have no uni, and the kids are on easter break.

In August, my internet and phone line will be up for renewel, so i must start ooking around for that. I currently pay £15 for internet, and £33 for phone (thats anytime calls)- thats every month. I am surei can get it cheaper!

Anyway, i am off to have a look at how to post an SOA. The other day i filled it in, but got confused how to post it on here!

cleggie

Just done the above SOA based on my income for the next 3 months.

I dont know how my financial situation will work out after that, as it all depends on if i get a job once my exams are over.

So, now that i wont have to put £40 a week in my car to get to uni, i'll be saving a fortune!

I have not included my CB or car expenses, as my CB covers this, as well as xmas and birthdays.

cleggie

After looking at my SOA, i think that i will try and save as much as possible over the next few months.

The town in which i live has no available childcare, hence my concerns re getting a job. There are 12 childminders in my town, all of them are full, and all of them have a full waiting list. My 7 yr old has been on the waiting list since August last year!

I am also going to withdraw my shopping money every Friday, in cash, and not use my debit card. I will put the £60 in a seperate purse and that'll be my food shopping purse.

cleggie

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 489
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 989

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 55
Telephone (land line)................... 33
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 33
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 15
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
counselling............................. 80
Total monthly expenses.................. 713

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Nursary........................1300......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........1300......100.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 989
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 713
Available for debt repayments........... 276

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 100

Amount left after debt repayments....... 176

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,300
Net Assets.............................. -300

Suffolk_lass

cleggie wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 489
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 989

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 55
Telephone (land line)................... 33
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250

Hi Cleggie,

I was looking through your SOA and the stand out item for me is the water charge at £55. I have three adults in my household (the teenage one of which takes 20 minute showers :eek:) and I am paying £35 a month. Not sure if your place is your own or a rental as your SOA doesn't say but I switched to a water meter (might be difficult if you are in a rental) and my water charges halved.

When you look at phone and internet deals you might want to include your mobile services as a number of colleagues (who live in the town; as opposed to us in a village where the same options are not available) have given up their land phones and taken mobile with mobile broadband. They reckon they are saving over £10 a month. We also put my DH on a sim only cell phone deal so he had 100 minues talk and 400 texts but now he has a data phone he is back on a higher rate to include the data charges. It kind of depends on what you use your landline for. We use free broadband Skype to my Mum as much as possible and she uses the BT inclusive deal for all calls up to 60 minutes (she sets the food timer so she rings off and calls back rather than exceed the 60 minutes too! :rotfl:). £58 a month just for overall telephony is over 5% of your budget - you are right, there are better options.

I just logged into BT to check what we are on and we are paying monthly line rental of £14.60 monthly plus
Broadband and Calls £24.10. This is the cost of our Package at £24.10 a month, charged in advance from 21 Mar 2012 to 20 Apr 2012. This gives us:
Calling Plan Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan
Broadband BT Total Broadband Option 3
less Credit : Special offer discount -£13.85 21 Mar - 20 Apr 12. It says "You get your Package at a special rate. We show this on your bill by giving you a refund of £13.85 a month"

I remember after Easter last year I rang BT to see what would be the best option for us and this is what we were put on and it is cheaper. They are pretty good at looking at your usage to see what is best for you. Also when we switched, they did something on the server at their end (some sort of re-pointing thing) and the net result was that our broadband speed doubled - still less than 1mb as it runs over telephone cables up a pole but much better .

BTW I echo what Pennygrabber says about HSBC - their olb is very good although I do now have a little device that generates a code which makes logging in while on business trips or on holiday impractical unless I take it with me which I don't like doing as it is a single point of failure. We also have a Co-op account and it is very basic but v easy to move the surplus (if there is any) to the ol savings account.

Sorry for the mammoth post - I thought our experience might be a good comparison for you.

Have a good Easter break - you have certainly earned it!
SL

cleggie

I have had a NSD today. I have just returned from my sisters house, where my BIL made a cracking roast dinner!
I dont eat red meat and didnt want to use up my chicken, so took some frozen salmon instead.
It was lovely with the roast trimmings!

Tempted to go and buy a bottle of red to enjoy in the beautiful sunshine, but dont really want to go to any SMs today!

SL-Yes, i agree, the water charge is horrendous, but this is a typical (if not, cheap!) monthly rate in Cornwall. Our monthly rates and bills are awfully expensive!! Thats the cheapeast i have managed to get it in years! I did look into reducing it, but i had to have 3 children or be on benefits, and i am neither!

I am going ot have a good look around for the best internet/phone deal. I dont have cable where we live, and the majority of the village can only get a BT landline i think, so the options are quite limited. So mi might have a look around at the BT deals.

cleggie

So, this week is going to be REALLY tight. I have managed to scrape together £5, and thats all i have until Thursday.
Normally i would get my CTC on Friday, but because its Good Friday this Friday, it goes in 1 day earlier!
Lucky for me that it lands on a tight week!!

I will definitely need bread and milk, but thats all i think.

I forgot to mention that as well as the sweets and mini eggs etc for the kids over easter from my mum, my sister also got the kids an easter egg each! So i dont need to spend any money at all on easter eggs or mini eggs as i already have them all!
Brilliant!

cleggie

Good morning!
I am waiting for the bank to open and then i can go into town and deposit some money in.

I was thinking last night- before becoming a regular on the MSE boards, i woud have been so worried about only having £5 for the week, that i woud have not deposited the money for the DD into the bank and let myself get charged for it being returned unpaid.
But now, it doesnt worry me too much, only having £5 for the week. I know i can survive, i know i have plenty of food in the house. Don't get me wrong, i did contemplate keeping the money instead of depositing it into the bank (old habits die hard!) but i knew it was a very stupid idea!

And besides, its not even a week, its only Mon, Tues and Wednesday!

Today i will:
-Check OLB
-Deposit money
-Work out next weeks budget
-Take mince out of freezer for tonights dinner
-Start exam revision
-Browse the 'freebies' board for things to add to xmas hampers
-Have a look whats on at the Kids AM session at the cinema next week