Staying Positive & Focused !!!

mamato3

Just wanted to note down some of my goals I'm hoping to stick to in April.

1. Be in the red at the end of the month!
2. save £50 into ISA (this is already set up buy I skip it every month)
3. stick to the £300 food budget.
4. save another £200 into holiday savings.
5. pay another £75 to cc
6. keep up with £1 a day saving tin

Well that looks like a pretty good place to start! Oh and stay off the Grabbit forums! I love it over there lol!

Happy Friday everyone!

mamato3

Okay so things aren't going to plan so far lol! I have skipped the £50 savings into the ISA there's no way that can be afforded this month, have paid £50 to the cc which brings it down to £1395 which is great:) but I don't think I'll be able to pay much more this month I bought 2 birthday presents for June birthdays only £10 each but really hadn't budgeted for them and also a dress for myself for holiday/birthday party coming up in June at £14 again not budgeted for, so had to cut back somewhere! Hubby has overtime which should cover the tax at the end of the month which is one thing less to worry about! Have only put £75 into holiday savings at the minute I'm still hoping to get £200 by the end of the month again we shall see!

My boys are sick so I don't think there'll be too many outings over Easter (which might be a good thing) although I hate to see them poorly:(

Hope everyones having a good Easter

mamato3

Not feeling so positive & focused this morning didn't sleep very well last night with a lot of stuff rattling about in my head. Mostly money related and I got my appointment for my op which is the end of the month. Which I'm pleaseed about but anxious at the same time! Took my head out of the and and checked the bank this morning ... sigh.... I get my wages weekly while hubby is monthly so i have £554 going in during the month but £216 dds still to come out and £135 in extras to cover, this is my night out, ohs birthday & 2 other birthdays for this month and £25 into savings. Needless to say there isn't much left for petrol & food. This also isn't covering any back to school costs which i'm estimating will be about £90 for music lessons/breaks etc... so what to do? I hadn't planned on ebaying this month as there wasn't really that much to put on but I guess i should just put on what I have. Do I still go out with the girls? Would hate not to they're a fab bunch of girls and we don't really get to catch up very often. Do I not put any more savings away? This might have to be done I guess £75 saved is better than nothing. I have a huge amount of 2s & 1s that I will bag up and lodge into the bank after the holidays that will help towards the 2 birthdays .. £10 in a card plus a boots gift set. I always worry about birthdays mainly because we have the most kids in our families and I always feel that I have to make up for people buying my 3 .. maybe this is silly.

With my op being at the end of the month I won't be able to do extra days so this cuts £100 out of what I thought we would have this month! Again not much I can do there will have to let my boss know when I go back in on Wednesday, at least I get full pay when I'm off. I'm hoping hubby's overtime maybe comes in a bit early it would sure help.

Sorry for the ramble had all that rattling about and just wanted to put it down.

mamato3

I now have the boys flu thing so I didn't get the ebay stuff listed or the 2s & 1s bagged up - still plenty of time will hopefully feel better and do it tomorrow night. The boys are feeling much better which is great:) I'm feeling bad though that we didn't do to much with them over Easter they're great kids and don't really ask for much - although the weathers been pretty rubbish so there wouldn't have been much to do! Hope everyone's had a good Easter.

mamato3

I'm extremely deflated and fed up today:( still feeling pretty rubbish from the cold and I've just taken £80 out of the £1 a day savings:( the numbers just weren't adding up so I gave in and took it out The kiddies needed new shoes also and I guess at least the money was there. I think I will also cancel the night out there's not much point going out and trying to find the cheapest thing to eat and drink and being miserable doing it!

So all in all a pretty rubbish April so far Hopefully things will get better.

Sammie_03

hi mamato3

just wanted to pop onto your diary to say hello!!!

at least you didnt have to dip into your budget for kiddies shoes so you shouldnt feel to bad on yourself. kids are expensive little monkeys arent they!!

*subscribes*

xxxx

mamato3

Welcome to my ramblings Sammie 03:) You're so right these kiddies don't come cheap lol! It's as well we love them so darn much!

I feel a little better today about raiding the £1 a day, but onwards and upwards as they say! Girlie night was cancelled - a few of the others wern't feeling great either so I didn't feel too much like the only party pooper! I will do a mid month check in on Sunday the thought of it is already a little scarey!

At least I'm off now til Monday Yippee:)

mamato3

So here goes mid-month check in - gulp!

food £248.84:eek:
petrol £120.00:o
shoes/clothes £125.50:eek:
Gifts 30, Take Aways £21.50, misc £29.50, lotto £16.00.

Not great this month - I feel like things have got a little out of control with spending! And as we're having a bit of a get together for ohs birthday things aren't going to get much better for the rest of the month!

Have a nice sunday everyone!

mamato3

I've decided that this month the overdraft will be my friend lol! Not much I can do. DD came back from school with music lessons/exam costs of £108 arrghh! But she's so talented how can I not pay for this I love to listen to her play and so amazed that a child of mine can read music and play so lovely:) and a further £21.50 for DS breaks/milk sigh.... but hey ho onwards and upwards.

Hubby's small gathering of friends and family for his birthday has turned into a rather larger gathering of friends and family and dare I say a party ... gulp ... any how seeing as the overdraft is my buddy why not! April's already a wash out might as well do it style :rotfl:

Hope everyone else's Aprils been better.

mamato3

At the minute most of my financial plans have pretty much gone by the wayside - I had my surgery at the end of April and its taken longer than I'd hoped to get back on my feet which means leaving hubby in charge of shopping - not good lol! The poor man didn't know what way he was going - but thankfully feelling a lot better today so I need to get my butt back into MSE gear and get sorted for holiday and try and get the shopping budget under some sort of control! My spending diary hasn't been updated in a few weeks so really don't know where I stand with everything at the minute, need to have a good look through the bank accounts.

Anyways its good to be back on the board hopefully it'll give me the boost I need to get back on track:)