Budget or bust........again

XSpender

XSpender wrote: »

Update on last week's list:

Wed - [STRIKE]ring insurance assessors and rearrange visit[/STRIKE] done
Wed - [STRIKE]open an on line savings account for DS [/STRIKE]- need to visit branch so will have to wait until next weekend
Thurs - [STRIKE]Evening appointment, home late[/STRIKE]
Fri - [STRIKE]Hospital appointment[/STRIKE] and don't need to go back for a year:D
Fri - [STRIKE]Food shopping[/STRIKE] - done
Fri - [STRIKE]Buy 2 x 3 year old girl birthday presents[/STRIKE] done
Sat -[STRIKE]Out all day [/STRIKE]
Sun - [STRIKE]Washing and housework[/STRIKE] washing done and downstairs done

Plans for this week:

Mon - Nowt it's my birthday:bdaycake:
Tue - Ring bank and make appointment to open an account for DS on sat morn
Tue - Ring hairdresser and check time of appointment sat PM
Tue - Ring baby shop and see if interested in DS old stuff
Tue - Induction at free work gym
Wed to Fri - Send off 2 PPI claims
Sat AM - Bank appointment, small shop at green grocers and co-op for essentials only
Sat PM - Haircut and colour
Sun AM - Washing and housework
Sun PM - DS at a birthday party

The holiday/college savings are now just over £160, £5 gone adrift between DH getting the money and handing it over but happy with the £30 I have added to the total. Also added the STC from my bank account.

I must raise another couple of hundred from selling some stuff if I am going to find the money for the college fees. Most of the holiday money is coming out of next month's wages and 2 months worth of expenses I get paid next month too. It is the extra money I need for the college fees I am worried about. If I don't get the paid I can't do year 2 and if I defer it a year or 2 the price goes throught the roof.

I will also have £120 'beer' savings by then but I don't want to use these. I have put the first £60 in a jar on the shelf in the living room as an incentive for DH. He thinks he spent more than that a month on beer but it was all I could afford to pull out.

We have masses of food in the house so I have decided that I am going to spend a maximum of £10 between today and the 11th August on food shopping. On Saturday I am going to the greengrocers next to the bank to buy some fruit and the co-op across the precinct for anything we are desperate for like milk or bread and that is it.

I will then have only 2 Fridays when I usually go food shopping so I may go food shopping on the 11th and then have another £10 to last from 17th when I would usually go shopping until the 24th which will take me in to the next pay day.

Kitchenbunny

Happy Birthday XSpender! Hope you've had a lovely day

K xx

XSpender

Thanks Kitchenbunny:)

Just a mini update while having a break at work:

• I haven't made my phone calls today but will do it when I get in as will be home before 5
• Found 5p on the floor:j
• The 10p cuppas are going well and some days I seem to be drinking less than I did when they were full price
• DH got paid today and got £114 more than I budget for so that will ease the pressure a bit this month and mean the holiday/college savings should remain untouched. I would love to add another £40 to make them up to £200 but that is pushing it as I have only just enough money to cover everything for the next 3 weeks. Our miscellanous budget has gone over which is why it's tight.
• I have meal planned all meals up to and including the 13th August with lots of F&V and no repeat meals. I have even got a few new recipes to try from the GC thread and the cheap family meals website:D
• I have costed this weeks shopping on Mr A and it is coming in at £13.16. If it wasn't for GF bread I would be under a tenner.:mad: I may need a bag of spuds though as mine are very sprouty:(
• £1.76 added to the pot from the STC and then made a booby and thought I had transfered this to the holiday pot but hadn't. I had moved the same amount from the CA but I am sure I won't miss £1.76 so left it in the holiday pot too

My plans for tonight are to make the phone calls, tidy upstairs, sort the clean laundry out so DH will be more inclined to do the ironing and go for a ride on my bike. :eek: I haven't been out on my bike since DS was conceived in 2009:eek: (In fact it was before I was running so it was 2008!!!!)

In other good news I got the test results back about my coeliac antibodies and they are back to the level of a 'normal' person:T No wonder I have more energy and want to go on my bike, I even have a gym induction at the work gym this evening;)

I must find an additional £200-250 still between now and the 31st August to cover our holiday spends and the balance of my college fees. Let's hope the baby shop lady comes up trumps:)

XSpender

Got 2 out of 3 calls made but not the one that may raise some dosh. I must do this tomorrow. I keep procrastinating about the big things that ma raise us hard cash but spend ages on the things that will only save us a bit. Why is that I wonder?

DH came home with £15 as a contribution to petrol money after taking a colleague to work last week so it has gone straight in the holiday fund bringing the total to £180.01.:T

DH likes to spend his bit of pocket money on the odd horse bet and today he came home with £130 from a fiver bet:D He only ever puts a five on max and hasn't had a flutter in a couple of weeks. He has given me half the money and wants me to get some new jeans with it for our holidays and or some trousers for work. I did suggest that we put it in the holiday pot but he is adamant that he wants us to have a treat with it.

Didn't get my housework done but saved some bits in the fridge by parceling up and sticking in the freezer including tinned pineapple . I have also written a list of everything from my 2 week meal plan and shopped from the stores where possible. My £10 shopping target looks a bit unrealistic but will be under £20 easily:D leaving me almost £60 for the next 2 weeks when I will need more meat.

XSpender

On the way to pick DS up from nursery the clutch went on my car tonight:( Managed to get to him but couldn't drive home. DH and a colleague managed to tow the car home and DH knows someone who will pick it up tomorrow and take it to his work so he can mend it over the weekend.

I am gutted that all the money saing I have done so far this month is going to go on the car:(:cry I am also worried that I won't have enough now to pay last years college fees. Bl00dy college finance telling me I qualified for a student loan when I didn't:mad: If they had told me earlier I could have paid the fees over the year.:mad: If I can't pay my fees I can't enrol on the 2nd year and the year after the fees are going up massively.

I went to Mr S between work and the car breaking and was dead chuffed at myself choosing basics spuds, finding some basics cooking bacon that wasn't on their web site when I was looking at prices in the afternoon, getting a GF loaf reduced and remembering fennel seeds for a recipe I am making at the weekend. Seems silly feeling chuffed about saving pennies when the car blew up and is going to cost hundreds.:( It is an old car and things are bound to go wrong, I'm just feeling sorry for myself and a bit worried.

I told DH this is why we must have more savings behind us that are for emergencies, not saving up for Christmas or holidays. Poor DH he is gutted too as his winnings may have to go on the car too.

XSpender

Transfered £150 from the holiday pot to the current account for the pick up truck and parts. Not sure yet exactly how much it will cost, won't know until Saturday when DH works on it but DBIL who works on Aud1s thinks it is just the clutch and not the fly wheel so should be £100+ for the part and my back breaks need doing too.

If it was the fly wheel the car would be going to the scraper and I would have to scrape enough money together to get a little banger:eek:

Tried ringing the baby shop lady today but no reply, will try later.

DH and I are going to do a massive ebay session this weekend including the baby stuff if I can't get through on the number. We do have a lot to get rid of and I am going to list some batches of DS clothes at 99p a bundle.

I have estimated the car will be £300 so I need to raise £500 to cover the college fees. I will have enough from next month's salaries and expenses to cover the holiday spending money.

£500 is my new target by the end of August:eek: If the car is more than £300 I will up the target.

Wish me luck

XSpender

Phew, it's not as bad as I thought. Well a new fly wheel and 2 sets of pads and disks and a recovery truck = £196:) Will also need to buy DH mate a bottle of voddy as he is going to fit it for us and should all be sorted by Saturday.

I have signed up to the £10/day challenge and set myself a challenge of £20/day - that's £620 by our holiday. That will cover the car, college and holidays and put a little bit in the bank for the next emergency. It will be tough but I have felt sick with worry since it happened and even though I had the money avaialble to fix it, that money was meant for something else which I then have to worry about paying.

XSpender

DH is at work all day today sorting my car out. He is doing it himself so that will same me the cost of a bottle for his mate.

Tue - [STRIKE]Ring bank and make appointment to open an account for DS on sat morn[/STRIKE]
Tue - [STRIKE]Ring hairdresser and check time of appointment sat PM[/STRIKE]
Tue - [STRIKE]Ring baby shop and see if interested in DS old stuff[/STRIKE] No reply but will keep trying
Tue - [STRIKE]Induction at free work gym[/STRIKE]
Wed to Fri - Send off 2 PPI claims Never happened
Sat AM - [STRIKE]Bank appointment, small shop at green grocers and co-op for essentials only[/STRIKE] Been to bank but did a shop at Mr A instead last night
Sat PM - Haircut and colour
Sun AM - Washing and housework making a start this morning when I get off here but washing load in
Sun PM - DS at a birthday party

I was talking to DH last night about the Fiscal Fast as I was watching the U toob clips and he thought it was a good idea but he suggest, which I have to admit is a really good idea, that we start it the first week after payday. We will be pretending that we don't get paid for another week so will this month will be a 6 wek month and the following month will stil be a four week month but we will be 'living' an extra week out of each month's money if we can keep it up. I hope that makes sense:rotfl:

The main plan for tomorrow is to get some items on flea bay. Neither of us like doing flea bay but needs must to raise the money to cover the car/replace the holiday savings and cover my college fees.

I have an 0mega watch that cost £1200 ( no wonder I was up to my eyeballs in debt:mad::o) that I don't wear because it is uncomfortable and the back of the watch face irritates my wrist. I want to sell it but not sure how. I was offered £600 as a trade in but I want the cash to buy a cheaper watch and to go towards my college fees. I have seen a nice watch in New loook for £12:rotfl:

I am finally getting my food budget back under control and have £60 to last 17 days and all my meals are planned for the next 11 days. I will need fruit, milk, bread and a couple of lunch bits in that 11 days though.

Went to the bank to open a savings account for DS today. Not the best rate but convennient and it will keep running for years. While I was there I changed my account from a fee paying one to a classic account saving £9.95/month. Twice this month we could have made use of the services, for the car and for DH smashed phone screen but it was cheaper and easier to pay for it ourselves and we are not going abroad so no use for the car insurance. We don't have an overdraft (not allowed and don't want one either) so no savings there either. I can think of a lot better things to spend/save up for with £120 a year.

Went in to the garage earlier to get the last big box of soap powder as the one in the cupbaord is nearly empty to find there is none of my stock left:eek: Will eek out what is left as I am not shopping until next weekend. Famous last words;) especially as I am using milk that went OOD 2 days ago but skimmed never seems to go off as quick as semi or full.

Will report back how much we get on ebay tonight/tomorrow morning.

Kitchenbunny

I had a look at doing the fiscal fast but like the supermarkets too much (or should that be spending ... ponders) Congrats on getting the food budget back under control - I feel like I've drifted the last few days - which happens to coincide with being away from MSE - but today have made inroads into getting back on track. Tea tonight is chicken and bacon pie, and instead of using the whole pack I've made a tomato, bacon and chorizo pasta sauce for the freezer.

Have also got both freezers defrosted and have managed to fit all the contents into one now. The other will be switched off until there's a need for it. I need to learn better stock rotation!

Good luck with ebay!

K xx

XSpender

The ebaying never happened this weekend:mad: TBH we probably had too much on to get a great deal of it done with DH mending the car and DS at a party. The good news is I have been offered £450 cash for my watch yesterday from a dealer:) This is a huge chunk of my fees covered. I have to ring them back today to accept the offer.

When I looked at the receipt it actually cost me £1350:eek: I have thought about it and thought about it but I don't wear it, it causes an allergic reaction adn is uncomfortable to wear on my skinny wrists, it doesn't look like an expensive watch, I probably never paid for it anyway because I bought it on a credit card that was included in my IVA and was paid off with a small F&F and it's value is decreasing all the time.

My college qualification however is an investment in my career and will never loose it's value:)

The ebaying will start tonigh. DH is going to take the tow bar off my car and sell that too. We sold the caravan about 3 years ago and won't get anither one until DS is older and I have a car more suited to towing. I had also forgot about the travel cot as well. A lot of the stuff we are selling will be pick up only which saves the hassle of visiting the PO.

4 weeks left at work until our holiday:T I have budgeted £1000 for our spends for 2 weeks in the UK self catering. It seems a huge amount and we are expecting not to spend it all but we want to be able to eat out a couple of times and not have that horrible feeling we have had the last 3 times we have been on holiday that we don't have enough money for diesel to get home or to eat out or do anything. Anything left over will go in the pot for Christmas.