Saving money and getting more organised

thriftylass

Hello, I thought I start a wee diary, thread about saving money, getting organized and kicking my behind in gear to get off the couch and get things done, a bit every day. Rather than procrastinating and finding excuses , which I’m good at . Sort of a mix of the Flylady thread, grocery challenge, the various savings threads, try to make extra cash and decluttering etc ones. As you see they are all already out there, but they were so busy and as I wanted a bit of everything I just couldn’t keep up with being on 5 or 6 different ones. Even if noone reads this it’ll be my little motivator and I can keep track of where I am and hopefully a few of you will join me.

Just to introduce me. I’m a working mum in my early 30s with a partner and a 1.5 year old. After moving house and getting a new job (with less money), the list of things to do is endless. Firstly the savings need to be build up again after getting the house and doing maybe a third of it up. There is so much more to do. The trick is to have/make the time and money to do it.

I'll be back later on with a wee list of things I want to achieve lets say till christmas

Tada

TL

quintwins

Hi thriftylass, i think dairys are fab ideas, we don't see many over here i have one over in MFW and i find it a great motivater having somewhere to confess my 'sins' generally stops me making most of them in the first place. Mines pretty much the same, lists my meal plans, how my savings are going and keeping track of my spending and a few general chores that i want to get done that day, anything else is a bonus

Good luck and i'll be subscribing.

thriftylass

Thanks quintwins, yes I hope here's the right place as I don't have any debt and the mortgage is hubbys domain but like the idea of doing things old style like saving and cooking. I'll have a look at yours later.

TL

thriftylass

Ok here it goes, things I want to achieve till Christmas. This time really, as I’m good at making lists upon lists and then that’s it .

1. Stop smoking; not just for my health etc also for my wallet as I can save about £300 till Christmas
2. Meal plan more and do proper shopping lists
3. Cycle to work, take my HM lunch with me and leave my wallet at home

→ all these things hopefully help me to find out where my money goes each month and achieve loads of NSDs

Although I don’t SEEM to spend much, after groceries, buying cigs and little top up shops, buying the occasional drink for the house, unexpected gifts etc and the money is gone and saving are tapped into.

After paying my bills (not that big as I’m the one responsible for saving money in our family and hubby pays more bills) I should theoretically have £990/790 pounds left depending on if it’s a 4 or 5 weeks nursery bill month. Of this I save £40 for Christmas, £130 for a rainy day and £110 goes to stock up baba’s account which got raided after the house buy. So I should have £710/510 left for groceries etc but I don’t, so where does it go??? :mad:

I went through the statements of the last 4 weeks. And was a bit shocked. £1341 went on bills, nursery, savings, essentials and HH and food (£300!). Whereas a grand total of £358 (about £100-150 over what I have, hence the savings being used) went on God-knows-what, eating out, and ……:eek: .So the HH and food (or T£sco bill) can definitely come down. I noticed I underestimated bills for mobile and the milk man (thought £15, are more like £20). Stopping smoking and frittering money away daily on snacks etc will have to stop too. I pay leccy and gas and already changed to a cheaper supplier this month. I also started a little notebook to keep record of my spending this month.

4. Do one job in the house every day; not incl. cooking dinner, the dishes or the washing, but things like decluttering, diy, cleaning etc

So for instance, yesterday, after the wee one was in bed and we had our dinner, I grabbed a bucket and finally cleaned the conservatory roof. Tonight I’ll finally vacuum and mop. And maybe count out my loose change.

zippychick

hi there

we don't tend to have individual diary threads on the Old Style board, because if everyone started one, no one would be able to find the moneysaving advice they need.

i've moved this to this board as it is specifically for diaries and it doesn't have to be debt related.

good luck, hope it goes well for you.

Zip:A

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

thriftylass

zippychick wrote: »

hi there

we don't tend to have individual diary threads on the Old Style board, because if everyone started one, no one would be able to find the moneysaving advice they need.

i've moved this to this board as it is specifically for diaries and it doesn't have to be debt related.

good luck, hope it goes well for you.

Thanks, I wasn't sure and was hoping someone put it in the right place, Cheers

quintwins

lol DFW are happy to have anyone here, as are the MFW (i don't and hopefully never will have a mortgage) you'll get loads of replies over here


A spending dairy is a fab idea i do them when i think spending gets out of hand, i use a cheapy note book and put my meal plans in the front and spending in the back.

medusasmummy

hi thriftylass.

just wanted to let you know something must be in the water!!! i did exactly the same thing on monday. i started a blog on a blog site as a lot of posts get merged or lost on MSE due to the sheer numbers of people using it. it's more for my own use so i can see what i've achieved each day, month etc. and motivate myself in to getting organised.

good luck on your quest, and i hope you achieve your goals

thriftylass

medusasmummy wrote: »

hi thriftylass.

just wanted to let you know something must be in the water!!! i did exactly the same thing on monday. i started a blog on a blog site as a lot of posts get merged or lost on MSE due to the sheer numbers of people using it. it's more for my own use so i can see what i've achieved each day, month etc. and motivate myself in to getting organised.

good luck on your quest, and i hope you achieve your goals

THat's what I thought, there's so many people here. But I don't know how to start a blog or where and I guess there's so many too . But you're right even if noone sees this we're motivating ourselves etc.

thriftylass

Let’s start with baby steps and plan the next 4 days without spending money

Meal plan

Wed D Chicken casseur
Thu Bf cereal
L HM sandwich
D pasta carbonara
Fri Bf cereal
L leftover curry in freezer
D slow cook chilli con carne
Sat Bf cereal
L bacon sarnie
D BBQ @BIL’s (might have to buy a bottle of wine or sth though)

Do one thing a day (DOTAD):

Wed [STRIKE]Bake bread, vacuum, clean bbq[/STRIKE] DONE

Thu [STRIKE]fix bike for friend to use[/STRIKE] DONE

Fri sort out desk

Sat take the wee one out for free and [STRIKE]cut his hair[/STRIKE] DONE

My savings targets

12/2012 and 12/2013

Christmas 300/300 to pay for food, some crafting stuff and a few presents and ingredients to make presents

Baba 1100/1700 need to repay him as we raided his account after we bought the house and then I want to save £50 a month for him till he’s 18 or so

Rainy day 1000/3000 this is for a rainy day or like this year towards the car service before Christmas etc.

Might open another one for pleasure/treats/hols next year

thriftylass

Well, the chicken chasseur is bubbling away and smelling lovely. Managed not to spend a penny today. Done the vacuuming, the washing and cleaned the BBQ. So a good start. Gonna have a rake through the freezer and take stock, but I think I need to do a wee top up shop on Friday as we're running out of fruit and veg.

Found enough meat for a while especially fish, so gonna have look for easy tasty recipies.