New life, new me......

WelshWoofer

I've been skulking around the forums for years now and became debt free about a year ago.
Here comes the big but - my life has changed massively in the last year - I'm 40, now divorced (a good thing), been promoted and I've taken control of my life in most ways - I'm a new person. Life begins at 40 and all that!

The only problem is that I can see my spending creeping slowly out of control again and it needs to be reigned in before it gets out of hand.
I can account for most of the excess spending - redecoration following separation, recent holiday, renewed efforts at a social life, losing weight so needing new clothes.... I could go on.
I've had a year of change and now the time has come to settle down into my new life and be responsible again.


The positives I can list include....

• Being healthier - I now run and swim at least 4 times a week
• Being thinner - I've lost 18lbs and only have a few to go
• Being happier - I like living on my own (with the dog)
• Being promoted - I've proven to myself that I am good at my job
• Having a nicer home - all traces of ex now gone and its a house I like and appreciate
• Making new friendships - took a bit of courage to start with but I joined some clubs, made more effort with people I already know and generally try to do new things, some that are out of my comfort zone
• Taking better care of myself - I know I look better than I did 12 months ago - not just my weight or clothes but my skin is better, I look more relaxed and feel more confident

BUT there has been a down side - all that cost money!

Its a slippery slope and I need to cap my extravagances now before I do any real damage.

I get a pay rise with September's pay packet so now seems a good time to reevaluate spending and my habits.

So as of today I'm starting a diary tracking what I spend money on and what is really necessary and what I can cut back on.
Ideally, I'd like to save £200 in from September's pay and pay off another £100 from the credit card which has started to creep up.

So the journey starts here....

WelshWoofer

So here goes then....
Its a Saturday and so I'm not at work (I'm a teacher) and have had a good day getting the usual weekend chores done and generally unwinding.
I've managed three dog walks (including one at 7am in the park as the sun was getting going and a nice hour long one this afternoon), a mile long swim, the weekly supermarket shop, cleaning the house from top to bottom, doing the laundry and a few other household bits and pieces.

I don't have any social plans this weekend apart from last night when I met my gay best friend (he calls himself that!) for a walk with the dogs and a good chat so will be pleasing myself pretty much.

So spending for today kicked off with a £30 shop at Sainsburys using a £6 off voucher and some Nectar points (was initially £39). This included all food for the week and household stuff, a few toiletries and dog food. I take packed lunches to work so needed to get things for that too. Looking back I could have been quite a bit more frugal, I did a "I fancy that" kind of shop rather than being strict and only buying what I absolutely needed - a lot of things will last 2 weeks though so it could have been worse.
Then, I bought my neighbour a bouquet of flowers and a card for her new baby - wasn't sure what to get the baby (she's got quite bad OCD and can be a bit funny about not buying things herself so I thought flowers were safest) - total cost £10.50.

Next to the local shops where I managed to part with £8 - not strictly necessary - could have done without really.
Almost forgot the £3,20 for swimming....
So a total spend of approx £52 - but there shouldn't be any further spending until at least Thursday.

I get paid on Friday (not exactly sure what the amount will be yet as its at my new pay scale rate) and that's when the new monthly budget will kick in. Will have to spend a bit of time working out exactly what goes out every month (essentials like mortgage, bills, petrol etc), what I can afford to spend on food and what I can realistically part with on social things and "nice to have" bits and pieces.

On the positive side, I've stuck to my diet today, got plenty of exercise, the house is spick and span and I've had a nice relaxing day.
Right off to watch the Paralympics .......

pixiechick99

Hello again WW - good to see you with a new diary:D

Your list of positives is excellent...it's something I should probably stop and do at times, rather than stress about other things:o

I shall look forward to reading:)

fedupandskint

We have both changed so much over the last year - for the better! Go us!

For me, its time to focus on repaying the credit cards for good, I started a new diary today which I've been thinking of doing for the last couple of months and didn't. Took the plunge to do it and start the job and start the journey to becoming debt free.

Let's support each other to get to where we want to over the next year - good luck!

WelshWoofer

Hello there Sparkles and Pixie! Thanks for dropping in - I wasn't expecting anyone to read my ramblings!
Good to see you both and thanks for your support.

So today is a lovely day and I've started it well with a dog walk and a 5K run. Found the run quite hard due to no breakfast (naughty woofer), a big swim yesterday and the heat, but its done now and I feel much better for it.
I'm going to take the dog to water park later for a walk if its not too hot - all free activities so far;)

On the subject of exercise, in the past my efforts at getting fit revolved around gyms and classes and I always ended up giving up. For the past few months I've just stuck to swimming in the local pool (£3.20 a time), running and walking (free) and a couple of DVDs from amazon that cost about £10 for the lot. And its worked!
I've registered for two 10K runs next year - one for charity and one for "fun" and so am working up to the distance. Considering I didn't run at all a couple of months ago I'm not doing too badly. 10K still seems a very long way though!

No plans for any spending today apart from picking up some cans of diet pepsi from B&M for work (one thing I can't do without as I don't drink tea or coffee) and I'll take a bit of time later to work out my outgoings properly (not guessed as usual!).
All food will be from home today and I'll make a packed lunch for work tomorrow.
The washing is in the machine and will dry on the line and I may even hoover out the car if I feel the urge later on.
Right enough faffing about, need some lunch.

maman

:wave: called in to wish you good luck!

Oh and you forgot to add the small expense of buying a new car!!:rotfl:

WelshWoofer

maman wrote: »

:wave: called in to wish you good luck!

Oh and you forgot to add the small expense of buying a new car!!:rotfl:

Oh yeah!:rotfl: That little thing!
It actually didn't cost me any more than the old one did, no deposit and virtually the same monthly payments - probably why it slipped my mind:o

Just back from B&M and another dog walk - total spend of £3.50 on 12 cans of diet pepsi (for work) and 2 packets of poppets as a treat (at just 180 cals and 25p for a box its a diet must!).
That's it for today though spending-wise.

A little bit of good news - the washing machine that has recently decided not to do its spin cycle properly and leave the washing sopping wet (but clean) has had a second lease of life and the towels came out spun and clean.:T At least there's not going to be the added expense of a repair or new machine for a while - I could manage with it not spinning properly really as there's only my washing to worry about, no hordes of kids here but its still a bit of a pain! So a bit of a relief for now at least.

WelshWoofer

Outgoings
Mortgage = £467
Insurances (dog, car, house, salary protection) = £88
Elec, gas and water = £120
TV (sky and tv licence) = £49
Car = £160
Mobile phone = £16
Club membership = £12
Union subs = £8

Total = £920

Council tax is already paid up for the year.

I think my salary will be in the region of £1665 from the next pay day.
That leaves approx £750 for the month which also needs to cover food, petrol and spending money.

With regards to the food budget I think I can manage comfortably on £120 a month for all food, drinks, cleaning and laundry stuff, toiletries and dog food.
Petrol isn't too bad either probably £40 a month would suffice (I live very close to work and don't really go too far on the weekends apart from a trip home to Wales once every 2 months or so).

Spending money is the stumbling block - how much do I allow myself to cover socialising, clothes, presents, bits and pieces, hair cuts etc?

So £750 minus £120 for food and £40 petrol leaves £590.
Sounds like plenty but it seems to disappear quite happily.

The plan for September will be (from this £590 "surplus")....
£50 petrol for a trip to Wales (family birthday)
£30 a week spending money (4 weeks until next payday) = £120
£60 hair cut and colour (may be less if I decide to do it myself)
Total = £230
I'll give myself a contingency fund of £60 (that I'll try hard not to touch) which will mean that I can save £200 and pay £100 off the CC.

Hmmmm, sounds ok in theory doesn't it?


Now I need to decide whether to get the spending money out on a weekend and then when its gone its gone, or whether to just to draw it out of the bank when I need it. Am I likely to spend it in the first day or two and then be poor for the rest of the week? Think it will be a trial and error thing.

So all this starts on Friday with payday, just need to get there without spending more than £10!

lessonlearned

Hi WW - just dropped by to offer support.

I need to get a bit of grip too - mañana.

Rainbow_Bridge

Well done on your achievement list, you've done great!!

All the best for your new goals x.

Bitsy_Beans

*subscribes*

Dropping by to be a cheerleader