So ashamed of myself!

sammy_kaye18

Hi All

Ive been trying for months (since November 2006) to get my little family by on just £308 which had to include bills and food. My food budget is down to just £90 a month for 2 adults, one child (aged 3) and a jack russell. Luckily we had our last lot of tax credits in December which helped with Xmas but since January it was back to £308.

Last month was particularly hard because bf had to work a month in advance at his new job before his first pay check so i had to find train fare too.

Anyway he had his first wage packet (£840) and my money (£308) and we went a bit nuts. i won tickets to see a concert in london whcih we had to rent a car (£100 bond and £32 for the car for 24 hours) for and came back the next night. We've had to catch up on paying rent and council tax again. Paying off debts which we owe to people who lent us money when we really needed it to begin with etc etc and now we have only £100 left - somehow we've spent £1000!!!!

So ashamed off myself all my OS/money saving ways went out the window. Has anyone else ever gone this majorly off track?? This month too we are getting our new tax credits award so we will have another £174 child tax credit adn £43 working tax credit which means our monthly income will be £1365!!! and im desperate not to do the same next month!!!!!

Has anyone else ever had a blow out liek this and how did they get on track - also any tips on how to avoid spending?? I dont have a credit card (never have had one), i have a cash point card and bf has a debit card which he rarely uses. Im terrible for just thinking oh ill just grab a tenner incase though

any tips??

lynzpower

Sammy,

How much have you ACTUALLY spent- not including paying back debts?

Weve all done it sometime, I certianly have, we are now trying not to do any food shopping at the mo- and damnit i realised we have to buy onions & IM really annoyed with myself LOL

Dont be harsh on yourself, under the pressure you two have been under, its not surprising youve gone a bit mad.Have you got the 100 quyd bond back from the car hire.

SSB

Hi
OK, so you spent £1000, how much of this was for luxuries and how much for repayments/bills etc... I'm sure that all of us has sometimes gone a bit mad, it is really hard to be very frugal all the time.
I remember booking a holiday when it really was not a good idea... However, it did not half motivate me to make some extra cash afterwards:p . eBay, tabletop sale, Amazon booksales and so on.
You will think of ways to get back on track, next time come here and we will talk you out of it .

sammy_kaye18

Um......

£200 rent.
£30.40 water for month.
£113.00 Ntl bill.
£70 on monthly train ticket for bf (was cheaper than £3 a day)
£40 his lunch money
£100.00 paying back his mum
£190.00 london trip including car,food,etc (we had £100 bond back though)
£100.00 food
£50.00 gas and electric
£80.00 maintenance

other
£15 tshirt from concert - my treat to myself after the hard months
£20 shoulder bag for work (heavy duty and much needed)
£10 phone credit - £5 each
£25 sorting garden - put gravel down to tidy garden up as it looked like something reinacting glastonbury mud festival!
£15 birthdays

- hmm..............looking at it it doesnt look too bad - we havent had loads of treats - the odd few each but most of it was bills

ok i dont feel too bad now. fingers crossed this month will be better though. we might actually get to start some savings.

shell2001

Sammy you have been a star for months and months. If you had a bit extra this month then why shouldnt you have rewarded yourselves for all the hard work. Life has been a hard slog for you all (from what I have read on here) and I am so pleased that things are starting to come up roses for you.

Maybe try and squirrel a bit away each month so that you maybe build up a months of DP wage (kind of an emergency fund). Looking at what you spent your money on this month its stuff next month you wont need to do like paying DP mum back, Ntl bill, garden stuff etc.

Relax and enjoy yourself!

HariboJunkie

Can you make packed lunces for your Bf? and make a bit of a saving on the £40 there.

SSB

There you go, it really does not look so bad now. Enjoy this Easter time and we all will be back on track after these festivities. :easter:

sammy_kaye18

Thanks peeps

ive been goign through our budget list - it seems to be afasination with me for the last few months now! kind of theraputic in a sense.

Anyway

#Shell2001 said
stuff next month you wont need to do like paying DP mum back

thansk for the confidence boost. I agree - now the gardens done and his mothers paid off it will give us more to put towards boyfriends debts to start getting rid of them again or to actualyl save away

Haribo junkie said
Can you make packed lunces for your Bf? and make a bit of a saving on the £40 there

He does take a few bits but its mainly if the weathers hot he tends to drink alot - ive tried getting/makign cereal bars etc and doing him a packed lunch but the problem is he delivers cars for a living (curtosy cars) so hes not continously in one car and his bag carries all his map because hes here there and everywhere so it just makes more for him to carry so convenience food sometimes suits him better.

SSB said
Enjoy this Easter time and we all will be back on track after these festivities

i know fingers crossed - im already ahead for christmas shopping - i know its april so im hoping that once we have caught oursleves up on things then we will be able to start saving for our xmas gifts etc so that these winter months wont be such a hardship for us again like last year was.

Pink.

Hi sammy_kaye,

You have done so well already and I'm sure it won't take you long to get back in control of things again...we all have a blow out from time to time.

There are quite a few threads on the Debt Free Wannabe boards on getting back on track and avoiding spending so I'm going to move your thread over there to see if you can get some more replies.

Pink

sammy_kaye18

Bf just informed me that he hasnt actually paid his ex the childmaintenance yet adn we have about £129 in the bank and hes promised her £100 this month to make up for the wait in getting it!! So we have £30 luckily its only got to last us 10 days! lol

phew!

angelatgraceland

You haven't been exreavagent-you had just one treat to celebrate his new job. You will have less outgoings next month-just make sure you don't forget any of them(like the maintenance). Don't take your debit card out with you. Just enough cash to get by. Make sure you set yourself some "no spend days" at the begining of the pay month, then every week from then on. Maybe open a savings account to pay the tax credits into-a rainy day fund. What you don't have, you won't miss. It does work.