December Debt Destruction!!!

NinjaSavingKat

Marylea where are you living and who do you do the mystery shopping with?

Marylea

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

Marylea where are you living and who do you do the mystery shopping with?

I've PM'd you!

Cranny44

Afternoon all

Gosh DDD is a tough one... tougher than i thought..

I am way off on the exercise but hope to start catching up once i finish for xmas, we havent bought any chocs this year yet either and have resovled we wont do ............ although MIL will send posh biscuits

Planned haircut spend today so should still end up with a NSD.

Have to confess went to the pics yesterday as planned since i heard the Hobbit was coming out (10% discount via joining cineworld too) really liked it... but went to B&M bargains prior to trip for drinks and nibbles......... oooppss spent £50... damn taking a teenager and OH with me who needed screen wash and expensive oven cleaner (nope i dont cook in it or clean it)... But hoping this extra spend is offset as MIL brought large pork pie for OH (made him freeze half) and has ordered him another one (again he can freeze this), enought toilet roll for 6 months and large lump of gammon which we have cut up and frozen for several meals. And OH managed some overtime on saturday morning so will all help cover this..
Although my cupboards are starting to look much more bare lately and i am almost out of butter, bread, sugar, no eggs and a few other bits i am going to brave a late night run to tescos with my £45 of vouchers to restock..

Just a few pressies left to wrap, and i am then going to get on with new budget and some credit card shifting i think as havent managed an overpayment this week due to work meal out and overspend yesterday so want to try and redo budget better to incorporate these extras more.

I need to find some good budget software if anyone has any ideas???? I currently use about 5 spreadsheets and whats the cost.

Onwards and upwards everyone

Marylea

Cranny44 wrote: »

Afternoon all

Gosh DDD is a tough one... tougher than i thought..

I am way off on the exercise but hope to start catching up once i finish for xmas, we havent bought any chocs this year yet either and have resovled we wont do ............ although MIL will send posh biscuits

Planned haircut spend today so should still end up with a NSD.

Have to confess went to the pics yesterday as planned since i heard the Hobbit was coming out (10% discount via joining cineworld too) really liked it... but went to B&M bargains prior to trip for drinks and nibbles......... oooppss spent £50... damn taking a teenager and OH with me who needed screen wash and expensive oven cleaner (nope i dont cook in it or clean it)... But hoping this extra spend is offset as MIL brought large pork pie for OH (made him freeze half) and has ordered him another one (again he can freeze this), enought toilet roll for 6 months and large lump of gammon which we have cut up and frozen for several meals. And OH managed some overtime on saturday morning so will all help cover this..
Although my cupboards are starting to look much more bare lately and i am almost out of butter, bread, sugar, no eggs and a few other bits i am going to brave a late night run to tescos with my £45 of vouchers to restock..

Just a few pressies left to wrap, and i am then going to get on with new budget and some credit card shifting i think as havent managed an overpayment this week due to work meal out and overspend yesterday so want to try and redo budget better to incorporate these extras more.

I need to find some good budget software if anyone has any ideas???? I currently use about 5 spreadsheets and whats the cost.

Onwards and upwards everyone

Cranny 44.......thank you!, you have made me think about the food that is lurking in my cupboards and freezer ! :doh:

One of my January challenges will be to eat their contents and only shop for things to help said contents turn into meals such as fresh produce. I think I'm going to introduce a one-way-street rule for my food cupboard and freezer...the only way is out! :rotfl:
I have been trying to do this recently but things keep creeping in.

kerri_dfw

I'm really enjoying reading this thread and can't wait to be a proper participant in January. My one concern is how to make a budget that works. Does anyone have any hints or tips they can offer? Or is it a case of writing a spending diary and seeing where things can be slashed?

thriftylass

kerri_dfw wrote: »

I'm really enjoying reading this thread and can't wait to be a proper participant in January. My one concern is how to make a budget that works. Does anyone have any hints or tips they can offer? Or is it a case of writing a spending diary and seeing where things can be slashed?

Yes, a spending diary is a good start. That's what I did the last two months so that I get a realistic idea of where to set by budget for various things in January. Also because I had no idea where my money is actually really going as I was skint/OD each month, and gosh was I wrong about certain spends. Also include putting aside sth every month for the big yearly spends, like MOT, holidays, christmas and insurance, council tax, TV etc that might not necessarily be paid monthly. We got hit by MOT and car insurance etc as I hadn't factored that in and then had no money put aside for that. I kept my receipts for food spends and non-food spends to be realistic about the grocery budget.

WantToBeSE

kerri_dfw wrote: »

I'm really enjoying reading this thread and can't wait to be a proper participant in January. My one concern is how to make a budget that works. Does anyone have any hints or tips they can offer? Or is it a case of writing a spending diary and seeing where things can be slashed?

Hi Kerri
I would start off writing a spending diary, then do an SOA over on the DFW board.
Even if you dnt post the SOA, its handy for you to see what you have comming in and going out.
I have found that the only kind of budget that works for me (i.e., one that i'll actually stick to) is one that allows treats. How much that treat is,and how often you have it, is up to you and depending on what your finances allow.

So, for me, i treat myself to 1 bottle of wine a week, but it cant cost more than £5. If i spend that £5 on something else fr a treat, then i dont have the wine.

I would make sure that you write EVERYTHING down- income, outgoings, debts, food budget, EVERYTHING, and then see whats left over, and go from there.

Marylea

kerri_dfw wrote: »

I'm really enjoying reading this thread and can't wait to be a proper participant in January. My one concern is how to make a budget that works. Does anyone have any hints or tips they can offer? Or is it a case of writing a spending diary and seeing where things can be slashed?

Hi, I'm new to this but what I have done is made sure almost everything is paid monthly by direct debit, utilities, insurances, etc. Unless of course (as with some insurances) it is more expensive to do so.

And then have a seperate account for foreseeable spending which can't be paid monthly such as MOT, car servicing, presents etc which I pay a bit in each month.

I have a very simple excel spreadsheet listing all my regular outgoings and all my regular expenditure........the theory being that the excess will be used to clear debts!

I found that once I actually wrote things down it was easier to see where it was all going.

Bringing together all my debts and writing them down in one place was also very powerful.....hence my new found resolve to get them cleared.

A bit here and a bit there never seemed worth bothering about, but bring them all together and =GULP= I NEED to sort it out!

karmachilovething

I found your board at lunchtime today and all I can say is Wow, this looks like some hardcore debt busting is going on here! This is exactly what I need! I will lurk for the rest of this month and then join you all for January.

Oh I'm quite looking forward to that - does that make me weird?! :rotfl:

NinjaSavingKat

Karmachilovething - it doesn't make you weird, it makes you one of us! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: