I can't go under it, I can't go over it...I'll have to go through it....Part 2

[Deleted User]

I have started a new diary for the coming year because a lot has changed since my last one...okay I'm may be no better than I ought to be but I'm hoping that I'm going to be wiser for the experience.

I do like to ramble, so apologies if I get boring.

This is probably my 6 attempt at a diary and heaven only know how many attempts at staying on the wagon and not falling off..whether it's more debt, lack of NSD's and life getting in the way, it's a sure fire way of me straying.

So what makes me think that this one will be different? Well, I don't to be honest but I'm determined to change things and move on.

The Plan I had originally hasn't quite changed that much, but it has grown and developed and now looks like this:

Cars

Pay 6 months car tax in September when they are due, this is to shift them to March 2014 when it will be easier to pay for them for a year.

My car hasn't been serviced for two years and is usually due around August. My aim is to get it done after Christmas to make it also easier to pay for it.

Gas/Electric

[STRIKE]We are currently with E.on and I'm sure we can get a better deal, so once I get
the Winter bill through I will have a nosy around.[/STRIKE]

Council Tax and Water Rates - [STRIKE]To try and get these on 12 months rather than 10 months and try and build up
enough savings so that at least the Water Rates is paid in full, this money can
then go towards the paying the Council Tax in full the year after.[/STRIKE]

Home Insurance

[STRIKE]We are currently with Lloyds TSB and although they are good, I think we need to look at switching and getting a better deal.[/STRIKE]

Groceries/Alcohol

Normally I do an online shop for the month and find that I still need to go to Tesco's and top up. So after this months shop has been delivered, I plan to only shop for the week or fortnight and this should hopefully help us stick to a budget. My Aim is £300 pm and will look to reduce to £250 pm.

Credit Cards

We currently are back in debt with them despite a second consolidation loan with the mortgage company, not good I know! Total debt is £4639.14 but will double check once we get Christmas out of the way and get a final figure.

In 2013, I want to reduce this amount by half and make small overpayments once a month to aid this. I'm hoping DH will get a bonus this year as I will get rid of the Virgin card which will reduce the amount by a modest step.

Personal Level

I've joined a few challenges for the coming year, which should help.

20p Savers Club - Once I get to £10 this will be paid on to the Post Office Budget Card towards the car taxes. My aim is to have £200 saved.

£2 Savers Club - Once I get to £20 this will be banked and paid off the credit card debt. My aim with this is also to have £200 saved but will be happy if I can get more saved on this one.

SPC - I'm carrying on saving on top of the amount we managed this year to see if I can fill the demi-john up. If it turns out that I need to use it, then so be it but I'm resisting for the moment.

50p's - I do tend to save these generally but I think I need to do something else with them or pay them in to the bank once I hit £10 - ETA: There's now a lovely 50p Savers thread run by the lovely Buffy, so I've joined that

Job Hunt

This hasn't gone the way I hoped this year as I'm still doing something that I dislike although the children are good fun, the job was never going to be a permanent thing and two years down the line I need something more challenging and has more hours etc.

So I will carry on with the job hunting and carry on applying for all and sundry.

Christmas 2013

Yes I did really write that! I'm almost sorted for that...yes you read right...most of the family is done, I've just got the kids, DH and mum's to finish.

I'm trying to get on top of it, so that I don't need to get in a panic like I did this year, I also plan to save saving stamps again.

NSD's

Severly lacking in this one and need to get a grip if my plan for 2013 is going to come to fruitian.

Tesco's

I need to avoid that shop lol I seriously spend far too much time in there and as a consequence I spend far too much money in there....this should help with the NSD's too :rotfl:

Health Wise

I'm not as fit as I could be but I'm not totally unfit. I weigh nearly 11 stone and am not happy about it...I would love to be 8 and a half, which I was before I had DS but I doubt that'll happen so I'll settle for 9 1/2 stone.

To do this I need to cut down on the snacking (avoiding Tesco's will help!) and reduce the amount of alcohol I drink during the week.

Meal Planning

I do this regularly but need some inspiration sometimes as we seem to eat the same meals, so I think a trip to the Old Style Board will help on that.

Petrol

I use the car far too much, school is only 15 mins walk away from home and I think that unless it's needed for errands/work that I should walk to school and back with the kids a lot more.

Personal Spends

Crunch time on this...see NSD's and Tesco's :rotfl:I need to reign in my spending so I pledge here and now that I will stick to £20 pw and document when I spend and will aim to reduce this to £15 and then eventually £10 pw.

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There you go, hope I haven't bored you too much? I feel better for writing it down and feels good to start the year off with a clean slate and some ideas to help get things moving.

[Deleted User]

So, a quick update on today.

Walked to the school and back with the kids today, so saved some petrol.

Went to Boot's and got DH his NicAssist gum, also went to WHSmith's and got a jiffy bag as well as bought some Christmas cards for both mum's.

Have put feelers out for another cleaning job to go with the one I have, I would like another one on top of that but will see how it goes. A lady I used to clean for has expressed an interest

Applied for a bar job today and depending on what they say that'll help money wise, will have to decide if I carry on with the cleaning or school job if I get it...but will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Dinner sorted for tonight...spicy meatballs and spaghetti.

I need to ring Principality and get access to my account again....I keep forgetting! May be a plan for tomorrow.

Want-To-Fit-In

Hope you don't mind me joining you

Look forward too reading x

rising_from_the_ashes

Happy new diary:D

Deleted_User wrote: »

I do like to ramble, so apologies if I get boring.

*sigh* I'm so glad I'm not alone in this!:)


Do you have any other SM near than Mr T? It's not the cheapest place to shop and although their offers can be good, their "normal" prices are horrific:eek:

Walking to school with the kids sounds fab & will be lovely in the summer:)

Deleted_User wrote: »

Personal Spends

Crunch time on this...see NSD's and Tesco's :rotfl:I need to reign in my spending so I pledge here and now that I will stick to £20 pw and document when I spend and will aim to reduce this to £15 and then eventually £10 pw.

Why not give the Weekly Spend Challenge a try sometime?

I tend to fall down with "silly" spends - and my Grocery spends are absolutely terrible for 1 (lots of dietry restrictions unfortunately these tend to be more expensive ) so it really does help focus my mind!

Best of luck purple ... will be cheering you on:)

[Deleted User]

Hi Want-To-Fit-In, welcome aboard

Rising - Mr T's is literally 5 mins walk from home and there are no more around here unless I go to Morrison's down in the valley. There's plans to build a Lidl near to work but that won't happen for a while yet as they've not knocked down the building that's there already.

As for the Weekly Spends Challenge that sounds good, I never got the hang of it when I used to do it years ago and kind of gave up, but I guess I have space for another challenge Will have a look later.

yukkibear

Happy new diary. I'm with you on the weight thing. I am just over 10st and would love to be back at 9st but cannot seem to shift it. Again the wine during the week can't help

[Deleted User]

Morning,

Feel like pooh today, woke with a slightly sore throat which I believe will only get worse as the day goes on....I do not have time to be ill especially two weeks before Christmas. Granted it doesn't help that DH was a fidget last night and kept me awake for most of it....sigh!!

CB has been paid in to the current account, so that gives us a bit of breathing space until Friday when DH gets paid.

Have given up with the NSD's this month, its not through lack of trying but rather that I have too much going on to pay proper attention to it.

I downloaded a spending log app for my phone yesterday, I plan to use this to keep a log on petrol expenses and my £20 pw target. This I will do from next week, which will be interesting with Christmas coming up.

Need to send off my mum's present today or she may not get it.

Going to walk to school with the kids today, won't be walking home with them as DS has football club after school....last one of the term thank god!

Almost forgot to add, I didn't drink very much last night. I had one beer and a G&T.

rising_from_the_ashes

Pants to the sore throat hope it gets better & not worse.

[Deleted User]

Thanks Rising

I forgot to add that I need to ring Principality this morning and get access to my account again. I want to change the 'pots' that are in there to reflect my changes.

Busy day all in all.

[Deleted User]

Quick update.

Finally rang Principality and now have my account unlocked I didn't have as much in there as I thought as I've not really used it that much over the past year...Checked the pot labels and they don't need changing although I need to delete some (I think I went overboard when I opened it!)

Been to the Post Office and posted my mum's present off. Did a quick top up shop at Tesco's and came home to find a note from the Post Office to say that they tried to deliver a package 10 mins earlier! Sigh! So will have to pick that up once I've got DD from school and before I go back to the school to pick up DS.

Also had an invoice through from the climbing centre asking for money for a climb that we'd already paid for on the gift voucher we have...so it means a trip to there to sort it out...something for tomorrow morning!

[Deleted User]

Morning....feel like pooh today...definitely think I've got something. It can go away though as I don't have time to be ill, especially this close to Christmas :mad: Have taken some tablets so should be okay once they kick in.

So, need to go to the climbing centre this morning, hopefully it will just be a case of clerical error.

Christmas dinner at school today, so get to go in early...not as early as first asked due to various factors out of my control but I will get some overtime at least.

DD has her nativity play today, yesterday was the one for the babies/toddlers to attend and todays and tomorrow's is just for the other parents that don't have clingons lol DH is aiming to sneak off work early to see her and I'm going to see her tomorrow...she's a donkey and looks adorable! Biased I know :rotfl:

The lovely Buffy has opened up a 50p Savers thread for 2013 which I have joined along with the other ones, next year should be quite a good year. Total targets of all of them together is £500 :eek: Might be a bit too high but I'm not going back on it now...will be interesting to see how much I end up saving by the end of next year.

Right off to get motivated...have a good day everyone xx