A Step A Week by Echo...

echo_and_narcissus

• Open monthly saver account at local building society - Made appointment for tomorrow
• Pay Christmas cash and cheques into bank - Bank in town - not doing this with 4 kids - Saturday!
• Change address at bank - As above, Saturday!
• [STRIKE]Check council tax details - amount of rest of year payments and if any "free" months[/STRIKE]
• Compile birthdays list for the year - In progress
• [STRIKE]Check credit card balance[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Edit and finalise SOA[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Slow cooker - cheapies at Tesco, £8 a pop - to buy 2, one for meat and one for veggie![/STRIKE]

Ploughing through it!


Today...


Slow cookers cooking an experimental chilli. Veggie one looking good, meat one seems okay but a little fatty? Have tried to skim some off, not sure if I should have browned it prior to sticking it in?


Phoned up about council tax as had noticed no payment coming out with rest of DDs at start of month. Turns out I am £190 in credit and have no more payments for the rest of the tax year! :j They are going to refund it straight into my account


On the other hand, child maintenance has not gone in :mad: It has come out of the ex's account late because of Christmas but not arrived in mine yet. So need to check if has gone in.

echo_and_narcissus

Today...

Child maintenance not gone in, nor council tax refund. Come on guys!

Have appointment at local building society this morning to open my monthly saver.

Slow cooker chillis went rather well. Very pleased! It's a pie and mash day today to use up some potatoes on the turn, but tomorrow I'm going to try a curry. Need to check some recipes on here. Sticking to menu plan and doing well, just need to pick up some squash that the supermarket shop didn't have in stock.

GTG, back later!

echo_and_narcissus

Coming up the the end of the first week. My thoughts so far...

**This is going to take a lot of planning and organisation! I think a daily slot of keeping up to task with everything is the way to go. A daily to do list is going to be the way forward for me I think!

**I think I have made a bit of a boo boo with the grocery shopping. In order to save I ordered less with the online shop. What I should have done is made sure I ordered *enough* to cover everything, THEN look at cutting down from that list in subsequent weeks.

**Being organised with cooking will mean more preparation. Today was going to be a slow cooker day but wasn't in the end, and resulted in a trip to Asda for supermarket takeaway and my pocket feeling £25 lighter for it:o

**Good idea - my little notebook. Have been carrying it around in my bag and jotting down a daily spending diary, birthdays and anniversaries, plus adding things to a to do list when they pop in my head.

In recent news...

Opened my monthly saver. Was also told about the Nationwide Save2Buy account so going to check that out next week.

Paid in my Christmas money and cheques which will all be going into the pot.

Still waiting for child maintenance money and council tax refund.

That's it for now!

echo_and_narcissus

This keeping track of money lark is hard isn't it?!

Or maybe that should be, this trying not to spend money lark is hard!

Been keeping a spending diary. For this first week, I have been AMAZED at the amount of top up shops I and hubz have done, what we have bought, and how much it has cost us:eek: I am seriously wondering if this is where our money is going!

My failing last week was ordering not enough shopping. I thought I was being good by not spending as much; what actually happened was that I ended up over the week spending MORE to make up the shortfall. I keep kidding myself that I am spending too MUCH on our grocery shop - what in fact I am doing is not spending ENOUGH then having to keep popping to the shop to pick up this, that and the other... which of course at the Co-op round the corner costs half as much again as the supermarket.

This month is going to be about balancing things out and getting back to zero for the start of next month. I'm not in my overdraft but money is all over the place atm, I'm still waiting for my child maintenance from last month which is now two weeks late, waiting for my refund of council tax which was promised at the end of last week, and my money for next month has started coming in already (child benefit.) I budget calendar-monthly which means allocating each 4-weekly payment (child benefit and tax credits) to a particular month, usually the following 1st. It *also* means I have a "spare" 13th payment of each which can come in handy or can get thrown towards the CC or into the savings pot.

I may start using envelopes for the stuff I pay cash for, such as skating and pocket money, just so I know what money is where.

Oh and last week's target = DONE!!! Two meals, one chilli and one chicken/quorn stewy/casseroley type thing!

This week's Step:

Formulate a detailed menu planner, to be used in conjunction with online shop and then STICK TO IT all week! Swapping days around and whatnot will be allowed, but top up shops outside of PLANNED ones for bread and fresh stuff are NOT ALLOWED!

echo_and_narcissus

This week's Step going well. Shopping arrived on Wednesday and have done two slow cooker recipes so far. I have been jigging the meals around to use up the fresh stuff first but I figured this is okay:D

Child maintenance money arrived in my account but no council tax refund. Trying to get things all in order for the start of February so will chase that up later.

Not been able to go to Nationwide this week to find out about the Save2Buy due to a poorly child at home:( Will do this at the weekend or next week.

Have menu planned for the weekend to avoid the "Saturday night supermarket takeaway" falldown. Will report back how it goes!

To do list for today...

• [STRIKE]Phone up council to check on council tax refund[/STRIKE] - no need - saw in online banking it has arrived! :j
• Dinner - lasagne, portion up mince in fridge and move unused to freezer
• [STRIKE]Check online banking[/STRIKE]
• Set up online standing order from current account to monthly savings account
• Another standing order I need to set up - chase this up from my trusty notebook as I can't remember offhand:o

That's it for now!

echo_and_narcissus

Confession time...

This week's step has gone either well or badly depending on how you look at it.

Well: I used my menu planner as a guide, jigged meals round and did different meals in places in order to use up ingredients before they went off. So I have been a lot less wasteful. A lot. Really pleased with this.

Badly: I have done quite a few top up shops. I haven't added up the receipts but I suspect I will be hitting £120 :eek: At least :eek:

Ways to improve:
More accurately gauge how much we use of certain foods in a week as I am consistently underbuying things such as milk and yogurts which cost more at the Co-op round the corner.

Weekends: keep going off the menu planner and got takeaway again :mad: Really angry with myself. Hubz must've spent going on £40 on takeaway and top up shops.

GTG but list of stuff to do for today:

• [STRIKE]check online banking[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]sort out dinner for later[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]book online shop for tomorrow[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]pay snack money for child#3 at school[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]tidy kitchen[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]put clothes away that have been ironed[/STRIKE]
• file bills in new folder which will massively help declutter kitchen!

echo_and_narcissus

Just realised I didn't post this week's step...

This week's step...

No takeaway or top up shops at the weekend - all meals to be made at home.

Have planned what to have so just need to make sure I/we get on the case on Saturday and Sunday.

Today is a quiet day... Not much to do in the day. Got the littlest at home with me, got some housework to do. Have some grander plans I need to discuss with the other half about money and our outrageous use of petrol and diesel plus where we live.

We currently have two vehicles, one ours and one borrowed from family. The borrowed one was only ever meant to be a short-term loan yet somehow we have become reliant on it and have ended up essentially having two family vehicles now.

Family have said if we advertise and sell their car then we can have half the proceeds, which would be a great addition to the savings. It would amount to around £400ish. To get on the case we need to:

1. Get our vehicle in a roadworthy condition (currently halfway through some repairs at home.)
2. MOT the borrowed car.
3. Spruce up borrowed car, clean and tidy it up.
4. Advertise and sell.
5. Split the proceeds.

The other thing is that we moved house last year, so now we are not within walking distance of the older childrens' school. This has obviously factored in to how much fuel we are now using as we HAVE to drive to school, three trips a day as child#3 is at nursery.


When our tenancy is up I am suggesting moving back closer to school to cut down on fuel use.


Anyway for today:

• Check online banking
• Tidy kitchen
• Talk with husband about finances
• Prepare dinner in slow cooker
• Put away ironed clothes
• Tumble dry kids' school clothes

Bye for now!

echo_and_narcissus

It's all about cementing the good habits...

Yesterday was spent mostly at home. Having menu planned to us the slow cooker for a chicken chausseur, the house smelt gorgeous in the afternoon and I felt rather smug at having managed to actually plan a Saturday dinner rather than resorting to the supermarket takeaway we usually have!:)

Trying to ensure everything is in place for the start of February in my account. Nearly there, just waiting for the child maintenance money which comes in right at the end of the month. Will start my SOA in earnest, still looking at ways to save money to add to my savings account standing order. Have set it at a realistic £100 per month, then any savings I can make from amounts on my SOA will be added to that.

Today is a quiet one, lots of tidying up to do.

echo_and_narcissus

Argh this is difficult!

What have I learned from January...

1. We spend WAY more than I thought on petrol/diesel - I underestimated by at LEAST £80 :eek:
2. To cover what we need for a week's worth of groceries, I initially need to spend around £110 per month and stop trying to cut corners on quantities because it doesn't work
3. Following point 2, I really need to properly budget for groceries. Atm it comes from either mine or the husband's account but I haven't really allocated funds properly so need to sort that out.
4. It is okay to budget annually for an MOT!
5. Withdraw in cash what I need to pay in cash then there's no messing about later on in the month wondering where money has gone!
6. Standing order to savings account = GOOD

That in general is pretty depressing so I will stop now!


More great (not) news to start the month... The potential funding we were going to be in receipt of for the youngest's preschool fees, we are no longer eligible for:mad: It was all going fine until the council decided to change the eligibility rules which now means we cannot claim.


Youngest is 3 during the Autumn term so from then can claim the funded place, but now have the decision in the interim whether to pluck them out and place back in when is 3. It is only two mornings a week so is a godsend in terms of me being able to get loads done at home thus being able to give the children more attention after school. My plan is to talk to the hubs then reassess our SOA (which needs doing) and make a decision from there.


Plans for the month:

• mend our own vehicle and sell the loaned one on behalf of family
• reassess SOA, adjust amounts based on January's outgoings
• keep on track with planning weekend's meals to cut down on top up shops

echo_and_narcissus

So it's been a couple of weeks... What's been happening?

Our current financial set up isn't working. We each have a current account and have been dividing DDs and SOs up.

It seems there is a huge discrepancy between hubz's disposable income and mine (which isn't *really* loads but is more than his, and I tend to budget for the kids and stuff that he doesn't.)

Last night we sat down and worked out a new arrangement. The provisional plan is to open a joint account, and direct his salary, most benefits and child maintenance into it. From this account all bills and budgeted amounts will come out, plus grocery shopping and any joint expenditures. Any surplus will be split 50/50 and transferred into our own account to be used as "pocket money."

I will open a simple separate account from which the rent only will come out.

All this will require a new joint SOA and a few considerations to be made on our current outgoings. I certainly feel more positive about being able to budget when everything is in the pot and the prospect of having pocket money for spends.

Watch this space!