January's Big Financial Freeze!!!

Ninno820

NSD number 17 - the end is nearly in sight! Its payday tomorrow so I really want to spend - but really want to make it to the end of this challenge as well. Its all possible but need to be focussed (gives self a strict talking to !)

nimbo

# 56 checking in, and still NSD 17...

A spend day here - but planned as socializing...

Also another £5 voucher on the way... (Can't actually wait til the arrive now - got £45 on the way with another £16 in my purse - I'm gonna do some clothes shopping for work)...

total £152.40 out of £310 - so not bad have a bit in paypal to cash out at the end of the month, and should have £173 arrive next week.... (not counting my chickens though)...

lionheartedgirl

Afternoon all, MIA again! had a busy month getting ready for a big exam yesterday but it's all done now!! :j

I've found this really tough. It's made me examine everything but that needed to be done. It's a bit on the depressing side but it has reinforced how important it is that I keep things under control because the alternatives don't bear thinking about.

Food spends are on £83 at the mo - budget was £80. In my defence, £8 of that was spent on 31st December on yellow sticker stuff for the freezer and I've only eaten a couple of things from that little haul. I also had 2 incredibly bad "get me pizza and crisps and get them now" days which is about £8 in total.

What have I changed this month?

I resolved this year not to buy any more ready made pizza, and finally got round to making a batch of pizza dough on Saturday afternoon, very low cost indeed. I've had 2 already and have another 4 balls of dough sat in the freezer (plus a couple of balls of mozzarella and 2 little boxes of HM pizza sauce) just waiting for my next urge. So apart from the 2 crisis ones mentioned in the above paragraph, I am pleased with this.

I have postponed the purchase of more of my favourite (supermarket own brand) earl grey tea bags, in order to use up the mammoth stash of builders tea which was all they had left in the co-op on moving in day - I couldn't leave the removals guys with no tea so while I wanted a tiny packet of teabags, i ended up with thousands! I'm not particularly loving my brews at the moment but am sucking it up!

My alcohol spends have been the main :mad: point for me. £25 so far which is a bottle of wine a week so far and a bottle of gin which was on special offer. That's not much, but it's a significant portion of my food budget and I'd rather spend it on other things.... will be a toughie.

College coffee/hot choc has been under control given the recent cold snap so I'm pleased with that. Now my exam's out of the way I need to get on with ebay/Amazon...

citizenkitten - in September when I was planning my move up here (Scotland) I invested in a good coat, probably a similar brand to what you've bought. I'd wanted it last winter but held off. I eventually found it half price at £160, and yes I could have got a cheaper one but it has been worth its weight in gold and I do not regret a penny of it. It's waterproof and down filled, I wear it every day when dog walking and it will last me years. An essential purchase. Sometimes you have to do it.

Ninno820

I agree lionheartedgirl - this month ahs taught me so much - if only to realise that I need to raise extra cash to keep afloat. I think that, in the past, I have buried my head in the sand and overspends have been hidden by the use of credit cards.

So far I have paid a total of £1170 off my deb. I still have a long way to go but I now have a "routemap" and can start to see my way. Tomorrow I will start to use my new current account for food, groceries and planned spends. Its scary - there's no oversdraft to help me out and feele like I've gone back to when I first had an account - balancing it after every cheque but I like a challenge so am up for it.

abundant1972

Hi Everyone!

We have had more snow here today :T and am loving it!!! Not sticking so much as rained earlier on though... but is blowing a blizzard outside at the moment!!!

Today = NSD number 15

If the roads are clear I really need to make a trip into town tomorrow for a few things (prescription) and was supposed to be meeting a friend for dinner but will have to see how the weather holds... so maybe a spend day... maybe not.

Was chuckling about your endless tea bag supply... I discovered I have vast quantities of herbal tea bags that all expired Dec 2012... am talking about 3 large boxes and 3 regular sized... now am sure they are fine... but as have been hitting the coffee I haven't drunk as many... Do I pledge to buy NO MORE earl grey/coffee until they are used up??? Oh god... it's the Rice Cake fiasco all over again... You have my sympathies Lion!!!

It's a great feeling when you lose your overdraught... a bit scary working without the safety net - but once you have a few months under your belt of not needing and have maybe built up a small emergency fund - you just feel more self sufficient... You can do it for sure!!!

Staying in tonight though I can hear the take away calling my name lol!!! I will resist!!! Chat soon!!!

squinky

Ninno820 wrote: »

Thankyou for that - last night I found a thread about home organisers and have been inspired to create one for myself. In the mean time I am using a week to a double page diary and have attached the credit card holder from an old filofax into the back - the vouchers have then goneinto this holder so that they are constantly there. I dobt want them to go out of date - it would feel like I'm throwing the money away!

Wow good on you! I know what you mean it's kind of like free money and Fairy3 I am loving the sound of this...

What is it about organising? I shredded two bags of nonsense paperwork today and found an unused boxfile which is now adorned with decoupaged receipts, glitter and a stencilled sign with 'DEBTS' on it. Inside is my CC statements and loan stuff to keep me on track.
Packed lunch in fridge and four portions of soup, fish pie and beef casserole in freezer.

I'm still procrastinating about how to organize myself!!!

Learning2Budget

squinky wrote: »

I'm still procrastinating about how to organize myself!!!

I have started shredding tonight. I sorted the filing cabinet last week and now have 6 years worth of shredding. My poor little shredder over heats so i can only do a little at a time........my kitchen looks like a hamster cage.
L2B.x

Oompa_Loompa_2

I was bad day today - no breakfast and was struggling without any food so bought something, but did have lunch with me! Note to self: Must prepare snacks and all meals in advance every day!!! £23 cashback today

Siouxsie32

Good evening everyone . Lots of tales of snow woe/snow fun! And lots of NSDs being reported. I had a spend day on Saturday (supermarket visit and spent the rest of my monthly budget but I have loads of food now to see me well into February)

Interesting how people do their budgeting. My salary varies a lot each month so I work out roughly how much I'm going to earn, then the day my payslip comes out I swing into action. My salary gets paid into account A which is where all my DDs are paid from. They don't change from month to month so I move all the 'excess' money into account B. Then, I take out my petrol budget, food budget, any planned spends for the month, Oyster top up etc and EVERYTHING else gets paid straight to my credit card. There is no room for adhoc socialising or those lovely boots or anything else that catches my eye throughout the month. That way, I know everything is covered so any extra money I make during the month (eBay etc), goes straight out to my credit card the day it comes in. I'd rather be debt free than have stuff!

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

The main thing is to avoid CC with high interest rates being used as a backup... does that all make sense..?

This is an interesting concept, and one I've read a lot on these boards so it seems to be the way to go but I actually do the opposite. I don't know if it's right or wrong but it works for me. I pay off as much of my credit card balance as I can and, rather than save for big spends, if I can't afford them on that particular month, I would use my credit card with the view to paying it off ASAP. For example, my car insurance is due in March and I could have put £100 aside for the three months leading up to it. However, if I pay the £100 to the credit card it reduces the interest I pay. If I don't have the £300 in March, I'll pay it with the credit card, increasing the balance by £300 temporarily til I can pay it off (within a month at the latest!!). As my salary varies so much I may or may not have enough to pay for the insurance in one go without resorting to the card, but if I do have to use it I'll pay it off within a month so there'll be less extra interest than if I'd saved the cash but had the higher balance for three months. I think? As I said, it works for me and I generally would have the spare money to pay it in one go so I think it means I pay less interest overall. I trust myself not to increase the balance and forget about paying the extra off, which I guess is the crucial part of this plan.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Feeling down. Had worked it all out to the last penny and was going to pay £300 extra off the cards at the end of the month. Then I noticed the tyre on the car seems to be going flat so I called into the garage. Yes I have a nail in my tyre but it desperately needs replacing - and so does the other front tyre. £120 gone.

And yes its terrible that I have been driving with illegal tyres - I kind of knew they would have to be replaced when the MOT runs out in March - but really didnt think they were that bad! So bloomin annoyed.

Off to look at my spreadsheet and see how I can juggle things. I dont really want to dip into my paltry emergency fund - I am trying to get the balance built up! Ah well.