I refuse to be skint forever!!

menina

Happy easter!! Time for a quick w/end tally:
Dinner £46
Drinks £20
Hubbies tatoo £120- for which he'll pay me back (i hope!)
Socks £2
Shower gel £1
Travel card top up £20
Snack from shop £3

Not too bad so far.... Now just to tackle my long list of jobs tomorrow....

kittycatfan

Hi menina how you you havent posted for a while hope all is well

menina

Hi kitty cat, hope all is going well with you? How's the debt busting coming along?

As for me, I think I have been feeling a bit dispondant as the money saving hasn't been going so well over recent weeks!

I now have £579 on my barclay card (previously it was 0). I think that this is because I used all my wages to pay it off and then have had to use it for my day to day living. At least that's how it feels anyway. On second thoughts, I'd better go through the statement and make sure I haven't slipped back into my old spendy ways!

On the plus side, I have been doing lots of extra work and now have three shifts as yet unpaid, so at least that is coming to me. Also hubby owes me some money from his wages and I get paid from my regular job a week on Wednesday so hopefully I can get straight again. I also have 7 long shifts and 2 short shifts booked (extra hours) before I go on holiday on May 4th so hopefully I'll manage to get them done and have a bit of a financial cushion.

One big lesson that the last few weeks have taught me is that probably the only way that my credit card isn't going to creep up again is if I withdraw my money at the start of each week and don't allow my self to have any more.

I'll probably post again on Thursday, once some more money has come in.

Bye for now x

kittycatfan

Hi menina well my debts are like y ours i also paid chunk of credit card then ran out of money and then bought stuff on credit card again which isnt good but what else are you meant to do lol, i only have £3.61 left until 26 th so thats really bad but at the moment i dont care haa any way enjoy your week and i hope your wages are alot higher than normal with your xtra dhifts

menina

Evening all, I hope all is well in money saving land....

Not too bad of a money saving day for me. A despondent start when I wondered why I was getting such a small amount of money for my extra shifts (2 of which I got paid for today). Anyway, phoned the ILR and found out I was on the wrong tax code, so as of next pay packet I'm back on track. They say that I'll get the extra I've paid 'paid back to me through my wages'. Not sure exactly how that's going to work though, I'll have to wait and see. Also, I'm not sure how soon my code will be updated with my workplace, I'm hoping its all electronic and therefore quick!

Paid off around £270 from the dreaded credit card with OH's wages (money he owes me anyway) as he got paid today.

Got an unexpected £80.80 through with topcashback which I withdrew via BACs so I'll throw that onto the credit card once that clears.

I'm working flat out until a week on Saturday so I won't have the opportunity to spend any money (just on food) Every cloud....

So, the plan is, carry on with the hard work (took annual leave from my regular job so much of it is extra shifts). Study hard for upcoming interview a week tomorrow. Re evaluate things next Thursday, by which time I will have been paid my monthly salary from my regular job, hopefully got paid for one extra shift and OH will also have been paid. And after that, do not spend anything else on the credit card. I can't keep doing this!!!

Have a great week everyone xx

menina

Hmm, just checked the c/c statement to see how much I actually owe following yesterdays payments. £454. Just goes to show how much I miscalculate my finances, I'd thought it was around £300. Said credit card is going under lock and key after it's been paid off, clearly I can't be trusted carrying it around in my purse 'just in case!' Might look into the 'envelope' budgeting method.....

DrSqueeze

Well done for getting your tax code sorted out - it's a measure of how much better you manage your finances that you noticed.

Where the credit card is concerned, keep your receipts and make a list or spreadsheet for them. Put down everything you spend on it, so you know to the penny where you are. (It's also a good way to make sure you're not being overcharged).

Quick thought on the food bill. Have you tried online supermarket shopping? I save a small fortune that way - it stops impulse buying, I can check whether I have something "in stock" before getting any more (which cuts down waste) and it's easy to look for offers without having to do a lot of wandering around. If you set a cap on how much you're prepared to spend on shopping it's amazing how keenly you can spot good offers.

If you play around with the delivery dates you can see what offers are coming up over the next few weeks and perhaps delay buying some items. Also some supermarkets offer free delivery on certain days or a fixed monthly delivery charge (no matter how many individual deliveries you have). That can work out cheaper than making several trips to the shops during the week.

menina

Evening all, thought I'd check in to keep the money saving momentum going! Got my arm twisted to do another extra shift tomorrow. 4th 12.5 hour one in a row, my feet hurt!! Still, it'll be worth it when the pay check comes.... I just sincerely hope that tomorrow will be a chilled out one!!

Thanks to Dr Squeeze for the comments and keeping me motivated...

Short and sweet from me tonight, it's bed time, this money saving malarkey is exhausting!!

Night all x

tootallulah

Hi I am reading and am in awe of how hard you are working, and the progress that you are making. Won't it be nice when the credit card debt is gone and you can be a wee bit less frantic.

brummiebabe

Hi menina - just read through your diary - well done for what you've achieved so far!!!

Just a thought but do you think it might be helpful to work out a realistic monthly budget, including money for entertainment/eating out etc & then take that out in cash (that's where the envelope thing comes in useful!!!) Then you would know that whatever's left can ve paid off the credit card without you needing to use it at all!! Maybe I have got the wrong idea, but it sounds like you are paying off a huge chunk when you get paid, not budgeting realistically for day to day spending, and then having to borrow back the money you paid off the card?

Yes it might be a little slower.....but at least you would just see the credit card balance coming down.....which is very motivating:T. As I said, apologies if you're doing this anyway & I've misread the situation:o