Quick - Superglue my DFW hat on!!

liltdiddylilt

A diary of necessity.....:eek::eek::eek:

I will be debt free in two months. I could be debt free right now if I so choose, but my one remaining debt is at 0% and so there is less pressure to pay this off. I am however throwing all available money at it in the next 2 months and it shall be gone - see below musings...

(I should mention, our 'months' run from the 28th to the 28th[payday]. Tax credits come in as and when and they go into a savings pot until the 28th so that they are not to be confused with the budget!!)

I set a challenge, for my family of three to live off £1030.00 for the month. £850 of that is whisked out across the month on various Direct Debits (there shall be no SOA here - I've always been good at shuffling from company to company & getting freebies wherever I can). The challenge ends in one weeks time and currently I have one £32 DD remaining, and £63 in the bank. I've no other spends bar a bit of fruit/veg and some bread (even my milk is currently free thanks to a bzzzcampaign ) So, challenge complete. :T

Last month that meant I could put away around £135 and OH was free to keep his whole months wages bar the £7.50 DD he has for his mobile. (He saves)

THIS month, if I choose to stick to that budget again, I should be able to save £300 as I am now off maternity pay (1 weeks worth in this paypacket) and onto a slightly higher amount working 3 days per week. Not only that, I have £106 coming back to me as a refund from the old gas/electric company - so £550 savings in my account by the 28th January!!!!!

Feb & March are the months I don't pay any council tax. Along with the £50pm payment on DD, the entire c-tax amount is going straight off the CC both months. This means I will have paid £360 off by 5th March... With a £363.50 balance... I think I will be able to scrape the final £3.50:rotfl::rotfl:

Now to the reason for my rather panicky need to set up a diary... I NO LONGER HAVE ANY MOTIVATION!!!!:eek::eek::eek:

There is nothing terrifying lurking in the near, middle, or distant future. I am no longer pregnant, in 2.5k debt, with a mummy's boy OH who doesn't pay a penny towards 'visiting' me 3-4 days/nights per week... The OH has moved in, the baby is 9 months old & through some serious debt busting and OH finally stepping up... I have no debts... I am back at work and hopefully earning a comfortable amount. I've no pets to suddenly break legs, my landlord covers the scary house stuff... We need a new toaster, home phone and some baking trays :rotfl: none of which are going to break the bank...

• I will not buy things on a whim!
• I will continue to cook and not have a take-away every week as used to happen!
• I will continue to take food to work, saving myself money and calories!
• I will set a realistic savings goal and stick to it!!!

Please, someone... keep me on the right track!!!!!:A

liltdiddylilt

Ok; to be moneysaving I need to stay organised (gets out neglected diary)....

Things I need to do:

1. [STRIKE]Book train tickets to Nottingham & back for Feb & check same for March[/STRIKE]
2. [STRIKE]Tidy underneath the coffee table & generally in living room[/STRIKE]
3. [STRIKE]Buy nappies, deodorant, a wire brush & white vinegar[/STRIKE]
4. [STRIKE]Use said wire brush to scrub the grout from top to bottom in the bathroom & remove mould.[/STRIKE] Also get the ladder out & scrub ceiling in bathroom & corner of babies room (mould!!!:eek::eek::eek:)
5. [STRIKE]Put a load of washing on & get it dry[/STRIKE]
6. [STRIKE]Make a shepherds pie[/STRIKE]
7. [STRIKE]Clean the glass on the cabinets (small sticky handprints...!:eek:)[/STRIKE]
8. [STRIKE]Get food ready for Wed-Fri lunches at work.[/STRIKE]
9. [STRIKE]Plump the sofa (hate this job:rotfl:)[/STRIKE]:j
10. P[STRIKE]LAN A BUDGET for Nottingham dress fitting/hen night[/STRIKE]
11. Do my 2nd day of 30 day shred DVD :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Sitting here is not going to get any of this done... DD is asleep, lets go!!!:T

EDIT: UPDATE - OK some scratched off the list today. The grout is getting it tomorrow, after I buy said objects needed to complete the exercise.

please-let-me-be-lucky

Brilliant start lilt

I shall be reading with interest and spur you on when your motivation flags.

Well done on getting OH to man up :rotfl: Xx

liltdiddylilt

Bonjour Lucky!!

Thank you for dropping by. Please do wander in and kick my behind everytime you see me drop a ball.

I have got some of my list for the day done today. Other stuff just kinda slid as I went a bit cordon bleu with the cooking. I have to cook when inspiration strikes or I find myself quite hungry/living off toast. Still, shepherds pie coming out of my ears and the freezer & work meals all planned.

I chickened out of the 30 day shred as day 1 has left me walking like John Wayne and Pingu's constipated lovechild. :rotfl::rotfl:

As for getting OH to man up. It's amazing what holding his daughter for the first time did to him. (he cried, I cried... I'm filling up now!)... Granted he is a messy, lazy, outdoor-phobic, PS3 obsessed child at times, but in general he has been a different person. An excellent daddy definitely

I should go to bed or something. It is getting progressively harder to get off the sofa, though whether this is due to exercise DVD or very unplump flat as a pancake sofa cushions, I couldn't tell you :rotfl:

As my old maths teacher Yoda said 'Do, or do not. There is no try'

Nighty!!

vic.star

Keep up the good work diddy!! As for that grout, that's what i call a man's job Well done on all the debt busting :beer:

vasseur

Found you! :T well done on all that batch cooking. I'm the same - definitely have to be in the mood

Subscribes....

please-let-me-be-lucky

Lol at John Wayne & Pingu's constipated lovechild :rotfl: Xx

liltdiddylilt

Right!!!

Yesterday I started a post on here, not once but THREE times... continually got distracted, forgot what I was doing and closed the page... Baby brain reigns supreme!!!

I did much more of the list up there, plus half a dozen other things but time constraints, small teething child (molars first, just to be awkward...) and work have all conspired against me this week.

I am sat at work like a zombie, mainlining coffee and praying for 5pm.

I am such a disptick. I forgot to post my friends birthday card in time. She received it 3 days after her birthday... :(:(
I also forgot to post my brother in laws card so OH has been dispatched to buy said card, write it in his best handwriting (which only a doctor could decipher) and get it in the post this afternoon. Now PRAY that it gets there tomorrow!!!!! :eek:

Lucky, it took me so long to recover from half of one DVD session I may well have put myself off for life... Never ever ever buy a DVD to do with the 'Biggest Loser' series... It is bound to break something. :rotfl:

Vic - thank you for popping in. I am the man of our house I do all the DIY and especially DIY related to cleaning... Lol

Poles... woop!! Hello :D I need to start batch cooking more often. Maybe the next thing that I buy after we are out of debt will be a normal sized fridge freezer instead of the pygmy fridge my landlord left us in our exceedingly tiny kitchen. Then I can really get into it instead of eating a 1.3kg bag of peas just to fit another meal in the freezer

Unplanned spends this week include:

£49.50 unplanned planned train tickets for Feb
£8 train fare plus £20ish for OH to go out for a meal tonight
£22 on nappies, deodorant & chocolate from Wilko's. Chocolate is VERY BAD!
£6.92 in tesco when going in to buy chicken dippers last night. I did not need 4 chocolate puddings....

So all in all I blew my budget at the last minute... *sits down in the naughty corner and cries*

I have 4 days to spend NOTHING else... I will set us a target of 20 NSD's for February (28th Jan to 28th Feb) and I will stick to it. Tomorrow lunchtime I will do my ASDA shop online which will be delivered on the 28th and will come out of the bank on the 28th or after so I will count it as a Feb spend.

I am going to remain accountable and somehow make some money back in Feb... though where, since I am going on a hen do and then a girls night out, is anyones guess...

Now, more coffee - and time to tell my accounting app what I've done :eek:

vic.star

Haha, i don't think 'the biggest loser' dvd is aimed for your body lilt! You're nowhere near the size of those people haha. I don't think you've done so bad on the budgeting! And i hope you made jay pay for his own dinner last night! I also know how to get abit of money back this/next month. Maybe sell something you would give away rather than sell...like a breadmaker maybe?? Good luck for the NSDs coming up

liltdiddylilt

Right!! *puts on my means business cap*

I am resurrecting this long stared at diary. I could have started a new one, but the theme is the same & lets face it, I didn't really get very far with it did I!! I post my everyday rammel into the lovely Kat's Ultimate Challenge day in & day out. It's starting to get to the point that I post as much as she does!!

Soooooooooooo... here I am. Start as you mean to go on.. etc etc.

I've not done amazingly on the savings front. I find that having this extra money (approx £500 a month we DO NOT need to spend!) actually makes me so lackadaisical I've lost all thoughts of budgeting and keeping on track! I think I may post an SOA of sorts just to get my bum into gear. Watch this space.

Plans for the next YEAR are afoot. I would like to:

1. Move house. We live in a 2 bedroom flat, with neighbours above, below, and to two sides. There is no outdoor space, no indoor space since having the little lady & the noise, disgusting smells & general block of flatsiness about the place is depressing me.
2. Start trying for child number 2 around January time. It means Jellytot will be around 2 1/2 at the least when new cheeby arrives. Hopefully will have a friend aiming for the same time as me & will be nice to have someone to go through pregnancy together with as last time I knew no-one & was very isolated, with an OH who was profoundly unhappy with my pregnancy entirely until the last couple of months.
3. Buy a new bed & a sofa-bed - one for me because my bedframe is an £80 metal special which actually will not be able to be taken down when we come to move - and the other for guests to camp out on!
4. Start planning meals and sticking rigidly to a weekly shop value!!
5. Spend more time outdoors with the little lady!!!

Some of these, as you can see, are big projects, and some, just little ideas of what I'd like to do! What the top 3 require more than anything is PLANNING and MONEY!



First post down, more to come!:T:T:T

liltdiddylilt

Ok, my SOA of sorts. Please believe me when I say I am not looking for savings, nor am I looking to have someone pop in here, all militant like, and tell me I am missing haircuts, car repairs and all around planning outside of the daily grind. This is the in's & outs of an average month. I cannot cut back on anything any further. I need to make sure that the savings I can gather each month go into my savings account and sit there, and that if I need to pay for an extra birthday gift, cover Christmas or other things I can pull it out of there without feeling guilty.

Income:
Total: £1652.30 - My wages, OH wages, child/w-tax credits & child benefit.

Outgoings:
Rent: £450
Council Tax: £122
Water: £41.50 (meter)
Gas & Elec: £58.71
Phone/BB: £9.00 (line rental paid upfront for the year)
TV License £12.18
Life Insurance: £18.53
Mobile Phones: 19.90
Groceries: 200.00 (2 adults, one child)
Misc: £104.00 (includes trains, nappies & misc childrens things & trips out with the odd babys birthday)
Total: £1080.09

Balance remaining: £572.75

To clarify for those wondering. I cut my OH's hair, & DD's. My hairdresser comes on average once every 3 months, costing £10.
We are "low income" (yes laugh after seeing the above total) and so get free eye tests/glasses (not frames) and dental care & also free prescriptions.

DD doesn't cost much in the way of baby things as unfortunately she is allergic to milk protein & has special formula even now when she is 13 months old, instead of cows milk. This saves on average £40-50 per month in formula milk.

I rarely buy myself clothes. OH's mum buys his clothes in bulk over Xmas & his birthday, spending usually around £500-700 on him which covers him for the entire year. DD gets most of her clothes from family members who live far away & spoil her, and also the mum in law goes mental on her at Xmas & birthdays too. I plan her birthday gifts from family way in advance, thus meaning we rarely have to buy any big things across the year.

We don't have a car & both walk to our respective jobs. A 4 mile round trip for me. :A Xmas should be covered with about £200 of savings and tesco/nectar & boots vouchers if we do it properly.

I expect to save at least £450 per month, on a bad month. Realistically this is very achievable. Would love it to be more!!