Wishing on an ickle star

icklehelen

Just updated my signature as another £62.25 OPd after payday.....

icklehelen

It's nearly the end of February so checked the spreadsheets and all is good for another month:

Feb CC £71.65/£100 Food £141.73/£150
Overall CC £113.51/£200 Food £281.71/£300

Hope everyone enjoys their extra day!

icklehelen

Popped in to update signature with OP and I've noticed we've knocked another month off the other end!

All good and a nice PM from MSE Badger with my 4 year badge

DD and I are having a little holiday this week leaving DH at home as he's working. Small budget set aside so we can enjoy ourselves but not feel guilty afterwards! Also bought some nice food for DH so he doesn't feel totally left out!

icklehelen

Belated March update:
Mar CC £93.70/£100 Food £126.00/£150
Overall CC £207.21/£300 Food £407.71/£450

Had a lovely break with DD and were well within our spends budget. The weather was good so we went on walks and to parks with picnics.

Been busy with end of year at the shop. Stock take was done on 1st and DH is keeping himself occupied in between customers updating the spreadsheets. Once that's done all I'll bundle it all up for our accountant to wave her magic wand over it.......

Food spends may increase slightly as DH is now on a [STRIKE] diet[/STRIKE] healthy eating plan. Also trying to be more organised as I'd slipped into bad habits for quick evening meals!

Power supply switched and now paying much less so I'm being cautious and putting aside some of the savings just in case I end up owing money in the future. :A

So now its time to sort the phone/broadband/mobiles out....preferably with as little hassle as possible.

Wondering where I can find some extra pennies to go towards the mortgage before the first submission to MFiT-T4 ...............

icklehelen

Popped in last weekend to update MFiT-T4 and am happy to report I'm in the green. Did manage to pop in to update my MFiT-T4 and am happy to report we're in the green.

Can't quite believe we're at the end of April already. Thought it would be an expensive month as we're getting into our family birthday season but it wasn't so bad. Next few birthdays in May will receive vouchers which I can get through S&S or CP

Update for April:
Mar CC £55.95/£100 Food £120.29/£150
Overall CC £263.16/£400 Food £528/£600

Have decided for my sanity to leave the phone/bb until things are less hectic at work. Deadlines are looming every week so once that's all over I can concentrate on getting that sorted. It's not a major expense of our so wouldn't be saving huge amounts anyway.

Updated signature and have knocked another month off the other end of the mortgage.

icklehelen

Wow it's been a while since I was on here although have still kept up with my OPs and updating my MFiT...

So jumping to an overall update to the end of September:
Overall CC £608.76/£900 Food £1231.44/£1350

Mortgage stands at £52960 (once regular OP is added) with £760 built up in savings so far this year.

Still trying to sort my spreadsheets after the interest rate change as the Mtg company spread the amount remaining back over the full length of the term..........

All up to date with cheapest rates for everything possible, just got the car MOT and service this month and I do have a few Christmas presents left to buy but otherwise I'm quite happy with this year's achievements We even managed a family holiday for the first time in 6 years!

My plan to get more organised is part way there but we get our Christmas stock deliveries next week and I don't feel ready!

icklehelen

Went to the bank yesterday to upgrade one of our accounts - after 2 hours they still hadn't been able to sort it so I have another appointment booked next Saturday! All we could do was joke about it as no-one seemed to know why they couldn't do it....so they've opened us a new account but I need to go back to sort out the old one!

Another couple of Christmas presents bought and the car booked in (everything crossed that it doesn't cost more than it's worth :rotfl:) Also need to add Christmas cakes to my things to do.....

Christmas stock has arrived so all hands on deck to get it all ready for the markets and the rest onto the shop shelves.

icklehelen

Popping in to get a bit of motivation as I am supposed to be sorting my budgets for 2017.......struggling as they yet again are going to be so tight!

I have signed up to the 2017 challenge as that used to keep my very focused and I feel the last few years I have just stuck to the OPs I could do. Hopefully with a bit of a push we can get back into selling our unwanted stuff and making some extra OPs.

Right time to get on with them.........wish me luck!

Kittenkirst

Good luck!! Do share your 2017 budgets & resolutions

icklehelen

Thanks Kittenkirst!

So after a lot of playing around with spreadsheets I have decided to set our OP challenge at £2500 for 2017.

I've kept our food budget to £150 per month but I have upped the car account to £175 per month as OH's car is not getting any younger!
I've made a few changes to my spreadsheet to help me keep a better eye on other spends so instead of a one column I have 3 each with a budget of £50 per month - one is a household budget (this is to pay for household supplies and alcohol), one for our 'annual' bills (pays for house insurance and other annual or irregular debits) and the third is for 'occasions' (to cover birthdays, Christmas and any other celebrations).

I've also looked at our freezer and pantry and with everything in there I am planning on having a very frugal beginning to the year. Shopping should only need to be fresh items so an extra little challenge for me and my slow cooker :rotfl:

Once Christmas is over I am planning on doing a 'year end' to see if I managed to keep well within my targets for 2016. I know I fell of the wagon for keeping this diary updated but I believe I've kept up my scrimping