New MFW......dipping my toe in the water.......

HelenDaveKids

Well done!!! Every single penny counts!

fothers365

Hi, Good luck with the saving and the OP. We have just started down this road too so I will follow your diary and see how you get on.

I_want_a_baby

Hi Brummiebabe!

I am so happy I seem to have inspired you but it feels a bit funny to read you writing that as I don't feel I am doing anything special! Anyone can do what I am doing as it is simply watching the pennies! But thank you for the mention I feel very blessed that my journey is encouraging other too - that's a huge bonus! And a very good reason for me to stay focused and on track!

Brilliant goals there! I encourage you to really think about how you can reduce the total needed for them (even if it seems by only insignificant amounts!).

For example £300 does sound a lot for wedding outfits - Do you have shoes/hair accessories/cardi's that can be reused into a new outfit? I bought a lovely dress for a wedding from debenhams for £40, if you are buying an outfit for the kids that isn't going to get much other use then consider primark/tesco/sainsburys they often have nice clothes but with a price tag more suitable for a couple of uses (rather than hanging £50 up in the wardrobe!). Anything saved here could go towards the holiday fund?

Also for the holiday - when we go we tend to reuse the clothes we have with the addition of a pack of tops and a pack of shorts from matalan or primark. We then visit poundland and get any glowsticks, activity packs, colouring books, rubber rings, buckets & spades to save paying 5x the price on the seafront. We find tesco vouchers work better for us on days out which we use on holiday - we tend to get 3x the value on these compared with 2x when we have used them at christmas (although havent heard of the christmas club). Finally day 1 of our caravan holiday always starts with a supermarket shop where there are a lot of 'treats' but the essentials are still reasonably priced (unlike the on site shop!).

Sorry if any of the above is teaching you to suck eggs as you may do all of this already! You could also save up all of your nectar & boots points to use for xmas/holiday shop.

Also again I don't know the age of your children but you could encourage them to save/earn their own spending money. In return for chores or ask for it for their birthday?

Anyway I will follow your journey and look forward to seeing the updates on your targets - I am very sure you will achieve them x

Stacey x

brummiebabe

Thanks for posting everyone. Stacey you may well be right about the amount we need for wedding clothes....but I really have nothing appropriate to wear so will need a new outfit, shoes etc.....but I shan't be going over the top! The kids can have something nice from Next or somewhere.

My children are 12, 10 & 6 and so do have pocket money, I suppose I could talk to them about putting some of that aside for spending money. We're only away for 4-5 days & will generally cook at the accommodation rather than going out. Some of this money needs to cover the outstanding balance for the accommodation too.

I do think children are more expensive as they get older though, and we will need some kind of 'fun money' for the holiday.

I_want_a_baby

I totally agree! We budget £300 for accommodation and £300 for spends on holiday and our two are 3 and 1. I realise that this will have to increase both as they get older and if we decide to have any more.

For me whilst I don't go crazy mad, holidays and christmas are to be enjoyed, to have those treats you wouldn't normally and to 'not worry' about money. We do have a budget for both that we don't go over but it is enough to feel like we are splurging a little and having lots of fun. It means every 6 months we have a lovely reward for our sensible living. They always get a new smart outfit as a christmas present along with a few pieces of winter clothing and they normally get a couple of summer outfits to wear new on holiday which tends to mean that they don't need alot else clothes wise. The rest I pick up 2nd hand.

How are you planning on saving for your targets? (I did reply to you with some tips on my diary). Do you have a target per month?

Stacey x

brummiebabe

Stacey - thanks for the tips on your diary & for posting here.

I need to sit down and work out what I need to aim to save every month in order to achieve this - when I posted I was just thinking of what I wanted to achieve - not how I was going to get there!!:o

Saving £100 towards the holiday is already in my budget, but I realise we're not going to get the full amount in time for August, so need to rethink this.

I have worked my budget on a 5 week basic month....so the months that it is 4 weeks, and I get my mileage payments or any pay rises...this is 'extra' money that I can put aside.

I really need to work on my grocery budget - but find this area really hard! I budget between £400-£420 per month. We don't (generally) buy any alcohol in this.

Will have a think today and see if I can come up with a plan!!

brummiebabe

Have been working out the figures......I don't think I can achieve everything I set out to as we just don't have enough 'spare' cash....but a rough plan is:

1) To save £100 p/m for next 3 months - this will go towards wedding outfits, money for drinks on the day etc.....any left over money will go into Emergency Fund.

2) To save a further £155.50 p/m towards the holiday.

3) After the holiday - from August's pay onwards, I will save £200 p/m for Christmas & £50 towards emergency fund.

4) son's trip - remaining £20 to come from my school trips/kids parties budget.....i currently put £20p/m into this, so will be available to use when needed.

5). Emergency fund - I will save any 20p & 50p coins & bank them when they reach £10 or £20 - and pay into emergency fund. Any remaining money from current accounts will go towards this at the end of each month.

It is the emergency fund that I'm going to struggle with - however, I shall save £50 from July's pay onwards, so that will be £300 by December, plus there's £50 there already = £350.......plus any extra bits & pieces I can find:rotfl:

So the basic amount I'm aiming to save is £250. £100 of this is already in my normal budget......the £150 needs to come from the 'spare money' and this seems totally achievable! My mileage expenses can be an extra £60+ and I'm due a 1% pay rise in April, plus my tax code has changed significantly as I was paying back an underpayment. Plus we have 2 4 week months, which allows me an extra 2 x £70 from the petrol budget.

I don't know if this will make sense to anyone but me.....but it's helped me to plan & I shall no doubt be checking back in with how I'm doing! Plus I'm going to OP by between £20-50.....

Phew....need a cup of tea now:T

brummiebabe

Day spent taking DS1 to his football match then visiting parents.....NSD which is obviously a bonus!!!

Need to check Nationwide website tomorrow or maybe Tuesday to check that overpayment is showing.....it can apparently take a few days even though they credit it to your account immediately.

Am having an early night.....had a few late nights recently & feel shattered!!!

elantan

Yep it can take a few days to show ... But it does come off it that day as far as I'm aware

Miss_Money_Magnet

Hi Brummie Babe
You sound in a similar position to me! Ive just made my first little £10 overpayment! Good luck with your journey to be mortgage free!