May The Force Be With YOU!

Mrs_Toast

Morning everyone. The sun is shining and it's a new month so couldn't be better. Other than DS sleeping through the night :rotfl:but he has a cold so can be forgiven. Here are my budgets/targets for May.

Food £120
Petrol £50
Entertainment £80
Planned Spends £128.95
Unplanned Spends £20
Birthdays £20.50
SFDs 21

The entertainment budget will need to be used for the first week of half term. We have another 2 weeks here but luckily it crosses into June. I'm hoping I can save on all budgets except petrol and get at least into double figures on SFDs

Debt repayments

Barclaycard £357.66 making it only £1000 to pay off. Already paid £130. £227. 66 to go.
MBNA £111.92 making it only £800 to pay off. Already paid £80 so £31.92 to go.

My first goal is to get our debt down to £3000 by the end of August. Our final DFD at the moment is April 2014 but I'd love to pay it off by xmas. I'm hoping with extra child benefit and child tax credits that we can make this.

Ok, I think that's everything. Good luck to everyone this month

abundant1972

Morning All!

Pinch-Punch-First of the month... or whatever it is you're meant to say!!! Thanks for the battle charge Kat!!!

Happy May 01st everyone! I'm deciding today that May *is* going to be a good financial month. No ifs no buts. It just is!

Budgets for the month:

Grocery: £80.00
Spends: £80.00
Fuel: £70.00
SFD: 21

I've upped my fuel budget as I ran out last month. Any spare will roll over for next month. Going to sit down and finalise days out, and plan my SFDs better than I did last month. Also going to try meal planning - I was getting good at batch cooking but kind of fell off the wagon a bit last month again.

Gym still going well and keeping me sane!!! I'd recommend improving fitness to anyone. Last month was very up and down for me emotionally and it was one of the things (along with you guys!) that actually kept me afloat and getting up every morning. Thanks again for just being here!!! This forum is so much more than just a financial blog - it's a life changing community - and one I feel privileged to be a part of.

I've said it before and I'll say it again! Thanks Kat. Even at a time of turmoil and upheaval in your own life - you have been here for us and kept us all going! Your efforts are appreciated!!!

Let's make this a month we can be proud of!!!

:T

Learning2Budget

Good morning campers! The sun is shining, i have walked half of the school run (i parked up early so we could walk and listen to the birds, but Im not strong enough yet to walk the whole way) and i am about to get pen and paper and work out my budget for the month. I am feeling positive and am wishing my life away cos in 3 months we will be under the 25k Mark. That was a goal i set us for this year!!
Happy first of the month, and as Kat would say onwards and upwards, or in the words of toystory........to infinity and beyond!! L2B.xx

thriftylass

Happy 1st of May! Maybe the money gods be good to us this month and bless us with strength, endurance and motivation :A.

On a more serious note I really hope this month goes well. It will be tight. But so far so good. Usually I would have spend a fair bit by now on a big grocery spend etc but I haven't. Only a wee top up shop and the roofer (which is a seperate budget).

Good luck all

angelpye

Morning all, well may is going to be tight! Need to eBay etc a lot more and just change my mindset about food - makes me feel like a bad mummy to be so frugal but I know deep down I feed them healthy meals made with love and bake scrummy snacks so they are not going without. The thing is I would probably cook the same type of thing anyway and certainly did when money was good and ex was still here so don't know why I feel so guilty all the time. Just beating myself up about nothing as usual.
Just been landed extra work travel so that has to be paid up front and a family member has passed away which means flowers and travel therefore unlikely to go for birthday meal. Oh well, she was kind to me and want to pay my respects. Probably paid more off debt than could afford yesterday but its gone now and I don't remember PIN numbers to cards so no temptation there.

Finally, after much trepidation and a poke in the ribs from Kat, I have a dfd... May 2015! Not if I can help it though! Want August 2014 and will get it if I can by hook or by crook! So time to get a plan together and stick to it!

Back to this month, did a sm shop yesterday so will only need top up fruit, veg, milk etc and determined that's it. Want to take kids out in half term so will have to be very very good! Missing out on a gig that Santa bought me tickets for so have returned tickets to Santa - no babysitter and limited cash anyway so all works out. My sister said should sell the tickets as sold out and apparently sought after but they were a gift and that wouldn't feel right.

Will finalise figures tonight after work. Enjoy the sunshine!

rosiecheeksblossom

Morning all,
Please can I join in Kat, bit late in signing up this month I know.....
It will be a SFD day today. signature updated, few little spends on there already as had to get shopping and petrol right at the last minute of last month. As most of this is being used in May, the overspend in April has been taken off May's budget to make April break even.
Hope everyone has a sunny day xxx

Living_a_good_life

Day one - SFD - focused and ready to go!! Dh has returned, bless him he "confessed" to spending £4.14 on a pint at the bar but other than that all else was expenses

So worked out my work hours - aiming to do 25 more than usual to try and make sure DFD happens on payday. Very excited and determined.

Angelpye - re the frugal food - I totally know what you mean. DS has packed lunches, others are packed with crisps, chocolate bars, mini fruit bags (why), and bought drinks. Thankfully he doesnt seem to care!

Right washing out and then to work - BRING IT ON!!

Love LAGL xx

his_missus

Morning all,

May already - where is the year going?

My aim this month is to save £600. Working from my usual budget there'll be £550 left once my DDs and my weekly budgets are taken into consideration, £50 short of my target.
Also have a week away in Wales booked for this month to consider spends for.
Finally I need to rein in my Hubby, who is beginning to show signs of frivolousness (is that even a word?) now we are essentially debt free.

So...I'm going to cut my weekly budget to £80 apart from the week we're away. I'm budgetting a week's budget + £100 savings =£200 for Wales. This should leave me £80 to add to the £550 I'm saving.

Fingers crossed xxx

ClootiesMum

Well, hopefully this will be a better month than April.

I will try my best not to write off any more cars. DH is now out of hospital with his new hip and it looks like we have the house now sorted for his recovery.
Monthly spend amount is high as there are 2 birthdays to buy for & DH wants to buy some Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the ward he was on & for the doctors surgery (he went to docs Monday pm with a foot issue & there was a physio out at the house to help him today - that deserves a thank you). I know Krispy Kreme are expensive but it's not often DH asks for things like this.
Amount to debts - this is over and above the normal amounts we should pay & will fully clear 1 debt. I'm working on having DH call a card with nothing outstanding to try to get a 0% balance transfer agreement for another 2 cards.
Weight loss - bringing this in for me will encourage me not to spend on junk:o
DFD - not calculated but am aiming for the day before my 50th so I can be 50 & DF

So for this month:-

SFD 0/21
Monthly spend amount £0/£200
Amount to debts £0/£508.72
Weight loss 0lbs/14lbs
DFD 17/07/2014

Bring it on !!!!

And Kat - thanks again.

Jonesy88

Good Morning!

LAGL - bless his "confession"
L2B - loving the toy story quote.
Kat - thanks for the challenge and inspiring words

Mays Plan

Food: £43/£60 - did a massive online shop so only veggies and milk needed for the rest of the month.
Petrol: 0/£100
Spends: 0/£30
SFD: 0/21
Money Made: 0/£500

The "money made" one is because we have a £500 holiday to pay for before July (we go in September). I've allocated budget to pay for this but i want to challenge myself by trying to pay for it through fleabay and the like. Technically i've got 2 months to do this but its going to be hard.

My current DFD is April 2014 including paying off the car. However I desperately want this to be xmas 2013 so i can start saving for babies . Hence the holiday challenge.

Good luck all