Mrs P's trying to shrink the spend

MrsPepperpot

Like everyone I am very keen to reduce my spending, sort the house out and try and keep motivated in the process. Also like other people I need a space to put down what I would like to acheive and how well I am doing.

My main problem is motivation. I am at home a lot on my own (whilst DD is at school and DH is at work) and I struggle to get things done as there is no urgency to get them done (apart from day to day tasks of course).

I have weekend work, which I enjoy and I also try and do a few extra hours when I can. On the money side I would say that we have enough to live on. No savings to speak of. A loan that has 2 years to run and a healthy grocery fund each month that goes onto a pre paid card (through DH's work and comes straight out of his wages) that gives us cashback. We are planning to reduce what we put on the card currently £440 per month. This pays for all groceries, cleaning products and basically anything that can be bought at A*da or Sainsbugs the only suppermarkets that we can use the card at (A*da is a good 15 miles away, Sainsbugs is only down the road ... so we tend to shop there.)

So from today I am going to set myself some mini challenges to acheive each day and try and kick start my mojo!!

17th May 2013
Shopping ... £104.97 to last until Monday 27th £71.00 spent on weekly shop
Tidy house ready for DD play mate and hoover
Drop off duvet at Laundrette
Continue painting conservatory.
Take card up for CH
Put washing away
Do ironing

Daily tasks
Feed Dogs
Feed Guinea Pigs and Rabbit
Feed Tortoise
Empty Dishwasher reload
Tidy kitchen
Sweep Floor
Walk the dogs

Main 'Want to do' - the garden

Primary aims:
reduce grocery spend (set up new budget June 2013)
Do SOA
Set up emergency fund £500
Reduce time on F*cebook - have closed my account
Be more productive with my time ... and pace myself
No unnecessay spend - this mainly happens when I get paid. Start thinking about whether I really need it.
Put together a decent wardrobe!!

That's it for now ... time to get started x

MrsPepperpot

Dear Diary

I have meal planned for this week, but managed to pick up a fresh chicken for a £1 from work, so have decided to rejig a little. We mostly cook from scratch and try to eat fresh veg as much as possible. So this week we have on the menu:

Saturday - Lamb chops, new pots, carrots, peas, broccoli and cabbage
Sunday - Roast Chicken, roast pots, roast parsnip, hm yorkshire puddings plus veg as above
Monday - HM chilli carne with rice
Tuesday - Beef Burger, jacket pots with veg as above
Wednesday - HM Chicken pie, new pots and veg as above decided to change chicken Alfonso instead
Thursday - HM Bolagnaise sauce with wholemeal pasta
Friday - Sausages, jacket pots and veg as above decided to do colcannon for the first time

Spent £71 pounds on shopping this week buying essentials plus a birthday card and a couple of treats for DD and her friend. Forgot the gravy so had to get that today and decided I 'needed' some very sweet pots with lids on for picnics in the summer. Decided that was my last frivolus spend ...!

Can't decide to do a car boot or sell on ebay. Decisions ... decisions ...

That's all for now x

MrsPepperpot

Dear Diary

Haven't managed to get on daily as I would like, however I have been thinking about changing things a bit for the positive, so ...

DD is now getting weekly pocket money, but to do this she has a list of chores, which are the following:

Feed the cats, GPs, the rabbit and tortoise make sure they have water
Make own breakfast, get own drinks and clear table
Put Laundry in the laundry basket
Do Homework

If she does it all then she will get £5 per week, BUT she looses money if she doesn't do it properly. She is very keen at the moment but we'll see how long it lasts She now also has to save for any toys she wants or to spend at the car boots!

As for myself I did a extra shift at work and had a training day yesterday, I am due to do another shift tomorrow and doing this has already lifted my spirits as I really enjoy getting out and seeing people. The other positive thing to come out of this is that I don't have so much free time and therefore I am being more productive at home.

DD enjoyed going the after school club yesterday and has asked if she can go on a regular basis. This has enabled me to do an extra shift each week next month, which will cover the fees and put a little bit extra in the pot.

So as well as managing to organise my time a bit differently I am also having a shift round with money. Still need to do my SOA but already making some changes.

However, spending is not going so well. I get paid Friday. Spent money today on treats for DD and myself, spending money that had been ear marked for other things. So ... need to really think about how I am going to organise my money from next week. Also each month I pay for things on the cc and then pay it off the following month, however we have a lot of things that we would like to spend money on, so I need to stop this and put away what I would have spent on the cc. This will be hard but I am really going to try.

So when I want something I will try and really question myself as to if I really need it or whether I could do with out. If I do really need it then can I get it second hand at a cheaper price. Last resort buy new for as cheap as possible.

Next post will be SOA and how I intend to save for different things x

MrsPepperpot

Dear Diary

Here is my SOA -

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 360
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1294
Benefits................................ 81.2 child benefit
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1735.2
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 118 pay 10 months
Electricity............................. 85 £170 p/m will go down soon!
Gas..................................... 85
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 29 water meter
Telephone (land line)................... 28.09 including Broadband
Mobile phone............................ 21
TV Licence.............................. 12.13 paid yearly
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 440 planning on reducing
Clothing................................ 10 for DD
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 11.25
Car Insurance........................... 25.46
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 50.5
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7.65
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 82.42
Buildings insurance..................... 15.59
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 36.03
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 35
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Spending Money.......................... 200 £90 each/£20 pocket money
Lunches................................. 10 subsidised canteen
Pension................................. 30
Brown Bin............................... 4
Total monthly expenses.................. 1461.12

Assets
Cash.................................... 1000 DD's savings
House value (Gross)..................... 135000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 950
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 136950

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................7500......178.3.....8.4
Total unsecured debts..........7500......178.3.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,735.2
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,461.12
Available for debt repayments........... 274.08
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 178.3
Amount left after debt repayments....... 95.78
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 136,950
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,500
Net Assets.............................. 129,450

MrsPepperpot

Dear Diary

I am very pleased to have completed the soa, it shows that we have enough to live on and a little bit of surplus. However like lots of other people there are things that we would like to get/do. The plan is not to use credit to do this, but to pay off as we go. Normally we would be planning a family holiday using hubby's bonus, but unfortunatley we had to have a flat roof replaced last month so that took it all plus a bit. So a bit old style ... save up before we can get it/do it!


List of things we want/ need - TBC

New Flooring for Conservatory (Quote - £300)
Short break to see family (estimated cost £500 - travel and accomodation)
Clean Carpets
DD's bedroom/bathroom (get quote)
Redecorate



x

hanb

Hello Mrs P! :wave:

Just caught up and wanted to say hello! And to keep going

I'm sure people will come up with some suggestions from your SOA - I'm no good at it though so will leave it to them

MrsPepperpot

Hi hanb :wave:

Thank you for popping in, I really appreciate it!

The biggest area on my soa is the energy bill ... but it has been so cold ... we have a very old house, no cavity walls and the loft needs insulating properly but when you are limited with money then what do you do?

MrsPepperpot

Dear Diary

Payday :j!!

So I have paid off my CC (£82) and transfered money to DH for him to pay off his (£89).

Have put aside the following, which I do monthly
£5 for DH b/day and Xmas
£10 for general b/day
£35 for animal costs
£10 for DD clothing
£5 for long term savings (possibly converting to emergency fund)
Transfered across £62 to other account to cover hot dinners and my pension (need to look into this)
£10 for food at work
£40 for activities for DD (need to work this out more accurately)
£90 spending money - I use this to buy bedding for the animals and dog food. Hair cuts for me, DD and a dog. Anything I think I need!

Whilst here I thought I would do a break down of how I use my child benefit, so ...
£82.10 every 4 weeks
£12.10 into holiday activities fund for DD (so we can do at least one outing during holidays from school , which is not cheap!)
£20.00 for b/day and Xmas - DD b/day is Nov)
£50 transfered to other account to cover £10.00 pension for dd, £20 pocket money (max) and the rest to cover any treats for DD.

What is becoming clear to me is that for us the key is about how we prioritise our spend. In 2 years the loan will be paid off so we will have an extra £178 per month, however our car is now 10 years old and we may need to consider replacing it.

The question I ask is can we really live without some kind of credit, I am not sure ...

PinkPepperPot

Hello MrsPepperpot, thanks for popping over and leaving a post on my diary How did the space fashion show go?

I've read through your diary and you seem to be approaching everything in a very positive but realistic way which is good to see! I have subscribed to your thread and look forward to keeping up with your progress

x

saterkey

Try doing a few surveys perhaps, which get about £10 a month from valued opinions choose sainsburys as your rewards, do nectar canvass which gives you nectar points, you can put these together and get a monthly/2 monthly regular 12.50 for food and store cupboard items.

good luck..