Financially Free by 31.12.2013

NinjaSavingKat

Hello Ladies...... my monthly budget is £25...lol!... Albeit I don't have any friends.....

Shelbi

Hiya!! Wowza Kat that's fab, for £25 spends I'd easily give up mine Lool...you must have very savvy friends indeed...love it!!

horseshoe_crab

eek you guys are right, £25 per week is quite excessive for extra spending... Need to tackle that and maybe go down to £10. Will discuss with the OH when we are both back from work today. I was quiet over the weekend, due to being extremely busy sorting out new place! Hope everyones money saving is going well, i had two ebay auctions end yesterday so just waiting for the payment, that is another £25:) I will write a longer update after work! Oh and shelbi I wish i could get the colleagues to pay for me haha but i don't think it would go down too well, unfortunately can't expense anything since I am an intern. Friday lunches out are a weekly thing, that is £10 already (without alcohol which i am not drinking right now at all).Heh will have to have a think about this

horseshoe_crab

ooh and by luxury toiletries I mean like face moisturiser, hair conditioner, stuff that I buy from boots rather than Asda or Iceland- not the crazy expensive stuff that is like £30 but the hair conditioner which is about £4 and the moisturiser which is like £5. Used to get Asda basic conditioner but it made me hair awful greasy:( that comes out my personal allowance of (currently) £25 per week, rather than the food shopping allowance of £30 per week. But eek it seems high now

Shelbi

Afternoon HSC, massive congrats on your ebay sales!!..totally get the conditioner, maybe shop around or take advantage when they have bogof's, im sure youll find away, let me know how the £10 budget goes im going to attempt a £40pm, Im still not as savvy as our Kat, ill work my way there...

This will be a challenge as I know I have a family birthday in Sept& that is going to cost me, I think club entry alone will be half that...but im going to try wing it, her birthday pressy is sorted, I have ive never used & is still in the wrapper. Ive resolved to not buy a new dress either drag one out from the depths of my cupboard or loan one (not to sold on this idea yet)...hmm what else friends house warming (increased petrol & bring a bottle) (hmm maybe £40 is a bit of a challenge lol).

Am bit cautious of making payments with August salary, namely as the bank seem to have changed some dd's but not my salary, so think i may need to hold fire on taking a swing at the demon known as my credit card. Thinking ill make payments closer to September payday, or do it in phases though im not great with restraint...hmm not sure yet, do know that i need to leave money in both so all odds and sods can come out....

Today is day 12 of nsd i think aww and have made a payment of £45.64 ebay sales onto card, murder to post all that off...

eeeek hometime, Ill ramble a bit more later lol but gonna make my escape before the boss returns...sorry for the ramblings...the writting reflects the state of my mind all over the show today loool!....have a fab evening one & all!!

horseshoe_crab

Kat I am in awe of your money saving abilities! Well done! Shelbi well done on all your ebay sales- I am still waiting for mine to pay up! I wish royal mail was cheaper, i always shock myself with how much it costs to post something off. Now I am searching for more items to sell- and running out of items to sell!

I already made my escape when the boss left early to go on holiday:) right, off to re-evaluate the budget with the OH!

Shelbi

Thanks HSC, how did the budget re-evaluation go? well I hope!! Ok so I dont know how i missed this but its bank holiday weekend & carnival...probably not the best weekend to give myself £40 budget! But im going for it, have carnival figured out, am going as its free & will be taking a sly hipflask or two with me, may even bring a packed lunch...as long as I can stay away from the jerk stand this should work) Plan is buy booze from the offie, juice too..actually make that asda (cheaper) im taking a plactic cup im set for the day..sounds bad but everyone will be drinking its carnival, thats too much will power, will just take my drinks, my travel money £6 still left on oyster after last thursday should be cool, £10 (emergency cash) & everything else is staying at home...no back up funds, no credit cards...all this is subject to good weather, no weather ill be curled up on the sofa with a movie lol!!

Today is another NSD, though I have to admit I made ham salad from home & was seriously tempted to go buy a piece of salmon to liven it up..but I didnt so I should make the 13 if i stick to my guns!

Salary will be left in my account and not used to cut down the debt, Till direct debits go out & I try open the first direct account first transfer the money then start putting things straight from there. This will take some will power but i think i can do it, im determined to hit my target. I still want to do the same things but im going to have to pick & choose so this is Septembers events: Carnival, 1 birthday celebration night out & 1 cinema trip. can I do all this on £40? I honestly dont think so but imma try!!! aww pants I have a housewarming party too!!...well if its not difficult it wouldnt be a challenge now would it lol!!

Guess ill just start with this weekend & see how I go...I do know that I really need to stay on the straight & narrow so I can hit my target...I need to make payments of at least £1300 to get financially free by nye & thats not a small piece chunk of change....woooosaaa!! Right £40 it is what ever I dont have funds left over for i cant go too...eeek!! Right this may need some planning ill be back x

horseshoe_crab

Hi everyone! Hmm sooooo the "finance meeting" with OH went well, we agreed to try a new drastic plan....£50 per week combined budget for both of us from Asda Online, and £10 emergency cash for other "stuff" which will sit in a jar in the hallway for whoever needs it. So every week we select absolutely everything we need from Asda, food/household/toiletries and get it delivered (easy to add things into/out of the basket on online shopping and you can see the effect on price) for under £50. I am pretty good at cooking from scratch and OH gets breakfast/lunch at work so it will only be evening meals and my breakfast/lunch.

we are going to do this because OH said he is mostly spending his £25 due to running out of food at homr because we are not planning the basic food shop properly. I.e. We are not buying enough so then he will pop out to the corner shop which is of course more expensive than the supermarket and then he will get tempted by other snacks there etc. So the key seems to be planning everything to the last letter! From now on food shopping will all be planned every week.

last night we did our first Asda food shop for 1week, for £50:) we counted number of meals and realised the only thing we might run out of is milk hence the £10 extra per week.

I think the main problem with us is we both felt we have a "reason" or justification for being broke, and we used that as an excuse for having no money for the past few years. However, when we seriously examine our spending, then yes we have had some difficult times which were unavoidable and impacted our finances. But hidden in there is some overspending aswell which we always ignored and thought "oh i am short of money/using credit card due to OH not working and horseshoe_crab being a student and OH paying international fees for college". All these "difficult times" are over now and its time to face our spending habits.

Shelbi it sounds like you have a good plan for the next few weeks! Stick at it, and like i said earlier, planning is the key! I am missing the carnival because I am going to visit family (so should be free, family member paid for transport already!) and OH will be working so he will miss it too. But enjoy yourself and have a great time! Well done on the NSD, hopefully I will start a string of them when I come back from the trip!

Shelbi

:hello:Morning HSC & Fellow DFW's

Hsc I really love the idea of "finance meeting" The ideas you guys came up with are fab, love the online shop so you know exactly what you need & dont get tempted to buy more:money:...genius!! You're totally right hun, everything is down to planning...Sound like you both went through the mill but hey you're so right difficult times are over & you guys seem strong and are doing amazingly well...good times straight ahead!! Im inspired!! & really looking forward to updates on how its going. Makes me think I could still do with trimming some of the fat off this months budget....so excited for this weekend...PAYDAY!!! ...I cant spend it but I like the way it inches me that much closer to freedom:j..

I hope you have a really fab time with your family Horseshoe_crab....enjoy!!

Shelbi

Quick check in..NSD14 in progress..no cinema tonight / Taking the planning idea into action, planning actual petrol usage..AA mileage planner gives it to me in £'s so I know how much my car will guzzle (cant think if I mentioned it before, but may help someone) Good news travel to house warming will cost less than I thought, downside I remembered I have another christening to attend this month, need a prezzy for the bubba... I need to start jotting these things down...so far worked out what cards I need to buy (3 for £1 will do nicely- market!!) These are things I forget & always spend more on, which is pretty silly as theyre probably thrown away...go figure. Aww whilst having a nosey, found a new thread virtual sealed pot, round remaining balance in bank account to the nearest £10/£5, so a/c 256.70 then save 6.70 or 1.70... definitely going to give that one a whirl.