The beginning of the journey to smiles

TripsandSmiles

:oSo ended up being a little naughty last night and getting a takeaway on the way back from picking up OH. £15. Whoops. So much for not being frivolous.. A day of boring but chilled stuff today. OH has already gone to work so just me.

Will and not stare too much at my bank account today....

beanielou

Yah to one debt down
CC will be under 2k soon!

TripsandSmiles

Ooh Beanielou, never thought of the under 2k milestone! Thanks! Its been a long time since that's been the case!

So today has been a bit of a disaster as have a flat tyre. A very flat tyre. Caused by a giant screw! Grr! The car is going in for its service tomorrow so really could do without the extra cost.

Apart from that has been a very normal Monday. Haven't spent any money (apart from bus fare this morning due to the flat tyre) so just ticking along.

Fingers crossed I'm not broke by the time the car is sorted!

Chrysalis1976

Good news on the deposit from old place, best wishes for the new and well done on all your money saving and congrats on paying off a debt. Keep it going.

C x

TripsandSmiles

Its been a funny few days!

The car ended up being £400, more than we anticipated. :eek: OH is paying the majority, but its still £100 I could have done with not spending this week. :mad: Alas, the car now runs like a dream, which can only be a good thing.

Apart from that I have been okay money wise.

Am just sorting my budget for next month, which although tight should be okay. Were trying to be really sensible with buying new stuff for the house. We went to Ike@ the other day and didn't buy a single thing (well, only some hot dogs ) and went straight on eb@y and found a second hand version of a chair we wanted for £25 (£150 cheaper!!) :T:T Still got to find a vacuum cleaner, bed, mattress and reclining chair.

I'm going to try a new spending technique. I am giving myself £7.50 per day to include food, drinking, travel costs, clothes - anything that isn't bills basically. Each day I have money leftover it will be carried over to the next day, and at the end of each week what ever is left over I will split 50% to CC and 50% to the next week.

Think I'm rambling. So tired and really looking forward to a relaxed weekend.

TripsandSmiles

So the £7.50 per day budget starts tomorrow.

This works out as £52.50 for the week. This is how I plan to spend it this week:

Tuesday - £3.30 : bus fare
Surplus = £4.20
Wednesday - £10.00 : Petrol
Surplus = -£2.50
Thursday - £7.50 : shop for dinner
Surplus = £0.00
Friday - £4.00 : bus fare / going out for dinner and drinks but this is already budgeted for outside of this money (see below)
Surplus = £3.50
Saturday - £10.00 : Petrol
Surplus = -£2.50
Sunday - £10.00 : lunch / dinner
Surplus = -£2.50
Monday : NSD
Surplus = £7.50

Weekly surplus = £7.70

Extra budgeted spends:
Friday night - £40
Phone bill - £40
Gym - £15.99

For me to stick to this, I am going to get the cash out and keep it in my purse. Then if I decide to overspend, I will have to make it up later on in the week.

If any money is left over from the Extra budgeted spends, this will be added to the weekly surplus amount and will be put towards overpayments / carry over to the week after.

I have £15.00 left in my account today which I will spend on food shopping. I'm hoping to get food for at least three dinners out of this. I won't write a list because I tend to buy whats been discounted / on offer. I will buy a bottle of wine out of this too

I have also got back to online earning - surveys etc so hopefully that will start paying off in the next couple of weeks. I did this at the beginning of the year but spend way too much time on it. I won't be doing that again. I will set a total amount of time to spend on it and whatever I make is a bonus.

I have also applied for mystery shopping, am still waiting on 63336 to respond and still have a few bits to sell on Ebaz, although some of this is OH stuff so will put the money towards join things (deposit on flat / stuff for flat). I also have over £100 in cashback, so fingers crossed a chunk of that will be payable this month.

Speaking of flat stuff, this is a more organised list of what is still needed:

:cool: Vacuum cleaner
:cool: Double bed
:cool: Double mattress
:cool: Van hire
:cool: Deposit stuff for letting agent

Fingers crossed all this planning pays off!

TripsandSmiles

Just joined the 1% challenge :beer:

TripsandSmiles

So just got back from @ldi. I love that place. I have never gone over budget in there, no matter how frivolous I think I'm being! Managed to get enough meat for at least three days, fruit, veg, a little chocolate and some peri peri sauce. Its not Nandos but hopefully it will be just as nice? I hope so, as it was loads cheaper! All this came to £13.55, which although isn't a huge amount under my budget it still makes a difference! Will put the remainder towards my CC now.

Then cooking pork meatballs and noodles for dinner, with carrots and hummus for starter. Yum!

TripsandSmiles

So not the greatest start to the new budget - pay day is tomorrow not today.

Financially this hasn't really impacted me as my bus fare was scrounged from the change pot and haven't spent anything else today.

Wednesday - NSD
Surplus = £7.50
Thursday - NSD
Surplus = £7.50
Friday - £4.00 : bus fare / going out for dinner and drinks but this is already budgeted for outside of this money (see below)
Surplus = £3.50
Saturday - £15.00 : Petrol
Surplus = -£7.50
Sunday - £10.00 : lunch / dinner
Surplus = -£2.50
Monday : £7.50 : Food supplies
Surplus = £0.00
Tuesday : £4.00 : Bus fare
Surplus = £3.50

Weekly Spend = £40.50
Weekly surplus = £12.00

Extra budgeted spends:
Friday night - £40
Phone bill - £40
Gym - £15.99

TripsandSmiles

Spent on bus fare and a banana today but it was leftover from when i raided the change pot so it didn't come out of the budget. So not strictly an NSD but for the purpose of the budget it is an NSD.

Have to get the bus in again tomorrow, but as OH is taking the car he can put the petrol in.

One thing that does feel really good is the deposit for the new flat is money I have saved. Normally this would have been put on CC or the bank of mum.