I don't need another skinny Latte

StarMummy_2

HI SL.
you seem to me to be doing so well.
I'm impressed that any 'extra' monies like the road fund refund have gone to good/sensible use. I have a tendancy to fritter 'free' money away. Although i'm hoping my new thrifty ways become habit. I was so good with money as a kid and put any pocket money and birthday money into my building society account...then I discovered high heels and holidays and all that went out the window. ha ha

Skinnylatte

Thanks starmmummy, that's a big change for me making extra payments rather than frittering spare money away.

Yesterday I decided to resilicone round the bath as I'd seen a tube in the shed. So took all the old stuff off and then realised the tube in the shed was empty - doh lol. So I had to go out and buy some more, then had a maccers with DD for tea (subsidised with her loyalty card) so I have spent the £9.35 left in the budget to the penny. So today has to be a no spend day, and I've done it, stuck to the budget :j

I've even done a sweep of the bank accounts and found a bit spare to fling at the CC, so will update all my figures for April tonight.

I took DD to a followup therapy session last night, and it was decided that she's actually not ready to finish, so we'll continue every 3-4 weeks at £75 per session gulp. That's fine, she has harmed her self since her last session, and some days have been quite low for her, still a massive improvement on before, but I'm glad that she has recognized herself there is still work to do.

I need to do my VAT return for my part time business, I'm hopeful that once that's done and paid there will be a bit left over to pay myself some expenses accrued which will go straight towards the CC.

So much to do and not enough time!! I'd better start the day, have a good one every one X

in_need_of_direction

Unfortunate that you need to keep funding the therapy but brilliant progress that dd has made even down to seeing her need for it. Isn't it so good though that you know it can be paid for rather than adding worry about payment into the mix.

Skinnylatte

Go me I managed to achieve my target for Feb and stayed within budget - by a whole 1p :j
Although that is wholly because this months fuel was so low, I still over spent on everything else.
Why do I spend so much eating out and that's with watching my budget, god knows what I used to spend.


Total Spend £609.99 budget £610 Underspent by 1p
Groceries £207.04 budget £180
Fuel £146.93 budget £300
Other £256.02 Budget £130
Coffee/eatingout/school lunch/nights out £164.05 :eek:
Health/hair/beauty £38.99 (Prescription/haircut/medicine)
Clothes not from budget £3.99
Other £49.33 includes £30 race for life for DD & I

Extra Income: £1720.51
£1500 sale of car
£38.20 travel expenses
£38.20 Facebook sales
£49.03 affiliate income
£15.14 top cash back
£78.73 Rebate from DVLA
£1.21 Ebook sales on Kindle Publishing


Extra expenses
Garden/drive £1500
Food intolerance test £289

Debt reduction in April £354 total debt outstanding £6202

No of Skinnylattes purchase = 2
Miles traveled 1840 @ 70.5 miles per gallon. :T
Clothes for me £13.47 YTD £25.30
Toiletries for me £0 YTD £2.20
Nectar points balance £18.68
No Spend Days 3


Savings Pots £695.42
Emergency Fund £427.14
Christmas.birthday £120.12
Clothes/hair £48.51
Holiday £98.65


Target for May is to shift all that stuff that's been lying around FB/Gumtree/Ebay or take it to charity shop

Ali-OK

Love your breakdown of figures Skinny - a really good snapshot of your month. Well done on the debt busting and being in budget too.

What a great return on mpg you're getting with the new car too.

Sorry to read about the ongoing therapy spends, but all for an important end goal and glad your DD recognises it too.

Here's to May :beer:

Skinnylatte

Re the therapy, you're so right. Her admitting she still needs it is half the battle. She worked 6am til 2 today and was a bit down when I picked her up. She decided to go for a 'mindful walk' then came home much happier and revised for an exam she has soon. This time 2 years a go she was dissappearing for days on end on drugs. I was reading some-one else's diary today and they'd been looking back to compare how far they'd come, it's such a good thing to do.

On the money side, I got my books up to date and filed my VAT return, I owe the vat man £873 . It all comes out of my business account and there's money in there so that's fine. But I was hoping to pay myself some expenses that are due and get rid of the Halifax credit card. It would leave me a little tight if I had a poor May, so I think I'll leave it til the end of the month and see where we are then.

Made a very frugal lentil lasagne today which was surprisingly good, although DS didn't agree :rotfl:

Also made some popcorn, after a few bodge attempts I found this fab tip on google, I will never buy microwave popcorn again. Buy some popping corn kernels. (the unpopped stuff)
Heat a table spoon of oil over a medium heat with about 1/2 tea spoon of salt, add 3 corn kernels, once they've popped take the pan of the heat and count 30 seconds. Then add a handful of kernels and put back on the heat (remember to keep the lid on) keep shaking occasionally, and in about a minute they will all pop around the same time. Serve - yum and very very cheap!

Received my first £5 from the Halifax after opening my new account a couple of months ago, straight off the CC, every little helps!

I've given up with the sealed pot challenge, I'm forever raiding it for change.

Now you would have been proud of me today, cycling down to the shops (forgot my purse so had to cycle back again) I suddenly noticed a shiny 2p in the road, so the brakes duly were applied, I slid to a halt and backed up to retrieve said 2p. It's amazing what small things make me happy these days.

This week I'm working from home as I've been taken off the beta blockers to have a 24 heart monitor fitted on Thursday, so it could be a 'bumpy week'!

Skinnylatte

I seem to have spent a fair bit this month already, so need to keep a closer eye on things.
DS wanted a particular brand of shampoo that was £5 per bottle :eek: anyway I found it in Sainsbobs for 3 for £10, still alot but will probably last him the rest of the year. Also had a voucher for £2.25 off a £15 shop and 1 for double nectar points, so quite pleased with all that.

I'm upto £9.88 on Viewsbank survey site, and I'm waiting for a topcashback payment of about £20 for my car insurance.

DD came back from a driving lesson tonight and asked for £23 to pay her instructor has she didn't realise that the block of 10 lessons she got for her birthday was finished. I'll be lucky if I see that again!!

The man who was doing my drive now says he has a hernia !!!!!!. So no idea when it's going to get finished, but I'm quite annoyed as I've paid £1500 and the whole drive and path down the house is just a pile of rubble :mad:

Working from home this week so low fuel cost. Not much else to report. Minimum card payments have all come out so signature updated. Still need to get stuff sold on FB/Gumtree/Ebay

Skinnylatte

2 weeks since my last post and it's slow going. I've lost all momentum, motivation and my mojo.

Nothing has been uploaded to ebay, I've not sold 1 iota of junk.

On the plus side, all the bills are paid and nothing has gone on the credit cards, and I've managed slightly more than minimum payments. That will simply have to do for now.

Ali-OK

We've missed you - great to see you posting again.

It's a bump in the road, but you're doing so well and still moving in the right direction. I had bad months in March and April with not raising much money from anything, but I'm bouncing back a bit this month and you will bounce back too.

As Beanielou says (and wise words) - keep plodding.

Skinnylatte

Thanks Ali

When I think back to where I've come from, I have so much more control now over my finances, bank accounts are in the black and remaining debt is on interest free.

DD is been a real pain just now. Hanging a round with losers and drinking too much. At the weekend she went to see a band with her friend, only they fell out and had a fight, DD ended up in hospital (no injuries, I think they didn't know what else to do with her). They said she was in no fit mental state to travel on her own, so I had to go and get her. £350 lighter due to rail fares/parking/etc. That is what an emergency fund is for, sosososo pleased I had the cash there and was able to just take off without worrying how I was going to pay for it.

Anyway the consequences of that is she won't be going to Leeds festival now, and mum has stopped being taxi to boyfriends and back.

It's about time she took some responsibility, I know she struggles emotionally daily, but I want some of my life back, my health, wealth and personal relationships have suffered over the years. Is 17 too early for me to stop being such a crutch?

Not much to report on the debt busting front, I'm managing to stay in budget and cc's are safely in my bedside drawer. In fact I have quite a few now with no balance at all, I should think about closing some. I'm inundated with 0% balance transfer rates and increased credit limits, but I am not tempted what so ever :A

Get paid tomorrow, but I'm going to try and make my last £38 stretch until the 1st of the month, should be OK with that as the car is full of fuel. I am trying to eat more healthily though so the food budget has gone up a it.

I have a bit of a confession. I just got a new bike it's on the bike to work scheme and £900 of bike and equipment will cost me £522 over 12 months deducted from my salary. You can't put a price on health, and seeing as my running days are looking pretty numbered due to dodgy knees, biking is the new running in my life. I also have a long distance biking holiday in August with an old school pal to get fit for.

I hope every-ones having an enjoyable bank holiday, its raining here, so looks like indoor activities for the rest of the afternoon - ebay maybe....yea right lol :rotfl: