Diary of a home owner wannabe (my 6 year journey)

pennyforthepot

Perfect day for cleaning out the kitchen cupboards as the rain is tipping it down. Took about 45 mins to have a good clean as there's not much in there since I decluttered it all a few months back

BIL is doing his charity bike ride today - £140 miles :eek: - I promised to support him from the sofa! I ended up sponsoring him again as he had £61 to get to his £1000 target yesterday - he was so appreciative.

Getting very close to my end of month financial round up. It looks like I'm overspent by around £200 for this month mainly once again on my entertainment budget and food overspend. Thank goodness I'm working at the moment.

I'm happy with the way my challenges went this month. I have increased my water intake to 1.5 litres, upped my fruit and veg intake to at least 5 a day and just about decluttered 30 items from the house. I have a couple more things to dig out over the weekend but I'm getting to the stage where it is becoming increasingly difficult to find anything to get rid of. May need to tackle the kids and DH - the garage (his domain) is a nightmare :eek:

I've done the washing for the weekend but really should be tackling my admin and emails as well as the house work but as I only did that on Monday I think I shall do it slowly over the weekend. The one thing that I must do is a menu plan for the first week of July and a shopping trip - I might try out the Morrisons I discovered not too far away.

Feeling a little lethargic at the moment so I'm going to read some blogs to get me motivated.

Hope the sun is shining

PFTP x

Dobbibill

pennyforthepot wrote: »

Getting very close to my end of month financial round up. It looks like I'm overspent by around £200 for this month mainly once again on my entertainment budget and food overspend. Thank goodness I'm working at the moment.

I'm happy with the way my challenges went this month. I have increased my water intake to 1.5 litres, upped my fruit and veg intake to at least 5 a day and just about decluttered 30 items from the house. I have a couple more things to dig out over the weekend but I'm getting to the stage where it is becoming increasingly difficult to find anything to get rid of. May need to tackle the kids and DH - the garage (his domain) is a nightmare :eek:

I've done the washing for the weekend but really should be tackling my admin and emails as well as the house work but as I only did that on Monday I think I shall do it slowly over the weekend. The one thing that I must do is a menu plan for the first week of July and a shopping trip - I might try out the Morrisons I discovered not too far away.

Feeling a little lethargic at the moment so I'm going to read some blogs to get me motivated.

Hope the sun is shining

PFTP x

whoops with the monthly budget but on a positive.....you have reflected back and noticed where it went a little squiffy which is fab as you know which areas to keep a close eye on.


Congrats on your challenges, sounds pretty healthy to me :T
good luck if you are thinking of tackling the garage (his domain), this will be needed :rotfl:


Hope you find the motivation you're looking for, you are doing so well and you are honest with your achievements, which is fab and very inspirational to others.


Rain glorious rain here, the sun is a little shy :cool:


DB

pennyforthepot

Dobbibill wrote: »

whoops with the monthly budget but on a positive.....you have reflected back and noticed where it went a little squiffy which is fab as you know which areas to keep a close eye on.


Congrats on your challenges, sounds pretty healthy to me :T
good luck if you are thinking of tackling the garage (his domain), this will be needed :rotfl:


Hope you find the motivation you're looking for, you are doing so well and you are honest with your achievements, which is fab and very inspirational to others.

Rain glorious rain here, the sun is a little shy :cool:


DB

Thanks DB - think I'll be using some MS ninga tactics on the garage - if I get rid of one thing a day it could take a good 10 years

I keep plugging away at the savings pot. I have to save as much as I can over the next 3 years as my maintenance will be halved for the last 2 years once DS leaves for university which will make it so much harder to save anything :eek:

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

NSD yesterday :j

DH wants to go into London today - I've told him I don't have the money to do it - he suggested he paid then realised he didn't have the money either. :eek:

Sun is shining today - I must get round to that housework

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

OUTGOINGS:JUNE

£250-council tax
£131 -mobile phones x 5
£36-internet and landline
£19-gas
£56-electric
£44-water
£192-car loan
£6.50-Red Cross d/d
£315 -food (£437 including food carried over)
£99-fuel
£186-car maintenance
£400 -kids costs
[COLOR="rgb(0, 191, 255)"]£316[/COLOR] -entertainment
£0.00-house
£1281-holiday
£101-birthdays
£0.00-christmas
£0.00 -contingency
£1.50-miscellaneous

£3433-TOTAL

31% - savings to income ratio

Thanks to my additional income I managed to hit my target for this month of £1400

BLUE- spending down on last month
RED - spending up on last month
BLACK - no difference.

The highs and lows of the month:

HIGHS:
Managed to hit my savings target despite some hefty c/c bills and yet more holiday payments that were made
Money in from decorating
Made it to my 16p petrol save with Mr T.
Reduced my gas and electricity usage to £105 below my DD which means I'm getting closer to being in credit again.
Met my challenges for water fruit/veg and decluttering. I also had no major blow outs on cleaning products and toiletries and no bulk buying

LOWS
Overspent on my food budget by £52
Overspent on my entertainment budget due to an expensive trip to the hairdressers and a trip into the Big City
Facing a large credit card bill again for next month

CHALLENGES FOR JUNE:

Stick within my entertainment budget! I have a 30 year school reunion on Friday - hotel already paid for but I need to make sure I don't go overboard on wine and food!

I have decided to increase my food budget whilst the kids are on summer holidays so it will be set at £450 for the next 2 months as DS finishes on Friday :eek:

Reach my target savings for the month of July which is £2600!

Carry on running 3 times a week apart from holiday week.

Carry on with other challenges I have accumulated. I must post all my challenges otherwise I forget what I am meant to be doing

Daily food budget for July:£10.23

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

£160 in yesterday from decorating, £8.14 from my Nationwide account and £1000 interest from money I have kept in my investment fund rather than using it for my rent. Good start to July - lets hope it will continue :j

Went running again this morning - managed it without stopping, though its hardly a marathon!

Not working today so I get a chance to catch up with the housework I didn't do at the weekend and finish sorting out all the of admin for the holiday.

Daily food budget:£10.24

Should be hot today :j

PFTP x

Dobbibill

pennyforthepot wrote: »

Good start to July - lets hope it will continue :j

PFTP x

Excellent start :T:T:T well done

WhiteSnowdrop

Well done on the start to July. I have so much admiration for you doing all of that decorating! I loath it so it would be my kind of hell having to do it for weeks on end!!

WS

pennyforthepot

WhiteSnowdrop wrote: »

Well done on the start to July. I have so much admiration for you doing all of that decorating! I loath it so it would be my kind of hell having to do it for weeks on end!!

WS

Thanks WhiteSnowDrop - If I'm honest I'm getting a bit fed up with it now - the house is a large victorian one with four floors and in really bad condition so its all the preparation that is the problem. It really needs a professional coming in and replacing all the plaster and woodwork. I was only meant to be there for 4 weeks - it's been over 3 months now!

Nice to see you on here

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Feeling a little guilty as I haven't posted on here for over a week I've been so busy that I haven't had the energy to open my laptop when I get home.

A quick summary of events:

Went to my class reunion last weekend - had a great time seeing all my really good friends again even if I did come back with a mega hangover :eek: Spend was around £100 including the hotel. I currently have £18 left in my entertainment budget for the rest of the month. Monday I spent doing the housework and giving the oven a really good clean then the rest of the week I was over at my SILs decorating. Yesterday I spent the whole day doing housework again and had to do 6 loads of washing including all towels and duvets. DH made DSS2 clean out his room as it was absolutely humming. The culprit was a pair of stinky shoes hidden amongst the mountain of clothes chucked on the floor - that was another 2 loads of washing! I've told DH that he can do the ironing

DS and DD have gone to Florida with their dad. They come back for 2 days and then we're off to Cyprus :j I need to check everything is sorted on that front. I think it is.

One of my friends has asked me if I will go over and clean her house on Monday. It's a massive rambling old arts and craft house - stunning but if I mention Hoarders Next Door - you may understand my challenge.I'm quite looking forward to it actually - they are going to pay me for it too :money: Tuesday and Wednesday I'm back decorating then Thursday and Friday I've got to wash all of the kids holiday clothes and get us all packed up for our holiday on Saturday. I so need a break. I always get anxious before we go thinking of all the things that can go wrong so I won't be relaxed until I am sat by the pool!

Moneywise things are on target for me to hit my July goal.
Fingers crossed. We had to use the immersion heater for nearly two weeks whilst the hot water wasn't working. It hiked up the electricity usage massively but at least my gas usage will be low this month. Daily food budget stands at £9.37 which includes the increase in budget this month to £450. As DS and DD are away this week and we are all away next week I'm hoping to come in under budget although I am finding that working has a massive impact on what I buy and is increasing the cost.

I'm still running, though I must say I'm not jumping out of bed in a rush to go. I've upped my run by a quarter of a mile to 1 and a 1/4 - may be a good few years before I do a marathon!!

Off for a bath and a day of admin and sofa surfing

PFTP x