Staying out of the red......

pinkyfuzz

Morning all - I'm not new to MSE but have re-registered with a new name....I have made a fresh start, in regards to finances, and felt that I wanted to let go of the old me.....September seems like a good time to start!

I'm a 40 year old mum of 3, am married and work part-time in a stressful, but rewarding, job. We got ourselves into a bit of a mess over the last few years money wise...not huge compared to many, but stressful for us! When we recently had extra borrowing to do some house renovations, we paid off what we owed (I know this is against what most MSE'ers would advise...) and are now debt free apart from the mortgage.

So why am I here? Well - I know myself far too well....and I know that I can easily slip into the pattern of overspending....a little here and a little there....and then you wake up to the realisation that you've accumulated a significant amount, and then are back in that cycle of debt. I DON'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN.....that's why I'm here...to try & keep myself on the straight and narrow.

As for my plan/goals:

• To buy kids schools shoes and last few uniform bits.....I have £90 already, but that won't even pay for 3 pairs of shoes!!:eek:
• To start saving for Christmas...I know it's 4 months away...but I have nothing saved yet.....with 3 children and a large-ish family, it's not a cheap time of year.....
• To begin to save for a new car.....DH's car is fine currently, but it is quite old, and is really too small for us now that my boys are getting so tall!! We plan to start saving for when the inevitable happens and we need to replace it....:(
• To stay in the black - not easy!! I have a budget, spreadsheet etc...but things have a habit of cropping up...we have a very small emergency fund, which I'm trying to build up...but it's very slow.....:o
• To finish off the kitchen.....it just needs painting and tiling...we have the money put aside to do it...but it feels like a huge job currently....I think after months of disruption, dust and building work, we're feeling the need to have a break from it...
• To improve our diets....we all need to eat more fruit & veg and the kids need to reduce the amount of rubbish they eat..
• To reduce the kids 'screen time' - again, they have spent far too much time in front of a screen over the holidays....this will change once they're back at school.
• To lose half a stone:shhh:
• To try to establish an exercise regime....I don't know what or how yet...but any ideas welcome!
• To get back into doing 'Flylady' - it helped me feel more organised before, but with the amount of work we've had done recently, it's gone out of the window!!

So that's me....I shall post as often as possible (I won't say every day as it's not going to happen:rotfl:) and will confess all......


Right now I'm off to shower and then we're going to start trying to sort the garden....another neglected area over the last few months......:(

Pinky15

HI there! Will be following with interest. I too have 3 little ones and we are currently paying off renovation work eek. I also need tiles and flooring but at the moment just cannot afford it. I am therefore going on a selling frenzy lol.
My shoe bills for 3 is usually about £120, and that's without trainers - I think I need a shoe saving account lol!:)

pinkyfuzz

Pinky - I know exactly what you mean. I'll need around £120 - plus I've already bought new football boots for DS1. I put £50 away for clothing every month....but it always gets spent. DS1 is 13 & growing taller all the time....have recently kitted him out in loads of new clothes as he'd grown out of everything! DD is nearly 7 & getting tall too.....Luckily DS2 has loads of clothes that have been handed down from DS1 - so he needs nothing!

DH & I are desperate for some new clothes too - but that'll have to wait until October:(

Hoping for a NSD today as we're staying at home to work on the garden....

pinkyfuzz

Can finally report a NSD!!! Can't remember the last one I had!

Garden sorted....got to have our huge trees cut back by professionals though...which will be done in a few weeks. It's not a cheap job, but necessary.

Have had a lovely, but tiring, day....aim to go to bed shortly as we've decided to do the dreaded shoe shop tomorrow. We will 'borrow' the money from our decorating budget and put it back on pay day....nothing will be going on the credit card:j

pinkyfuzz

Wonder if its something to do with getting older, but even though it's my turn for a lie in today, I can't sleep & am feeling that I need to get up & get on with the day!

So today's plans are:

School shoe shopping (budget £120-130)
Parking £1.00 (cheaper on a Sunday;))
Swish & swipe bathroom
Sweep kitchen floor
Hang out washing on line
Half an hour ironing
Clean bedrooms - DS's can help with theirs
Begin to sort paperwork mountain - this has accumulated since the building work was started a few months ago....really needs filing away!
15 minute declutter in our bedroom - will do the wardrobe where we keep paperwork....
Play cards with the children - they really enjoy this!

I'm going to get up & showered now - DH is making a cup of tea :T

pinkyfuzz

pinkyfuzz wrote: »

So today's plans are:

[STRIKE]School shoe shopping (budget £120-130[/STRIKE]) £127!!
[STRIKE]Parking £1.00 (cheaper on a Sunday;))[/STRIKE] Paid:)
[STRIKE]Swish & swipe bathroom[/STRIKE]Done :T
Sweep kitchen floor
[STRIKE]Hang out washing on line[/STRIKE]
Half an hour ironing
Clean bedrooms - DS's can help with theirs -ours is done....boys' will wait for tomorrow;)
[STRIKE]Begin to sort paperwork mountain - this has accumulated since the building work was started a few months ago....really needs filing away![/STRIKE] -Oh my!! This took me all afternoon...is basically done, but I need to get a new file & finish off sorting through really old paperwork - certainly feel more organised though:j
[STRIKE]15 minute declutter in our bedroom - will do the wardrobe where we keep paperwork....[/STRIKE] - Done
Play cards with the children - they really enjoy this! - not had chance yet....

Shoe shopping was less stressful than I imagined....thankfully. Treated kids to a sausage roll & cake, but spent less than £5 on this - they had been asking for McDonalds....so it certainly worked out to be a cheaper option! Bought DS1 a water bottle for school £2.99.

Have spent the afternoon sorting out paperwork....anyone know how long you're meant to keep payslips for??? Shredder was working overtime today....it packed up briefly for a rest!

Roast dinner cooked, bedroom cleaned & tided.....just the ironing to tackle later:(

Feel shattered.....off to bath DD before I collapse later:rotfl:

pinkyfuzz

OK so no ironing done....have been watching catch up TV & relaxing......very naughty, but I haven't stopped all day, so am not going to beat myself up about it.

Plan to weigh myself in the morning....my weight has been hovering around the 9st 12lb mark for too long!! I'd ideally like to be 9st:rotfl: but I don't think I'll see that weight again.....so will aim for 9st 4lb & see how I go. Now that I know the schedule of the kids' weekly activities, I'm going to try to find some classes that fit around them....I need to do something!

Tomorrow should be a Low Spend Day.....we may take the children out to the park if the weathers good....or we may be painting:eek: I also need to make the annual trip to the uniform shop for those things you have to buy from there & nowhere else....they always open on the August bank holiday, and not many people realise...so it's a good day to go.

pinkyfuzz

Up at 6.45 thanks to DD......suppose it's not as bad as when they were little & would be up at 5.00am:eek:

Morning weigh in was pleasantly surprising - as of today I weigh 9st 8.8lbs:j - I did lose some weight when all the work was being done on the house, but thought I'd put it all back on - but obviously not!!

Looked into exercise classes last night....may be trying the spinning class at my local leisure centre this week with a friend.....not sure if that's kind of throwing myself in at the deep end_pale_

Am going to try to schedule in some exercise at home....we have a wii fit & I have the Zumba game - which is good fun! I also have a couple of exercise DVDs......one of which is Davina....not sure my body is quite ready for that just yet!!

Hoping the sun is going to break through today, the forecast is good so I've got my first load in the machine & another 2 loads ready to go! Also need to do a quick dust, vacuum & mop the floors, then spend 15 minutes in the current flylady zone (lounge).....think that will consist of cleaning the windows & sorting out DD's toy cupboard.

Uniform shopping first though - need to buy:

Blazer ?£35 (don't know...just guessing!)
Sweatshirt ?£12
PE Shorts ??

Right.....cup of tea to be finished & then it's time to get moving!!

pinkyfuzz

Haven't been around for a few days....have been busy dealing with kids, and trying to get back on track with Flylady;). Payday has been and gone & the month's finances are organised:T. Although there's none spare to save this month, we have done all the shoe & uniform shopping - and none of it has gone on credit!! I paid off my credit card balance in full as planned (put grocery shopping on card then pay it off each month) & we are now sticking to a weekly 'cash only' budget which DH is on board with:j.

All in all.....am pleased with how it's going. Next month starts the big 'Christmas' saving plan......next year I will get back to putting it away every month...I always used to do this, but it's gone out of the window since DH was put on reduced hours 3-4 years ago & we've never got back into it. All's good with DH's company now though, and he's been given pay rises & back to full-time...so we can get it sorted again now.

Am in the process of working on my control journal (Flylady) - this is helping me to feel more organised & hopefully less stressed than I have been.....it's all good!!!

Off to put the washing out & then going out with my sis & Mum.....should be a nice chilled afternoon:cool:

pinkyfuzz

Have managed to keep up with my Flylady routines & have continued to work on my 'control journal' - it's certainly helping me to feel like I'm getting on top of things & I feel more in control than I have done in a while.......have realised over the last few months that I need this.....otherwise I get extremely stressed!!

Money wise things are ok-ish.....have spent a little more than I should today, mostly on stationery & bits for when the children go back to school.....but nothing major! Have finally got round to labelling the kids' new uniform:T and just need to sort out PE kits & lunch boxes etc tomorrow. They go back on Wednesday, so I still have a bit if time:rotfl:

DH is getting on my nerves.....we're not really talking at the moment so the atmosphere isn't great.....luckily he's back to work tomorrow:j. Why do relationships have to be so hard at times???

Am off to bed now in preparation for looking after 5 kids tomorrow.....after the 7 I had on Friday it should be a doddle!!:eek:

pinkyfuzz

Haven't posted in a while & this just shows how things start to slip once I take my 'eye off the ball.' I'm not in a huge amount of debt....but the credit card probably has £250-300 on it that I need to get rid of!!! With trying to save for Christmas too...it's not going to be easy.....

Why do I keep doing it to myself?? It's almost as though I think that a little here & there won't hurt.....but they build up into a much larger amount!!!!! :mad:

Am very cross with myself.....need to come up with a plan!