Wanderer returns

Penny2myName

Trying to find out how much I still owe Dell as cant find the paperwork, si I thought I would go through my old posts and see if I could find it I didn't but did get my very first SOA With I_A's responses. so I thought I would compare then to now.


21.03.07

Monthly Incomings:

Income Support - £229.80
Child Tax Credit - £292.88
Child Benefit - £116.60
Maintence - £100.00

Total - £739.28

Monthly Outgoings: (March-April)
Bills
Rent - £20 (arrears from when working) Do you get housing and council tax benefit? I'm presuming that's why neither of these are on here..
Gas - £40
Electric - £60 (pre-pay meter) These seem high.. have a look round for cheaper deals.
TV License - £21.91
Phone - £45.48 This is very high, does it include internet? You CAN get cheaper than this. Otherwise cut the package down.
Water - £48.30 Is this in arrears as this seems very high!
Mobile -£61.64 Do you really need a mobile? If so cut it down as that's a hell of a high mobile bill! Have you considered pay and go?? Also I read somewhere for £40 a month you can get your phone, internet, tv and mobile through virgin media!! Might be worth looking into!

Total: £297.33

Debts
DFS Lounge £ 83.31
DFS Dining £ 22.10
Dell £ 13.26
Littlewoods £141.00
Kev £70.00

Total: £329.67

Monthly Outgoings Grand Total: £627

£112.28 left for everyday living and groceries.

April SOA
Income
Income Support £229.80
Child Tax Credit £293.80
Child Benefit £116.60
Maintenance £100.00

Total £740.20

outgoings
Electric £30.00
Gas £40.00
Phone +BB £38.04
Tv Licence £21.95
Water £33.30
Water Arrs £15.68
Saving DD £12.00
Mobile £25.00ish till july
pc cover £6.99
DD travel £4.95
Shopping £60.00 (personal challenge)

Total £257.91


Debts
LittleWoods £141.00
Dell £13.26
DFS Dining £22.10
DFS Sofa £83.51
Rent Arrears £20.00
Kev £70.00

Total £349.87

GrandTotal £607.78

May SOA
Income
Income Support £236.60
Child Tax Credit £314.76
Child Benefit £120.80
Maintenance £100.00 (chancellor didn't rise this...lol)

Total £772.16

outgoings
Electric (not know yet)
Gas £40.00
Phone +BB £19.32
Tv Licence £21.95
Water £33.30
Saving DD £12.00
Mobile £25.00 (trying for)
pc cover £ 6.99
DD travel £10.00
Shopping £80.00

Total £278.56


Debts
LittleWoods £141.00
Dell £13.26
DFS Dining £22.10
DFS Sofa £83.51
Rent Arrears £20.00
Kev £70.00
Vanquis CC £48.11 (statement balance and minimum i will pay)

Total £397.98

GrandTotal £676.54

£ 95.62 credit left

SOA June

Income
Income Support £236.60
Child Tax Credit £327.32
Child Benefit £120.80
Maintenance £100.00

Total £784.72

outgoings
Electric £30.00 (30.00 saved a month)
Gas £40.00
Phone +BB £25.00ish (only used for official calls, which there is now few)
Tv Licence £21.95
Water £33.30
Insurance £18.58 (can afford to have some now with savings from electric)
Saving DD £12.00 (Started this when money rose with budget)
Saving DS £12.00 (also from electric savings)
Mobile £13.11 (Deserve a foil made gold star for this)
DD travel £10.00
Shopping £60.00 (personal challenge)

Total £244.25

Debts owing/payments
LittleWoods £1266.63/£141.00
Dell £ 119.34/£13.26
DFS Dining £684.38/£22.10
DFS Sofa £2588.81/£83.51
Rent Arrears £90.37/£20.00
Kev £460.00/£70.00
Vanquis £ 224.35/£50.00 (ok as you can see this is both new and failed arg)

Total £399.87

Grand total £644.12

Leaving £140.60
+ Cheque £76.00
Grand Total £216.60

Extras
School trip france £45
DD's passport £45 (CC payment)
pc game DS £46.14 (world of warcraft for 6 months subscription)
pc game DS £9.99 actual WOW disc set.
Book club 1 £34.91
Book club 2 £12.40 (also cancelled as of this payment)
La Redoute £31.80
Total £180.24

Leaving £17.78

Think I will have to add July's onto this in a couple of weeks, but overall I think I deserve a :T

LBM 19th March 2007 £5,969.63 19th June 2007 £5209.02

Penny2myName

I seem to be falling into a habit of teaching the kids to cook. Well atleast involving them in the preparation of meals. Yesterday my son made the chocolate and banana crumble, I just baked it and grated the lemon rind. Today I had both dd and ds both help towards the chicken and sweetcorn pasta dish thing, I just did the boiling of pasta and sticking it all in oven and taking it out, the mixing of ingredients they did. I will be having them help when we do the curry too.
One thing I have noticed reading through a few threads is how high alot of peoples shopping budgets are at first, for many these seems to be down to not having a clue how to cook.
lmao, son has come down asking if he can go shop for a 5p mix with money he found in his dragon bank, daughter shouted down for him to save any money he gets, he replied with, 'but we don't get any pocket money any more so how can I save it'. So she replied, 'save what ever money you find'.
I am getting there slowly with them, so that's a plus, right back to my musings.
As I was saying, for some it seems their food budgets are high as they don't know how to cook, and I suppose beans on toast 3 x a day 7 days a week can become both boring and smellyyyyyyyyyy:eek:.
As a DFW parent,:A it is my responsibility to teach my children how to be responsible with money, and know how to make interesting appetising and healthy(ish) meals for minimum of costs, for when they leave and go face the big bad world with its money traps.:mad:

Penny2myName

I am having one of them days, figures and money things sending me nuts, so much want to get under the £5k mark and next month I should be there, but can I get it to a rounded figure of £4.5k Then try for £500 a month min reduction, I think then I will feel like I am getting somewhere. Really want to look at July's figures but I don't want to plan too far ahead for it all to go pear shaped as then I will feel I have failed. To be honest I am sick of feeling as though I have failed. I felt like I failed when I had to give work up as I just couldn't juggle work and looking after the kids by myself. Problem is, deep down I know things are going to start costing if I want to give my kids every possible opportunity educational wise. I don't know if they still do foreign student exchanges, but with my daughter being in all the top sets and ahead with her languages (no idea where she gets it from I can only just deal with English) there is a fair chance she will be offered the chance to participate in these schemes if they are still going or offered in her school.

Penny2myName

Roll on September big time, apart from it being the end of the summer hols, I finally get to breath finacially and may be able to fully get rid of my smaller debts. Come sept i wont have any mobile cost to face, my tv licence costs should half, and I will only have £8.64 arrears to littlewoods and normal payments will work out at £81.88 a month so £90.52 in sept and I am back on track with them. Giving me a total of £85 extra each month so i can get my rent arrears cleared and dell payed off for christmas (yipee). Infact if everything stays going to plan, then I will only be paying £205 a month out for debts (at there set amounts) giving me an extra £194 to throw at last 3 debts a month. Or I can save it till March and pay the dining suite straight off, saving me 22months on that. Then that leaves 3 months on catalogue that can be reduced to 2 by slinging the extra £216 at it in april, leaving me with just my sofa to pay off. Looks ok to me, but now to just see if life allows me to do it this way or if stuff keeps cropping up to keep me to teh bare payments.

Penny2myName

Big sigh of relief, DD's birth certificate came back today with a note saying her new (first ever) passport is being sent separate. Was starting to panic it wouldn't get here in time for her school trip which I have to pay balance on Friday, and that would have meant £90 down the drain. So we now have 22 days for the passport to turn up....

Penny2myName

DD's Passport has just arrived:T
One less worry and it means I know for sure £90 hasn't just gone down the swanny. All that is needed now is for her dad to sort her spending money out. So glad he offered to do that as I have NO idea where I would get that from too.

bobbadog

Hey Penny2myName - just wanted to say hello as feel nosy reading your musings without saying Hi! You're doing fantastically, and your children sound like little champions. You must be getting sick of jacket potatoes by now though?! You seem to eat a lot of them!! xx

Penny2myName

Its the only thing I ever found that helped me to to either gain or retain weight. I am the to die for size 6, and it is murder finding clothes to fit that are also affordable and that i actually like. Also unlike my kids I cant stand pasta/rice/or meat. .

Penny2myName

Urg... Due to the extra school trip for year 7's being so well behaved this year (if school want to REWARD the ENTIRE year cant they pay:mad:) It leaves this weeks budget very very tight.
£30 Available
£8 DD travel (need big budget at moment incase it keeps raining)

Thursday chicken curry with rice and popadoms (cheese on toast for me as i cant stand any of it)
(sliced Melon)

Friday Fish Chips and peas
(Chocolate sponge and custard)

Saturday Pizza and garlic bread
(Rice Pudding)

Sunday peas carrots cauliflower new potatoes roast potatoes + pork kebabs (found a recipe)(veg pie for me)
(Chocolate sponge and custard)

Monday Lasagne + baked spuds (cheese with mine)

Tuesday Spaghetti bolgonese + garlic bread (cauliflower cheese for me)

Wednesday Egg Chips and beans (fancy a plain English meal that I can join in with)

So I have £22 what do I need from my above plan

Food
Garlic bread x4
2x bolognese sauce
white sauce
Cheese sauce
3x days of puddings yet to be decided.
milk
bread
cat pouches
COFFEE
Mince (sort of forgot to add that...opps)

other
loo roll (must get it through cats head its NOT the andrex pup)
stardrops
shampoo
conditioner
nutrageana (sp?) face wipes for DS (using all smellies up and he is allergic to the soap on his face)

Think I should just about scrape by. If I am lucky only £2 is required for DD's travel but dare not risk it, if it is then I think I MAY order us A take out on the Wednesday as I can not remember the last time I got one.

Penny2myName

On checking finances this morning, discovered I actually have £2 less then I thought for this weeks budget (tis getting flippign tight).
Anyhow been and done my shopping (asda got a cracking bargin on with herbal essence, have posted it).
Shopping £16.51 (including the three mystery puddings)
School trip balance £30 (budgeted for seperate)
Leaving me with a crisp £10 note to cover DD's fares
Still need to the cat pouches in as only bought 2 of asda's as I forgot to take the vouchers that came through door yesterday. Not like he will starve with the 3 bags of whiskers complete that i have in. That cat is spoilt.