Just Say NOvember 2013!!!

TiptoesDB

Avogirly I totally agree with Kangadoo - get a spreadsheet! keeps me motivated when I lose focus or want to spend. Our spreadsheet is set out by month and has a running total down the side of what is in our bank and what will be in our bank at the end of the month to throw at the debts. Every spend you make and input in the spreadsheet reduces this end of month total down.. we input all the necessaries at the beginning of the month onto the relevant date on the sheet, such as rent, leccy, and other bills and all costs that are fixed - OH'S monthly train pass. So you can see quite clearly how much we can pay off debt with when the necessary fixed costs come out. This makes you VERY keen to keep the 'non fixed costs' such as food, entertainment, petrol, phone bill as low as you ruddy well can, as you can see your debt repayment money just ebbing away when you don't!
Whenever I feel tempted to spend, I open the spreadsheet, look at the month end total so far, and think how great it would be to throw that at one of the credit cards, and how much quicker we could pay our debts off if we did! works for me!

Hope you feel better and more motivated soon, tho, the slumps and down in the dumps are all part of the journey.

Well done AutumnLeaf on clearing the card. Well Jel, as the kids say!

No spends here today. Too cold to think about it anyway!

stewby

Just a quick update but just cause I am so excited.

It looks like OH might have a job soon (in computers not flying though). He got phoned today and has an interview on Friday and another one on Monday. I am absolutely over the moon!!
:j

I was getting quite worried about him as he seemed to be looking a bit down recently so this is great news.


In MSE news, we discussed his contribution (before he got told he had some interviews) and the plan is for him to give me £100 a month towards everything. I know it doesn't sound like a lot but we have agreed to re-review it once he gets a permanent pilot job.
My main aim is for him to save as much money as possible so that if he ends up out of work for ages again, he has money to pay back his loan.

The £100 he is paying me is going to go towards saving for an ipad mini as it is something I have wanted for a long time.
I know that sounds really stupid but I would really like one and have done for quite a few years (before the mini even came out, I wanted an ipad).
:embarasse

* My dad is sorting out my credit card and how much I can pay off a month (adding on extra for the extra shifts I have worked).
* I am using my budget more effectively and as a result, am managing to save £100 which is going to pay off the money I owe my parents (sitting at about £400 at the moment).
* I am also putting £50 of my budget into a "holiday" pot.


So, today has been a great day.

tennisfanatic

Another SFD today, which makes 5 in a row. NSK thanks for the encouragement - now I've said it on here i'm going to try my best to get the 8 in a row....and might actually have an empty freezer to defrost by the weekend!

SFD14/25
Lunch to work 11/18
Food £78.27/£100 (including foodbank donation)
Foodbank £3.59/£3
Toiletries £3/£10
Moneymade £7.09/£80

cottage_retreatist

Hello all! Apologies have been lurking but not posting! Have been trying to up my SFDs by not taking my wallet to work-it's working a treat so far!!!! No expectation to buy anything but OH has his friend over this weekend so spends May be needed and OH has needed some emergency dental work so that's an unexpected spend but a necessity and currently battling with wonga-they say we owe them two debts but we had to pay one off to get another loan with them so I don't understand their argument! This will be a fun one! Eugh. It's just all sooooooo exhausting some times

Xx

cowboymum

So the soft play wasn't free today but not too bad, £6 for 4 children. DH did take a £20 note with him and managed to spend a vast amount on coffees and biscuits! Oh well! At least he used the extra money he's made but no nsd for us. Again. Will I manage to get into double figures this month?!

Hopefully a nsd tomorrow, library trip planned and DH is dog sitting again.

apple_muncher

Took another binbag of stuff to the charity shop after work today, and another box is already half full.

Yesterday I managed to make some tasy gluten-free breadsticks that we all enjoyed eating! I'd only made a dozen so they're all gone and making another batch is a job for tomorrow. It could potentially save me a lot of money if I can keep making tasty ones myself instead of having to buy them. I feel rather smug tonight!:dance::dance:

NSK, am so glad to hear that you will still be with us in Jan, setting us challenges and pushing us on towards better things.

Fmess

Evening all,

SFD number 13 today and took lunch to work

Whoever was talking about having mini goals. I have broken my debt down into smaller chunks and I am setting goals for paying off these smaller amounts. Currently, working towards paying off £2000 by the New Year I should make my target although my starting figure was actually before my LBM figure so my signature doesn't look as impressive.

thriftylass

After being forced to keep a record of my pocket money spending by my parents from early on and loathing it, I am now getting excited about that sort of thing again. Atm i only note down how much i spend in a shop on food or hh etc. But dont actually write down what items I bought. Will start doing that though as i always think i only buy food i need but then am still surprised that i spend over £200 for the 2.5 of us. It's not too bad as we eat quite well but I'd like to find out in more detail what the money goes on, i.e. meat, fruit, staples percentage.

clippy_girl

Purple Jay that is bad they are making you pay off some of the underspend eon read mine the wrong way round the day I moved in so that was how I supplied them for 18 months before they realised. They wrote off the whole debt as it was their mistake!:j Bill went up a lot though then

SFD for me today :money:

Kerfuffle

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

**Snip

Who goes to extremes here?? Please tell me I have an extreme cheapskate lurking at least... come on spill some craziness for NSK....
Snip **.

PheoniX wrote: »

**Snip

Originally Posted by Kerfuffle
Re Extreme Cheapskate - I wouldn't say I'm extreme, or a cheapskate, but I will admit to be a penny pincher and frugal. I think it's all relative to how you've been brought up and your experiences in childhood.

I wish I could agree Kerfuffle I was brought up with good working class morals and values. My grand parents worked hard and went without for long periods while they saved until they could afford to buy quality things that would last them years and years.. And equally, during my childhood, I saw my parents struggle with money, for example, during the miners strike and even though we were in receipt of ration type food bank boxes they still scrimped and scraped to get me my first bike for Christmas at that time..

I just don't know where I went wrong I was 'financially independant' from a young age as I did all kinds of jobs on weekends, evenings, summer holidays and on occasion before going to school. I think this taught me that 'I could have whatever I wanted because I had the money'.. but somwhere along the line that changed to 'I could have whatever I wanted whether I had the money or not'

I have thought of my grandparents and parents experiences a lot during this journey and I have found that I am finally learning about the true value of money and what it really means to have to survive on little expendible income.. It took a while for the penny to drop but I'm so glad it did!

Hi PheoniX - thanks for your reply. My response was to NSK's request for us to share whether we're extreme cheapskates or not, and I was saying that I didn't consider myself extreme. This is because things that I do to save money I consider to be the norm, another person might consider the same thing to be extreme, it all depends on what we were exposed to when growing up (IMO). Your response seems more to do with how you've handled money in the past, as opposed to any extreme cheapskate measures that you may take. I'm really pleased to read your story and experiences, thanks for sharing. I'm also really happy that the penny has dropped for you. The only way now, is up :T

PS - We had to get through the firemen's strike

In other news.......Today has been a SFD :T. I also managed to declutter a King size duvet that I decided was spare and didn't require anymore. So I had it laundered (free of charge at work ) and have given it away. Scores on the doors haven't changed much:

Food 162.31 / 187.50 86.57%
Petrol 138.13 / 225.00 61.39%
Local food bank 0 / 3.00
Hair 0 / 62.50
Works Xmas Party 0 / 3.25 (Raffle contribution - goes to local charity)
Dentist 18.75 / 18.75 (Had my appointment and no costs were incurred so 12.50 has gone to a gift contribution and 6.25 has gone into the Mortgage OP Pot.)

Total 319.19 / 500.00 GBP 63.84%

SFD 15 / 25
Declutter 12 / 20
Extra money earned/made 0 / 80.00
Misc Spends 39.54 / 0
Kilometres:
Start of challenge figure 93008 }
End of day 20 figure 94525} driven 1517km (948 miles)