Attempting to pay off our mortgage for a bigger house! :)

Thistlewhistle

glitterjunkie wrote: »

Hi Thistlewhistle and thankyou so much for stopping by! I would love q subscriber do you have a diary?

Yes, it's at

Thistlewhistle 2014 - a fresh start

I'm just getting going again after an absence of 6 months - pressures of work etc lol.
Do drop by - I'd love your opinions etc.

Thistlewhistle

Saving money for anything, doesn't count as a spend glitter as the money hasn't left the system - it still belongs to you, it's just been ring fenced for something special! Mortgage payments doent count either, as the money was "spent" when you took on the mortgage. Same with credit card repayments - the money was spent when you bought the goods on the card.

That's my philosophy anyway!:D

themull1

If it was me, i would have kept the kitchen for a big present next christmas, rather than just giving him it now.

glitterjunkie

Popped over for a read Thistlewhistle, good stuff! will subscribe (when i work out how to do it that is, if anyone can tell me?) I like your thinking re. NSD's and the idea that money is 'in the system'...just in a different pot isn't it? I think this MFW thing really appeals to my organised side for that reason.

Gallygirl - thankyou im glad people share that thinking too

Themull1 - I did consider that for about 10 seconds but in all honesty he will only just be 2 next Christmas and he won't have a clue that it's Christmas! Id rather he got an extra years use out of it and hours of enjoyment its cost me nothing in cash terms and effectively been a fab freebie so it's all good!

Today's moneysaving things. .. did my daily Onepoll, sold 2 things on local selling site and made £12 - the £2 has gone into my savings pot thing and banked the £10 ready to OP. Our First direct switch has now completed and they have paid the £100 joining bonus too so going to OP that tomorrow. Finally rang Next as they have charged hubby's account £3.75 for a stupid catalogue that we didn't want, didn't ask for and sent back unopened. .. They have apologised and waived the charge so that was worth phoning about. Oh had a NSD too took a packed lunch to work and OH has taken a batch cooked meal from the freezer for his night shift. I've had a lovely broccoli and cheese tart from Aldi with some vegetable rice for my tea, neededsomething quick as DS refused to go to sleep this evening... cost for the serving about 90p my love affair with Aldi continues!

Off to bed to read my library book for half an hour, night all xx

Muser1

Morning Glitter!

To subscribe. Go on to the thread and at the top of the first post is a green bar with 'Thread Tools' click on that and it will give you the option to subscribe. Hth. xx

glitterjunkie

Hi all im a bit demoralised today as we appear to have raced through the £700 in our 'spending account' in just 20 days, leaving just £18.46 to last until payday on 10th Feb. There's also £100 on the credit card, so we have actually spent £782 in 20 days :-/ Don't get me wrong, all the bills are paid, we have already OP'd a good amount this month, there's loads of food in, the £18.46 will last for fresh milk, bread and fruit til payday and we have emergency savings in a separate account. . Credit card payment isn't due until the 15th either so after payday.. it just means no other spending at all until payday. I think I'm just a bit shocked at how quickly its gone and wondering exactly what we have spent it on lol. Looking on the bright side though it's the first time I have ever separated bills money, savings and spending money so it's all a learning curve

I'm going to go through the account tonight and work out exactly how much has been groceries, petrol, socialising etc, so that will give me a good idea of anything we can cut down on. Thinking about it, We have had FIVE family birthdays this month and I've bought nearly the whole years worth of pressies in the sales which will be a big chunk of it, no more birthdays until August now Though I will post my full spending analysis later.

Not much else to report here... Spent an hour last night sorting through all the 'house' paperwork insurance documents etc... I keep everything important in those concertina (?) files with separate sections but they were in desperate need of a good sort out as ive just been shoving things in any old section :0 chucked out old reciepts for things that are well out of guarantee period, shredded letters about old accounts that have been closed etc... feel much more organised now

Also noticed my work shoes are looking a bit battered so going to give them a good clean and polish tonight in an attempt to revive them rather than buying a new pair straightway as I would have done a few months ago

ETA - ooh just got an email from Tesco inviting me to a new Orchard panel programme about posh Finest cheese so will be getting a voucher for some free. .. yum! x

glitterjunkie

Muser1 wrote: »

Morning Glitter!

To subscribe. Go on to the thread and at the top of the first post is a green bar with 'Thread Tools' click on that and it will give you the option to subscribe. Hth. xx

Aha! Found it thanks Muser

Thistlewhistle

Hi Glitter,

Such a good idea to have a clear out. I'm a terrible hoarder and keep stuff that I'll never need or look at ever again!!

Now I've paid my tax bill and the dust is settling, I can see that I've a big job to do to get my credit card down again, and all my 0% balances are expiring this month. Time for a shuffle!!!

glitterjunkie

A tidy house is a tiny mind Thistle or so I've been told haha im not sure my mind is very tidy but I definitely always feel better after a good clear out!



Having!now had a chance to sit down and work out exactly where our 'spending' money has gone this month. I don't feel so bad we have spent a fair bit but I don't think we have wasted that much. I'm going to do this every month as I think it will really help me work out where we can cut down.!

* Groceries/toiletries/general household items!- £315 (made up of £114 in Aldi, £87 in Asda, £68 in Tesco, £46 in Home Bargains, Poundland etc). It's not as bad as I'd thought but definitely room for improvement and cutting down however.! I wanted to start shopping more in Aldi and I have achieved that Next month's goal is to downshift brands even further and look through the cheap recipe threads on the OS board to do next month's meal plan.
* Petrol £45 - pretty average for us, we don't use the car much, just for DH getting to work and DS to childminder, can't really cut down any more than that.
* Nappies £45 - took advantage of a really good offer and got 2 months supply, so won't need to spend any next month
* Cash for socialising £110 - mostly DH, and again this is a pretty usual amount for him, which neither of us think needs cutting!down (he works bloody hard and has 1 night out a week which I don't begrudge)!Luckily my idea of socialising tends to be a cup of tea and a gossip round one of my friends houses with the kids in tow, which is!free
* 2x soft play area visits with DS - £6 (he's at the age where he is happy with a nice free!trip to the park most weekends, he loves the swings!)
* Presents and cards £189!(!) seems a pretty big amount BUT we have 5 family birthdays in January.!I've also!managed to get nearly the whole year's worth of presents in the 70% off sales including lots of 2014 Christmas presents. So this is really an annual amount rather than a monthly one
* Eating out and takeaways - £136, this has really opened my eyes and shocked me a bit as I didn't think we were that extravagant. £48 was a family meal out for a birthday which again we wouldn't usually spend but even so, several Dominos Pizza and Chinese takeaways also made an appearance...!Definitely an area to cut down on next month.
* Hair cuts for!DH and DS - £20 (mine is next month and will be £30 - have already cut mine down from every six weeks to every eight/nine weeks to save money I should investigate local colleges for the trainees to do it really as I!only have a bog standard cut and blow dry but I would feel guilty letting my hairdresser down does anyone else feel like this?)
* Clothes for me - £12 (a top, hat, scarf and gloves in the sales - also £10 on 2 dresses but that was bought!on a giftcard so free!)!
* Clothes and toys!for DS - £28 (plus the £70 kitchen but again this was on a giftcard so free).!I tend to do a big shop for DS's clothes in the Next sale each season so!the monthly amount is just bits and bobs.!!

Our monthly 'spending' budget is £700 but this month's total was!£906 = a total of £206 over budget. which has gone on the credit card eek! But I suppose if you deduct the spending on presents then we would have come in just about within budget. I had hoped we would spend less than budget so I could use any extra for an OP but obviously that hasn't happened haha. But still managed some good OP's from other sources. Overall I would give us a 'C-grade', could do better! Haha.!

Next month will be a HUGE challenge as I'm going to take the spending budget down to £500 instead of our usual £700, so we can pay the credit card without dipping into savings.!Definitely need to meal plan extremely carefully, luckily February is a short month !!!!!
!!!!!!

glitterjunkie

Sorry for all the random exclamation marks, I'd copied and pasted this from my phone and they weren't in there when I wrote it! X