Im serious this time; the debt has to go!

LAM2011

I popped into supermarket yesterday and bought just the essentials and it came to £40:eek: couldn't believe it - I am going to have to start tracking and planning better. I think food costs are creeping up. Always hard with guests too.

Archer0710

Are you in Jan or Dec food budget? At least you'll be more prepared more next year!!!!! It is difficult though as you can't really say to people stop eating I am skint. I also think if it's only the two of you you forget how much more additional people eat.

I am great with clothes budgets, it's the one area of my life where I do not spend money. I can go clothes shopping and not spend a penny it's so stressful....I too though have clothes that are past their best.

Have you managed to get back to a healthy diet yet?

Eyebright

Archer0710 wrote: »

Are you in Jan or Dec food budget? At least you'll be more prepared more next year!!!!! It is difficult though as you can't really say to people stop eating I am skint. I also think if it's only the two of you you forget how much more additional people eat.

I am great with clothes budgets, it's the one area of my life where I do not spend money. I can go clothes shopping and not spend a penny it's so stressful....I too though have clothes that are past their best.

Have you managed to get back to a healthy diet yet?

January budget, as get paid on the 25th of each month, with bills then going out on the 1st. I am definitely going to be more prepared next year. I am going to kick-a$$ at budgeting and affording things in 2014!
I can't believe how having extra people in the house affects everything! The dishwasher has been on multiple times a day, when we run it once every 2 days normally, I dread to think what the water consumption has gone up by, with the extra showers etc going on :eek: and the electricity bill, the two teenage tearaways keep leaving lights on all over the house :mad: And obviously don't get me started on the food...!!!!

Bad news, the rain and wind have stopped and the sun has come out, time to go shopping...:(

Thanks for helping to keep me sane everyone! This forum is my sanctuary atm :rotfl:

Eyebright

Oh and not really with regards to the diet!!!!!!!

debtfree2014

Hiya, I am working News year night shift. Not at all bothered about going out and I will pick up 8hre double time too. I would rather have the money.

I get paid 4 weekly, so although it fab to budget for 4 straight weeks. My pay date moves all over the place

Eyebright

Heya, DF2014!

You know it really wouldn't bother me to work New Year's at all, apart from I would be tired as I have never worked a nightshift in my life! The money is a big plus though, fab stuff!

The food budget has just taken another battering, as we are doing a buffet for 11 people tonight :eek: It all came to £99.57:eek: at the SM but my mum gave me £20 and my brothers another £20 as they bought themselves a load of beer. I paid for it all on my Santander 123 CC so that I could get the cashback! So another £50, which would be enough for a weekly shop for us under normal circumstances! Still normality will be restored tomorrow and I can start planning properly for the rest of this year, and instigate some form of damage limitation to ensure I can make to the end of the month still solvent!

I'm going to post my hopes, goals and wishes for 2014 tomorrow, then try and get the house cleaned, tidied and back to normal. If time I want to start sorting out a few bits for ebay to sell. So much to do, so little time! When I'm back at work on Thursday I'm also going to look into booking off a few days, so that I can have some me time and relax. I really think that is something I need to do.

I hope everyone has a lovely evening, whatever your plans, and I look forward to seeing you all on the "other side"!!!!!

EB XXXX :beer:

Eyebright

Well, I've finally managed to make it back online. My New Years Eve was, shall we say, eventful :eek:

All was going well, food was being eaten, people were drinking and being merry. I don't drink, so was only having cups of tea, but noticed around 11pm I felt a bit off. I figured it was due to having eaten too much and my body finally protesting, but no!!!! At 12.15 I realised I was about to throw up :(, so cue a night of dashing to the bathroom accompanied by shivering and really bad fever and muscle cramps. Then at 4am (the party sadly carried on without me, desperate though I was to get some sleep), my 18 YO brother, fuelled by far too much alcohol, that I wasn't around to stop being drank decided to try and start a fight with my OH and BIL :( I dashed downstairs to try and intervene, but I had no effect. I was eventually put back to bed and my OH calmed my brother down. It was a horrible end to an awful evening. Then to make matters worse my brother threw up ALL over the bathroom, and I mean it was everywhere, so when I went to use the bathroom I had to clean his sick up first :eek::eek: before I could puke :rotfl::rotfl:

So my wish has come true, I'm now off work until I feel better! OH has been lovely and gutted the house, it's now sparkling clean!

Will pop back later to post my goals for 2014. This post is a bit waffly and nothing related to my debt-busting, but wanted to get it off my chest

Eyebright

Meant to post this sooner, but have spent most of the day sleeping. I hate being ill



Soooo, what are my goals for next year...in no particular order:

• Clear the CC debt, E.ON arrears, and money I owe to the joint account by the 31st December 2014
• Save up enough money to pay the car insurance up front when it's next due for renewal
• Keep on top of this budgeting lark, keep a spend diary and update my budgets each day/week/month
• Have a grocery budget, and work on getting this down to a sensible level for 2 adults and a cat!
• Ensure I have sufficent money saved for emergencies, such as house maintenance and car repairs
• Make a list of DIY jobs that need doing around the house and tackle them. Will make a list and prioritise and cost each job, so we know what to do first and how much to save before doing it
• Lose at least another stone, improve my diet and keep up with going to the gym
• Have savings account for birthdays and Christmas, so that I am prepared for next year!
• Save up some money to do something nice for OH's 40th birthday in March
• Have a clear out and sell everything possible on ebay/fb selling pages to raise money to acheive my goals and pay off all the debts
• Participate in the sealed pot challenge to have extra funds available for Christmas 2014
• Participate in the Flylady thread to try and get on top of the housework, something I really hate doing :rotfl:
• Reduce our electricity usage

Am going to link this to my first post, so I can keep coming back to it and review it over the course of this year.

[Deleted User]

Morning hun,


Sorry you've not been feeling very well, hope you're on the mend now x


I love your list of goals for the year, they're very similar to mine.


May have to bite the bullet myself and get back on E-bay as not much sells for me on FB.


Have a good day hun and make sure you rest xx

Eyebright

Morning PMO2, if I remember correctly, your post was the one that inspired me to write down my own list of goals. :T I'm starting to feel a bit better, I might actually try some toast this morning! I definitely think the stress of December (working so many hours, having my LBM, worrying about Christmas) contributed to me falling ill. I'm never ill usually

I would like to go into next year with >10k of debt. I know a lot of people pay their debts off much quicker, but I have decided we need to have funds/savings available to prevent us from sliding further into debt. No good paying off the credit card in 6 months if I then have to put a house/car repair on it, because I didn't have provision for this eventuality. Also the only debt currently with interest on it is my CC, the first thing I'm tackling. I am also determined to do a BT to a 0% deal. That will hopefully be a task for this weekend if I'm feeling a bit better. I'm probably going to be a slow and steady wins the race kinda gal. I'm trying to change my whole attitude to money and finances, not just clear my cards so I probably end up putting things back on them.

I've also thought of another goal, so will pop back and edit my list in a min. I want to reduce how much electricity we use, as I think we are quite wasteful atm, and energy bills are on the rise (who doesn't know this lol). I'm hoping small changes add up! One thing I have thought of is turning my laptop off when I'm not using it, as before I used to just shut the lid, which put it to sleep, did this when going to work, and overnight when I went to bed :eek: I know, naughty Eyebright. We also do this with the tele, so that will also change.

Any tips on cutting my electricity usage would be gratefully received!

I'm also thinking that after my usual daily waffle, I might have a little structured section at the end of my post, to help me track how I'm doing on a daily basis, and a monthly round up post. Am thinking at the beginning of the month I will post my budget, then at the end of the month review how well I stuck to it, how much money I paid towards debts etc...

For my daily post was thinking:

• Daily spends, hopefully if I have to tell people I spent money it will prevent me from doing so!
• Food log, to help with weight loss, meal planning, and preventing us from buying so many take-aways!
• MSE things I have done today (resisted a magazine, brought lunch to work, made a fiver on ebay etc)

Right, feeling like I need a lie down again now.