A New Year Newbies Diary

Squirrelly

Right so here we go entering 2014 with a sack load of good intentions!
A bit of history - The hubby and I have had a tough few years, he has been studying for his degree and working full time but the course fees were still frightening, and I had our youngest and dip in income that is maternity leave. We have a achieved a lot and are on our way to achieving most of our family dreams but we have been limping on financially and the time has come to make changes!

What we have already done - Worked out what we owe, are keeping detailed budgets and plans for paying things off, consolidated our credit card debt onto a 0% balance transfer card. Started the 52 week challenge. Come back to MSE!

What we need - Encouragement, somewhere to go on tough days, more hints, tips and advice

So if like me, you think 2014 is the year for you and you need the kick up the bum, or are good at doing the kicking I am looking forward to hearing from you

Pennydropped

Best of luck! It's tough sometimes to budget when you have little ones - I know sometimes it's so tiring that convenience wins out over budgeting. But like you, I'm going to be watching every penny and paying off everything I can as quickly as possible.

Piquant_2

Happy new diary Squirrelly! There is so much support, friendliness and advice here on the diaries thread. There's always someone around to chat to.

Good luck!

Squirrelly

Thank you both, I know this is going to be hard work but feeling really positive

Squirrelly

Today has been an interesting day. I knew a debt free plan was going to be part of New Year planning but I had hoped to blitz the house today and go into 2014 squeaky clean. I believe in the tidy house, tidy mind mantra. It hasn't really happened today I have totally lacked motivation for housework other than the basics and have spent most of my day on here reading other diaries.

The diaries have been REALLY inspiring and probably done me more good. There seems to be a lot of people starting diaries today with the mind set to change their lives. I feel happy that I am not alone. Also it is humbling to see how many people have started out from worse positions than us and really achieved great things. One that really hit home was an entry where the writer was sitting there close to tears knowing DD were due and there were no funds to cover them. We have been in that position so often in the last year.

I have also felt a little headachy today I think getting my head around this huge change and the reality of the situation has made my brain hurt. So I will not be celebrating in the traditional sense I think an early night will be in order so I can greet the New Year bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Hoping for a NSD tomorrow, its the perfect oppportunity:A

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary
Keep posting!

pantherchick

welcome... and I hope the new year brings health wealth and happiness.

WantToBeSE

Welcome! I look forward to reading more!

Squirrelly

Hello 2014, so here we are the year that we sorted it all out, made excellent progress and ended the year in a much better place than we started...we hope;)

An easy NSD today as I thought, no where to go, no one to see and nothing open. Spent the day watching movies with the family and pottering around getting some jobs done. Even so a NSD is still a NSD and it all helps.

Started a meal plan for this month until the 24th when I get paid so we can do a thorough shop, hubby is in college on Friday so will go to aldi on his way home. Signed up to yougov mostly as an experiment to see if the survey world is practical. I only get access to the internet in the evenings as our computer is hubby's work laptop but if I can earn an extra £50 I will be a happy bunny.

Also been thinking today about other things that I can do to make a difference and include in the diary, so this week I am going to try and do SOA. I have seen them on other diaries and think in the spirit of honesty and dealing with the full situation it is going to be worth it (even if it is a bit scary seeing it all in black and white).


Tomorrow I'm back to work, so have already made myself a lunch, I always do this as I work on a business park cut off from everything so there is not much of a choice! but again should mean another NSD :T

Also tomorrow the majority of the DD come out including the absolutely hideous bank charges. We have been in a cycle for some time of going over our OD so incurring charges which then push us over our OD limit again, evil bl**dy things. I have about £250 worth of charges going out tomorrow, but thanks to hubby getting a bonus for Christmas we may now be able to stop the cycle as long as we are very, very careful.

Right that's the diary done for today I will be back tomorrow:A

Squirrelly

I am going to do two entries this evening, just a quick one now as I have finished work and just waiting to go home. I will do another later when I have checked the bank accounts to make sure the charges have all gone out successfully.

Failed on the NSD today as we had run out milk, bread and loo roll and with two under tens in the house there was no way we were going to make it until Friday without purchasing more. However these are essentials and all we bought so that makes it feel a bit more positive.

Completed my meals plan so I just need to total all the quantities up and send Hubby off with the list tomorrow.

Squirrelly

Ridiculously late/early post but just checked the bank account and the charges have gone, hoping with everything that I have, this is the last time I will ever have to pay such a huge amount.

Right so we now have just under £400 in the bank account to get us through to the 24th Jan but we still have £428 of DD left to come out:eek: Thankfully the child benefit will be in before then and we will scrape by, by the skin of our teeth this month.

Hubby has the detailed shopping list and the meal plan is on the fridge so we should be fine food wise if nothing else, the car has a full tank of petrol and there is very little else we NEED.

My little girls birthday is next week but I think we are prepared, I bought her present back in early November when I did the Christmas present shopping, a friend at work has lent me about 50 metres of the most beautiful handmade floral bunting, so I can really go wild decorating and it didn't cost me a penny. I also had a lucky moment a week ago when I was in the supermarket and they had pink and purple fluffy pencil cases reduced to 35p each so I grabbed 6 to make alternative party bags and the party food is going to be made up of things I already had in the cupboards...so all in all a MSE party:A

Anyway I'll be back later with the shopping results, hoping we can do it for under £100.