WOW I must be serious this time.....I have a diary

mum2one

Thank you, your a star...... xxxx

Trixxibell

Realised yesterday my original statement of affairs wasn't totally accurate yes I budget for Xmas and presents in theory but at the end of the month that money is rarely seen. So yesterday I had by second LBM yes I've been taking lunch to work and stopped spending money on drive throughs but that was not my only problem I'm tackling only half of it.

LBM: My poor budgeting is what always gets me back in the using credit cycle, so I wrote a real budget not what I think goes out but what really goes out every single DD and standing order.

I then used an old current account that's still open with another bank and set up a standing order for birthdays and Xmas to go in there. I don't have a debit card for this account so it will reduce the urge to just "borrow" from it, it's all online.

I then used my old ing direct account, again an account that's just sitting there and have labelled this as my in case of emergency and I have set up a standing order for this too.

By doing this I'm covered for emergencies and birthdays etc. my two biggest reasons why I use my cc or catalogue. To ensure I budgeted right so i don't spend over what's been set aside, I moved £200 out of my savings and put £100 in each account for January and February.

The fact they are standing orders means I will view them as bills.

Yesterday I also paid my littlewoods account in full with my car savings I did this because my monthly budget was totalling a high figure which was doable but didn't leave a lot of room for overpayment on my cc. So I thought in might as well get rid of what I can.

Plan for today:

Do not look at the saving forum. I've been looking at it over the pass few days and it made me sad that I'm a fairway off being in a position to save for a house deposit at my age. So I need to stay focused and tackle my current situation and stay on the DFW board. As my bestie said to me yesterday I stopped working in a full time job and have been studying and working part-time for the last five years to do my dream job, I have a DH and three DC's I have a lot to be grateful for.

Only half of my DDs come out on the same date Some are scattered throughout the month. I'm going to make some calls today to move the dates to be more practical.

Also I currently pay my water twice a year and not monthly is there a difference in the price for what payment option you use does anyone know?

In two months my mobile contract will come to an end I can't apply my nhs discount to an existing contract I need to wait until I start a new one. I have learned my lesson with contracts and will definitely be going sim only. Will research sims vs contracts today.

I have some books waiting to trade-in at amazon but I don't know what to wrap them to send them off??? This will be done today.

Next week (DCs are away) I'm going to sit DH down and talk about our plans for the future in two halves. Immediate and long term. Immediate is I need to buy a reliable car if my car had not been stolen I would be right now paying £350 a month for 60 months not pcp. Ex demo hire purchase. I feel I've been given a second chance to make a better decision this time round. I want to put a higher deposit down of £3,000 and look at a cheaper car than the one I had ideally I don't want to pay more than £250 per month and a max of three years.

Long term chat with hubby; I know that by September next year my defaults will have cleared off my credit history. I need my husband to check his default free date, I know he has had a few and this date can be used as our save for a mortgage deadline. As I think we have a better chance of securing a mortgage with no defaults.

Well that's my waffle if you have read this far sorry for the boring read, my diary keeps me on track.

(Comments are welcome, new realistic budget will be posted soon.)

kittycatfan

Hi trixxibell i have read your whole thread its very interesting and you have done very well i am curious to no if youve also lost any weight by not going to drive throughs ? Also about your car situation i have just ordered a brand new fiat punto 14 plate and it was a no deposit deal and monthly payments are only £183 a month and i havent got to worry about tax for first year as already done and no mots for 3 years either so if you were prepared to spend £250 a month on a car you may be better of also getting brand new car theres no better feeling good luck i have subscribed

Trixxibell

Hey Kitty,

Thanks for reading. I think I've lost a very tiny bit of weight I'm small in size anyway, apart from my stomach which I think only exercise will shift. But that's another challenge lol. :rotfl:

I loved my car there was only a few thousand miles on the clock and still had a new car smell. Was in a no tax bracket for life and like yours didn't need a mot for three years.

The car I had was a golf and was my dream car, I would love another one but think the only way is to get a ex demo one again knocks £7,000 off the price :-) or look at getting a ford focus.

Thanks for subscribing. I'm going to go and try and get my things to do list done. I spend hours on this site reading diaries lol xx

Trixxibell

Quick update

I've rang round and changed DDs so they come out on the same date or as close as possible to my pay day. This will stop me spending money that isn't mine whilst waiting for a bill to go out. I thought I had most of them in order but now they will go out within a week of getting paid. Very happy.com :-)

Water is also monthly instead of twice a year much easier to budget for.

Phoned mobile company some good offers going to wait until I sort out car though as don't want an additional search on credit history so close to applying for finance. Aim end of March :-)

It's my sisters b'day today I'm off to get ready for our pre-planned meal. I have missed Nand#s so much. I can't wait the kids are excited too. Food yummy!! the big girl inside me is jumping for joy :j I love food. My stomach hates me right now lol.

Trixxibell

That was an expensive meal :eek: my two DD and DS unfortunately no longer eat kids sizes so even with my discount on my meal it came to £47 :eek: I planned £40 so not to far off the budget but the parking was £3 so £10 over budget. My sister was happy though and it was a good catch up with the family.

Tomorrow I have decided to make another big change virgin tv is going and we are going back to freeview :eek: I'm going to call them tomorrow and hopefully get a competitive deal for phone and broadband. I have tried a few things to make virgin work for us as a family but can never seem to get it right. This month my bill is a high at £75 :eek: but this is down to all the extra calls I had to make about car insurance, which I suppose was covered by the £25 compensation "sorry we cocked up" cheque. I'm on the all calls included plan (typically insurance company number wasn't included) as kids and DH call mobiles and each other a lot. I have tried smaller phone plans before but then ended up paying for calls.

My new plan (please if this makes no sense some one comment) both older kids have mobiles but they aren't topped up very often. If I ensure their mobiles are topped up £10 each month and select freebies then they should have enough mins to last a month, DH has a mobile too (he sorts his own credit out) I have unlimited mins on my contract will move to much cheaper option of sim only when contract ends in April. I will also put a mobile block on the house phone to stop temptation when they do run out of credit. My hope is the usually cost of £56 per month will shrink dramatically.

I have pre warned the family that virgin will be going and to list all the channels they watched to see if it would be a fair decision however no one wrote a list so it's going. Half the things the kids watch drives me up the wall anyway like the amazing world of gum something. They have laptops so can watch bbc iplayer which they use TiVo for a lot.

The freeview is built into the tv so won't need any extra equipment. We will lose the option to record but with so much on demand I don't think we will notice.

I know it may seem I'm doing too much to soon, but if I don't do things while I have the passion I will slip into old ways. So many of my friends are buying property or going on holiday and I'm earning more than I was as a student but I am no better off ?!?! and until April I can't do overtime (work rules as new starter) so until then I will reduce my outgoings where I can and clear my debt.

My aims are the same: clear debt, buy car and in the future save for a deposit for a house.

Trixxibell

So today I rang Virgin and looked at an old statement and realised last year I was paying £29.99 per month for m tv, m broadband and phone package free weekends and evenings. This amount was affordable and a lot better than what I'm paying now.

After speaking to their staff, I have not got rid of TiVo (hanging my head in shame here) but I have got my old deal back :money: and a larger internet band. So I'm a happy bunny I have compared the deal with others and it's about the same as talk, talk are offering at the moment.

So instead of £56 a month as usual I'm paying £29.99 :-) that a £26 a month saving. Which is just over what my 1% overpayment to my CC is.

I have stuck a sign on the house phone instructing the kids and DH to use their mobile. Going to get DH to pay for monthly top ups on their phones to ensure they aren't tempted. I have unlimited calls on my mobile so if I'm home they can always use mine if needed.

So that's my dfw job of the day, looks like I'm stuck with Cartoon Network for another 12 months :rotfl: and DH's documentaries.

So by paying off littlewoods and reducing my virgin that's £226 I have freed up from my monthly budget that I can throw at my cc.

Looking at my budget there isn't a lot left that can be changed my bursary payments will be gone by September if I can't get rid of it before then, my cc monthly payments I want gone ASAP, my mobile contract ends in April and I will move to sim only.

Home insurance renewal is in May so will shop around this year instead of auto renewing.

£900 per month is my goal on monthly expenses reduce, reduce, reduce until I'm there.

mum2one

thats brilliant news about Virgin, def worth a try and as you say its paid off.

The kids it might be worth looking at giff gaff as they seem to do good deals, or the supermarkets, as they piggy back on networks the have less cost, so for £10 your get some good deals. xx

Trixxibell

Thanks mum2one spoke with OH yesterday, we are going to give the two older kids a bank account each with a set allowance. Alot of money is given to them for cinema trips etc with friends with no real limit plus I know this is where a chunk of money goes from OH. (I'm slowly trying to bring him round to my thinking.) So I have ordered cheaper sims giffgaff was brilliant thanks for the suggestion. He will put a set amount in their accounts which will need to cover their top ups and trips if they run out of money we have both agreed not to give them anymore.

Small steps, small steps...I'm hoping to get these accounts up and running this week while the idea is fresh. The bonus to this is home phone won't be used as they have credit and my virgin phone bill will stay low and we won't be given out money here and there for kids days out, we can now budget.

I better go or I will be late for work ...eek! Have. A good night everyone x

Saver-upper

Hi,Trixxibell :wave:.
I have just read through your diary,and haven't you done well in such a short amount of time?Can definitely feel your energy and enthusiasm from here.
I know what you mean about keeping up the momentum:when I start a project,I just want to take as many big leaps as I can while the enthusiasm is there.
I look forward to following you on your journey.
Good luck x