I've had the worst of times - now for the BEST of times!

peaceandfreedom

Another quiet day today with little to report. Decided to do a 2.89 TT to Barclaycard, then went mad and added another fiver as well. Also put some money in my sealed pot.

It's 12th March, 16 days to payday and I've only got 15 quid spending money left. Although I've spent very little this month, I really need to earn some more cash.

Didn't put anything on ebay tonight because I was out most of the evening.

Am very tired because I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm off to my bed.

peaceandfreedom

Am feeling very tired again this evening - another bad night's sleep for some reason. The lack of sleep and lack of energy is making me feel rather low. So is the fact that having done a quick summary of our spending this month, we have already spent way too much on food and there have been numerous other extra expenses as well, some of them quite big.

So I do really need to earn some more money and will devote much of this weekend to achieving that in one form or another. Some freelance work, more ebaying etc.

It does all make me think that my budget is too optimistic and too restrictive. I think I need to re-plan so that I am actually putting money away properly for these kinds of expenses rather than trying to deal with them when they crop up. I need to organise things so that in 12 months time, there is money in the bank to deal with all the different costs that crop up over the year.

Will do some budget re-jigging over the weekend. It may mean putting my hoped-for DFD back a bit for now, but it would be a more controlled way of dealing with things. And I can still throw extra earnings at the debt.

Laters.

tattycath

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

Have you thought of asking on the Shabby Chic thread - there are loads of people on there who do some amazing things with old pieces of furniture and they will be able to answer your question. I'm a rank amateur myself.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2733101

I have lots of little furniture 'projects' that I never seem to get around to - but really I need to clear out the garage first to make room for these painting jobs.

Thanks for this peaceandfreedom. I'll have a look.
Sorry you're not sleeping well. I have had times like that in the last few months. Maybe you have too much going on in your head too-either consciously or subconsciously. :grouphug:

peaceandfreedom

tattycath wrote: »

Thanks for this peaceandfreedom. I'll have a look.
Sorry you're not sleeping well. I have had times like that in the last few months. Maybe you have too much going on in your head too-either consciously or subconsciously. :grouphug:

Thanks Tattycath, you could be right. Or it could be just the hormones, me being a 'woman of a certain age'.

Today was quite a good day, got some tricky stuff done at work, have spotted a potential opportunity to enhance my skills/job and also got treated to lunch out. Spent less than 30 quid on the food shopping which will make up a bit for the overspending earlier in the week. :T

Have lots to get done this weekend, need to prioritise and see what's most important. The weather's looking pretty good so it will be more painting and garden-stuff I suspect.

A lot of my tomato seeds have started germinating already. :j

tattycath

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

Thanks Tattycath, you could be right. Or it could be just the hormones, me being a 'woman of a certain age'.

Today was quite a good day, got some tricky stuff done at work, have spotted a potential opportunity to enhance my skills/job and also got treated to lunch out. Spent less than 30 quid on the food shopping which will make up a bit for the overspending earlier in the week. :T

Have lots to get done this weekend, need to prioritise and see what's most important. The weather's looking pretty good so it will be more painting and garden-stuff I suspect.

A lot of my tomato seeds have started germinating already. :j

Yes, my DD tells me I'm going through 'the change' :rotfl: she says if I'm not I must be just moody.
Well done on the lunch and shopping. :j

Ooh, that reminds me, I should start planting my veg up... Need to sort that out.
Going to drop DD1 at work tomorrow, then go to market to try and get some meat deals, then pick DD up and grab some bits from town. Hopefully when we get home I will be able to sort all my seeds out.
I still need to sort out listings on the bay and I have some small sales to pack.

peaceandfreedom

Well, I've spent some time on the computer sorting out my budget and I've decided to change tack a bit in my push to be debt free.

One of the reasons I am always running up credit card bills is that I don't have any money saved towards the non-direct-debit expenses that are always cropping up. So when the car needs new tyres, or I need to get my hair done, or it's one of the kids' birthdays, out comes the credit card.

So I have done a list of all the expenses that come at random or irregular times throughout the year. (Actually, I've always had this list, I've just never done anything about it. ) To meet these expenses, I need to put aside about £400 a month. That is a conservative estimate. :eek:

It's no wonder that I end up slipping back into debt when I am failing to make proper provision for these kind of expenses. So I've decided to reduce my monthly CC payment a little bit and put aside £400 per month in a savings account. Some times it will be going out as fast as it is going in but I've drawn up a schedule and it's working out, as long as I manage to save the £400. This schedule is based on my salary alone, so I don't have to rely on raising extra cash to manage.

BUT I will need to stick to the budget of course - this is something I've never managed to do before . Of course, to make life easier I will be raising extra cash by any means I can conjure up. I will either use this for any extra spending I wish to indulge in OR send it to the credit card.

This pushes back my DFD by one year to the end of 2016. But I plan to move to a better paid job by the end of 2014 which should improve things considerably.

Although my DFD goes back one year, I am feeling much better about everything because I feel I now have a plan that is stable and realistic, rather than one that is based on castles in the sky.

Enjoying_life_more

hiya

yes the new budget sounds good - that's what I've been doing I put 419 a month into a yearly bills account and this covers everything from council tax, insurances, car bills inc mot/repairs/tax, xmas birthdays and holidays, trips, house d!cor, hair cuts, water rates, tv licence, cable bill in advance (to get a discount), clothes - I worked out I need about 5000 a year for these which works out roughly 419 a month.

I then have monthly bills - gas/elec/rest of cable bill/phone

and then a weekly allowance with a little left over for savings.

This approach seems to be working for me but I realise everyone is different so it's whatever works for you

Good luck!!

peaceandfreedom

Enjoying_life_more wrote: »

hiya

yes the new budget sounds good - that's what I've been doing I put 419 a month into a yearly bills account and this covers everything from council tax, insurances, car bills inc mot/repairs/tax, xmas birthdays and holidays, trips, house d!cor, hair cuts, water rates, tv licence, cable bill in advance (to get a discount), clothes - I worked out I need about 5000 a year for these which works out roughly 419 a month.

I then have monthly bills - gas/elec/rest of cable bill/phone

and then a weekly allowance with a little left over for savings.

This approach seems to be working for me but I realise everyone is different so it's whatever works for you

Good luck!!

This is exactly the approach I am taking. Clothes, for the moment, will come out of my monthly spending money. In fact, I intend to buy almost no clothes this year, I really have plenty of nice clothes and I will adapt any that are no longer quite what I need. (Some clothes are now too big because I've lost weight in the past year .)

Water and TV licence are paid monthly by DD already. No cable costs and no holiday savings because we just can't afford a holiday. Though I may try to put aside some cash for a short break this summer. There is no room in my budget for regular holiday savings just yet but such is life, I can live with that for now.

Enjoying_life_more

Well done on the weight loss!

I don't spend a lot on clothes in fact most things are bought in the sales.

Being single does have it advantages for holidays as I go with friends and only have to pay for myself - we usually go all inclusive somewhere hot for a week and I'm good at finding bargain hols. I cant imagine the cost of a family holiday now it must run into thousands!

Not sure if i'll be able to afford a hol next year as my pay will be reducing at the end of this year (i'm on protected pay at the moment) I have already worked out that I will only be able to afford 320 a month for the yearly bill pot next year so a lot of things have got to reduce - mainly xmas and hol funds.

DedicatedDFW

Hi p&f,

Your original budget sounds a little like mine is I don't budget for gas, electric (paid quarterly when bill received) car tax, insurance, mot, repairs, house insurance etc. :eek: Simply because my income doesn't allow me to budget for these things ike you though, i hope to move into a better paid job this year *fingers crossed* for both of us

Sorry to hear you're not sleeping well - i am the same at the mo. and i don't know why It does ratherly sap the energy x

Sorry to hear the food budget isn't working out - just this last 2 weeks i have more or less got mine to where i want it to be - there are lots of things i don't buy that i would buy if i had the budget though... it is a battle and struggle every week though.

I can't remember if you said or not if Mr p&f is working now?

Have a good weekend xx