How will you celebrate being debt free? How do people stop from sliding back?

Steerpike88

That is an incredibly big list. Way-to-go you! I have subscribed, I think you're so funny and really inspirational.

Vicky496

Well I don't know about funny, a lot of my posts recently are this dull...

So for today...
Spends:
£5.40 on chips and ice-cream at the beach
£1 on parking
£14.34 on MrT grocery shop

Savings:
20p voucher
£1 multibuy savings

Jobs completed:
none

Contractions:
none *sigh*

Vicky496

Today's/Yesterdays round up!
Both NSDs

Got some MrT vouchers through the post today... mostly to boost clbcrd points, but some money off that I might end up using.

Dusted and pottered about tidying today.

Felt very proud that I went round a huge car boot sale yesterday morning and didn't buy a thing! Not that I wasn't open to finding a bargain, but there wasn't anything we needed.

Vicky496

Today's update...
Savings:
£4.67 spent in M&S all from a voucher mostly bits of groceries (treats!)

Spendings:
99p on drain cleaner (big bottle though!)

Jobs done:
Also finally posted the second ziffit parcel, and the letter asking for a refund on my oyster card (found 2 more cards and added them to the form before I sent it off ).
Did a bit more dusting in the sitting room and tidied away a load of cables and games controllers into a box from under the TV stand.
Also went through a huge pile of post and binned or filed it.
Mopped the kitchen floor again... (obsessed?!)
Think I'm going to pour the drain cleaner in the shower this evening and leave it overnight.

Vicky496

Well, tomorrow is pay day. The first during maternity leave... though it shouldn't make much difference until later months.

Here's my updated budget:

Last edited: 23rd Sept... 1 day left.

Ok, so rent and bills come to £718.45 and I've given myself £1100 to live on for the month.

Should be more than enough.

That leaves £381.55 to pay for the following things (I'll track how much I spend on each and try to minimise spending on each):
1) Groceries
£123.03
2) [STRIKE]4[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]2[/STRIKE] 1 remaining Christmas[STRIKE]/birthday[/STRIKE] gift[STRIKE]s[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]and 1 wedding present[/STRIKE] ([STRIKE]£47.74[/STRIKE] left in my present budget)
£53.69 (now -£3.20 oops left in my present budget... one present was free using CC vouchers with the tesco boost )
3) Haircut?
£0
4) Baby stuff
£41
5) Petrol
£34.53
6) Life insurance
£0
7) Social life (meals out, pub visits, lunch etc)
£89.39
8) Travel (e.g. parking, bus fares)
£33
9) Other (hopefully I haven't forgotten anything, but I'll put it here if I have).
£2 Charity donation
£18 Overdraft fee which I'd forgotten ( ), but is the LAST
£50 Gardener... cheaper than the agent charging us!
10) Refund from DH (his share of the rent minus my share of the bills he pays - we more or less keep our finances separate)
-£124.36 It's usually about £100.

VSP this month: £51.95
Amount remaining: £7.32

Anything left by next pay day will go into savings and I'll start the new month again with a fresh £1100.

Finishing the month with a NSD :j

So I came in under budget by £59.27, due largely to the fact that I was putting money aside for the virtual sealed pot (otherwise I'd probably have spent it!).

I haven't finished the make £10 a day challenge so I will have to update you on that at the end of the actual month

Found 20p in a side pocket in my purse today

I started the month with £142.50 in my ISA...
Now I have £1236.75 :j

So I've managed to save up £1094.25 this month :j

Jobs today:
Cleaned the kitchen surfaces and the inside and outside of some of the cupboards.
Forgot about putting the drain cleaner in the shower so will do that overnight tonight.

Money saved today:
Found 20p.
Made a very careful grocery list for next time I go, making sure I had the best deals possible, had downshifted where we're comfortable, and going to make the best possible use of vouchers and coupons.

Challenges I'll do in October:
I think I'll probably do the make £10 a day again, but maybe with only £5 a day as the baby is due any time and I don't know how much time I'll have to do this challenge properly.

Also thinking I'll keep track of my NSDs... I think I did at least 7 this month, so I'll set that as my target and see if I can beat it

Obviously going to keep doing VSP.

Not going to join the grocery challenge as I don't want the pressure (or guilt when I don't manage it!), but am going to set myself a soft target of £200 including social life (last month groceries and social added up to £212.42).

Here's to the new month!

:A

Vicky496

Last edited: 24th Oct.

Rent and bills come to £712.34 and I've given myself £1100 to live on for the month.

Should be more than enough.

That leaves £387.66 to pay for the following things:
1) Groceries
£154.18
2) Christmas presents
£43.99 (£6.80 left of my xmas pressent budget and 1 gift to get)
3) Haircut?
£0
4) Baby stuff
£8.99
5) Petrol
£0
6) Insurance
£0
7) Social life (meals out, pub visits, lunch etc)
£33.33
8) Travel (e.g. parking, bus fares)
£8.30
9) Other (hopefully I haven't forgotten anything, but I'll put it here if I have).
£89 Phone
£0.01 Charity
£5 Pressy for DH
£25 Gardener
£42.41 Frivolity in JLewis :S (Mostly xmas decorations, but about £10 of this was baby stuff)
£4.39 Phone charger (so I can sell my old phone)
10) Refund from DH (his share of the rent minus my share of the bills he pays - we more or less keep our finances separate)
-£136.13 It's usually about £100, will confirm on 7th.

VSP this month: £7.62
Amount remaining: £101.57

Anything left by next pay day will go into savings and I'll start the new month again with a fresh £1100.

Challenges summary:
NSDs: 26/7 Target annihilated :j
Grocery/Social: £187.51/200
September £10 a day challenge: £302.13/300
October £10 a day challenge: £83.87/310
Current Total VSP: £72.07
Current Total Savings: £2067.61
October Savings: Above figure - £1236.75 = £830.86
+ £101.57 = £932.43 :j

Vicky496

Good day today (pay day :j)

Spends:
£11 pub lunch out with DH
£16.99 on 2 planned xmas presents. Only 1 left to get and £6.80 left in present budget for this.
£8.99 on a clip on sunshade for the baby car seat/buggy.
£26.16 on groceries.

Savings:
A whopping £11.78 off my MrT shop today from multibuys and coupons.
Also saved another 55p buying one of the things on my list with a yellow sticker.


Edit: only £10 spend on a planned xmas pressy - the other £6.99 is for a pre-order that I won't be charged for until it's released in November.

Vicky496

Having a NSD today
Done 2 loads of laundry as well.

£19.25 just got paid into my account from ziffit and £6.67 from Qidco

Have written all my house work type jobs out on a bit of paper on the kitchen noticeboard for when guests come to visit and want to 'help' when the baby arrives... or just for me so I've got something physical to actually cross off when I get it done

Vicky496

Oo and another £27.13 from the second ziffit parcel

Yay! That takes me to £302.13, beyond the £300 target for make £10 a day

Vicky496

Argh! Post-frivalism guilt!

Bought new phone... £89
Spent £18.38 on junk food in MrTs (only 48p saving made on one multibuy)... the only vaguely healthy thing in the whole bag was some apples!
DH also treated us to afternoon tea out

Planning to sell my old phone (~£60) to make back some of the cost of the new one.

I really thought I was going to get even more carried away yesterday. And I would have if MrTs had a coat I wanted (I don't even need a coat!). So it could have been a lot worse.

I think it's been brought on by boredom. Maternity leave is not good for my mental health I think. Desperate to be back at work! Probably be different when the babs finally turns up.

Reluctant to promise a NSD today to make up for it. I think I need to take more opportunities to get out of the house though.

Crossroad decision...

Also reluctant to go back to work from maternity leave early... I'm pretty sure they're going to have a bad year due to weak management... don't want to be tarnished by it and I've been increasingly annoyed by my employer the last 2 years... thinking about changing schools (am a teacher) for next September.

Choice 1: Leave after maternity leave is over (next July). Pros: I get to spend the whole year with the baby and DH. Also, I don't look rubbish... in fact I come off looking pretty amazing and employable when they see the effect of me not being there. Cons: have to pay back about £3000 in contractual salary.

Choice 2: Go back to work early (eg Feb half term) and then leave the following September. Pros: It would do me a lot of mental good (judging by yesterday!) and I wouldn't have to pay back contractual salary. Cons: I would have to go back before Easter to make the salary 'pro' work, otherwise I won't have been back for enough time to avoid paying back the contractual part of my mat pay. Also, less time with the baby. Also, if I decide not to leave after all then I'd have lost time with the baby and work wouldn't be able to tell that the extremely rubbish year was nothing to do with me.

If I'm going to go with option 2 I will have to give 2 months notice of coming back so I'd have to let them know before the xmas hols, but I don't want to decide until the baby comes obviously as that might change everything! Annoyingly I wouldn't know that early if I was changing jobs as they don't really get advertised til Jan/Feb onwards for September starts.

On the other hand it might be worth paying back the £3000 to get to spend the year with my first born...