Debt Free & Frugal for 2014 (I hope!)

Mamma85

I find If everything's written down, it's clearer for me to work through.

There's me, dd1, dd2 and dh at weekends. I'm at SAHM Mom, looking for work (unsucessfuly:() and dh works away in the week and is sometimes away for long periods of time or at home for long perioids time. :eek:( I have resisted killing him thus far)

Our total debt is
British Gas
Gas - £316.56
Electric - £12.60
Barclays Overdraft £1600
Argos Store Card £392.78

Total - £2321.94:eek:

The problem with debt is that it has become the norm, on payday the overdraft is filled up then emptied out again by the end of the month.

And British Gas was a horrible surprise, as it turns out they've been making up my meter readings (despite me sending them in monthly) and we're in more debt than I thought :mad:

Otherwise I try to be very money conscious , in terms of food shopping, clothing and things for the girlies, getting the best deals on insurance, bills etc. but dh is completely the opposite.
I get £200 a month from him, to feed, clothe and provide everything for the girls. Plus £134 child benefit which, I try to put £34 by for the girls things and save £100 for Christmas.

Dh is dreadful with money.
We have to pay out £300 in August for a remortgage, we did have most of it saved till he Spent it :mad:. Then he went out and bought another car for £200 :eek: We just have the one car which he uses, but he's got in his head that I need a car ( I have told him repeatedly that I do not). His friend leant him the money. I made him go back and say no, luckily someone else bought the car so the guy wasn't messed around.

It's soul destroying that as much as I try to save he just spends

Mamma85

Well rant over,
SOA

Joint Account
£2136.75 Monthly

Mortgage - £590.98......... Due to drop by £90 in September
Council Tax - £112
Gas - £80
Electric - £38
Water - £28.43
TV licence - £12.12
Sky. £51
Car ins. £52.27
Life ins DH. £35.72
Life ins ME. £35.40..........due to drop in September, (new policy)
Gas cover. £14.08
Mobile bill DH. £36..............sometimes more
Account fee. £6.50
Specsavers. £22

Savings
Dd1. £10
Dd2. £10
Car. £60
ISA. £70
Christmas. £20

Other
Money to Me. £200
Money to DH's a/c. £450........... Hoping he doesn't ask for more!

Girls
Kickboxing. £88
Ballet. £24

Total. £2047.07
Left. £89.68

Mamma85

SOA
My Account
£200 monthly

Food..........£140....... Doing the Grocery Challenge, hoping for less
Mobile Phone £16

Total £156
Left £44......spent on things the girls need, school trips/days out.

Child Benefit
£134
Girls.........£34
Savings......£100.......for Christmas, extras for girls or for baling dh out.

Mamma85

I've upped the gas and electric dd s to start to pay off the debt.

Whatever's left in the account at the end of the month, around £30/£40, I hope! I'll throw at the Argos card. I think we have charges going out this month, so after they've gone out whatever's left I'll pay off the Argos card too.

I've made £53 from Facebook sales pages so, I'm going to buy some Christmas presents, so at least the girls will have something, if everything's gone wrong by Christmas!:o

I'm also making a list of NEEDS and WANTS for this month, to prioritise what I actually need to get this month.

AUGUST
NEED -
School shoes x 2
Knickers for dd2
Tights/socks x 2 girls for school
Thermal lunchbox for dd1.............to save money on school dinners as she only likes hot meals at lunch.
School Cardigans x 2 for Dd1......need green but really hard to find in the supermarkets round here
Birthday present for DA

WANT
New water bottles for girls
New duvet set and sheet for spare room
New undies for me

Mamma85

Nice and frugal dinner cooking whilst I price up uniforms and school, shoes!

edinburghlad

Good luck mamma85 :-)

Mamma85

Thankyou

Mamma85

Got my sister a (free) present , with a code off the discount board , think I'll give it to her for her birthday, end of November, then at christmas give her money, as she's off to China in April.:eek:

I feel a bit guilty the money I've earnt on fb selling pages, I'm going to spend on Christmas presents, rather than the Argos card,( it's £50)
But.......I'm going to ignore the guilt and buy the Christmas presents,
I'm dong the Argos 3 for 2 on toys, so it'll be £29.98 then -£5 with nectar points, so £24.98, for dd2's presents .
And that leaves £25 , plus a £11 smyths voucher I have, for dd1. They have the lego set she wants reduced to £36.99, so may buy her that.

Only problem is finding someone to mind the little monsters whilst I nip out to buy everything!

Mamma85

Aldi shop tomorrow with my £5 voucher, shame that none of the coupons are anything I need to buy.
I'm using the fb money, as I just can't wait till payday, the fridge is bare . So when the 1st comes that money will go for the Xmas presents.

Just had a major panic, that I didn't add up all the money properly , just re calculated and have less than I thought for Argos card repayments darn sky bill, £79 this month :eek: it's dh and some box office thing he bought. I'm getting him to cancel it when he's home (sky won't let me cancel it)
Though on the plus side, I've budgeted for £22 to specsavers this month but I think it goes out every 2/3 months, so it may work out ok.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I'll just have to wait till the bills have gone out then assess the damage.

edinburghlad

£79 on Sky!!! :eek::eek::eek:

I've seen a lot of posts on here saying they have a £5 aldi voucher :j where can I get one haha!

At least we have a bit of time before Xmas to get sorted in time.

Mamma85

It's in the daily mirror, you'll see it on the front page, its usually the last Thursday of every month and valid for a week, but this month it was a week early. You get £5 off a £45 spend and then 8 coupons for money off products in the store.

I know sky is horrendous this month, dh had a box office thing and they seem to have been late in taking it out, our 50% discount has finished now and dh had added the movies and other things. :eek:
Next month it's £51 (still :eek:), I'd like to cancel the TV and keep landline and internet, I'll have to persuade dh though :mad:

Luckily I don't have too many to buy for at Christmas!