MrsS is getting serious!

MrsSave

Thank you kittycatfan. Long term (well after the end of August) I don't intend to use the credit card at all. I will either have the money to buy something, or I won't! One thing I'm going to have to be careful with, though, is not eating any of the Christmas goodies beforehand!

1 week to go until Day 1 of the rest of our lives! I will admit to having a rather large supermarket delivery later. I did have vouchers to use which brought it down. It will mean that we should have enough toilet paper, washing tablets and baby things to last a while! I feel sorry for our delivery driver already!!

I'm trying to decide what to do, though, from next month if there is money left over in one of the pots. Should it roll over to the following months as some months can be more expensive than others, or use it for things like increasing emergency fund/paying more towards debt? I'm thinking maybe 50/50. We'll see how things go!

MrsSave

5 days to go until we reach day 1 of the rest of our lives! :j

To help, today I have joined our local library. I love books and I buy loads for my ds, so figured using the library would be perfect.

Also, we're only using half our mince for food this evening (it's a large 1kg pack!) so I'm making sure the other half is being wrapped and frozen immediately. Not placed back in the fridge with the intention of freezing until it gets to the point that it passed its best before date. Happens soooooo often!!

I've had my payslip through today, which was a little more than I expected, so will be sharing the extra between the savings accounts where I've fallen short for September.

DCFC79

Had a quick glance, looks like your on the right path, might be hard/tricky as you go along but you will get through.

MrsSave

Thank you

Oh, I've just noticed that I've got a star :j

4 days now until day 1. Started looking at next week's shopping list. Looks like we'll be plenty under budget. Budget is £160/month, which is roughly £35 per week. So far, next week's shopping (using our meal plan) is slightly over £25 (and that includes 1 Christmas present). :money:

MrsSave

I've downloaded an app on the iPad to help budget. It shows all the accounts (credit cards, current account and savings accounts). I've set up all the regular payments that will be happening between accounts. Using it already lets me see that to be able to save into every pot in October, I need to bring home £1004 next month. I work as a supply teacher so this is going to be difficult. September is generally a quiet month. I work a week in advance with the agency I use, so that's 3 paydays in September. Working through the council is different, I work a month in advance. That means I will receive nothing at all in September. It's going to be sooooo difficult, but I am going to work flippin' hard to find as much of the money as I can! The minimum I need to bring in is £620, which will cover all bills and groceries/petrol.

Time to get selling on ebay I think! I wonder if there is a free listings weekend coming up soon???

djr_fox

I have found that making a budget spreadsheet has really helped to see what I have spent in the last three months. Also it has helped me remember what made me buy the things I bought and then think about things before sticking them on a credit card.
Good luck for day 1!!!

MrsSave

Well it's almost here. Tomorrow is day 1!!! I'm strangely nervous. It's almost as if I will wake up and feel different! Haha! I need to totally add up the amount of debt we have (it's in double figures!!) and then add it to my signature. It feels overwhelming at the moment the amount of debt we have, and how long it will take to pay off without it affecting our ds. I don't want him to miss out at all on anything because of our stupid mistakes.

Right, our kitchen cupboards are pretty full. I'm budgeting around £35 per week, which makes £160 per calendar month. I've already sorted out our home delivery for next week and it comes in at roughly £25, which includes one christmas gift. We will have money for everyday things/entertainment for September, which we haven't done for a very long time. The credit cards are being out away (not cutting up yet, in case of emergency in the next few months. Once we've got our emergency fund set up with a substantial amount they will be gone.).

So, here goes..........

MrsSave

Day 1 is here:

Money has gone flying around all our accounts so that we have budgeted for everything for the month.

I've this morning (well last night, but I'm counting it as this morning!) made £7.50 from my second job.

MrsSave

I've added up the debt. £11,877.04 :eek:

But........this is the one and only time it is going to reach this amount. It's going down from here!!!!

I've made another £10.50 this morning, through my second job

Ninno820

Good luck - its a good feeling to get started!