The 2 Year Freedom Plan & 2015 Beat The Budget Challenge

DawnW

Congratulations

roomontheend

Congratulations fab news

I_want_a_baby

Thank you all

Well I may have not been updating my diary but I have been saving!

An update as of today:

Emergency fund £700/£700 save (emergency pot is now £1000!)
5 x £100 savings - £500/£500
Debt savings £2191.60/£6662.40

Total saved is £3391.60/£7862.40 which is 43.13%!

The mortgage currently stands at £86172.26 and is currently just being paid with the standard payments.

Target for this month now is to get savings to £3459.45 which would be 44% - I need £67.85 to do this!

IWAB x

Muser1

You are amazing! How are you finding being a Mummy of 3? x

I_want_a_baby

Thank you Muser!

I just adore bring a mum of 3! I feel my little family is complete I love the busyness of it all, it's fab!

Spendy few days unfortunately but all budgeted for at least.
Emergency eye test as recommended by my doctor £34 (all ok thankfully). Returned some curtains I bought that are not right, will get a refund of £90 but will keep this by for when I find what I'm looking for. Then £75ish to order a spare car key (our car only came with one), will need to pay a further £45ish to get it coded. Then spends in b&m & sainsburys on food, dog treats, school shorts, presents for three parties my son is attending and a few other bits.

Will try and update the banks tonight and see what's left of this months budgets.

Would still be lovely to reach 44%!

IWAB x

earthgirl

Hi I have started at the beginning and I am only on page 2 of your thread, but I am hooked - love your positivity and drive.

Off to subscribe.

Couldn't resist a peak though, and congratulations on your new arrival!

I_want_a_baby

Thank you earth girl!

I am going to use April & May to stop procrastinating and get things done. This will involve spending money but will tick so many things off of the list, some of which have been waiting to be done for literally years! I doubt I'll be able to save a lot during these next few weeks but it will be worth it.

Predicted spends:
£8.79 (un budgeted) photos ordered - will complete daughters baby book, the first photos needed for new baby's book and photos needed for THANKYOU cards.
£150ish (budgeted but only saved £120 so far) dogs castration, decided to get on and book it but not saved full amount.
£150 (unbudgeted) accountant fee for help with two tax returns, not saved yet will need to start savings for next years rentsl expenses too.
£129 (unbudgeted) offer via mse to use Which wills writing service to get a mirrored will for my husband & I.
£45ish (budgeted) we only have one key for my car which caused major problems the other day, but the bullet and ordered and paid for a new one, will need to pay to get it coded when it arrives.

So I need to find approx £290 by the end of may if I am going to avoid breaking into my shiney new £1k emergency pot.
Plus I'd like to get to 44% by the end of April and maybe even 45% by the end of May.
Oh any I'd quite like to round down the mortgage each month too!

Nothing quite like a good challenge to get my teeth into!

Ideas on how to find savings in budget:
Use up food in cupboards/freezer & bake rather than buy - save food budget.
Sell items in selling pile.
Use up nappies/formula before buying more - savings from milk/nappies budget.
Plan car journeys, try to only drive to town once a week - save fuel budget.
Avoid all misc spending to try and save as much of £50 fritter budget as possible.
Save £100 difference between rental income & mortgage.
Try to post on here as often as possible to maintain focus!

I_want_a_baby

Good news :-)
I've sold some things already - hurray :money:
I now have £20 in my tin with a further £10 to come.

Good start x

I_want_a_baby

So the lady did turn up yesterday which means the tin now holds £30

There are 4 more days left until payday. The aim is to spend as little (therefore save as much) as possible.

We do need fuel for one car so that needs to be paid. Plus a few food items but hoping to keep to the bare minimum.

Watch this space x

I_want_a_baby

Good news!


I have totalled up the spreadsheet and updated everything and.............*drumroll*...........................


I was able to make a £22.26 overpayment to the mortgage rounding it down to £86150


I was then able to make a £67.85 transfer to the debt savings account bringing the total debt savings to £3462.06 which is 44.03%!


That left £1.82 which I put towards the will/accountant savings needed. The total of this is now £31.82 of the £290 needed.


I cannot believe I managed to scrape enough savings together to meet my goals!!


Another amazing bit of news is that my husband has received a payrise! So I will be able to save a bit more every month now too!


May goals:
Save the total needed to pay for wills/accountant - currently saved £31.82/£290.00.
Overpay the mortgage to round down to nearest £50.
Transfer a minimum of £76.02 to debt savings to bring total to 45% saved.
I think I should be able to exceed these goals given my husbands payrise so lets see what I can do!


IWAB x