NST November: battening down the hatches!

LoveaDove

PS. Thank you SOA for keeping us in check with the challenge this month

Calling14

Thanks Fmess. Glad you will have finally a decent nights sleep.

Black Friday madness makes me feel ashamed to be part of human race. Bet most are impulse buys and nothing actually needed.

Watching Channel 5 programme the other night, can't remember the title - poverty through kids eyes. Unbelievable kids were so tuned in at age of 8 upwards all the types of household bills and trying to make food last, one family not having a boiler working last 4 yrs.
Sad very sad.

liltdiddylilt

Evening all

Have done it. Somehow today was a FD despite going out, eating at Wetherspoons courtesy of MiL for Him's bday and then she picked up the tab on 2 packs of baby wipes in Mr L for me bless her. So I am there :j I have hit 18 SFD's :D

Payday today. Have shuffled all the money around after the standing orders did their thing so that I get the bonuses from each account. I think I need another current account. (I have 3 already) for groceries/spending money only. I keep it in with the DD money but then when I overspend I have to top up from my other account and YNAB doesn't like me very much. Need to set a proper budget. Am genuinely going to meal plan tomorrow. Been a mad day today and I had very little sleep overnight as have a very bad back (decorating) and it won't let me relax.

Still not updated everything. Off to do it now. Need it so I can sleep properly.

Night guys, and thanks SOA for keeping me mainly on the straight and narrow.

Dottydaisy

Well time for the reckoning for November


Petrol 95/90 including 220 round trip to see DD1 and family
Car pot £55
Food/household/dog £426/400
Piggy bank saving loose change extra challenge 97p in a week
Pay mum back @ £5 per week £35/3000
NSD10


Budgeted for 5 day trip and spent £50/75 on
Coffee and cake for 3 (once)
3 birthday cards
2 Xmas presents
1 woolly hat (it was cold)
5 c/shop books I need to complete series


I have managed to reduce my overall debt to £19,000 (ouch) but I have at last written it down on here.


There are some things I need and I have researched the best prices for them
We have a leaky shower hose and I bought a new one in October. The bath shower screen is falling to pieces and we have mould in the bathroom, so I have used my winter fuel allowance to replace the screen and buy a dehumidifier. The house is feeling drier and warmer already.
I have 'bought' bedheads for mine and DD3 beds by using Tesco boost points-no money involved.
I bought new bedding in July sales so I have splashed out and bought new bedroom curtains with some cash but mostly gift cards found when turning out drawers.
DD3 is buying me a new light fitting and DD2 cushions for the bed, so apart from a tin of paint I will soon have a bedroom as I've always wanted and not' it'll do'
All we need now is a handyman to do all the work and I will have two rooms to be proud of. So with my points etc I have only spent £95, for me an achievement,


So new targets for the Nov/Dec challenge are


Food/household/dog-£24/400 Have brother and sil staying a week at xmas and both have food intolerancies so staying with £400
Fuel £80
Mum £5 per week
Car Pot £25
Fun pot £50
My helping hands (acupuncture etc) £107 Payments to other debts aiming for £550

If I can achieve this I will be pleased. only have DD2 and DD3 money for Christmas and DD3 birthday xmas day and all presents bought.
Have given £5.87 of tins to food bank and we are going to do the good gifts for people less fortunate than us
Sorry for the essay but had to get it all down before I changed my mind about coming clean!
Hugs, sticks and good vibes to all who need them Dotty

speakingofart

traveller, I'm sorry to hear that - next time I'm sure you'll kill it! We've all had that interview - I had one where the person just randomly lost interest half way through and another where they didn't have any questions!

2 more days left before the excellent December challenge commences, so while we're within sight of land, let's end the month on a high! I'm aiming to get two more SFDs in this weekend - spendy day for me yesterday as I did my top up cupboard shop, but I now have food to last till I get paid and hopefully making some money from my phone being sold. Christmas is such an expensive time, it really annoys me how much stuff you're expected to buy. I would be quite happy at home with a DVD. However.... only a few more weeks and it's over!


£148/ £150 groceries till 15th December
£40.85/£60 petrol till 15th December
£49.80/ £36.70 spending money till 15th December
NSDs 13/20 (till 30th November)
16/20 exercise sessions (lunchtime walks, till 30th November)

Aphidgirl

Well I've definately blown most of my budgets and over spent this month - doh!

On the plus side I'm not going to spend anything today so I've made it to 15/15 NSDs :j

Just a shame the spend days were so spendy! In January I'll be paying off a £200 overdraft I have kept dipping into and reducing the overdraft facility to £0. That should prevent more overspending as I'll have no more money to access!

I haven't properly tracked all my spending this month either, so will be doing that from now on to ensure I don't exceed the budgets. I'll join Decembers challenge and try and be a bit stricter with myself this time

thriftylass

Well November went ok on the SFD front but most budgets were over. However the CC is paid off and will stay so hopefully till March when we go visit the grandparents in Germany for DD first birthday. Spend £135 out of December's budget today on groceries, a duck and goose for Christmas, wrapping paper, vodka for making limencello and pants for DS that turned out too big .

Totally stuck to my list and only went to Liddle and Aldee, so good start for December. unfortunately all the special meats like wild boar were sold out. Also couldn't find any rabbit Aldee was meant to be selling?

traveller sorry to hear about the interview. Just see it as a practice run, disappointing but a valuable experience.

Will probably disappear now till Tuesday as I never get much chance to write on the weekend. Have a good one see you on the other side

stewby

Hello... sorry for the lack of posting. I have no excuse other than not really having anything to write.
This has now changed.


We are doing the new £1 a day challenge and started collecting a month early which I think maybe caused a wee problem with the spreadsheet... so we used the money to have a date night.


We went to a local pub, had a main course each then shared a pudding. Mobile phones were left in pockets (unusual for our generation) and we spoke properly for the first time in ages. OH has admitted that he has lost enthusiasm for his flying which I had suspected for a while now. Plan is to now focus on computing and just chalk his flying up to a great personal experience.
Was hoping to still class this as a SFD as we had the money in a pot and didn't use any of our budget (haha, there's none left to use anyways).
:undecided

I did listen to what people had to say regarding my OH and our budget and am still trying to figure out the best course of action. Thank you for the advice Coffee + Stitches and lilt. I am grateful for you opening up about your own experiences. This sounds awful but I am mainly scared that he has hidden payments which I don't know about which will put my monthly outgoings up instead of down. This would potentially destroy my debt plans. Jeez, I sound so selfish. Sorry.


Anyways, back on topic... have gotten another three spend-free days so far (not including last night). Have had a lazy day today so no chance of any money being spent. This brings me to a marvellous 16!!!!!
So for the first time ever, I am over the required amount!!!!!!!
:j

In other, slightly silly news... we have just had our first potato crop today. Not very many, not very big but not bad for our first attempt at growing stuff.

Calling14

Just a quickie lovely sunny day here and a Sfd will update months disaster on Monday.

Date night sounds nice idea Stewby. I don't think you sound selfish you need to know where you stand to budget successfully.

Was supposed to go out tonight but going to start as I mean to go on for December and stop spending. Had a lovely day out and gained some meat for my freezer, daughter needed lift as her car was broken to collect lamb she had ordered. So nice joint to try in my slow cooker.

liltdiddylilt

Evening all

So the Norovirus which I skirted successfully last weekend appears to have hit me this weekend. Lord knows where. It can't be lurking here. I used a whole bottle of dettol & 180 anti-bac wipes mopping up their mess last weekend. It has not survived! I even did door frames not just handles. Anyways I am feeling a bit better now. Hope it is already on its way out. No mood for being ill.

Should have gone out this afternoon for bread loaf tin & digital scales so I can bake banana bread and some other stuff, but Jelly has now moved onto the first cold of the year & slept the afternoon away. I hate winter bugs! SO I have been stuck indoors garnering my 19th SFD. Tomorrow will be spendy though. I need that tin & scales or I will be chucking out half a dozen bananas.

Stewby - not selfish at all. I have to confess that since my experience I am neither trusting nor sharing with my money/accounts. There shall be no use of the word Joint in any of my accounts. I pay my bills, him pays his 1 & only Direct Debit. I even got so fed up of getting emails where he had used my ebay account to buy/sell that I completely cleansed it of my own information, input all of his including his bank details for the monthly sellers fee invoice that kept coming out of my account despite it being his fee... and made myself a whole new one! Do what is right for you. We are all learning along the way. I am sure I am the other extreme to the way I used to be now, no middle ground, but maybe that will come in time. Meanwhile I know every payment in & out of Him's accounts, bill him for things that I buy that are solely for him (£18 of nuts anyone?) & generally make sure my money stays with me. HOWEVER, I pay every single household bill and always have. He gives me no money for groceries, or anything else. Anything he earns, he keeps, for trains to & from mine & games etc plus his own savings. I'm not stingy. I just don't relax control very much any more!

So onto my totals.
£244.18/£130 on groceries. No I am not joking. Failzilla.
£44/£20 Spending for going out/takeaways was a bit higher than expected
£84.02/£0 on painting supplies & bedding for Jellys room, plus a new king size 13.5 tog duvet for me.
19/18 SFD.

As for my foodbank donation. I just donated £10 to the Trussel Trust for Christmas boxes for poor families

Off I go. Had to cook homemade tandoori chicken as it has been marinading all day in tandoori spices, lemon juice & greek yoghurt. Shall not be eating it!!

Night guys xx

And