New Mission, New Diary

MoneyMission2015

Is it Wednesday already! I've had a few days off work this week which has been nice, although the weather wasn't very friendly to us.


I finally managed to get through to Virgin Atlantic and they confirmed that my cards were sent out on 6th July, so it looks like they have been lost in the post . So they have now been cancelled and new ones ordered. The gentleman I spoke to did however confirm that there have been no transactions, so at least I can stop worrying that they've been stolen and used on a massive spending spree :rotfl:


I have decided to try and set aside one day a month to do some baking. I used to really enjoy it and would quite often knock up a batch of fairy cakes or something, but I haven't done anything for a while. But on another board on here somebody was discussing baking and I told them about how my mum used to batch bake once a month and everything would then be stored in containers so that we always had a few snacks for if friends came for tea or for lunch boxes. So I am going to try and do this now. I am going to find a few different recipes, so that it's not all just fairy cakes otherwise everybody will get fed up of these very quickly. So I'm going to check through my recipe books to get some biscuit recipes, scones, brownies and go from there. I am hoping it will also cut down on so many shop bought snacks.


My grocery spend is creeping up at the moment and it's starting to annoy me. When I first started my diary and started using YNAB, I would often have some grocery budget left over at the end of the month. It wasn't much, but at least I was within budget. But the last few months I've found I've been tweaking all the budgets so that I can add more to the grocery budget. So I need to sort that out. I know part of the problem is because sometimes when I buy groceries I will buy a gift or top up my Christmas gift card, but will just bung all that in the grocery category on YNAB. But really I should be splitting these things out in to the Christmas budget and the presents budget. So it's just about keeping track but also I need to cut back anyway, so I am going to really work hard on this one now.


With our London trip for the Hyde Park ice skating etc I think I have decided not to bother staying in London. It's going to cost a few hundred for the hotel and although I've budgeted for this to be saved every month, I just think I'd prefer to have that money available for other things during the Christmas period. Our tickets are for early afternoon anyway, so even if we decided to go for food afterwards, we could still get out of London by 8pm at the latest and head back home. It would be a late one for me & OH but the kids can sleep in the car on the way home anyway and as it's a weekend they don't have to be up early for school the next day.


I'm finally starting to drum it in to OH about what I call 'smart spending'. I've been raving about cashback websites and reward cards for years to him, trying to get him to use them as much as possible so that we can earn something back for all the spending we do. But he's never been that bothered. It's not that he wouldn't want the 'free' money or rewards, he's just forgetful and as he is often in a rush it just slips his mind. But I told him about my Virgin Atlantic credit card, which will earn me flying club points and we checked to see how many flying club points we have at the moment. Then he started looking at the shopping rewards scheme that virgin flying club do, so now every time he buys something on line he goes through the flying club first to see if he can earn any points. I don't mind how he does it, whether its through TopCashBack, Tesco etc, as long as he's actually earning something. I've convinced him now that it all goes towards helping us either pay for Christmas presents or in regards to flying club points, it can help us get lots of points for flights. Last year when we went to Florida, we had so many flying club points from previous flights, that we were able to pay for our flights for all 4 of us with our points. So OH wants to do that again in a few years. We're actually going to Florida again next year, but will end up having to pay for those flights, but if we can do it so that every 4 years are 'free' flights, then I think he'll be happy

MoneyMission2015

Tonight I am going to check what I have in my cupboards and make a meal plan. I need to get on top of our grocery budget once and for all because even though we're a lot better than we used to be, I still think we could make some proper savings and be more organised with it. Plus I don't like the amount of food we are throwing away every week!

MoneyMission2015

I wanted to check today to see if we could get another good mortgage deal, as I was convinced ours was coming to an end soon. Last time I transferred to a new deal (same provider) it was easy. Santander have a transfer service on their website, which is easy to use & I used it last time to change from the SVR to a fixed rate. We got a really good rate which I was happy with at the time and am actually still very happy about, not seen much lower to be honest. But I thought we were coming to the end of our deal & have seen reports of rates going up etc so thought I'd start looking at new deals.


So I went to the online service again & it wouldn't let me go through the process. I called Santander & it turns out the fixed rate is until May 2016 so we can't transfer yet. We have to wait until we have no more than 4 months left on the deal, so January 2016.


I'm not too bothered by it as we do have a very low rate but I am worried about interest rates going up between now and January. On the other hand, we do have quite a lot of equity in our property so I suppose we are in a good position to get some good deals as the loan to value ratio is low enough for the better deals on offer.


I've made a note in my diary now to remind me to start looking in January. We have always been with Santander for our mortgage, even on our first house we were, as they have always offered us the best deals. I don't think I could be bothered with all the hassle of switching to a different provider, but I think I would do it if the offer was too good to turn down.


I didn't go through my cupboards and freezer last night to check what food we have, but I know that we do have things in the freezer that we can eat tonight, so at least I wont be going grocery shopping today.


I had a little de-clutter last night though. I was putting my daughters clothes away and as always her drawers and wardrobe were overflowing. So I went through her trousers, shorts and pyjamas & managed to fill a black bag of clothes that don't fit her anymore. I just need to go through her t-shirts and dresses now. I think I'll probably end up with 2 black bags of clothes, but my mum knows somebody who would be very grateful for donations so I am going to give them to her to pass on. I know I could probably make a little bit of money by selling them on, but I'd rather help somebody out who I know needs it more than I do.


I will then continue the de-clutter by going through all her books. She has hundreds of them and I know some of them are definitely too young for her now. Again, I think I will just donate these because I know second hand books don't really go for much on Amazon etc and for the hassle of posting etc its really not worth it for me. I will see if my mums friend would like the books as well, otherwise I will ask around to see if there are any playgroups or similar that would like them.


Hopefully if I do small batches of de-cluttering at a time, it will start to make a difference, as we have such a lot of stuff and it sometimes annoys me having so much stuff around. I feel more relaxed when things are out of sight & there is more clear space

snowscreamer

Just wanted to say hi :wave:

Still reading so you aren't posting into the ether... sounds like you're getting on really well and doing all the right things. We have actually had a pretty spendy month but juggling budgets and still some money coming off the debt so it can't be all bad. And all decisions thought through and the best deals found. I find it's being in control and being aware that makes the difference.

MoneyMission2015

Hi SS


Glad to hear everything is running along smoothly for you. It does take a bit of juggling sometimes doesn't it! My OH has now started showing even more interest and we're currently trying to sort out his credit card because it is an interest bearing one, so he's going to see if any of his other cards have any 0% offers on. The other cards are empty so easy enough to switch over if they have any offers available to him.


There are some months that become more spendy than others aren't there. Sometimes it's obvious things like car servicing or something, but then other times money just seems to disappear on nothing at all :rotfl:


We haven't got a lot planned this weekend so I am going to try and spend a few hours getting myself organised with groceries, summer holiday budget and back to school uniforms. It is only week 1 of the summer holidays but I just know it's going to whizz by and before we know it they will be back in school. We are away the last week of August so I want to get everything sorted now otherwise I will be panic buying on the weekend that we get back from our holiday, which usually means more money is spent because either everywhere is sold out, or I just don't get the time to check prices. So I think if I start now I have more time to check prices and will be able to just relax on our holiday knowing that everything is sorted when we get back.


I have talked on another thread on here about our Sky package. We've got a pretty high Sky bill because we have the full package, plus multi room & also phone & superfast broadband with them. We have always managed to negotiate some sort of discount with Sky over the years by telling them we want to cancel etc, so have been getting a pretty good deal out of them and have always been happy to pay the price because we all get use out of it. However, now that we have signed up to Netflix I have started thinking about Sky again and think that we should just bite the bullet and cancel as much as we can. I'm going to speak to OH about it tonight & ask him to ring, as the account is in his name. We've called them many times and my OH has given them permission to speak to me about the account and they always tell us they will put me down as an authorised person on the account, but everytime I ring they tell me they need to speak to OH first for permission, so it's just easier if he rings them.


I did go ahead and get a little bit more de-cluttering done last night. I sorted out my daughters t-shirts so I have more things to give to my mum's friend. My daughter still has a lot of clothes left which do still fit her, but if she has another growth spurt they definitely won't fit anymore! So I hope that we can get use out of them now over the next few months and then come the winter I can just get rid of the summer clothes and start afresh next year. The good thing is, because of YNAB, I am now putting away a small amount every month specifically for clothes, so when the time comes I will have money to buy her some new things rather than it going on a credit card or on the dreaded Next account.

snowscreamer

Hey MM,

You make a succinct point about YNAB, one if the things I love about it, whilst you aren't spending but putting small amounts aside in categories they do build up at quite a rate! I was putting £50/month into "household goods" as that was where I had a real problem before, always buying furniture and nice bits I saw whilst out and about for the house. I was using this and going over for the first few months of budgeting but since settling into our new ways and appreciating every penny more, I have found myself going whole months not spending a penny on household goods. I reduced the amount to £30/month a couple of months ago and then today, we had a bit of a disaster where we realised we accidentally threw out the paddle from our bread maker after it got stuck in an unsuccessful loaf of bread. Previously I would have felt really bad about this and fretted about the cost of replacement, instead today I checked the budget and we have £73 put aside for household goods. So I was able to just put it down to "one of those things" and rest assured we don't have to worry about. So I went ahead and ordered a replacement straight away!

I don't really have any desire to rush out and spend the remaining £60 either

MoneyMission2015

That's exactly it isn't it SS. I can buy things now without worrying that the money might be needed elsewhere, or I might be left short for the month. Every penny has it's purpose and if the pot for that category is empty, well I either have to wait it out until the pot has something in it again or I have to jiggle everything else around, which is just way too much effort most of the time :rotfl:.


Funnily enough though, I am very much like you. I love to buy new things for the house & would often find myself looking at throws and cushions, even though nobody REALLY needs another throw or cushion do they? So now I have started putting away £20 a month for household stuff and another £50 a month for decorating. This means that when I get fed up of the paint colour in my bedroom, or the living room needs touching up a bit (white painted walls!!) I've got the money set aside already.


That has made me laugh about your bread maker paddle. I can picture a big loaf of bread with the paddle sticking out of it. We've sometimes had kitchen disasters and had to throw things out, mainly saucepans when something catches and the pan just wont clean up nicely. I need to spend more time on the Old Style board I think, because I bet they have a solution to every kitchen related disaster.


I've been following the Christmas thread on this site & have been picking up some great ideas for Christmas. I'm so glad I have got my act together with money this year, because every year I would go crazy at Christmas because I love it so much, then would be skint in January and feel annoyed with myself because of the credit card balances. Christmas will be just as lovely this year but the icing on the cake will be that my debts wont have increased at all.


I've been keeping an eye on all our bills and spending this month & I'm actually a little bit annoyed that the only thing I can really cut down on now is the sky TV and continuing to cut groceries down. I suppose its good that all my bills are so low, but on the other hand I have really got the money saving bug & love it when I find another way to save money. I have told my OH to ring Sky as soon as he gets chance though as I know we can really cut back on this.


I am going to do a bit of Christmas shopping this weekend as there are a few sales about & I have a few ideas of what I want to get some people, so if I can get them cheaper then that's even better.

snowscreamer

I've made a few people laugh about the breadmaker incident. Including my two university-age cousins who we had staying this weekend when we couldn't find the paddle and it dawned on us what happened... Can see the funny side but OH and I were so annoyed when we realised what we'd done! Never mind, these things happen and we could afford to replace it immediately with no trouble.

I had a coffee jug / dishwasher incident earlier this year in the same vein and again just ordered a new jug without fretting. YNAB is quite stress-relieving!

snowscreamer

Oh and we have £300 in our Christmas pot! Never before have I been so organised and Jan/Feb would end up lean months as I'd spent more than came in during December and had to play catch-up big time!

MoneyMission2015

I worked out the savings pot yesterday to see exactly how much I have in each pot. There have been a few categories added to the pot lately, but they are only for small amounts per month. So the savings categories I have now are
Christmas
Birthdays
Clothes
Haircuts
Emergency Fund
Other Celebrations
Vacations
Decorating
Birthday Parties
School Trips


Some of the categories are only having around £10 per month in as that's all I really need for them, but I feel great knowing that these things are all covered now so I don't have to try & find that money from other budgets when the situations arise.


I am so pleased this month too. As I've said many times, YNAB has really changed the way I deal with money & has been a real help in me achieving savings, paying off debts etc. Well now after using it for I think 6 months, I have just realised that I am almost at a point where I am using last months money for the following months outgoings. I get paid at the end of every month but this money was already allocated to paying the bills on the 1st of the month, and also OH's wages go in every week but were always allocated straight away for any more bills that month or groceries etc, so in reality, if there had been a problem with mine or my OH's wages for whatever reason, I could have been in real trouble.


Well this month, my wages have gone in, which have paid most of the bills and all budgets are set. But this is before any of my OH's money goes in. So when OH's money goes in to the account now, technically I should be able to input it as Income for September, instead of it being Income for August as I would have had to do in the past.


So hopefully now in the next few months this should have a knock on effect throughout, because as wages go in they can be allocated to the following months budget instead of the current month. So at the end of August I hope that my wages will be allocated to Octobers Income, rather than September :T


My Virgin Atlantic cards finally turned up. I have set up the DD to pay in full every month & have made my first purchase so that I could get the introductory offer of lots of flying club miles. I'll try & use it as much as possible now to earn lots of miles, obviously still paying in full every month.


I can't believe how quickly the school holidays are going. We're in to week 3 already, only a few more weeks until we go on holiday for a week & then when we're back it will only be a few days until the kids are back in school and Christmas countdown really begins :rotfl:


That reminds me there are a few things I need to get for the new school term, so I think I will try & get it sorted now so I'm not rushing in the few days between us coming back from holiday & school starting again.