New Mission, New Diary

snowscreamer

Hey MM,

Sorry for my prolonged absence - been a busy few months! See my diary for an update. Happy New Year to you and your family

How are the figures looking? Do you think this year you will become debt free?

SS

MoneyMission2015

Hi SS

Happy New Year! I will catch up on your diary shortly.

Figures are looking good, not got the exact figure to hand but well under £10k now. The debt busting did slow down a little bit over Christmas, not because of spending on Christmas but around Christmas there are always more parties, nights out, family meals etc, so rather than leave myself short I kept some back for socialising.

Back to it now though. I have started doing my grocery shopping online exclusively now. If I go to the supermarket I end up buying stuff I don't need or buying too much food because I'm hungry & then it doesn't get used & goes off, so a big waste of money. Asda were having an offer on the delivery pass, £30 for anytime for a whole year, so I bought that because I worked out that's just 5 Sunday deliveries (peak times). Well I've ordered for the past 3 weekends, only stuff that I need & some topping up the freezer and laundry stuff.

Our fridge freezer broke a few days after Christmas which was a bit of a nightmare. We have a chest freezer in the garage but our main fridge freezer is the one that broke. I ordered a new one but delivery was another 3 days after we found our old one had broken, so we had to throw lots of stuff away & use our drinks cooler to try & keep some things refrigerated. It was lovely when the new one got delivered though because all the shelves were empty & then I'd arranged for a home delivery grocery shop, but only the stuff we needed so the fridge and freezer are very organised & for the first time in ages I actually know what food is in the fridge & freezer and I'm planning meals properly.

We've also got a slow cooker now. We've been practising using it this weekend. We put some lamb in this morning with potatoes, carrots etc & left it all day. It was delicious & definitely the way to go with cooking lamb. I usually don't like lamb because I find it's quite chewy & fatty, but the slow cooker just cooked it to perfection. So now I'm going to find some yummy slow cooker recipes to cook.

My plan this week is to pay some cash that I have into my bank account so that I can pay this on to one of the credit cards. Everything is still on 0% which is good, just got to keep knocking down the balance.

MoneyMission2015

So I have been on here quite a bit but not been updating my diary enough really. I'm just too busy reading about everybody else's journeys so don't get round to posting much myself.


I'm still continuing to pay the debts down. The 0% interest cards are ticking over, I have a fixed amount DD going to them each month which is paying way over the minimum for both of them, so I'm happy to just leave them alone for the time being. Halifax is the shorter 0% period so in the meantime I'm just making sure that by the end of this period I will have paid the amount off. I'm pretty sure my fixed DD amount covers this as I did split it over the period to make sure it's enough, but I am putting a bit of my savings aside just in case I've made a mistake and there is a shortfall - I don't want to end up paying any interest!


I had a bonus at Christmas from work so this went towards the Barclaycard debt, as although it's on 0% and is a 36 month deal, I just wanted to get my total debt balance lower otherwise I know I would have ended up spending the bonus on something that I don't really need


I've not got a lot going on at the moment really. I've got my savings going in to a different account every month for Christmas, birthdays, emergency fund etc so that balance is increasing nicely at the moment, but I know once birthdays start cropping up this balance will temporarily decrease. However, it is a set amount I put aside for each category so I know I can't blow all my savings on birthday presents, as some of the savings are for other things.


My non financial targets this year are to complete my Open University course and register for the next module towards my degree and also to plant some flowers in my front garden. I don't have any grass or flowers in my front garden as it's all covered with natural covered stone chippings, which is easy to maintain but does look a bit bland. So I have researched what flowers should be planted in which month and I've ordered a few seeds to make a start. I've just got to get to B&Q to pick up a few planters and when the seeds turn up I will get going with that.

MoneyMission2015

I can't believe its been over a month since I updated, I've lost motivation a little bit, although I do still come on here & read other people's diaries and other threads.


I think I need to start setting myself weekly targets again, something that I can work towards and even if I only update weekly at least it's something to keep me coming back.


So I've had a think about it and this week my targets are quite simple ones, which I will list shortly.


I found that for the past few months my money saving motivation has completely gone. I've not gone crazy spending loads of money, but I haven't been keeping an eye on spending and when we've needed something I have just bought things, rather than looking around & trying to find cheaper alternatives. As an example, on Friday night I did my online grocery order to be delivered Saturday which was fine. I only bought what I knew we needed and actually didn't spend as much as I thought I would. But then on Saturday I had to pop to Tesco to get a birthday card for somebody, ended up wandering around the store and spent £25!! Luckily a lot of the stuff I bought can be put in the freezer so not a total waste, but still money that didn't need to be spent.


I'm still using YNAB but need to get back in the mindset of 'can't spend it until I've got it'. I get paid monthly, but my OH gets paid weekly. When I get paid I allocate all my money plus that first week of OH's money to pay the bills for the month, then whatever is left goes towards groceries, fuel and then savings. Then every week when my OH gets paid, I allocate his money to wherever I think needs topping up. But lately I have found I don't check how much grocery or fuel money I've got because I keep thinking 'it's ok to spend it because OH gets paid again on Friday'. So that needs to stop now!!


Anyway, back to it.


Weekly targets are


1. Don't spend any more grocery money.
2. Start meal planning again.
3. Have 2 no spend days.
4. Make a start on my Uni assignment.


So that's it for now

snowscreamer

Good to get back onto the horse. Not doing my diary anymore now we have paid off all the credit cards (maybe I should start a new one at some point!) but YNAB is helping me manage some large unexpected expenses. We are "living on last month's income" so I don't have a problem with not having the budget for groceries until later in the month - maybe that's something you could work towards? It might have to wait until the credit cards are paid off I suppose.

We did it by making a category called "Buffer" and then sticking any excess in there (and squeezing other categories throughout the month to top it up). Then when we had an amount equivalent to a month's worth of expenses in that category (£3500), we emptied the pot by budgeting -£3500 and that opened up £3500 to budget. Then as and when income came in we marked it as income for the next month. Then at the end of the month we already had the next month's expenses covered so we could set out the whole of the following month's budget straight away. It's very liberating!

Over the last few months I don't know how we would have coped without YNAB. We have multiple wedding expenses to pay for (albeit both sets of parents are funding it we are actually managing the money). Then this month the "stop-gap" car we had after OH's old car gave up the ghost had a big bill (just about covered as it was becoming unreliable so I had upped the monthly "car repairs" savings). We had hoped this stop-gap car would last 3 years but we've had it 8 months... The garage charged us £430 but the problem wasn't fixed. Luckily we were in a position to actually move some funds around and buy a decent 3-year-old low mileage replacement. So happy about that! No stress or worry about where the money will come from! This means we will have to delay our home improvements (that's where we "borrowed" the money from) but with the new car comes peace of mind and we have calculated £150/month saving on combination of fuel, car tax and repairs. Onwards and upwards!

Wishing you luck to achieve your goals this month

MoneyMission2015

Hi SS


Lovely to hear from you, glad to hear everything is ticking along nicely and even with the wedding plans and the unexpected new car purchase you're staying out of debt. It feels so good paying for things with actual money rather than credit :j


Funnily enough I have added 'New Car' to my savings pots because my car is 9 years old this year but has really high mileage and lately it seems to spend almost as much time in the garage as it does on the road. I'm a long way off actually getting to an amount that will buy a decent car though so will have to make do with it for now. The repairs at the moment are relatively silly, small, inexpensive things so I've been lucky at the moment. Fingers crossed that luck holds on for at least another year.


I love YNAB. I don't know what I would do without it. I still log on to it every day and check all my accounts to make sure I'm staying on track. At the end of every month I have started moving all unspent money into another category so it carries over to the following month but is just under a 'Miscellaneous' category. My plan is that I will do the same as you have described actually, leave it to build up and then when I know it's enough to cover the whole month I will reallocate it and then we will be a month ahead.


I've had to start nagging my OH about Sky again as the bill has started to creep up but as it is in his name I can't ring them myself. We have told them numerous times to put my name on the account as an authorised person, but they never listen so every time I ring them they ask to speak to my OH first before they can continue the call. Frustrating! :mad:


I am having a declutter phase at the moment and just want to get stuck in to getting rid of lots of things in my house. I have to do little bits at a time though because in the past I have done a huge declutter, earmarked lots of things to sell and then lost my motivation so it has all just stayed in piles in our spare bedroom. I don't want to do that again though so I am taking it slow and trying to do little bits at a time. I want to do a car boot sale so I need to get a box to put it all in so that it's all in one place ready for when car boot season starts again.

MoneyMission2015

I feel like I'm getting my moneysaving mojo back. I think it is helping coming on here more. I went through a stage of not bothering to come on MSE much at all but now that I've started reading people's posts and diaries again, it has motivated me to keep at it and work harder to get things paid off.


So good news, I have had confirmation that I am having a payrise. Even better news is they are backdating it to the beginning of April, so my wages at the end of this month will be a full month on my new salary :j


I didn't do an awful lot yesterday. I was in work for most of the day, then got home and went for a walk with our youngest daughter. It was a lovely afternoon, I just hope the nice weather sticks around now and starts to get warmer.


My target this week is to have 2 NSD's and to sort out my wardrobe on the weekend. I have already gone through some of my clothes and have a black bag full to take to cash4clothes, but I still have a lot of clothes to get through.


I also want to go out for a run on the weekend, I just have to push myself with this because too often lately I've thought about it but then chosen to do something else instead (usually sitting in front of the TV).


I was pleasantly surprised yesterday. I was reading somebody's diary yesterday and they mentioned something about their quidco account, which reminded me that I have 2 quidco accounts that I haven't used for ages. So I logged on to both of them and found a bit of cashback that was available to be paid. I actually opted for them to be paid as Amazon vouchers. I chose this option because they give you a slightly higher amount if you choose Amazon vouchers and I buy quite a lot from Amazon throughout the year, so it makes sense. Anyway, it worked out at just over £15 altogether


I've recently got back in to surveying too. I used to do it a long time ago but it was another one of those things that just got pushed aside when I found something better to do. They can be a bit tedious but I want to earn some vouchers through this to pay for birthdays this year. I'm going to start keeping track of the points of each site that I use and then the voucher amounts. I've also got lots of Nectar points and Boots points so I will keep track of these, because I am going to save these for Christmas.

MoneyMission2015

Survey & points tracking


Swagbucks - 317SB
Toluna - 32751 points
GlobalTestMarket - 397 points


Boots - £103.83
Nectar - £204.42


So I'm going to start keeping track of these and then when I cash out on any of the survey sites, I'll reset the amount and start keeping track of my voucher amounts.


I've also got a fair bit of cashback on my TopCashBack account. It hasn't been confirmed yet so probably wont be paid out for a few months, but they have been tracked so it's just a case of waiting for the money to become available now. Once that money is available I will probably take a mixture of cash to pay towards credit cards and Amazon vouchers.

MoneyMission2015

I have joined a challenge thread on here to list 16 challenges, which I have done now and am looking forward to getting stuck in to them. I will list them here shortly.


I had a busy weekend, but it was nice. We got out and about more than we usually do and everybody enjoyed it, so we have to keep at it and try to get out at least one day or evening each weekend. It's too easy to get home on a Friday evening, shut the door and stay in our own little bubble until Monday.


I just want it to be payday again so I can pay off more debts, I definitely have the bug back and just want to be paying something every day but can't because I've got no more money available :rotfl:

MoneyMission2015

This is my list of challenges. It's a lot to keep track of but I will try my best.


1. Make and take my lunch to work at least 2 days per week. 0/74


2. Declutter 2016 items from my home - our house is in desperate need of this, we are bursting at the seams! I am going to try and focus on one room at a time, otherwise I have found in the past I have tried to do too much at once and got overwhelmed with it all. 0/216

3. Make £500 in 2016 - I've lowered this because I am only going to be making this through surveys and cashback, so I think £2016 is probably too much for my circumstances. However, if I do make any money elsewhere I will add it to this pot anyway and hopefully exceed the £500 target.


4. Lose at least 1st in weight and get fitter.

5. Sealed Pot Challenge. At the end of each week I shall empty all of my loose change into a sealed pot and not open until the end of the year - will do every Friday. I have changed this to 37 weeks because that's how many weeks are left this year. Currently 0/37 weeks

6. NSD Challenge - I am going to aim for at least 15 no spend days each month. This should tie in quite nicely with my taking lunch to work, because the majority of my daily spending seems to be on getting lunch at work. I do my grocery shopping weekly online. I haven't spent anything today and am going straight home, so I can write today down as my first NSD this month (obviously this month will have to be less than 15 as we don't have enough days left). 1/15

7. £200 Amazon Pot - Get £200 in Amazon vouchers by Christmas this year. I am hoping to gain these using Swagbucks, GiftHulk and Superpoints and any other ways I come across. - I already have £70.79 in my account from cashback and surveys earned over the last few months. Balance £70.79/£200

8. Eat smaller portions of food and freeze leftovers. The portions I eat are currently way too big!

9. Store Cupboard Challenge - Use only store cupboard items for at least one meal every week for the next year.

10. Keep grocery bill down to an average of less than £75 per week for the whole of the year. There are 4 of us so although some weeks I can keep this as low as £45 per week, I know that to get a good selection of fruit and veg I need a slightly higher budget. £0/£2775

11. Fly lady challenge. Don't know too much about this, but have heard people talk about it quite often. I will however make a conscious effort to get a bit of cleaning/tidying done each day, rather than leave it all until the weekend.

12. Organised Christmas - I'm not crafty or creative, so I'm not going to pretend to be able to have a handmade Christmas. I will however be organised again, as last year was my first year of being organised and it was so much better. I felt happier about the gifts I'd bought people, I saved loads of money on stuff and I felt more relaxed in December.

13. Save / pay off £16k in 2016. Balance currently £2046/£16000

14. Home improvements - I have a few little projects that I'd like to get done this year. Ensuite & daughters bedroom are top of the list.

15. Bake more - I love baking and have lots of ingredients and cookbooks, but hardly ever bake anything. Part of this is because I sometimes just don't have the motivation, part of this is because when I do feel like baking I talk myself out of it because if I make a cake I will eat it, which isn't so good for the waistline. However, if I am cutting portions anyway, I can treat myself to a slice of cake occasionally. Plus it's a nice activity I can do with my daughter.

16. Phone my parents at least once every week - I am guilty of just sending a text to say hi and ask how they are, so I definitely need to improve this. 0/37