Lightbulb moment......

Skintandscared

...just happened.
The umpteenth time that I was too tired to cook, so JUST ordered a takeaway for my OH. But didn't eat myself.
The umpteenth time I sat there, too tired to cook for myself, so JUST filled up on crisps and a cereal bar. Because I didn't want to spend any more money.
The umpteenth time, I sit here, feeling guilty that I just spend £8.50 on chicken and chips, and vow to "NEVER GET A TAKEAWAY AGAIN!!!!!". Knowing full well, because I am so badly organised, that this COULD be a scenario playing out tomorrow night.

BUT IT WON'T.
I've had it!

The stupid-vicious-circle-trying-to-save-spending-feeling-guilty-remorse-overspending stops here. No more.
As of right now (notice I didn't say tomorrow, because 'tomorrow' never really comes does it?), I am putting aside all the !!!!!!!! reasons I give myself that there's not enough hours in the day, or that I've had a hard day, or that it's the weekend.
My reality is that I am on the verge of taking a massive drop in our income, have no grip on budgeting (even though I pretend to myself I do), our spending is beginning to rule our lives, and the never ending cycle of guilt if I spend anything - even on essentials like food - is ridiculous and has got to a point where it is completely unnecessary.
As of right now, I am owning up and taking responsibility for my stupidity with money.

I am going to plough my efforts into filling out this diary, in a hope that I can chart the journey that me and my family are about to embark upon. I know it won't be easy.

I will get around to posting particulars on here on the weekend, when i'll have a chance to look in depth at my finances, and there may be times that I'll not go into minute detail (believe it or not i'm quite a private person :rotfl:), but I 100% promise to be open, honest and hopefully help people along on their journey's too :T .
Being as I deactivated my Facebook too, you'll be seeing a lot more of me on here, so apologies in advance for my thread stalking

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and best foot forward! Good luck to you all, and speak soon

in_need_of_direction

Well done you. You'll feel so much better once you feel in control.

enjoyyourshoes

Cooking a few ideas:-


Have a list in kitchen, only buy on list and do shopping less frequently.
Have a meal plan for all meals (makes the list focused on NEED not WANT)
Buy value brands, compare on weight volume and unit, not price and ifs on offer
Cook for the week after you have shopped & freeze (include main meals , sarnies for lunches and desserts). Economies scale, effort and energy (amazing what you can get into an oven). Get right number and type of containers for the big freeze off.
Make it fun with a special treat of a meal after, scallops or king prawn stir fry of whatever gets you going.


Financial Reconciliation and planning:-


1. Have a clear objective (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic & time-bound) (save (for great holiday etc)or pay off debt or pay off chunk of mortgage quickly or by certain date. Involve all members family to get agreement and buy in,

2.Understand your total annualised costs & savings (to meet your objectives) (i.e. do a budget or similar) & ensure this is LESS than incoming money. (if not do a review to allocate LESS than income)
(DONT forget to include Christmas, Holidays, Birthdays, Savings, clothes etc as well as the boring stuff)

3. Break budget into two part (part one: monthly costs) (part two: 1/4ly ; 1/2LY & annualised bills. This annualised £'s should be divided by 12 to produce a monthly cost to save for these bills. Can do a cash flow to ensure monthly savings pot has enough £ to pay allocated Bills on the estimated months they become due)

4.Produce a monthly reconciliation which has your income LESS all your costs (including the monthly savings described above), Cash withdrawals, monthly DD & SO, cheques cashed, credit card purchases & savings (linked to your objectives). Do this reconciliation daily and ensure you spend LESS than income.

5. If you dont deduct credit card payments off your monthly income then you will not have the £'s to repay and thus end up in DEBT.

5. Put your monthly savings into a high interest account and track allocated savings against costs. Also DONT PAY insurances by monthly credit agreement pay them annually.

6. Get online access for your current and other accounts so you can see your separate reconciliation is accurate and moving monies is less hassle on line

7. Produce Excel docs to assist

Then you can be confident that you know your finances are managed

Skintandscared

Thank you in need of direction, I am hoping so too :-) I certainly feel, having written it down here, that it seems more real.
Wow, enjoyyourshoes - Thank you! I will definitely be looking into the ideas you suggested, and am taking baby steps at the minute, as I tend to falter if I try and go the whole hog in one go.
So, just got back from the school run and after paying for two school trips (one was £22.50 and one was £14) and a child I sponsored in my son's school (£5), I now have 47p left in my overdraft. I live in my £400 overdraft, which I get charged the privilege of - It's £15 a month for my reward account, and then if I go past the £300 and into the £400 they charge me a £1 a day. So I try not to go past the £300, but in reality I often exist in there :-/
I originally had an overdraft (which I lived in), and they charged me £1 a day, so I thought upgrade to the reward account (free travel insurance, free phone insurance, £400 overdraft) and get charged a set fee of £15 (so in my mind already saving £15 a month), plus the added bonus'. Is that skewed logic??
But it's more like £40 a month now, depending how badly my spending is per month, in charges that I NEED to stop paying. I am slowly getting my head around the fact that it is costing me money ever month for NOTHING really, £40 which I could put towards Xmas etc, and that the overdraft is not MY money, but is a loan every month!

I also came straight home from the school run (and after a rather depressing conversation with my OH about his horrible job) I was pro-active and paid up to date the arrears on the TV licence (pure laziness not to have paid!) of £41.00, and set up a direct debit. This is the first step towards our BIG GOAL of getting a mortgage, which according to the mortgage advice page on here is all about becoming up to date with all payments and paying off arrears, in order to start turning a bad credit rating around.

Sorry if this is like an essay btw! I find if I get it all off my chest, it helps me keep positive :-D

My aims to save money today are:
1) Bake bread from stuff in pantry, rather than going out and paying £1 for a loaf.
2) Make the most of the sunny weather and dry as many loads of washing as possible, rather than using the tumble dryer.
3) Have everything in the house turned off at the plugs, unless I am using it (with the exception of our overpriced Sky box, which is recording various programme's throughout the day).
4) Use bit of leftover beef brisket in fridge to make spag bol and lasagne, and freeze at least one portion of each.
5) Make something healthy, cheap and filling for lunch rather than snacking on crisps and having to replace said crisps before the end of the week = More £££ to pay out.
6) Start decluttering and see if there's any stuff I could possibly sell on Ebay/facebook (OH page).
7) Aside from the TV Licence I just paid, have a completely NSD.

Good luck to everyone on their journey's too! xxx

Skintandscared

And I've just ordered a £200 worth of love to shop vouchers with Park Christmas Savings, as I know we NEVER save money for Xmas, and we struggle so much at that time of year.
It'll be approximately £33.33 a month, which will be more than covered by stopping takeaways etc. :beer:

Baldybear

Dropping by to wishing you good luck on your journey

Skintandscared

Just logged into the account we have with our energy provider, and with my latest meter readings we are over £300 in credit!!!! :eek:
The cheeky blighters!! I will be demanding a refund, with which I can pay off the CC balance in full, and one of our outstanding debts hopefully :T

Oh, and as I'd forgotten to register my clubcard, we'd amassed 782 reward points, which I turned into clubcard points, to go towards my Christmas Savers club with Tesco

Reminds me to be more vigilant!

chevalier

Good luck with your journey. Don't forget to check all utilities and insurances, to make sure you still have the best quote around
chev

Skintandscared

Thank you Baldybear and Chevalier xx

WantToBeSE

Good Luck!

I am trying to spend a lot less, it can be hard, but so worth it!

Bobarella

Good luck to you. Subscribing now.