This really is the end

changnorriss73

Good luck,. and let us know how much you can get hehheeh

Determined14

So payday today, unfortunately I didn't manage to stop my CC DD of £400 before it was requested so it's messed up my payements slightly but I'll just pay less to the CC's this month. This is a breakdown of what my monthly budget looks like:
Rent 1034
Union 14
Mobile 40
Travel 125
Food 60
Spends 240
Savings 25
Debt repayment 405
Total 1943.423333
Income 1950
Difference 6.576666667

My rent looks crazy but that also includes all annual expenses e.g. insurances, MOT allowance, car tax, tv licence etc etc

Happy for any feedback on the monthly budget. I've done my banking straight away this month so hopefully that will help get me through. Though with a million birthdays June can be an expensive month! I'm just waiting for the CC DD's to clear and then I'll do an update.

I really need to do a good shop today so any advice on cheap, easy meals for my meal plan would be great. I'd love to get to a stage where I have a set fortnightly meal plan so that I don't feel like I'm reinventing the wheel every time I do a food shop. Boring, perhaps but it should be more economical in the long run.

Determined14

CC1 (17.4%): £426.83
CC2 (0%): £3200
CC3 (0%): £7528.50

Total: £11,155.30

That's depressing! Despite my initial good intentions because of the tyres I haven't made any progress at all

I know it takes a while to get moving and I have money set aside for this months debt payment but I want to see what the minimums are for CC2&3 and then pay off as much of CC1 as I can as that's the highest interest. So I need to actually make an effort to stick a few bits up on ebay

wishus

Have you tried the Grocery challenge thread? Loads of recipes on there!
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5149843

Determined14

Thanks Wishus - I need to go out this morning and I feel that I could spend days exploring that thread so I'll bookmark it and have a look later, hopefully bubs will be asleep so I can do a full stocktake and meal plan using the info in that thread. I definitely like the idea of setting a budget and seeing how we get on, as food is definitely an overspend area for us!

Golightly72

Good luck, you do sound determined, even if you are having some setbacks in the beginning!

I do think an emergency fund is a must if you want to stop using credit; if you have £400 'spare', maybe put £200 towards debts, and £200 towards emergency fund, until you reach £1000? Then you can throw more at the debts and just keep the emergency fund topped up with a much smaller amount.

Have subscribed, keep going!

Determined14

Thanks GoLightly - I think that's what I plan to do, I just want to see how much the min repayments are for both cards to make sure that £200 is enough. I think if my debt was still at 17.4% then paying them would be a priority but with it all being 0% I think I'll feel more financially stable with a buffer!

Determined14

Ok, I'm not brave enough to post on the GC thread but I'm going to keep my own running total here. The amount I'd like us to spend is £120 which includes my lunches and in an ideal world DH's but we'll see about that one! Ok so as it's payday the challenge starts today:

Spent
29/5: £2.45 (WR)
30/5: £48.18 (S)
3/6: £2.40 (T)
7/6: £30.96 (L)

Total: £83.99
Remaining: £36.01

Determined14

Wow I think I'm going for the record of most posts on my own thread in a day! Following on from the GC thread, I've done an inventory of my fridge / freezer and I'm not sure if I actually need to do a big food order! So here's the list....
4 x passata
Naan bread
Curry paste (2 types)
2 x tins of soup
2 x baked beans and sausages
Golden veg rice
Tikka masala sauce
2 x kidney beans
Mixed beans
Black beans
Sweet & sour sauce
Custard
2 x rice pudding
Lasagne sheets
Breadcrumbs
4 x tuna
Breadcrumbs
Tortellini
Puff pastry
3 x Bologanise
4 x chilli
Ham & Pea soup
3 x pulled pork
Veg Bolognaise
Taco filling
Shepherds Pie
Wraps
Cheese sauce
2 x 1/2 bags frozen veg
2 x 1/2 bags chips
Pork goulash
Pie filling
Sausage casserole
Mini meatloaf
Frozen pasta
Broccoli
Fish fingers
Mash
Lamb hotpot
Pork & apple casserole
Carrots
4 x Gammon
Duck joint (can't think how else to describe it!)

That's a lot of food, I have some rice, pasta and potatoes. From that list I see around 21 ready meals plus another 4-5 with a few extra ingredients. That's insane! We need fresh bits and pieces so instead of a big online shop it might be that we need to go and pick up some bits this weekend instead of paying for delivery. If we get some turkey (cheaper than chicken), potatoes, pizza (as an easy dinner option), along with veg for lunches, fruit for the little one and snacky bits for lunch boxes then we should be there. So no excuses for going over budget this month!

thegreenone

£30 a week, yikes! I think I'm going to record all food bought in June and then start a GC in July.


Freeze bread into bags of two or four slices each. Use the bags again where possible. I have a breadmaker and do this so we always have bread in - no dangerous top up shops. I freeze milk too. I must confess I use bread mixes at the moment but need to experiment more.


My DH takes his lunch every day and is happy to have a cheapskate ploughman's. Cold sausages or chicken (Sat/Sunday leftovers) with some pickle, pickled onions, hunk of cheese, homemade coleslaw and potato salad. Not all those in one lunch! A variation. He has sandwiches only once a week. Crab sticks with some mayo is a cheap sandwich or buy a bag of own brand prawns, if you eat them, and just use a handful either in a sandwich or with some cold new potatoes/coleslaw. Would your DH eat something like that?