XSpender Speeds it Up - £0 to £60k in 27 months

XSpender

I hope everyone had a lovely , peaceful Christmas.

We had a lovely quiet day. DS went out like a light on Christmas Eve but was up and opening presents at 5 to 6:eek: DH didn't brave the shops again on Christmas Eve which was good as he had gone a bit over budget but I received some lovely things.

Quiet lunch and then a couple of hours at DPIL and I was in bed flat out by 10pm SOber, I might add

DS had me up early again this morning and we have done an early visit to the shopping centre to return and item and exchange another. We exited through M&S and picked up a half price suit and a spare pair of suit trousers for DH. We were home before the madness started as the car park was beginning to get crazy as we drove away.

I am hoping that the torrential rain eases off later so we can take the dog out.

I will do the final balance transfers today, overall we have probably increased our debt by a few hundred pounds in the last month or so mainly due to new clothes as we have lost 2.5 stone between us this year :) All will be on 0% instead of 29.9% so that is an improvement.

Off to make lunch from the bits and bobs in the fridge.

XSpender

I still haven't done the balance transfer:eek: I have got a few weeks yet but will get it done this week.

We have had a lovely couple of days with a panto yesterday and a long woodland walk today with the dog. We saw a deer Luckily the dog didn't;)

I have updated MFP with my eats for the day and it isn't pretty. I blame it on the 2 bottles of GF lager;)

DH is back at work tomorrow and DS and I were planning to visit my Mum but she has asked us not to come as the floods have made it very difficult to get to her village. They are not at risk of flooding, it is getting to them that is the problem. We will possibly go at the end of the week if it has cleared up.

DH and I had a good talk on our walk and since we have got back and have decided to go ahead with our summer holiday and put the house on the market when we get back either late August or early September, giving us longer to save and get the house ready for sale.

We have also (for probably the first time ever) agreed our budget for Jan. :rotfl: We want to really cut back on our spending in Jan and we will have more chance of success if we both are on the same page.

With the rest of December's money I am buying some panto and theatre tickets for next year and entering us into a half marathon in May :eek:

Did anyone watch Imelda Staunton in Gypsy last night on BBC4? Absolutely fabulous performance.

XSpender

After an early call from DM to advise the roads were open DS and I have been to visit DM and DSD today as DH at work. We had a lovely day playing DS's new board games.

Worked out on the way back that our savings plans mean living on DH wage and saving all my income and DH bonuses. I am not sure if we can sustain this for the next 6 months but if we can we would remain on track for buying our new house and will be able to go on our booked holiday. We don't have a lot of bills to cut back on as this has already been done. We can save on our food and 'miscellaneous' spending categories so this is where I need to focus.

DS is spending the day at DMIL tomorrow as I have a doctors appointment in the afternoon.

Jobs for tomorrow:

• [STRIKE]Balance transfer![/STRIKE] Hurray at last!
  
• [STRIKE]Book waxing appointment [/STRIKE][STRIKE]and attend if possible [/STRIKE] Booked for Sat
• Dry cleaning
• [STRIKE]Return item to M&S and OP refund [/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Buy card for sister[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Buy 2 x 2016 diaries - one for work and one for home (didn't get one for Christmas):( Need 3 (keep in car for mileage record[/STRIKE]) £3 for 3 at the land of pound
• [STRIKE]List freezer contents[/STRIKE]
• List cupboard contents
• [STRIKE]Meal plan[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Clean up downstairs and start to remove so Christmas decs[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Half hour easy run[/STRIKE] 43 minutes and feeling

It will probably take me until I go back to work next week to complete this lot in reality!

XSpender

I made good progress on my list today and will complete it tomorrow. Also dashed to the shopping centre to buy a wedding gift for a good friend of DH whose wedding we couldn't attend today and drop it off at our other friend's house to take with them.

The weather has made my run impossible today; I would have got blown over or washed away:eek: The town in the news that has had the bridge washed away is very well known to me and I have family close by. It was a shock to watch the video of it collapsing, I have walked over that bridge hundreds and hundreds of times

DMIL wants to take DS to the local museum tomorrow so while he is there I will finish my list of jobs and take down all the Christmas decorations. I like to start the new year tidy as I fail at it for most of the rest of the year :rotfl:

We have bought the makings of our NYE meal tonight and I have a bottle of prosecco chilling in the fridge. We will try and stay awake for Jools Holland and the bells but struggle most years as it is way past my bedtime:( On NYD we have a bike ride planned with DS who has a new bike horn from Santa that makes different noises i.e. FI car, fighter jet etc.

I am back under the scary stone number I hit over Christmas and have been updating MFP the last 2 days. Unfortunately my Fitbit didn't charge when it was plugged in last night so I haven't earned any extra calories and I needed them for the decluttering of tho0rntons mint chocolate truffles;)

Small OP made today, every time I check the mortgage balance it has gone up, not sure why.

I crunched a few numbers today and am now unsure if we can afford the holiday as well as move. I will ring the holiday company and see what are options are and when we have to make a decision by.

Pay day tomorrow and I can do the money shuffle at last :dance: to clear the CC but the OP and savings will have to wait until the DDs come out on the 4th.

XSpender

Went for a run this morning, first one since 30th November! Felt nervous before I sent out but ran over 4 miles at an easy but not too slow pace. Enjoyed it and relieved that I haven’t lost all my fitness in the last few weeks. I am planning another run on Sunday.

My 2015 NY resolution was to try running again and although it took me several months to make a start I got up to 9 miles and will be keeping it up as I have 2 half marathons booked for 2016 already. I might even try to do another marathon in 2017.

I have set myself a savings challenge (another one) of completing 2 x 52 week challenges where you save a £1 for the number of the week. So week 1 save £1, week 2 save £2 and so on. Easy this month as it is £10 per challenge pot for the first four weeks but it adds up quite quickly as the weeks go up in number.

I did this challenge in 2014 and used the money as a savings pot for Christmas so if I saw gifts through the year or wanted to buy tickets for Christmas events the money was there and it worked really well. I didn’t do it in 2015 and would have liked to have the pot saved for Christmas as it all came out of the current account in the space of a couple of months!:eek:

One pot I will keep for Christmas and to replace our summer clothes, mainly for DH who has given all this year’s to his Dad as they are now massive on him. The 2nd pot will be saved towards those bits and bobs you always need when you move house. I am putting aside a couple of thousand in my main savings for this but this is for more cosmetic items.

DH has bought his team lunch today as a thank you for 2015 so I have adjusted the budget for Jan and updated YNAB with yesterday’s spends. Not planning on entering a shop today or tomorrow, if DH wants some beer for tonight he can go the local one. Will do a small shop Saturday, so far I have only swede, 1 leek, apples, bananas, grapes, pears, ham, cheese triangles, eggs and anti bac spray on my list for the week.:D

I have two ‘orrible jobs today so I am procrastinating on here when I should be cleaning the kitchen bin or taking the Christmas decorations down.

XSpender

Financial

• Save £40,000 to cover deposit and moving costs - Yes:j
• Buy our forever home in preferred location by EOY - Yes :j:heart
• Clear at least 50% of CC debt (all currently on 0%) - No it's gone up but all 0%
• Have £5000 in savings at end of year (not inc. mini emergency fund or 52 week challenges) - Still aiming for this amount
• Complete 52 week savings challenge x 2 - decided against this and saved all together instead
• Maintain accurate spending record via YNAB - One restart and this month is chaos
  :eek:
• Increase mini emergency fund to £1000 Done

Health and Fitness

• Hit personal target weight goal - aiming for mid December which is when I began putting it on again last year!
• Take part in 5 running events and 2 trail runs - 1 event and 2 trail runs by EOY, had to cancel 1 event
• 5 F&V and 1 litre of plain water every day without fail - Water yes, F&V no
• Use Gym minimum of 52 times in 2016 - about 4, will be cancelled as now have PT
• Apply for London marathon - No
• Run 10 park runs (never done 1) - no, Saturday morning runs are impossible as DH at work and DS at activites

Family and Home

• Walk dog ourselves every Saturday and Sunday - better as now live in great dog walking territory but will do more
• Have 2 outings planned every month - running event, holiday, theatre tickets, social event, long walk/bike ride & picnic, NT event, camping - aiming for free or low cost where possible -Yes, moved closer to friends which has helped
• Eat all meals together from Friday evening to Sunday evening No, slipped a bit recently so will refocus
• DS to try 2 activities i.e. cubs, karate, rugby, music? & keep up swimming lessons - Loves Karate, looking into Rugby
• Go camping - we have most of the gear and can borrow the rest - no and aint gonna happen now
• Major declutter - I'm not paying to move carp - 1 item per day (365) Yes, major declutter happened before move
• Improve DS meals - not a fussy eater but DMIL feeds him rubbish 5 nights a week so his weekend meals need to combat this - DS has more evenings at childcare so diet has improved
• Improve family morning and evening routinesStill room for improvement
  

XSpender

Spent more than planned on food for the next week as DH and I are doing a three day clean eating/detox before I go away with work for 3 days next week. We shouldn't need much the week after so can hopefully rein it back in. We did buy DS some fish as he is the only one of the three of us who likes it and it is something I want to encourage.

Doing OK increasing my water intake but haven't eaten much of anything with this head cold.

This month is going to be a toughie as we have paid over £3000 to clear a CC, OP and savings on top of the usual bills and what not. Just need to get DH on the same page, he agreed to the tight budget, but has just agreed a night out I haven't budgeted for!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Good luck with your 2016 targets x

XSpender

Thank you SSS.

We took DS for a bike ride this lunchtime and got back just before the rain started lashing down.

Good day today food and water wise and we all ate the same dinner at the table this evening; pasta and sauce with meatballs made from sausages de skinned and rolled into balls. Made the sausages go further too:).

I was just about to say I didn't spend any money today then remembered DH had popped to the shop for some beer:( I haven't had a drink for 2 nights now, can't afford the calories on MFP! :rotfl:

DH and I have agreed to cancel one of our subscriptions today for £15 and tomorrow I will cancel our exper1an memberships, DH is a free trial but mine is not. I had to sign up with them again to check my credit file in order to provide a copy for the mortgage broker. N0ddle was completely wrong and exper1an was correct and updated it immediately to remove our IVA so I think I got my money's worth

I have paid so much to the savings, mortgage and CC already this month that when the bills DDs come out tomorrow the balance in the account is going to look scarily low.:eek:

XSpender

Ahhh forgot to cancel Exper1an and am away now until Thursday night. Will see if I can do it tomorrow night as out with colleagues Wednesday.

F&V and water target achieved for today, over on MFP though as DH was late in and a few heroes fell in my mouth while waiting for dinner.

The balance in the account is scarily low as expected, not used to having such a low balance this early in the month but most bills have been paid, the old cards cleared and we have put a chunk into savings and made a big OP. It was all planned as part of our uber frugal Jan and if we stick to our tight budget there is enough to cover everything and a little bit of wriggle room.