Getting worse before it gets better...

Claree__x

I wouldn't be too impressed, FieldEnd, I actually ran up debt of £11k in my late teens/early twenties and ended up with a Trust Deed (similar to an IVA I think?) where I paid back £190/month for 3 years and absolutely trashed my credit file. Luckily it's getting better now and all of my defaults should be gone by the end of this year.

Did my mammoth run last night, it was tough but felt better about it once it was done 'cause I know I could do it.

Hopefully this will make a bit more sense - there's more detail. Too much detail, I know, but it works for me.

The house that we own and are selling we pay £350/month towards (matched by OH's cousin) so it's costing us £700/month to keep - eek! Cousin moved to Barcelona in May 2009 which is when I moved in. He's since been in Poland and now in London so definitely doesn't want to move back to it. It does pay for itself when rented out but only just and that doesn't take into account repairs and the hassle of looking after it. Luckily I'm an accountant so the tax side of it isn't a problem but it's still a 'thing'

Bills..... -442.8
Bus Lane.... -30 [Yes, I got a buslane fine..oops!]
Car............ -291.88
Car Insurance -29.13
Credit Card... -25 [Minimum payment]
OH Phone.. -35
Life Insurance -10.84
Lottery....... -8
Bank Account -12.95 [Changing account this month so will go]

Car.
Diesel........ -91.92

Cash......... -190 [Will need to analyse this better next month]

Me
Ball Dress... -20.5
Cushion..... -25
Massage.... -18
Razors....... -1.69
Refund....... 6.98
Refunds..... 43
Earphones.. -12.99
Audible...... -3.99
Fitness App -2.29
Curlers....... -8.55
Shoes for ball. -22
Grazia....... -16.5 [Quarterly Subscription]

Eating Out
KFC........... -28.21
Paesano..... -37
Prezzo....... -42
Takeaway.... -29.89
Dominos..... -18.24
Subway...... -10.98
Titan.......... -22.55
Freddies..... -20

Baby
Babywipes... -7
Book.......... -6.99
Clothes...... -42
Savings..... -20
Toy Bag..... -17
Toilet Seat... -10.96
Flash Cards. -2.47

Food
Supermarket... -149.28

Flat (Living In)
Gas/Elec.... -48
Insurance.... -15.77
Rent.......... -550
Sky........... -52.4
Towels....... -57.5
TV Licence... -12.12

OH
Facemask... -8.58
Suit........... -80.1
Suit.......... -36 [This'll be refunded]
Snoring Thing. -9.99

Presents
Cards........ -7.11
Me......... -12.05
Brother.......... -20
OH........... -13.5
Mum.......... -23
Coworker....... -9.99

Savings -750

House (Selling).... -350

Claree__x

Woohoo - more good news today. Back in August we bought 2 sun holidays and it turns out that we can't actually make the one we have booked for the end of March due to work commitments. I offered it out on my facebook - for free, I just wanted it used - but my nail tech has offered to take it and pay me what I paid for it, which is great - another ~£90 to our savings, yay.

Managed a NSD yesterday but not happening today - need to go to the supermarket tonight for something for dinner [asda pizzas...not dominos, that's an improvement!], packed lunch stuff for the tot and some snacks for my cousin who is coming to babysit for me on Friday.

Claree__x

Money for the holiday came in today - £95 which is great. I did pay £20 to change the details on the holiday but considering I didn't think I'd get anything back at all for it I'm not complaining!

Aiming for another NSD today other than paying for the avon stuff I'd ordered. I was hoping I'd be able to push this into next month 'cause the girl who does it only comes into the office on an adhoc basis but she's in today - so c'est la via. I spent £21 this month but will cut down on that as well!

So today I set up my First Direct bank account and started the switching process which should pay us £125 in a couple of months time, yay. Cuts out our bank account fee too but I'll need to look into mobile phone insurance and breakdown cover 'cause they were the benefits that we got with the account. Speaking of phones, I'll have to find out when OH's contract is up - I got him a new phone for Christmas so we can cut his line rental right down from ~£35/month to ~£10/month...hopefully! My phone is paid for as part of my work so don't have to worry there.

Payday - and therefore the start of a new budget month - is Friday which I'm quite excited about 'cause it's the first month I have comparisons for and I can look at actually bringing down the debt/up the savings that will go towards the future debt!

Scottishmummy

That's good news about the holiday and the cashback from First Direct. I can recommend Gem for breakdown cover. Cheaper than both RAC and AA plus cashback through Quidco.

Claree__x

I'll check them out, scottishmummy, thanks! I'm not even sure if I'm able to insure my phone 'cause it's technically a work mobile - I'll need to look that up.

Claree__x

Yay it's payday! Finally. Means a new start on my spreadsheet and a better idea of where we can cut down. Unfortunately it begins with an expensive night. My husband's work put on a ball once every 2 years - this is our first one. I thought we were doing really well 'cause I got my dress for £20 and booked a cheap night in a nearby hotel (£29 I think!) and it's a free bar but I've since been told we have to "donate" £20 each for the raffle! Eek. On the plus side, though, OH text me this morning saying we now have a free room at the Hilton instead of the Premier Inn - I'm slightly suspicious of how this came about but happy to go with it!

Excuse me while I have a heart attack looking at our bank account. I expected to see £1,000+ from OH's wages and the balance is ~£800, thankfully after looking again our rent and credit card payment has already came off. For the last few months payday has fallen on a weekend/holiday so we've had the money in the account for a few days before it goes out - phew!

So as of today:

Money In: £1,460

Rent.......£550
C/Card....£25
House.....£350 [This is the one we're selling]

Cash...£150. This will be £40 'donations', £20 to leave for my cousin to get dinner while she babysits, £30 for taxis [they'll be reimbursed at some point but best to leave it as an outgoing for now] and £60 for who knows what. I'm pretty sure we agreed on lifting £100 and not £150 but I'll ask that question later.

Now I have to do the rubbish bit and check my next/debenhams accounts and pay them off. I never spend much on them really but there's usually £20 here or there.

Eeek! £42 to next. That'll be OHs birthday present from last month. Damn. Planning not to use the account at all this month but I think the sports bra that I bought might be on next months' statement - damn. Debenhams has a £0 balance though, which is nice. Yay.

Things that are still to come out:
Car Payment - £291.88
Car Insurance - £29.13
OH Phone - £35
Life Insurance - £10.84
Lottery - £8 [Cancel?]
Bank Acc Fee - £12.95 [Should be last one]
Spotify - £4.99
Audible - £3.99
Savings for baby - £20
Gas/Elec - £48
Contents Insurance - £15.77
Sky - £52.40
TV Licence - £12.12
TOTAL - £545.07

So this means that almost none of my wages needs to go on bills. I'll get £1,607 this month - £250 of my bonus [still £750 to take after this] so aiming for a minimum £750 saved this month again.

Claree__x

So that raffle donation I was complaining about...we ended up winning 3L of premium vodka and 2 free flights to anywhere in Europe or the US and £300 spending money!! Not a bad investment really...haha!

My wages went in this morning and I'm still due £750 from another account so I'll pay that over today and that'll be our money in for the month so I can allocate it to various places.

Had an 'offer' on the house, which wasn't really an offer. A woman is really interested and asked the estate agent how much it'd take for us to take the house off of the market, problem is that her house isn't even listed yet so she can't actually make an offer - and there's no guarantee that when her house sells [whenever that is!] that she'll actually make an offer! So I'm thinking it's a non starter.

Scottishmummy

Congratulations on the prizes.


We once had someone refuse to deal with our solicitor and would constantly be on the phone to us. They gave an offer below asking price on a flat we were selling, told them we already had an asking price offer so they offered again, at asking price. We were still going to be living very close and just knew if we accepted their offer they would be continuously bothering us. Thankfully the other guy upped his offer and we sold to him.

Claree__x

Thanks Scottishmummy! Really pleased to win them at the time but it's turning into a headache already. If we want to go ourselves we can really only do a long weekend 'cause we wouldn't want to leave the LO for any longer than that but if we want to take her with us it's going to cost £500+ for her flight plus accommodation...which is getting rather expensive for a freebie!

I think we're going to decline the 'offer' on the house and just tell her that we'll be happy to speak to her when her house sells/is under offer.

Money wise -
Moved £200 to help to buy ISA [Balance £400]
Moved £550 to other savings [Balance £1.100]

None of my other bills have come off yet and the account balance is ~£1,100 which should leave around £500 which is more than enough for the monthly shopping etc, just need to keep on top of it this month and stop silly spending.

alice_kate_2

Congrats on your wins that's amazing! xx