It's time for a money diet...

Lauralozzle

So - had to do some shopping today! £65 spent and still need to get a few more things. We need meat from butchers but Tom's buying that (will still come out of grocery target though) and I forgot to buy coffee so will get some tomorrow.

Apart from that things are looking good my plan is for Monday and Tuesday to be non-spend days (Wednesday/Thursday/Friday) we're away so they won't be NSD at all!!! Credit card minimum payment has also gone out so I am I have updated my sig too. I do like how that is going down - only seems a few months ago that it was £800.

Lauralozzle

4th September

Happy to report another NSD today. Don't think I'll manage another tomorrow though as I'm still out of coffee!! Still chuffed so far - I've managed 3/14 (14 is target) and I'm hoping to get as many as I can in before we go away on Wednesday because Wednesday/Thursday/Friday will include a fair bit of spending!!.

I've had a rather productive day today. Cleaned the kitchen - sorted out the elusive cupboard under the sink. Cleaned living room too and done a fair bit of washing.

On top of that we popped to Tom's sister's house for birthday bbq and then visited grandad at hospital. It's been all systems go today - haven't really stopped much today at all!!!

I plan on doing some more washing and then having this evening to melt to relax. Sounds like a plan!!!

Lauralozzle

Plan of Action

So, here is the plan for the rest of 2016. #shorttermgoals

MBNA Credit Card
I would ideally like this be paid up by next year - however, I'll cope if there is just £52 left on this. It needs to be paid up by February though as that's when the 0% period ends.

Emergency Saving Fund
I want this to be £700. This should be doable if we don't spend the extra money going into the account. That will be the main task. (I've checked where we are so far compared to last month and we're £50 better off BUT we will need to sort out curtains in the dining room before it gets too cold!!

Not too much to do here so not impossible. Tiny steps...

Thistle-down

Well done sorting yourself out at a young age. It's only taken me 52 years to get started...

subscribed :beer:

joeyjimbles

You sound like you're really on top of things. Great that you resisted the lure of the credit card - it'll help you do it again next time.

Lauralozzle

Thank you - keeping a diary on here is really helping so far. Knowing that any spends will be documented here is making me think twice before spending anything and the support on these forums is fantastic!

DD265

Hi Laura

You sound like you're doing great!

Do you meal plan? For us that means we can keep our food bill around £180 a month. Apart from May, for some reason May was really high and we spent £260, I think there must have been household stuff included in the food shop. Admittedly we don't have any pets to feed but I don't try and keep to a specific budget or cut costs, I just plan the meals, and we do the bulk of our shopping at Sainsburys (nectar points) and get our meat from the butchers.

Your goals sound really achievable, good luck!

Lauralozzle

Hi DD,

Yes, I do usually meal plan - although when I go shopping I don't stick to it religiously if I see something come up that looks a bargain! And generally anything yellow stickered isn't planned but they're so cheap it doesn't particularly bother me.

Our grocery target is £250 - that covers all food, any booze, also including any takeaways - I'm trying to veto takeaways at the moment - but not meals out. They're few and far between and that will come out of spending money). It also covers dog food and all household items - cleaning products, loo roll, tooth paste etc.

We also get our meat from butchers - it taste better and decent price too!

Lauralozzle

5th September

Another decent day although it wasn't a NSD as I needed to finish last bits of shopping! £26 spent but some of that was on a can opener and sieve!!

I have however done lots of cleaning and relaxing - it was heaven not going into work today and great knowing I'm not going in tomorrow either!!

Lauralozzle

6th September

I have cancelled Netflix today - I only use it to watch pretty little liars and The Originals, they've pretty much finished for now. When it's back I might pay for it again for as long as it's on and cancel it again!!

That will be a saving of £7.49 a month - not loads but every penny counts, right?

I have a really good productive day today - I am quite pleased with myself! I have cleaned the bedroom and sorted out the wardrobe. It is all clean and tidy now.

I also went for a nice long walk around Shipley Park today with the dog and have packed my bag for Wales. I'm hoping I don't spend too much really but at least I have planned it out!!