Single 20 something mum - time to kick myself up the bum!

camz2017

Switch the broadband £37 is way too high!

TalkTalk fibre is £25 a month and £75 cashback on Quidco.

That should be plenty fast, as it uses a BT line it wont be any worse than your existing Sky service.

Get it switched over!

Really easy to switch, just place order with TalkTalk ensuring to use your telephone landline number, they will take over everything and Sky will automatically send a final bill once TalkTalk take over. Was dead easy for me.

Re Gas + Electricity, are you on the best deal? Are you paying Direct Debit? British Gas is not usually cheap.

Re Council Tax: are you paying over 10 months (the default)? You can call and ask to split payments over 12 months, thereby you don't get the free 2 months, but lower fee every month.

All the charity stuff, cancel it tomorrow. Hate to be harsh, but think of yourself.

RE Petrol: download Waze on your phone, you can click the petrol button and it will show you all the local petrol station fuel prices, including the best value ones.

Hope to have helped, these are all little things I did in my old flat.

timetobefrugal

Thanks for the response Camz!

I should have mentioned that price was for TV and Internet but I have since your suggestion, switched over to TalkTalk and have gotten pretty much the same TV package and fibre internet for £33.50 a month with £110 cashback! So thankyou otherwise I wouldn't have seen that!

With regards to council tax I prefer to have the 2 months off rather than saving £16 a month as it seems to make more of a difference to me.

A few other positives, I've opened up another savings account to pay my treat money in to as I figured even with the envelope method I'd end up spending the cash. I've set up payments to start in Jan and won't touch this until it reaches £200 :j I've also sorted out my old phone which I had dropped and smashed the screen of. I had purchased a new phone in a panic which I'm hoping to sell on Ebay for enough to cover the cost of the repair and some leftover.

All my birthday gifts managed to come in under the £30 I had allocated so I'm happy about that and I still have £73 spare to pay for my daughter's birthday.

Nothing much planned for the weekend as I've never been a fan of fireworks and my DD is with her dad Saturday night so he will probably take her to see some. So will be a cheap weekend in of uni work and cleaning for me! I've got a box of dye leftover as need to touch up my roots and purchased myself some hairdressing scissors to give it a trim, hopefully I won't bodge it and end up with wonky hair :rotfl:

enthusiasticsaver

It sounds like you are trying to get on top of this. It is important to realise that this will not be forever if you can get to grips with budgeting and being financially disciplined. If you know you are an emotional spender do not go to the shops on a day when you are feeling vulnerable. Good to see you passed on the trip to Tescos and whilst chocolate is nice the extra £5 or £10 you may have spent whilst there will upset your budget. Healthier to go without chocolate too.

DebtFreeDuo

Well done on some saves. I also chop at my own hair, if I went to a hairdresser they would probably wonder who the hell has been cutting my hair but I don't bother doing anything with it very often so you can't tell if its uneven. I will treat myself to a trip to the hairdressers when all my debts have gone and I have saved for it.

timetobefrugal

Debtfreeduo - I don't think I've done too bad of a job although I'm sure my hairdresser would disagree lol!

Not much to report this week, I've checked my new debt total and it's currently at £20,286.11 and I have 3 more debt repayments to go out before the end of the month so I'm feeling pretty chuffed that this number will be under 20k by Christmas

Still struggling with my uni work, probably because the current content is so boring! My first essay is on promissory estoppel and 'consideration' within a contract which does absolutely nothing for me in terms of interest :cool:. Surprisingly still coping OK with doing 5 days a week at work although my housework is suffering slightly

I have everything sorted for my DDs birthday I just need to get some wrapping paper to wrap her presents and I'm done. I'm still waiting on about 8 people to RSVP to her party which is very frustrating. Got a few good workouts in this week and have been eating well so feeling better within myself. No plans for the weekend so will probably do some batch cooking and get my meal prep done for next week!

DebtFreeDuo

Well done on the debt heading under the £20k mark!

I'm really struggling with uni, I have a test this week and 2 assignments due in next week and I haven't started either of them and have barely done any revision. I'm beginning to wonder if I should change my degree.

Good luck with DDs birthday, I hope it all goes smoothly.

Bythelight

Not much to report this week, I've checked my new debt total and it's currently at £20,286.11 and I have 3 more debt repayments to go out before the end of the month so I'm feeling pretty chuffed that this number will be under 20k by Christmas

That is heading in the right direction! In fact I think you have paid off 1% already. You only need to do this another 99 times before you are debt free.

Kitten868

Sounds like you're doing fantastic. It's just hard and there will be things that trip you up along the way and spend your money for you. You have to have a decent car. Cheap cars cost more in my experience. A lot of my debts have been for my old car, fixing this and that essential maintenance. Must have replaced everything on that car. £800 every other month and guzzling a tank of petrol twice a week my debt mounted.
Wilkinsons own Lego is great stuff.
I'm holding off Christmas shopping this year for black Friday. It's so odd. I'm normally done by now. Feels very odd.
Don't forget when little one goes to school you won't have child care fees as high anymore. Xxx

timetobefrugal

I really am terrible at updating this diary!

A little update before I get on with some actual work at work. Dd's birthday went really well, she really enjoyed her party with her friends and her day out with me and her dad. I thought I was really going to struggle this Christmas and didn't think I'd make it through without putting at least a few bits on a CC (I know, I know) however, I applied through my union for a learning grant they offer in association with the Open University and was awarded £200! I had an email yesterday to confirm that it’s all gone through and should be with me in the next few weeks. This has literally been my saving grace and means for the first time in years I will make it through Christmas without adding to my CC debt, that along with the money I have made ebay this month ! So I treated myself to a new work shirt and trousers from the tesco sale totalling £19. It does make me more determined to make sure I am prepared for next year so along with my other little saving goalds I am setting myself a £300 Christmas pot! It doesn’t help that I have 5 birthday’s in November, 3 in December, 3 in Jan and my sister’s 30th this Feb! I’m also due to have my hair done at the end of Jan/Feb (I haven’t had it done since beginning of Sept) so I feel like December and January’s pay are pretty much already spent. I should receive my £110 quidco cashback by 14th Jan so that hopefully that will cover birthday presents and then maybe I can get on with getting my emergency fund up.

Work is busy at the minute along with my uni work, awaiting my mark for my first assignment for this year, I’m always a little worried waiting for the first one because I’m never sure of how well I have done. I have my works festive do next week which I have budgeted £20 for and I’m meeting up with some friends the week leading to Christmas so again, have budgeted £20 for that but don’t think I will spend that much. I have already booked and paid to take my daughter to see santa so I don’t expect that to cost any more. I have her new Christmas pjs, a Christmas book and some chocolates ready for her Christmas Eve, she’s with her dad this year which means Christmas eve I’ll be sat sipping mulled wine watching Christmas movies on my own. She’ll be with him Christmas eve and Christmas day then with me Christmas night and boxing day, we alternative this each year but always open presents together with her Christmas morning.

Will wait until the end of December to see what my new debt total is, hopefully will be starting the new year under 20k as planned 

camz2017

I think you are doing amazing, I LOVE that you are doing batch cooking as that stops you ending up eating junk. I'm a huge supporter of batch cooking and eating well, along with working out, it just ensures you feel good about yourself, and more importantly end up looking good as well I think success comes from treating yourself well. Great job!

Also it must be really tough studying and working, are you working full time?! I did 20 hours a week whilst I studied economics, it was tough that's for sure, I can't imagine doing full time and uni!

Enjoy Christmas and the festive break, be sure to eat a lot of chocolate - I know I will eat a full tub of chocolate to myself, probably in one sitting