Getting back on the MFW Wagon

Needhelpsaving

Needhelpsaving wrote: »

Finalised 2018 Targets;

- Get Mortgage down to £65,000 (as per MFiT Target) by 31/12/18

- Get Savings Up to £5,000 by 01/06/18 DONE - REVISED TARGET IS TO GET TO £10K by 01/06/18

- Cashflow trip to sisters wedding (we are anticipating £400 including travel down south and hotel rooms for 2 nights) by 01/06/18 - DONE

- Cashflow blinds and kitchen table for kitchen (£1000) by 31/12/18

- Cashflow re-painting hall, stairs/landing (just a couple of tins of paint) -£75 by 01/09/18

- Cashflow redecoration of living room (inc new carpet) - £1000 by 31/12/18

-DONE FOR APPROX £450 INC NEW CARPET AND UNDERLAY + FRAMES FOR A PHOTO WALL[/B]



As part of getting the finances up to date, I wanted to revisit our progress with our targets for 2018.

We are ahead with our progress at the minute, so we may need to think about what else we can do to push ourselves more before the end of the year to exceed these original targets. This will require some further thought.

Bank accounts & CC have been checked and we have gone over-budget this month. I have moved some money about to cover it with child benefit savings to keep us out of the negative. Not great, but a manageable situation that has come from the early arrival of our beautiful DD2

Needhelpsaving

Quick Payday update;

- Savings account bumped up to £8050/£10,000

- £650 sent to mortgage as an OP as we wanted to hit the £67k range this month.

- £5 Amazon Voucher claimed from SB

We are currently exploring the idea of selling some of OH's free shares from work, but need to investigate this further to see whether there is any value in doing this now or waiting. We haven't cashed many in over the years, so its worth some consideration.

Needhelpsaving

Today has been a bit of a balancing act between having some spends, but using deals and coupons to reduce the cost of items.

1. I had my free eyetest from Boots today - Should have been £25 according to their website. I will need some new glasses as some point, but refused to pay the prices quoted on some of their frames - the most expensive was £350 . . . without any cost for lenses!!!! :eek:

2. I used a tonne of coupons from the Boots parenting club to get some baby stuff pretty cheaply. This included a free dummy and matching clip :T We bought DD2 a dress for my sisters wedding with 25% off and we chose something that was pretty and smart, but could be worn again as part of her normal wardrobe. I will ask MIL if she can knit a new matnee coat to wear with it in case it is chilly

3. I have used Amazon vouchers to buy a new set of kitchen scales, a mirror thing that attaches to the car seat so I can see DD2 when out in the car and some soy wax and wicks for candles. I have approx 4 candles where the wick has finished, but has still got loads of wax in the pot as only the middle has burned. I will also re-purpose two of the glass pots to make lavender scented candles to put by for teachers gifts at the end of the year - I found a lovely poem about teachers lighting the way for children that I thought would be lovely to put with them. I have a stash of gift bags that can be re-purposed, so will only need a couple of cards come the end of the year, unless I come across any suitable ones in the cupboard


Need to menu plan for next week so that I can go grocery shopping tomorrow.

Needhelpsaving

Some spends again today;

- Just shy of £50 was spent on grocery shop for the week to make enough meals/snacks for the next 7 days.

- £35 spent on taking in-laws for lunch to thank them for helping us with DD1 when DD2 made an early arrival. We will do the same for my parents, as while this isn't very MSE, they helped us out loads and have been incredibly generous so we wanted to show our appreciation - money well spent in my book (and not something we do everyday).

No other money has been spent today. I did go to the library and picked up some books to read whilst I am feeding DD2 (but without any money being spent) :money:

I am halfway to another £3 voucher on SB, so will try to reach the payout threshold over the weekend :cool:

Needhelpsaving

Good Morning.

Just checking in to keep me on track - NSD yesterday and the same again today. We have struck to the meal plan and need to continue in this vain for the remainder of the week.

I am looking forward to getting into a bit more of a routine this week.

Needhelpsaving

Today was not an NSD - I bought 200 dishwasher tablets from Groupon They came in at around £25 (they are my preferred brand, I usually downshift in everything else but didn't have much success with DW tablets).

This has been the only spend today and this quantity will last us until at least the end of 2018.

There are no further spends anticipated until the end of the week when the grocery shop is due to be done.

I'm around 30 points off another £3 voucher from SB, so will persevere with this tomorrow

Needhelpsaving

Been MIA for a few days - just needed some time away from screens etc

This week has seen some general spends - the main ones being grocery shopping, a birthday gift and stamps. Where possible, I did use discount codes/cashback sites to minimize spends.

The one thing I had noticed were some small spends that kept creeping in, but all added up in the end. These were drinks when out and about and DD1 asking for sweets on the way home from school. To manage this better, I invested £2.50 in a water bottle that I now put on the pram when i'm out and about + have bought multi-pack sweets in grocery shop for DD1 - they are smaller packets too, so I am reducing her sugar intake as well as helping the purse.

OH has gone to the butchers for the meat this morning and that's it for the meal plan this week We have stuck to eating out of the stores/off plan this week and will continue with this next week :T

The main spend of the week, which is a one off, is the hotel bookings for my sisters wedding (down south). We have booked 2 nights accommodation - 1 of which is part way to the venue as it is quite a distance to travel with LO's, so we have broken the travel into two parts with an overnight stay in between. This has been covered by the money I put aside at the start of the year.

I did (belatedly) hit the £3 amazon voucher threshold on SB and have requested a payout to keep the account topping up. We also received £7 of vouchers from our M&S CC, this will be put aside in preparation for clothing replacements for DD1 (I have no idea what she does with her socks to get them so dirty and stained :eek:)

Right, off to enjoy the sunshine

earthgirl

Sounds great and very organised in what was for me a very manic period of my life!

Like the way you have analysed spends and come up with a cheap solution..

Needhelpsaving

NSD today - just enjoying the sunshine

Some spends on Saturday at the Butchers.

I have made a start with some decluttering to make room for all of the new baby stuff that's come into the house - I don't function well when i'm surrounded by clutter/mess

I have cleaned out the 2 cupboards in the kitchen (under sink and one with medicines/birthday cards and home decor items). I got all crafty and made some new candles using the remnants of old candles and the original glass pots - I added some new wax and a new wick to make them into full candles again and am quite pleased with the outcome :money:

This afternoon, I want to get the ironing up to date, write thank you cards and re-pot two trees that I had for my birthday (getting jobs ticked off before OH goes back to work on Tuesday).

Needhelpsaving

Just popping in with an update to keep me on track.

The declutter remains on track - I have sorted DD1 craft cupboard :eek: - enough said.

I have a bag for the charity shop and a bag of clothing to be recycled.

Yesterday was a little spendy - £3 bus fare to get to midwife, £20ish at Asda (10 pairs new socks for DD1, a new bath mat, some bread and 2 cups of tea in the Asda cafe whilst feeding DD2).

Today will be an NSD, with the focus being; decluttering, finding ebayable items and keeping the house ticking along.