Oops I did it again, I played with my cards!

Hiddenidenity

Hope everythings going well Emmie x

emmie26

Things are going good thanks Hidden.
I am slogging through my first assignment which is due in next Friday - although I'm not feeling that confident about it at the moment although I have got Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to get it finished so hopefully it will turnout ok.


I have been trying to stay on top of money and slowly slogging away. I haven't done an update as to be honest I just haven't had time, but I'm pretty sure that I have paid off at least £750 this month. The only problem is that my savings have taken a massive hit this month with having to completely do the bathroom. I'm hoping it comes in under £1600, I have spent £1200 on the bathroom, radiator and the tiles so just hope the plumber comes in under £400.
I have managed to save £500 towards Christmas and hope that on payday I will have another £600 which should pay for everyone's pressies and the big food shop and then in the new year I will have to work on building up the savings pot again.


Sorry its only a quick update and I haven't had chance to look at anybody else's diary but as soon as my assignment is completed and handed in I will get back into the forum.

emmie26

Oh my goodness it is so long since I did an update!


I was in the middle of doing the bathroom when I last wrote and hadn't even started Christmas shopping. I think I just got a bit snowed under and something had to give, which was the forums. I do find that it takes up a big chunk of time, not only trying to update my own diary but also to keep up with everyone else's and repay the support that I am given. I am going to try and update, I just don't think I am going to be very good at looking at other peoples and may not update every day.


Just to recap, the bathroom did impact our savings, but not as much as I thought it would, I now have £850 in our emergency saving account, down from £1700. I spent more than £1000 on the bathroom but it came out of our 'extra' money each month so I didn't have to take as much out.
At Christmas I tried to keep to the budget but realistically I went over quite significantly, I just go a bit nuts at Christmas and try and keep up with everyone's expectations, but I spent way less than in previous years, so small victories.


I am trying hard to keep budgets and am really focused on clearing all but the car loan before Christmas. I will do an update on debt in a minute when I have all the figures to hand, but I think it is quite realistic to think that I can shift a significant amount of the debt this year.


The main areas that I think will make the biggest impact this year is:


1 - Groceries - Mr Emmie is on board with us really reducing our meat intake to reduce the bills and I have been making lots of foods from scratch. Three real successes have been a lentil and bean chilli, some made from scratch and frozen pizzas and some chicken goujons. I am trying to watch food tube most days to source some inspiration.


2 - Holidays - I have £3000 budgeted for holidays - this year we are not going to go abroad and are going to go away in a caravan in this country instead, so I am hoping that we don't spend anywhere near our budget and this can go on debt.


Right I am off to do some calculating and will get back to you ASAP with an update.


Oh, by the way I got an A in my first assignment

emmie26

Well it's been a little delayed, but here is the debt update.

Car Loan[STRIKE] £15,244.40[/STRIKE] £11,930
Credit card 1:[STRIKE] £4,625[/STRIKE]. £3,125
Credit Card 2: [STRIKE]£2,700[/STRIKE] £1,200
Credit card 3: [STRIKE]£694.79[/STRIKE] £197
Kitchen loan [STRIKE]£1,091[/STRIKE] £0 :T

Debt Reduced by £7907

32% Debt Reduction since May 2017

Cherryfudge

Great debt reduction, and well done on the A!

Don't forget the Old Style board right here on MSE. It's great for cheap recipes.

WannabeFree

So happy to see you back Emmie

Sounds like you've been making Fab progress

(Hidden)

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emmie26

Well in the interests of staying on the straight and narrow, I am trying to post a little more often.

I have been keeping a close eye on the pennies even in my absence from the forums, mainly in my new bullet journal which I had for Christmas and am obsessed with. I have drawn myself a line graph with all my debts on and I am loving watching those lines go down and so are the children.

I've had a bit of a rethink on my approach to debt busting this year. Last year I was really trying to use the saving pots, which were great, but had two downsides:

1. I never kept the right amount in each pot and some of the pots were in massive minus figures all the time, because big expenses came up early on which meant borrowing from other pots. In the end I didn't know what was supposed to be in what pot!
2. Having money in my saving account made me feel flush and I didn't perhaps watch the pennies as closely as I could have because I had the money sitting there.

For these reasons I am going to try and do things a bit different and try and budget at the beginning of the month for what I know is coming up that month, I'll still allocate £608 to this, to include all the categories from last year, car mainteence, Christmas, holidays etc. But then if that month I don't need to spend the whole £608 I am going to try and throw as much as possible at the credit cards. They are now at a level where I feel I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I am hoping that by the end of the year they are long gone, fingers crossed.

If unexpected expenses come up, I still have my emergency savings fund which has £850 in.

I am also trying to do a daily spend log and at the end of the month I am going to write on here what I have spent, item by item, as I'm hoping to see areas where I can maybe cut back, as I am really shocked by how much I am spending now I can see it written down.

Right then, I am off to do a bit more work and then a bit of housework as I am determined to get all my jobs done before the weekend this week.

emmie26

Hidden, Ive been wondering where your thread went to, I thought you had left!!

Cherry fudge thanks, I must have been typing when you replied so I didnt see your reply. I am hoping to stay consistent for a while, it keeps me honest haha. I must try the old style boards for some recipes, I am like a woman on a mission with my cheap meals

emmie26

Well flippin heck! keeping a written log of what I am spending money on is an absolute eye opener. In the interests of being honest and because I'm scared the list is going to be so long by the end of the month that it will take ages to type, here is what I have spent so far this month:

Tesco - £20.93
Dentist - £20.60
Milkshakes - £10.00 (this was for 2 :eek:)
Work lunch meeting - £8.00
Hairdresser - £50.00
Annual work lottery - £12
Petrol - £38
Toiletries and make up - £13
Scout camp - £60 - both children going
Kids toiletries and sweets - £13 (they were both going on school residentials for the week)
Retirement collection - £2.50 (I felt very stingy only putting this in)
Parking - £1
Parking - £6 (work related I'll get this back - fingers crossed)
McDonald's - £16
Tesco - £11

Some of these like petrol and hairdresser are in the budget but some are definitely not, one expense that keeps cropping up is small trips to tesco, two of those were for toiletries and 2 food and they should come out of the grocery budget but my hubby has decided that the best way of keeping track of spending rather than cash is to use one of his credit cards and then pay it off in full at the end of each month, however this seems only to be effective for him as I never have the blimmin card when I need it.

In total none budgeted spending so far this month is £173.43 :eek: I must do better

WannabeFree

It is scary when you write everything down isn't it!

My diary was deleted

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