Mrs S, family life and debt

debtaghh

Sounds like you're having a lovely time. How long are you away for?

MrsSave

debtaghh wrote: »

Sounds like you're having a lovely time. How long are you away for?

Thank you, we are. We are going home tomorrow

MrsSave

Ds2 is super tired today, so I brought him back to our lodge around 11 for him to have a sleep. He is still fast asleep and I've had lots of quiet time, and spent a lot of it reading diaries here and thinking of my own financial situation.

I am debt free, but not managing to save each month and generally still over spend. I'm trying to eat far better, but this does increase the cost. I am buying too much though and end up freezing/throwing far too much. That's definitely one area I need to evaluate. I've also been spending too much on the boys and on clothes for me. I'm losing weight so do need a few new bits from time to time, but there are more wants than needs creeping in. The boys clothes I mainly buy from the supermarkets.

It's definitely the general Spends, food and personal money spends I need to work on. Going to have a good look at my budget to see if savings can be made elsewhere or what my options are.

MrsSave

We're off home today Swimming first (after I drag myself out of bed, make breakfast and pack everything up :eek: ) and then we'll be eating lunch and dinner out. We do have around £150 of our holiday budget left so will have some left over at the end (unless we go totally overboard!!). That will head to the 'Legoland' break category in August. We've decided to totally splash out and pay for the VIP bits which will mean no queuing as I'm guessing August will be super busy there and have been warned hours can be spent standing!!!

We will need to stop for bread, milk and a little fruit on the way home but will make do with what we have in the house otherwise to last until Monday.

Right, I really do need to get moving!!!

MrsSave

We're home and I'm now tucked up in bed working through YNAB and doing other financial bits. I've been making a plan to start from now. I have decided that:

• I will overpay the mortgage by a minimum of £20 a month. It may be 'only' £20 but that would shave 11 months off the mortgage, and save almost £1,000 in interest,
• I will try my hardest to stick to a food budget of £50 per week for the main shop and £10 per week for the top up. That means a 4 week month will be £240,
• I will complete my own version of the 'save a penny a day' challenge. As we're almost half way through the year already I will stick to the odd numbers! I'll do this by skimming the accounts on a Sunday and ticking 7 boxes from my sheet which add up to that amount (I know, sounds complicated.....it's not!!). I did a mini skim whilst away for £2.39, and have already worked out this weekend's skim, which will be £13.22. The aim is to be done by November 5th with £334.89 put to one side. I'm going to show this on YNAB as money taken out, and putting the money in an unused account so that I'll be less tempted to dip in if I want something. Not sure what I'll do with this money yet, but it will be just before Christmas, and it's ds2's birthday in December so will come in very handy.
• Try and make extra money each month. All extra money will be split between the following (once the £20 mortgage overpayment has been reached).......50% towards the mortgage overpayment, 20% towards saving for a new shed, 10% towards saving for a new iPad, 10% towards my emergency fund (already have some here so will be building up to a 6 month cushion eventually) and 10% towards our spending money.

I'm hoping that by putting all this in place I will be able to see the savings accounts increase a little, and will feel motivated to try and earn the extra bits.

My jobs for this weekend are.....

• Reconcile YNAB on the laptop. I haven't done this for ages!!
• Cancel breakdown cover from renewal date,
• Find new breakdown cover. Pay it in full, and then put money aside each month for next year. Hopefully find a cashback deal for it,
• Input gas and electricity readings to the App,
• Pay next bill in full,
• Sort weekly accounts skim,
• Transfer all money spent from the holiday pot to the current account (this is where the money sits waiting to pay off the credit card),
• Only buy milk and fruit at the supermarket tomorrow (didn't pick them up on the way home). No other spends needed - will be doing a full shop (for under £50) on Monday.
• Sort all the laundry that is sitting in a suitcase by the washing machine from our holiday,
• Weigh so I know what I've gained on holiday, and start working to lose it again!!

I think that's enough to keep me going :rotfl:

MrsSave

Today has been relatively successful. I've almost finished my weekend list. The third load of washing is in the machine, there should only be one more to do until I reach the end of the holiday wash!

My jobs for this weekend are.....
1. Reconcile YNAB on the laptop. I haven't done this for ages!! Done. Figured there was no time like the present, and as I'd been keeping it up to date on the app it was all correct!
2. Cancel breakdown cover from renewal date, Done.
Find new breakdown cover. Pay it in full, and then put money aside each month for next year. Hopefully find a cashback deal for it, Done. £38.99 for the year and should be receiving £11 cashback!
3. Input gas and electricity readings to the App, Done.
4. Pay next bill in full, Done.
5. Sort weekly accounts skim, Done. £13.23 transferred
6. Transfer all money spent from the holiday pot to the current account (this is where the money sits waiting to pay off the credit card), Done. The holiday pot is looking rather empty now!
7. Only buy milk and fruit at the supermarket tomorrow (didn't pick them up on the way home). No other spends needed - will be doing a full shop (for under £50) on Monday.Done. Well, kind of. I decided to do the big shop today instead of Monday. It did come to £53.16 which is over the £50 budget, but I needed toilet paper, nappies, bin bags and washing tablets today so that quickly added up. I also bought frozen fish instead of fresh which in theory is cheaper but was on offer so spent more but have lots more than I was going to buy. I'll take the £3.16 from the top up shop so will need to be careful mid week!
8. Sort all the laundry that is sitting in a suitcase by the washing machine from our holiday,
9. Weigh so I know what I've gained on holiday, and start working to lose it again!! Done. It's a 5lb gain, but I feel so bloated that a couple of those pounds should drop off as soon as I'm eating normally again so will just work on the rest!

MrsSave

As my goals and struggles have changed (I'm now struggling with budgeting and making sure I don't go back into debt) I have decided to start a new diary. Here is the link if anyone fancies a read/subscribing:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5844966/mrs-s-life-after-debt