diary of strugglin working mum

BartGirl

Been to wholesalers and spent £35 - but its stuff that'll last me another 4-5 months - kitchen roll, bog roll, yoghurt, juice etc. Plus the kitch roll was on BOGOF.
Then popped into asda for a stock pot which has been reduced from £9 to £8.50 i'd seen it yesterday - slept on it then decided i'd get it..already used it too - since FIL came round for din-dins today.

Still heard nada on the SOA front tho...

fletch3163

Hi there

Haven't yet been brave enough to face my personal SOA so well done you for doing it. I want to make a small observation though.

You are behaving very like me in your new quest to be debt free. I too have been on a bit of a spree to get ready for saving money. I've bulk bought loo rolls, bought a slow cooker for those cheap meals, loads of tupperware dishes to batch cook and freeze, pie tins, casserole dishes, the lot! What is that? Why do we need all these tools to get started. Reminds me about the times I think about losing weight. I buy the video, the exercise mat, trainers, weights, pedometers. It's my downfall I'm sure.

Good luck.

lunar

Hi, just wanted to say well done for posting your SOA, it takes a lot to do, i know how scared i was to look at mine. you seem really motivated to turn things around. Good luck and keep posting, you will get loads of support on here.

BartGirl

Yeah but then again i was with my best mate who's also on a 'spend not save' diet - so we help each other to remain strict. We go halves on what we purchase too cos we both have small households.
She is the 1 who intro'd me to the wholesalers about 2 years ago - we now go regularly together..what i also failed to mention is that one of the BOGOF packs i sold for fullprice to my neighbour was that naughty ??
In return for taking her there, DS also gets a free haircut so it helped all around.
Its helped my budget tremendously - wholesalers..

BartGirl

I take it i'll be getting no help / advice / guidance re:my SOA then...??

Rikki

BartGirl wrote: »

I take it i'll be getting no help / advice / guidance re:my SOA then...??

Post it as a thread in its own right. It will get noticed by alot more people. Then advice will come flooding in then.

planbetter

Is there any way you can take food to work instead of buying it. Even say 20 pounds a month off your credit cards would make a big difference. Is Sky for your husband? A freeview box is much cheaper and has CBBC for kids and there's nearly always something good on somewhere for free. You sound well organised, I hope you keep it up and get the peace of mind you deserve

SarahNeedle1872

BartGirl wrote: »

:eek: OK guys....(deep breaths..)..here it comes..the good old SOA :eek:



Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,168.03
Partners salary - £1,200 which i see none of in anycase cos he pays rent £450 plus his own overdr, a £3,000 bank loan, 2 CCs,
CTC - £123.16
CB - £72.40
Total - £1363.59

Monthly Outgoings:

Childcare - £200 - can vary up and down by a tenner or so Is this registered childcare? Can u get any extra WTC/CTC to help pay for this?
Council Tax - £100 (pls see below)
Water - £ dunno - a bill arrived few days ago - need to check!
Electric - £35
Sky £36 This ought to go, u can get Freesat
Phone and broadbnd - £19
Cover for washer dryer - £5.81 Is this really needed?
AA cover - £15.60 (pls see below)
CC 1 Payment - £30
CC 2 payment - £39
CC 3 payment - £30
Dad - £36.84 What's this for? Can it stop for now?
mobile - £45.39 - can sometimes hit 50 / 60 Can u get a cheaper tarrif?
specsavers - 10 (see below)
car insurance - £31.09
provident loan - £50 - i know...How long left with this?
computer - £50 Is this a monthly repayment?
Food for home- £100 variable (see below)
Food at work - £35 Take ur own food to work, much cheaper
Petrol - £50 MAX

Total: £923.34

I'm in arrears with council tax and owe them £1,230.76 but they agreed £100 a month then increase next years amounts. This should be considered a priority debt, well done for dealing with already!

The AA may be going now cos i think my callouts have been all used up, and my banks doing an offer where i'd pay the same to upgrade my account, get free travel insur,RAC cover etc etc..should I ?? How much is the upgrade? Work out the pros and cons - are u really gonna use ALL the benefits offered?

I have 2 credit cards. Had 3 until this month!
1.Barcaycard - which i pay £30 monthly. Its with their 'collections' dept and its – Balance £306.51 APR 6.9%
2.Littlewoods card - paid last £39 this month so its cancelled now!!
3.Vanquis card - Balance £472.06 - the min on here is £23 but i give £30 Assuming this is a huge APR, this is the card u need to focus on and get rid of ASAP!

Specs - have decided to cancel cos realised much cheaper deals to be had elsewhere..

Food - i go to aldi, lidl and costco wholesalers. Also use asian shops, butchers and markets for fruit and veg..cheaper..

I usually send money back home as this is expected of me - and can amount to roughly £100 / month.

I've already spent £50 on a new car seat for DS but done thru quidco.
He needs a new bed, his cots broke, and also a new pushchair. Try your local Freecycle group, u'll be surprised how many people atill have things to give away. Also check out any local charity shops, or the small ads in the local papers - ur bound to get something half decent for a fraction of the cost! I know that right now I'm down to £300 left in my acc and not paid council tax yet or the vanquis CC either.We're from Africa and its our 'xmas' this weekend so i'm paying for thorpe park visit - about £30.

I'm also thinking of cancelling my CTC cos just got payrise at work and dont wanna end up owing them more money at end of tax year..so shall be calling them shortly..thats why i only get a small amount cos i'm paying back some. I wouldn't cancel it all together as its free money (not hassle free unfortunately!), but make sure u call them and let them know about ur payrise.

OK GUYS....hit me with it.....

aargh!!! :eek:

Just a few bits from me, not the most experienced at all this!
If u don't get much response, post ur SOA again as a new thread and more people will look at it

Sarah x

BartGirl

I hadnt updated this recently cos i had my SOA up as a separate post, and then my dilemma on another post.

In the meantime I've been striving for a 'DFW' lifestyle as much as poss.

My Sat didnt go as planned - cos OH cancelled thorpe park after I'd had an MSE morning of spending under a tenner in Asda on picnic-type foods plus nappies.Went to the market for a fivers worth of fruit - mangoes,grapes,pears and apples. Then popped into Aldi for £2 worth of extra snacks for the picnic that never was. But I shant delve into that, cos its all on the other thread anyway.I also ended up spending an extra tenner on a mate who was also ditched by her OH so we spent the day together with our same-age DS's.
Sun was a good MSE day - my 1st NSD !! :j went to friends kiddie party and found a box of treats from wholesalers that we'd not used really - so that was my contribution.

Mon was also a good MSE day. I'd decided to do the meal plan thingy. And altho I didnt do it properly, i made a mental note to concentrate on using what we've already got avail in the fridge before i start buying extras.So i defrosted some fish and on way home from work popped into Lidl for water,and tinned veg-which cost me all of £1.20ish..the water was about £1 but OH wont touch tap water so...

Tue was an even better-ish MSE day.OH enojoyed yesterdays meal so much that he agreed to eating the leftovers - which never ever happens around here..but he kindof indicated he was broke so couldnt offer to get take-away or bring other food to be cooked.Today i went into London with a friend and although she'd offered to pay my congestion charge,we managed to find a route to avoid using that,then she put £10 petrol in the car,and bought me lunch too.I spent about a fiver though,buying bread and sandwich fillers for tomorow at work cos OH had already eaten what i'd bought on Sat from asda :mad:

Wed started as an MSE day and more or less remained that way..i was gonna make sarnies for work, then discovered OH had used the last of the bread making his own. BUT i didnt let that stand in my way, and i packed all i needed to make the sarnie, and on the way in to work, bought a loaf for 80p! So still had the sarnies plus yoghurt, banana from home too. I did spend 30p on hula-hoops though..In the eve, I used the chicken that was meant for thorpe park, and all veg etc was used from yesterdays (disgusied) leftovers..once again OH was pleased with the outcome - another MSE meal success!
I also got the quarterly BT bill which was £33 and i was shocked - cos its usually in the region of £100 so i am over the moon with that!! Although the due date is 26th Oct i shant be able to settle till payday - but at least i'll be able to afford it!
Paid the Vanquis monthly payment today as well.

Today - Thurs: I've got a major challenge. I've got guests today and tomorrow so am intending to do major MSE meal planning.I think today I'll do big pot of stew and rice cos my friend had baby so shall take some to her too. OH can have that tonight as well. Tomorrow could use same rice but make alternative stew..shall think about it.. Am aiming to spend a fiver or £6, Shall update further !!!

BartGirl

Just been to shops.
Spent £2 in supermarket on bread,yoghurt and cream.
The went to butcher and got 2 small chickens and lamb chops for £4.
Then asian shop and got fresh parlsey and tomatoes for £1.

This'll cover 3 meals.
1. today= chickens for stew for 4 adults. all veg is already what i got at home, plus rice already got at home.Parsley for that too.
2. tomorrow= guests shall have chops with veg cooked from today.
3. sat=remaining chops with pasta,parsley and cream(and any remaining veg!)

So now i needn't worry about food until Sunday.

Did i mention OH's a carnivore?...