Dreaming of being a budget queen!!!

Lacherlich

Hi!


Just had a read through your thread -you sound like me! Trying to juggle paying off a mountain of debt whilst still maintaining a busy social life haha. Then on top of that already thinking longer term once the debt has gone!


Im trying to pay off £25k of debt - (2k down so far!) - whilst thinking more long term to buy somewhere else (so c. £20k needed for another deposit?) Its a lot to do! But we can do it! I think my biggest challenge is changing my mind set - and reigning in my spending. I'm always surprised when I have no money left at the end of the month after thinking I was being disciplined - but it quickly adds up so you have to watch every £!


Looking forward to my holiday to Amsterdam - and like you I am not planning to go over my budget. I don't know why I cant just say I WONT go over it?! That's the mind set I have! But trying to change it. Then I have another holiday in November - just a long weekend (again more £££). But this was all booked before my brainwave so going forward hoping I can be more strict! Its only for a year?! It'll fly by!

littlemissbudgetqueen

Lacherlich - You are right we do sound similar! I like to have goals so I am constantly planning two years ahead whilst also trying to make sure that I stick to the budgeting goals that I have for the immediate future.

We are the same - within a couple of years we would like to be buying our "forever house" but that will require a good amount for a deposit. I think because we are managing to pay off decent chunks from our debt each month it can be hard to resist the additional spending that so easily crops up. I am trying to be more disciplined but even last night ended up with an online purchase that wasn't necessary :shhh:

You will really love Amsterdam - when is it you head away? We also have a long weekend in November - I feel like we are living the same life! We are renting a house with a group of people which I'm hoping will keep costs down and hopefully we will eat in for at least part of the trip. We have a big holiday in January but I do have a separate budget for it and hopefully DH will get a bonus in December (at the moment I haven't included it in my budget) which will be a massive help.

Good luck with everything - I'll subscribe to your diary and cheer you along :T

littlemissbudgetqueen

I have decided to start posting according to the weeks/days as it will help in the long run to look back at my progress (hopefully).

Another DD went out today for my study loan (£252 - although some interest has been added) as well as mortgage (£388) and I also paid off a small amount towards the Argos card (£20.00). The final payment for my car is due out in the next few days and I will officially own my car!!! That will be a great saving each month as I pay £300 per month for it. :j

Debt as at today: Car Loan: £312/£14,000, Credit Cards: £5252.00 / £5154.49 Prof. Study Loan: £5642.16/ £8660.00, Argos Card: £312.95/£372.95, Mortgage: £66,277.00 (approx.) /House value £125,000.00
Goals for Sept 2019: £350.00/£20,000 Savings and Debt Free (apart from Mortgage)!!!
LISA: £150.00 NS&I: £200.00

I went grocery shopping yesterday and have my meals all planned for the working week ahead as well as all food bought to make lunches for work:
Monday - Teriyaki Salmon with noodles
Tuesday - Babysitting and will get food there- DH will have to fend for himself
Wednesday - Beef Stroganoff
Thursday - Chicken with chorizo and mozzarella
Friday - Have to start attending classes again so will make soup to heat up at work

GOAL: I will be strict and not buy any extra groceries between now and Saturday!

DH has been having trouble with his car and has managed to source second hand parts to keep costs down - proud of him for doing this - usually he would just go straight away and buy new. I think the total will be £50.00 which is a lot better than I had been anticipating.

I'm hoping to get to travel a bit more for work which will bring in some travel expenses which I will divide between paying off credit cards/Christmas savings/and putting more diesel into my car.

Only 23 days until payday - I can do this......

littlemissbudgetqueen

So Monday didn't go quite as planned - I had my meal plan all organised but then DH returned home with a takeaway! At least it came out of his personal budget

Tuesday: I got a message to say that I wasn't needed for babysitting. I ended up staying late for work and wasn't home until 8.30pm. DH suggested that we go out for dinner but I was strong and told him that I had bought the groceries already for the week and if I had known he wanted to go for dinner tonight we definitely wouldn't have got a takeaway last night. I ended up making my salmon - we weren't eating until after 9.00pm but I did feel good knowing that I hadn't taken the easy option.

I have been good budget wise so far but I think we are going to have to buy new scales. We got them almost 8 years ago and I think they might be broke. Well - I'm hoping they are. In the past week I have apparently put on 5lb. I am wanting to lose 30lb before I'm 30 next year - haven't really started yet but this week I did watch what I was eating and have exercised slightly more than usual. I definitely wasn't overly strict but I really cant see how I could've gained 5lb. I will use this diary to try to keep myself accountable - I really don't want time to slip by and then realise I haven't even achieved any weight loss.


I have a friend coming over tonight so will head home after work and make my Beef Stroganoff and then get a catch up with her.

littlemissbudgetqueen

It's hard to believe that I have almost had this diary for 4 weeks! I feel that I am more aware of my spending - even the fact that I feel I have to come and put it into this diary makes me more conscious.

I have planned a trip away with my mum and sister which isn't until March next year. We booked the accommodation and flights today - this will all be paid for out of my personal budget which I get every month. At the moment it has been added to the credit card and I will pay this off over time. The card is 0% so I know at least it won't be incurring any interest. We are staying in an apartment so the accommodation is working out around £100 per person and the flights were £115 then it will just be personal spending money whilst I am over there. My sister and I will also be doing a half marathon whilst we are there which is around £25 each. I really need to get myself in gear and start training again - I did a marathon 3 years ago and have ran a few half marathons but I haven't ran now in about 3 months - booking this trip will hopefully motivate me to get training again as I do really enjoy it but I find it so easy to get out of the routine.

Today I have transferred some money towards the credit cards - it wasn't much but I know that every little helps. I transferred £5.00 from my personal spending towards the holiday payment - just so I feel that I have already helped the amount decrease. My mum and sister owe me some money for the flights which I paid for and I will also be covering most of my sisters which will be her Christmas and Birthday presents from us.

From our grocery and extra allowances I have skimmed some money and transferred £15.00 towards the credit card and then I looked up our phone bills which worked out £8.00 less than I had budgeted so that has automatically gone to the credit card. Hopefully this method will help to reduce the amount owed without even realising. Before I would've just seen it as extra money to treat ourselves.

I will update my signature once the car payment for this month has gone out - really looking forward to seeing that decrease to zero! :j

littlemissbudgetqueen

The car payment went out today :j So happy knowing that we now own both our cars outright!

The weekend was really busy, didn't really get a chance to sit down but we also stuck to budget (mostly ) - DH has no pairs of jeans so I went and collected a pair on Sunday. They were ordered online on Next so just waiting for that to come on the Next statement and then I will pay off straightaway.

I had class on Saturday so I will get travel money from work and also money to cover my lunches - this will be split to cover the petrol cost and then to pay off debts. DH fixed his car whilst I was at class - the parts cost £50.00 as budgeted - thankfully that seems to have resolved the issues.

We went out for dinner on Sunday night - my brother treated us as I am helping him to plan for a trip he has booked. He is backpacking around Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - all countries that DH and I visited when we took a year out to go backpacking. Feeling slightly jealous that he is getting to head away - I absolutely loved our year travelling and really enjoy the planning aspect as well.

Back to work today - feeling so tired and this is just the first weekend that I have been back to class I was going through our budget on my lunch break and noticed that I had budgeted twice for my car insurance so I have allocated that £40.00 towards different debts :T It makes me feel like we are making progress - albeit the payments are quite small at times but I know it will all add up.

littlemissbudgetqueen

Just a quick update - I had budgeted to pay the quarterly TV licence this month and realised it will acutally go out next month. Extra £35 for debts payment - have split it out towards credit cards and the Argos card

littlemissbudgetqueen

Today I was helping out at a careers fair for work - I was on my feet all day and actually feel so tired from speaking to people all day. Hopefully we will get some interest in new graduates - the office hasn't really advertised job openings previously and I think the lack of applications last year really made them focus this year on attending careers fairs and trying to advertise properly. I think we managed to interest a few at least so it will be interesting to see when the applications start coming in.

I had to stop off and get petrol on the way home as DH isn't completely sure that he did fix the issue with his car - or if he did he thinks he has created a new one! :doh: The car is going to have to go to the mechanic next week so for now I am driving him to work and collecting him again which is quite sore on my fuel allowance, I'm going to use the money that I get from attending class this Saturday to cover it. I also bought some items that were necessary i.e. cat litter and cat food but managed not to do my usual and buy a takeaway coffee at the same time.

I have sat down and prepared a running schedule - I am one of those people who love having everything written down in lists as it makes me feel a lot more organised. Half marathon isn't until 10 March so I have plenty of time but think it is best to get going now as it is also going to be my method for losing weight. I lost weight previously for our wedding and know I just have to watch what I eat and get exercising. I have set a goal for myself as mentioned previously that I want to lose at least 30lb before I'm 30. That may have increased now if the scales are correct and I actually did gain 5lb in the last couple of weeks - actually have no idea how ive managed that. I've put off buying the scales for now as I think I might try to weigh myself in town at the chemist to see if my scales are faulty or if it's just wishful thinking - no point in spending money on new scales if they really aren't needed.

I did spend some money last night after I got home from work but this was for hair serum which is much needed otherwise my hair becomes a frizzy mess. I have really curly hair so it does need something to help tame it. I also bought a pair of trousers for work and a skirt - I have started to notice that my work clothes are down to about 3 different outfits and the fact I am aware of it is making me feel more self conscious when I'm at work that I'm not quite looking the part. I have only been there a year so want to make sure I am making the best impression for any future opportunities that may arise.

Have to go now and collect DH - making burgers and sweet potato for dinner and have actually figured out that I have got enough in the fridge for dinner until Sunday - yayyy!

littlemissbudgetqueen

The weekend went by in a flash thanks to my Friday evening and Saturday classes. I wasn't home on Saturday until almost 4.00pm and at that point I wasn't really fit for anything. This meant that my Sunday was a mad dash getting everything organised for the week ahead. I cleaned the house and sorted out the outside area. Then I went into town and returned the jeans that I had ordered for DH - I also had others reserved to collect but I told them just to return them immediately and I wouldn't even take them home. :money: DH had said before I left the house that I should bring him back the others to try on as he would like more than one good pair of jeans but I said no - I wouldn't mind if his jeans were maybe £30 each but he is so fussy with fit and he actually has funny proportions so his jeans always have to be quite expensive brands. We then went a walk to the beach which was really lovely and then visited DHs parents.

At this point everything started going downhill - he mentioned that he thinks he will need to get a new car as his is having lots of electrical faults. Definitely not something that had been planned for but he thinks it is getting to the stage where it just isn't overly safe to be driving. He has said he will keep it until the MOT is due to run out which is next May so I have now sat this morning altering our budget (I have an excel spreadsheet for the next two years) so that we can get the car in and around May - or even have enough for a deposit and then will have to look at finance options. It wont be a new car that he is getting but I think it will need to be fairly decent - this last one was £1000 but it has just had so many issues and we are just spending money on it on a monthly basis.

In the car on the way home I asked DH why he had never told me about needing a new car and he said its because I always say no. This actually got me annoyed as I feel I am always making sure that he gets the things he wants and I end up sacrificing. He then got a bit grumpy with me for the rest of the journey. Then when we got home he started saying he wants to move house now - the plan is that we will save for the next two years and then buy our forever home. We have quite a lot of equity in this house so we had thought we would try to keep this as a rental property/future investment. He started saying we should just move now but he doesn't seem to realise that moving is costly - solicitors fees/estate agents fees/stamp duty and I really want us to be in a position where we have savings of at least £20,000 so that we are in a strong position rather than having this credit card debt. He has come around to my way of thinking but has told me that he isn't happy about it - but he will go along with my plan. This will have to do. :wall: I know that our original two year plan makes sense in terms of being financially stable and realistically if I had thought moving was being considered I wouldn't have been as keen to buy do the campervan conversion and book such a big holiday.

I'm really looking forward to payday - only 9 more days! I have to keep an eye over the next week as I'm going away with work for a few days and then DH goes away. We will both have to pay for things with work and then claim back the money so I need to keep all my receipts and more importantly DH will have to keep his. He isn't great at this and can easily miss out on £50 just by forgetting to keep receipts. :mad:

littlemissbudgetqueen

Heading away today with work for two days so I am all packed up and getting ready to leave. DH and I sat down last night and chatted about our plan to have the forever house by Sept 2019. He is really keen to move before that and to be fair to him I know that he really only moved to the current house we are in to keep me happy. We have agreed to do what we can to bust the debt and save on a stricter level. The new goal is to get to £20,000 savings and then also have the LISA money on top of it which should hopefully be £2000. The aim is still to keep this house as a rental property.


We have decided after this big holiday in January we wont go on any other biggies until we move to the new house. Within my budget I had anticipated around £3000 for another holiday before we moved so that will just be forgotten about and added to savings. So there it is....new goal is to save £20,000 in as little time as possible....wish me luck