Time to take control

camz2017

Hope you feel better soon :D

Rest up and have some fruit, vitamins always help.

117pauline

Hi Migdgetgem82

Sorry to hear you aren't feeling well.

It's rather hard to see all your purchases when you categorise them, isn't it?

I have some musings which might help a little:

• make getting debt free your major challenge and try to lower your totals each month
• Christmas - have you bought all the presents and foods needed
• use google calendar to put in all the dates for upcoming end dates of any contracts
• emergency fund should be for the big stuff. Try to keep the different pots separate
• put away the budgeted money away immediately, not in your ordinary account
• where is your coffee fund on the Soa? Can you change to a cheaper drink or move to Wetherspoons for free refills.
• pay even £1 over the minimum at the very least - it will help your credit scores in the future. Pay the extra cash you make immediately into the accounts so it reduces the interest
• cash envelopes for each week. It might be easier to budget if you separate money into 4 or 5 weeks
• magazines - are you a member of a local library? Most have e-books and magazines available, mine has 170 magazines available, all free
• keep a record of your successes to encourage you when it gets even tougher

These are just some ideas I have noted whilst reading your diary.

I know surveys are boring but I have managed to fund all presents this year from them.

You are absolutely right to focus on the very account. It will make such a difference to you once it has been cleared.

Is this a budget you are hoping to start in December? It will be harder given the time of year but write down everything, if you can whilst you are doing it, on the day it happens.

Sorry if there are too many ideas here, just try a couple so you make them into habits.

I really hope some of them will help. Take care and keep posting
Pauline

Do you ever have takeaways? And does the child related expenses cover all the extras at school?

Midgetgem82

Hello Pauline
Thank you for taking the time to reply.
Becoming debt free is all im currently thinking about, i want the financial freedom and peace of mind that will come when the debts disappear.
Christmas is already all done, paid for and wrapped up. I save with Park throughout the year for this so i dont have to worry come christmas time.
Ive never used google calendar but ill definitely look at it to help keep track.
I plan to only use my emergency fund to replace things when they break down or for car emergencys
I have started to put all my budgeted money in different envelopes and only deal with cash apart from my bills which are all paid by direct debit.
Ive always paid slightly over minimum payments, rounding it up to the next £10 mark. so if its £6 i will pay £10 etc.
I will only buy magazines for the boys on rare occasions and as a treat. I myself had a subscription to national geographic gifted to me so i dont tend to buy magazines for myself. We dont have takeaways, we tend to make our own homemade versions.
i'm keeping up with this diary as a way to log all my successes but also as a way to see where i need to cut down and where i tend to slip up.
Like you say the surveys are boring but its nice watching the totals add up. I,m hoping these will help to make a dent in the present buying budget next year.
School trips and events arent currently budgeted for so i need to take a look at this and start a budget for this.
I have already made a start with this budget as my money went in on the 14th, I know ive chosen a difficult time to start but if i can stick to it over xmas then the rest of the year should be easier........i hope

Not a bad weekend after all. Ds 2 had a gymnastics competition yesterday so with entry and raffle tickets i spent £7.50 and today I picked up a £10 xmas tree from sainsburys but used money from the grocerie budget to cover that. The kids wanted a real tree and I told them no as it expensive. Ds 3 saw a small real one for £10 outside sainsburys so i said id compromise and get it for them.
Ive listed a few bits on fb this morning so hopefully that will drag in a few pennies

camz2017

If you have a real tree be sure to water it a lot - See here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeZk2IrvAOU

Also for 2018, definitely consider the usage of sites such as PARK, in the past a few have gone bust part way through the year and you are quite far down the list in terms of where money is allocated in the event one goes under. My aunt bless her, had no money at Christmas with one of these.

You might want to consider a bog standard saving account with another bank to your usual one (ie isolating the money to somewhere else) where the funds are guaranteed protection.

Great job as always

Midgetgem82

Afternnon Camz
It is something that plays on my mind but im not sure i could be strict enough to leave the money alone if it was in a savings account thats why ive used park for the last 5 years. something to think long and hard about i guess.

Thanks

camz2017

Makes sense, a good write up on this wonderful forum:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/christmas-savings-clubs

Hope you have a great day ahead, I’m working from home and have a presentation to client at 3pm, I fully intend on signing off at 4PM after the webex :D:D

Midgetgem82

Thanks for the link, an interesting read and has made me think about how to save for next years xmas.
I'm going to look at other ways of saving and pushing myself at becoming more responsible with money as if i don't save i'll really struggle next year for xmas

camz2017

I am sure better to use Park and likely have something, than have nothing Without the self control, it's not a bad risk to take necessarily.

But absolutely, it could help get you even more on track for saving and budgeting

Midgetgem82

Currently still undecided about Park, did have a thought that i could buy a voucher every month instead of paying into park.......hhhmmmmmm

Today ive done a grocery shop £45.26
Filled the car with fuel £40.59 the remaining weeks fuel budget £9.31 was put towards VERY
I've had 2 FB sales so £15 in the savings pot also downloaded we buy any books so will look at that later and see if its worth getting rid of my books via them.

DS1 is really trying my patience this afternoon, must find a cheap thing to do to help me relax

DebtFreeDuo

Buying a voucher each month is a good idea, just make sure to check expiry dates as some only last a year so if you don't use it at Christmas then you could lose it. What about opening an account that you can only access in branch? My DS has a regular saver with a pretty good interest rate, pay over up to £100 per month and once the 12 months are up it gets transferred over, I don't think you can access it until the 12 months are up but that might also be something to consider, this way you're earning interest too.