Mrs S.....life after debt

MrsSave

Camping success!! We picked up a box of teabags on the way (I don't drink tea - Mr S does and forgot to pack any!) which was just over £1, bought some eggs on the campsite (another £1), and paid for camping (£13). That was it with camping costs. I made the crumble before going, but there wasn't enough fruit really so I threw in some raspberries. It was lovely!! Ds1 said twice after eating it how nice it was :j

We've booked to go again next weekend (but will be a whole £ cheaper as we've booked direct). I'll pick up a few food bits for dinner (salad, sausages, burger, rolls, packet rice - Aldi 25p golden rice is fab), some snack bits (tortilla chips and raspberries), milk, something for breakfast, a bottle of wine and a couple of can of beer towards the end of the week (budgeting £12 so that the whole trip will cost no more than £25).

July 1st today so we've started a fresh financial month. I need to be keep so much more on top of things this month. I need to take ds2 to measure his feet, I need 2 birthday presents this week, food shop, petrol and camping bits. Other than that (which is a lot!!!) I am aiming for no more Spends this week.

MrsSave

Monday morning, July 2nd and I'm ready to start a new financial week and month. I have my usual 2 days off now (won't have them next week, I'm working all week :eek: ). Saying I'm ready to start a new week isn't quite accurate though. I wouldn't have minded another hour or so sleep, but ds2 does this thing where he cries and whinges in his sleep, just long enough for me to be fully awake, and then goes back to sleep. Monkey :rotfl:

July's financial goals

• Stick to food budget of £45 per week and £5 top up,
• Take £20 cash out each week and that's our 'entertainment' or free spends for the month. Stick to it!
• Overpay mortgage by £20 (almost succeeded in June, but then things got so tight I moved the money elsewhere!),
• £80 petrol budget,
• 12 nsds. I have no idea how many I usually have, I don't count them, but decided I should start looking at this,
• £20 extra money made to go into Christmas pot (a little short from where I should be at the beginning of July),
• £30 extra money made for meal out with Mr S (it's our wedding Anniversary this month. If we both contribute £30 we should get a nice meal and a couple of drinks for £60),
• £20 extra money made for general savings.

That's a target of £90 extra money made in July. I think I need to find some bits to sell :rotfl:

This week's to do list

• Food shop of under £45,
• £5 top up limit for milk and fruit,
• No Co-op trips just because I fancy something (this is a biggy.....it's becoming far too regular),
• Ds2's feet measured,
• £20 cash out for 'free' spending. Must not spend more than is in my purse,
• Take ds2 to buy a birthday gift for ds1,
• Buy one other birthday gift,
• Buy all cards needed for July and August,
• Buy any other gifts needed for July and August,
• Update spreadsheet with gift spends to keep track,
• Tidy up house,
• Clean bathroom,
• Clean downstairs toilet,
• Deep clean kitchen,
• Clear out fridge,
• Dust and Hoover throughout,
• keep YNAB up to date,
• Check accounts daily,
• Take water meter reading on Wednesday ready for when Welsh Water call,

I may add to them as the week/month goes on. This month has 5 Mondays, but for the fifth I only have a £40 food budget and no top up. I'm planning for it to be a 'eat from the freezer/cupboards' week as they're fully enough already and it should be simple enough to do.

Right, here goes Monday......

wishingthemortgaheaway

Looks like a coherent plan for the month. All the very best with it.

MrsSave

It has been a pretty ok start. I now have 2 crisp £10 notes in my purse, though I suspect that's the easy bit. It's the making sure I don't go over and use my card for 'entertainment' is the difficult bit!!

Food shopping. I meal planned, I made a list. I stuck to it, and then used whatever money I had left from the £45 to buy a few treats which I hope will stop the Co-op trips. I ended up spending £44.54 so have a whole 46p left........what can I do with all that :rotfl: It could be the start of the £90 I want to find in July..........only £89.54 to go!!

I've emptied the laundry basket today and washed it all! I just need to stick it on the clothes horse to dry (I don't often put clothes outside as I suffer badly with hayfever). The ironing basket is currently empty, I cleared it Saturday morning.......happiness!!

After putting the food shop away I made some veg muffins for ds2's lunch. I haven't made them for a while, but they are so easy (and healthy). I follow this recipe . They're fab as they can be frozen so batch cooking makes them pretty cheap. Also, Tesco have a salad cheese (which I think is the same as Feta......everything about it looks the same!!) which is 40p for 50g. I'm not a feta lover, so this is ideal - I'm not left with loads leftover. The best bit is.......ds2 loves the muffins!!

Ds2's sunglasses broke this morning (cannot be fixed) so picked up a pair in Tesco (£6!!!). This has come out of the boys' clothes budget and I've updated the clothes spreadsheet to show this.

MrsSave

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Looks like a coherent plan for the month. All the very best with it.

Thank you i hope I'll be as enthusiastic at the end of July! June knocked me a bit with how tight things became.

MrsSave

Planned spendy day, but that should be it for gifts until next month now (if not September). I bought a couple of end of term gifts from M&S (choccies on multibuy offer) and another little box of choccies. I checked my Sparks card before paying, and had £2 off for spending £15 on food. I was pennies under so picked up a bottle of water for ds2 (I'd taken a beaker of water out for him but he'd drunk the lot!) to make the whole lot cheaper :rotfl:

I stocked up on cards in the Card Factory (10 cards for £2 - they're fab for children's birthday parties), cards for ds1 who will be 5 soon :eek: and a couple of other cards I needed. I spent just over £7 there.

My reason for going shopping was to pick up a certain duvet cover that ds2 will give to ds1 on his birthday. They didn't have it in 'toddler' size, only single, so i've ended up ordering it online anyway!! Whilst in Asda looking for this duvet cover I found the clothes sale. I picked up 2 big bags of clothes for both boys in the next age for just over £40. I need to go through ds1's old clothes to see what we have here for ds2 as well and he is probably not far off being finished for his next size. Ds1 will need quite a few more bits, but he's not ready to move up to the next size yet so I'm just picking up bits when I see them.

I took ds2 to have his feet measured and super happy days..........his feet are the same size as last time. No shoe spends today (though they were half price. Guaranteed he'll move to the next size as soon as the sales finish. He hovers between 2 width sizes though, or otherwise I would've picked a pair or 2 up in the next size!!

I've updated YNAB since getting home and my birthday/boys clothes spreadsheets to track what I'm spending. Taking the £20 entertainment cash out is so far working........I didn't spend a penny of it :rotfl: Ds1's school report will be out soon, and if it's a good one (last year was fab - sorry boasting mother alert!) I'm thinking of giving him a dinner choice (and the local pub has just had a new play area installed) so keeping as much as I can for that is the plan.

MrsSave

I'm probably speaking a little too soon here, but today seems a little cooler :j I hope so. I'm finding this heat unbearable and completely uncomfortable.

Today is a work day, but split up slightly. I'm heading into work at my normal time, but leaving after an hour as ds2 has his nursery sports day this morning. I'll then be heading back to work afterwards. I have curry and rice for lunch (yes, I know......doesn't help with the heat!) as leftovers. I also have a couple of portions of pesto pasta in the fridge for the rest of the week.

I'm aiming for today to be my first NSD of July. My aim for the month is 12, so 3 a week. I think it's going to be more difficult than I imagined.

Welsh Water are phoning this evening for an updated water reading. It'll be interesting to see how much I've actually used over the past week, and hope it has dropped. Watch this space......

Right, time for a (super quick) shower and get ready for a day at the office!

MrsSave

A quick update before I head up to bed!

:j :j Today has been my first NSD of July :j :j By the 4th June I could already see that my finances were on a downwards spiral for the month, this month is different. I took £20 out of the bank on Monday to keep in my purse for this week's entertainment spends and it's all still there! I had a few spends yesterday on different things, but they were all budgeted for and a lot came in under budget.

Tomorrow I will need a quick top up shop. I have £5 and will need to pick up milk and raspberries. A carton of orange juice would be lovely if it comes in under budget, but it's a want not a need so can easily go without. I'll also be picking up a cake for a work colleague. This won't be coming from my top up budget, but my 'birthday' one.

Work is slightly crazy at the moment, and I haven't completed a fraction of what I intended to today. I did take an hour and a half out to watch ds2's Sports Day (a nursery sports day is possibly one of the cutest things I've seen!) but I still thought I'd manage to get a little more done. Ah well, tomorrow's another day!

MrsSave

I forgot to mention yesterday my water reading. During the past week I have only used 1m3 (I don't know how to show 'cubed' on the laptop :rotfl: ). That's far less than I have been using!! Welsh Water phoned for the reading, and will be phoning back next Wednesday for the next reading and then should be coming to a decision about my bill after that.

Another super busy day in work today. It was 2:15 before I managed to eat lunch, and I finish work at 4:30!! I headed to Aldi after work for my top up shop with my £5 budget and spent £4.38 :j I then picked up a cake for £2.99. That's it with today's spends.

The weekend is going to be the biggest challenge. That's when I struggle to stay on track. I'm pleased to say I still have my full £20 entertainment budget for the week in my purse and I hope that will be more than enough for any weekend indulgences. My biggest aim, though, is not to touch it at all. To stay on track over the weekend!

I've been reading about stocks and shares quite a bit over the past few days. I've read into it before but never done anything about it. Once I get my head around all the different fees, I'm going to take a little of my savings and invest in dividend paying shares. I definitely need to do a little more reading first!!

Scott-Weiland

Dividend paying shares hmmmmm I wouldn't, you would get a better rate of return with no risk by putting your cash in either a cash isa with a high interest rate or an nsi and savings product.