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beanielou

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Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Hi Gemsy81

I have finally had time to come and read your diary. You are doing amazing. It is really hard balancing your work life and home life especially if you are trying to do what we are on top of all that. I think sometimes you need a little break away from looking at the finances and trying to find ways of cutting budgets and making extra income. Having a day or two away from that is fine as long as you don't spend on those horrid Credit Cards.

I am going to try and make another £500 this month, which is going to be hard so the challenge is on for the two of us. If you are having a bad day shout out and I will do the same and we can kick each others butts into action.

I have just started our loft, it is so hot in there but I keep coming down for a little while then going back up again. It will get finished in time. The majority of the stuff I need to get rid of is going to the tip which is a little disappointing. What I will do for entertainment these days instead of going on expensive days out that I cold not afford!

Any way my break is over and it was so nice to catch up on your diary.

Take care and have a nice day

Gemsy81

Hi SNTCC....thank you for the words of encouragement, you are so right...I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything but I have been very careful not to spend as a knee jerk reaction to that.

I did have a spend on Saturday, that I totally forgot about which was my nail appointment (it is my one treat to myself, is only £15 and comes out of my personal pot)...so as punishment, I have taken that out of the July personal pot! Other than that, I was very good, so I did NSD on Thur and Fri.

Work wise, it has been a very busy weekend, with lots of money made which is fantastic and eases my worries slightly my dictator-like budget for work has also worked brilliantly, with us coming in on or under lots of budgets for June, so the P&L fingers crossed, should look a lot healthier this month.

This afternoon I was supposed to meal plan and food shop, but work ran over and I was so hot and bothered by the time I finished, I literally picked up some essentials for a nice family breakfast tomorrow morning (see....normally we would go out for breakfast, but we're not, I'm going to cook at home!), and decided meal planning could wait until tomorrow. We have enough left overs in the fridge for at least two days anyway (probably as a result of that last spendy, disastrous food shop of June!)

SNTCC....thats a great idea, lets mini-challenge each other! I have a day of ebaying tomorrow to get myself going!

Gemsy81

I've just done the first food shop of July. Has come in at a fairly whopping £84 inc. delivery, but I just do not have time this week to not get it delivered, too much work on and quite a few meetings. That is obviously quite a large portion of the budget, but it does include stocks of pasta, tinned tomatoes, beans, sauces, coffee, clingfilm, toilet rolls, frozen bits for emergency meals (fish fingers), ice lollies to avoid expensive ones out etc etc etc. So the store cupboards and freezer are full and ready for the month. I've planned the meals for this week carefully, and the following weeks should pretty much just be perishables - plus we are away for a week, so I will obviously ensure the fridge is empty on our departure!

Just about to hang my washing out on the line, to dry in this beautiful sunshine and get cracking on my eBay boxes!

Gemsy81

EBaying was relegated to today, as I started a work project, which ended up taking me the most of the afternoon. But it did really need doing and I feel better that that is one thing off my to-do list today.

So todays tasks...

- Sort kitchen cupboards that are full of junk
-Sort Ebay and other boxes
-Return a plant to the garden centre that is not thriving (it has a guarantee)
-Tackle my ironing pile (I read that ironing burns 80 cals an hour, so I'm pretty pleased with that!)
-Give house a power clean

Online shopping has already arrived so my cupboards look full to bursting

Starmummy

you are doing so well. Adjusting spending habits is such hard work.
Take care
SM

[Deleted User]

Well done Gemsy! My first shop of the month is usually a biggie as well.

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Morning Gemsy81

Let the challenge begin. Any extra income we make can go into the total. I have put it into my signature so I can see where I am up too.

The first food shop of the month is always a biggie as I feel you put off buying stuff when your budget is running low so the knock on effect of that is the first shop of the month gets hit with everything that has ran out.

You are doing great, just do not let it get you down. Life sometimes is hard with work, families and household stuff and there sometimes is not enough hours in a day. However, it will be worth it in the end when you and your family are financial secure and the debt is behind you.

Take care and have a great day and don't work to hard.

Gemsy81

This week has felt incredibly busy so far!!

I have found that a welcome side effect of sorting your finances out is that you declutter your entire life in general. Sorting out yesterday went very well....I did all the kitchen cupboards I wanted, then tackled the shoe cupboard - LO now only has three pairs of shoes as everything else was too small. But that is all he needs TBH - a pair of sandals, a pair of trainers and a pair of smarter shoes. Made a start on the other boxes, found some very important paperwork we have been looking for for ages, and going by people's suggestions to end an Ebay auction on a Sunday night, I will be getting everything up on there tomorrow.

My wedding dress and designer boots are ready to go up...I just need to decide the best medium to sell them on to get the most money.

Got a £1.25 refund from Sainsburys as something undelivered from my online shopping, and I am just waiting for a £100 payment from some freelance work I have done.

Business wise, my strict budget is going well.....June was a pretty horrific month for sales (which was predicted, it is never good), but due to the budgets being under control, it was not as disastrous as it could have been. July has got off to a flyer, and the next three months are now crucial for us.

My credit scores have gone up on both Noddle and Experian, which is great.

The next 2 weeks are going to be quite full on. I have a lot of meetings over the next two days, a busy weekend with work, and then next week I have to start getting ahead of myself by two weeks, so I can go on holiday and not think about work at all Plus, I still have all this extra money to make this month....I am confident that my selling efforts will come to something! I have got a garage and a loft full of junk, but I just don't know if realistically this month I will have the time to do anything with them.

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Morning Gemsy81

You really are doing great. It must be so hard running your own business as you really do not know what your monthly income is going to be as some months are going to be better than others.

I am the same once I started sorting out the finances the rest of my life seemed to follow, and I am doing things in our house that I have wanted to do for a long time but did not have any motivation what so ever. I feel like I am spring cleaning my life which is great.

Keep up the good work.