Getting it together...one £ at a time!

kindofagilr

I hope the birthday party went well and you had a nice chill xx

doingitanyway

Homegrown0 wrote: »

In future, just assume I'm scraping by with a C- in most areas! But hey, it's not a fail!

You underestimate yourself

How was the big birthday party?

Homegrown0

pof2019 wrote: »

I read from the sidelines and you really motivate me so thank you. I see you will have £600 for Xmas by November. Do you budget an amount per child? I am trying to reign things in a bit but its so hard when you want your children to have lovely things. Also family members you barely see that you have to buy for, it feels like it adds up so much

Hi pof, nice of you to stop by! I don't really budget an amount per child and, to be honest, the £600 does not cover the whole of Christmas by any means... We have about a dozen family members to buy for plus the kids so this just scratches the surface. We do only buy for family members that we're close to and, for example, my sister and I agreed that we won't buy for each other or our husbands to bring costs down a little. We try to go for a dinner in January instead.

I have reduced spending in the last few years and try to be careful about how much 'junk' I'm buying or buying things just for the sake of it but it's hard. I transfer £100 per month to my CU account then it's split 50/50 between the Christmas saver and a general saver. The general saver i can access any time but the Christmas saver pays out in early November. I try to buy things from summer onwards as I see them and i try to book one activity per month from September onwards out of our monthly spending budget to spread the cost of things like Santa visits and pantos.

I think from next year I'm going to try to up my contribution to the saver a bit.

kindofagilr wrote: »

I hope the birthday party went well and you had a nice chill xx

It was great thanks - a little too much gin consumed on an empty stomach so I was a tad tender the next day... all good fun though!

doingitanyway wrote: »

You underestimate yourself

How was the big birthday party?

It was so lovely and the sun shone, which made it even better. The only sunny afternoon in a week of torrential rain! :j I'm glad the weekend just past was a bit quieter.

Choccygirl123

Great Christmas planning HG. We've got to the stage now that my girls want smaller (more expensive) presents and now we're officially a non-believing house it doesn't feel the same. They've both asked for straighteners this year which I know they'd use. It'd save them pinching mine!

pof2019

Thank you for your response, trying to get organised early. Can I ask what surveys are the best to start doing for extra pennies?

thanks

Homegrown0

Yes, Choccy. I think that's coming to us all, just trying to hold onto the magic as much as possible. My eldest was already asking very suspicious questions and trying to gauge our reactions to him telling us he doesn't believe in Santa anymore etc. But by the time Christmas came, i think we managed to get him back in the game. He's far too young to stop believing! Another couple of years and I'll accept it...but just not yet.

Stratighteners are a practical but lovely gift, i'm sure your girls will love them. Mine are still toys obsessed. I think my eldest will be getting a bike and the youngest...who knows?? I try to get them a big present, a few medium presents and some little presents then they get the usual boxers, socks, toothbrush, some clothes (i.e. practical but 'nice' items). It does all add up but i like to think i shop smart.

I'm a saddo - i keep a spreadsheet with what I have bought and for who, how much the RRP was, how much i paid, how much in total i plan to spend on the person and how much I've got left to spend etc. It might seem OTT but I've got quite a few to buy for plus I have 7 family birthdays from 13th - 24th December (including my son) so it's a VERY expensive month all round.

Homegrown0

pof2019 wrote: »

Thank you for your response, trying to get organised early. Can I ask what surveys are the best to start doing for extra pennies?

thanks

I'm not the best to ask probably, as it's been ages since I've done anything about surveys. Just been too busy lately. Scott Weiland on here is all about the surveys and has great tips.

I use OnePoll (good but takes quite a while to build up to £25 cash out!), Prolific Academic (hit or a miss, but when it's a hit, it's great), Qmee (surveys on their app). That's about all I use, but I'm sure there's other good ones out there.

Homegrown0

Morning troops! It's a miserable one here today - windy, cloudy and threatening rain which i know isn't far off. I need some sunshine and i need it soon!

Spending too much
I need to do a bit of a money focus as (as predicted) we have burnt through so much money this month again. It's been an expensive couple of months but it doesn't seem to be ending. I'm seeing the holiday as a chance to regroup and sort ourselves out. We should be fully stocked on the clothes and shoes front for the forseeable which is half the battle. And with being on holiday for half of next month means that we'll have money left over in our spending account. We'll see, as it might end up going on fuel etc but i'll take that as it comes.

Money, money, money, monnnney... MONEY!
Things will be switching up in September when we get some extra funding for the youngest which will save us a little more each month so we just need to have a couple of sensible months over the summer and we'll be able to save a bit more.

We have £3k to save over the next few months for architect, engineer, planning fees so that's quite the target to hit!

I felt quite happy having £2k in the bank for the last few months as a security blanket but that was always ear marked for holidays. Now that we're close to going, i've transferred most of that onto a prepaid card to use while we're away and used the rest to book a massive trip while we're away, and i feel really insecure all of a sudden!

Our savings account has £138 in it...which is scary! But we also have £450 in the CU as well as husband being owed £1k for some work that he's about to finish. He's also doing some overtime this weekend and next weekend so whatever he earns extra will go into savings.

I know it's not all bad, it's just a bit terrifying having not much in the bank to cover us in case of emergency. I have no idea how I got by for the last 5+ years having no savings??

Motivation
I'm trying to beat procrastination with a big stick this week. I've done really well work-wise and grabbed the bull by the horns. I've done a fair bit at home too, but I think I'm coming down with something so motivation is at a low today. I've written a list, though, so hopefully that'll kick me into touch a bit. I'd quite like to just curl up into a ball and have a nap though.

Keep on moving
I've been doing pretty well with the exercise for the last wee while. Not the best, but fairly consistent, despite feeling a bit rubbish. I'm actually too sore today to manage any kind of proper workout (read: can barely get off the toilet, let alone do a squat) so i'm going to allocate today's lunch hour to cleaning. Our upstairs has been pretty neglected of late, so i'm going to write a short list and blast it!

• Put away anything lying around in the three bedrooms
• Make #1's bed
• Dust three bedrooms then hoover them
• Dust and hoover the hall
• If I have time, dust and hoover the spare room/ office as I'm coughing a lot while working and i'm sure it's dust-related...

Pretty sure if i put on a playlist, set a timer and just get going then i'll manage this in an hour.

Right, I've done enough chatting. Now to get some work done! :rotfl:

teafor2

Morning HG Hope you're not feeling too poorly - the troops here have been full of colds and coughs but touch wood I seem to have escaped.

I know what you mean about seeing an empty pot/savings account. I've just said on my diary I don't even like touching the ones that are supposed to be touched - like the caravan. Just try to remember that the money in the holiday pot is to be used for exactly that.

I've no doubt at all that your funds will be built up again in no time with the way you're so focused. Exciting to be going on holiday so soon and also exciting to then be saving for the house renovations.

Have a lovely day and don't overdo it. xx

Homegrown0

Thanks Tea, i'm glad I'm not the only one who worries about savings, or lack thereof. I know it'll be back up in a couple of months, but it does feel like I've got rid of my security blanket cold turkey at the minute. I'll get there.

Well, i did my hour of housework (1hr 10 actually) and i managed a grand total of one thing off the list! Started in my eldest's room which didn't look too bad on first glance, but i made the mistake of pulling out his bed and my goodness, the dust! So i pulled all of his furniture out (wardrobe, bed, bedside table, chest of drawers) and hoovered, cleaned skirtings, cleaned around the window frame, the curtain pole, top of the door etc. All places that get missed when you do a quick whizz around.

Needless to say, my hoover is full to bursting but the room is looking good! One room down, two to go... must blast through some work and see if i can squeeze in half an hour in my youngest's room before it's pick up time. His room will be easier to do as there's less nooks and crannies.