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

doingitanyway

The gifts/clothes fund may have been decimated but that proves it is necessary firstly so well done in recognising the need and putting it in place.

Last month of 100% fees :j:j

I can't believe you are counting days until half term break already

Homegrown0

Haha I've had a hard week DIA so I need something to look forward to! We don't even have anything planned at the moment, it's just a week off with the kids at this point. Just looking forward to a week not thinking about work!

You're right - the gifts/ clothes fund is MUCH needed. I also always forget how busy with birthdays August is. We have no birthdays next month, just my sister's 1st wedding anniversary (which i'd like to mark, just because it's her 1st) and our wedding anniversary which i'd like to celebrate with a meal out if we can. Other than that, I'm hoping it's a quiet month next month!

Homegrown0

Today is a day of buying school shoes, shirts, gym shorts... wish me luck! I have £66 left in the budget for this category and my mil is buying the shoes (or giving us the money for them after) so I think the £66 should cover the remaining!

Huabmd earned a little extra money yesterday so that's given me a bit of comfort after the disaster that was this month. We need to spend next month recovering our budgets!

Because my pay rise wasn't paid last month it'll be backdated until 1st July so should have a bit extra in my wages at the end of the month. Not sure how much but it's a relief to know there'll be a bit extra to spread.

doingitanyway

Good luck with school uniform hunting.

i think you looking forward to things in the faraway future is actually great and something I want to begin to emulate myself

Homegrown0

Thanks DIA - we were really efficient today! Got everything we needed from M&S in about 20 minutes (including trying on) and spent £53 which included trousers, gym shorts, jogging bottoms for outdoor gym, new socks and shirts.

We then spent £72 in the shoe shop for his school shoes and he was in need of new trainers so because we bought school shoes we got 20% off the trainers. My mil will give us the money for the shoes back at some point as she insists on buying them. It's very welcome

All in all, a productive day!

The kids had a ball at a friend's birthday party (the gift came out of my stash) and then we had visitors in the evening so they are knackered (as am i!).

Not sure how it is Sunday again already though? The weekend always flies!

Homegrown0

It's Tuesday. Not a lot to say about today, just plodding on with work.

Good things:

1. Pay day is but 16 days away!
2. I just cashed out £20.69 from PA after my £10 survey submission was finally approved! When it arrives in my account, it'll go straight into the holiday fund bringing it close to £150
3. £500 in the Christmas fund (will be £600 come pay out)
4. £500 in the 'forgotten about' savings account which I'm hoping to keep forgotten (but might be needed to help to cover Christmas)
5. It's looking fairly likely that we will qualify for bonus this year (which is payable in the December wages). It'd be nice to put this in the holiday fund to pay for a summer holiday for us next summer. I'm hoping to clear £1k after tax.
6. My car insurance for both cars is up next month so i ran a quick comparison and I should be able to get it down in price, saving £10-15p/m. We are still not in a position to pay it outright this year, but that'll be the goal for next year!

Bad things:

1. It's still 16 whole days until pay day...
2. Life is BUSY! So, so BUSY!
3. My fridge and cupboards are empty...well, fairly empty. Really need to make that better without spending a fortune. Off to do a meal plan.

Homegrown0

£3.60 / £25 on Onepoll
£11.00 / £15.50 Valued Opinions (Going for an Amazon voucher)

Homegrown0

All of my debt payments have come out for the month, so here goes my end of month round-up, some good and some bad.

Balances and paid amounts
Loan: £8,948.97 / £15,792.30 (£6,843.33 paid off - 43% paid)
RESTART: CC1: £3,769.97 / £3,807 (started from scratch again here in July 18) 1.3% paid off
CC2: £4,301.14 / £5,031.14 (£780 paid off - 15.5% paid)
NEW: CC3: £899.87 / £999.87 (starting from scratch) £100 paid off - 10% paid

Total: £17,919.95 / £25,619.44 (£7,699.49 paid off, 30% paid)

Good things:

• 30% of the debt is paid off!
• I'm into the £8ks in the loan
• I'm into the £17ks of total debt (by the skin of my teeth...)
• I've made progress in clearing CC3 which makes me mad every time i look at it

Not so good things

• I'm still annoyed that we added to the debt last month...
• It could be lower if we had been more careful/ kept an eye on things/ prepared!
• Spending has just been out of control this month, but not on anything dramatic, just LIFE.

Milestones to keep focus
When I'm looking ahead, there's some good milestones coming up! Our loan will be 50% paid off in October, which will be a nice peak to hit. I always visualise once you're 50% there, it's an easier decline to the finish, as if i'm on a mountain bike overcoming a mountain.

16 more payments left on our loan - when you put it like that, it doesn't seem like much at all. :rotfl:

Savings pots
I think its fair to say that some pots are doing better than others...

Christmas fund: £500 / £600
Credit union savings: £500
General savings: £46 (totally raided this month because of overspending)
Gifts/ clothes fund: £0 because of school uniform and big birthday month - will be replenished next month

I do have bigger plans for savings. This month, i'll have my wage increase backdated to the beginning of last month, so anything extra that I get from here will go into our savings account. Our credit union account goes up by £50 each month, so that will continue.

From September onwards, I also plan to put £300p/m away (minimum) as an emergency fund which will help towards things that we're not currently saving for i.e. if we don't get a tenant move in this month, we'll n eed to cover the mortgage, or if we haven't put enough aside for our car service, due in November etc. I still need to work out separate budgets for car-related items.

Anyway, i'll leave you with that and come back to this later for more thought !

Homegrown0

I was running around on an empty fuel tank yesterday morning, so had to spend £20 to tide me over until pay day next week (fingers crossed it lasts!).

Other than that, no spends yesterday and the only spend today is my return train ticket to work. I went to another gym class at lunchtime yesterday, the third class this week, so I feel on better form and it's amazing how the tiredness of last week has been replaced with a new tiredness! It's tiredness from being busy and active, instead of a horrible all-day-long sluggish feeling so hopefully the eating better is helping along with that.

Having some leftovers from the freezer for lunch today - a tasty chicken curry and rice (which is also compliant with my diet) so I'll enjoy that while catching up on some diaries in here at lunchtime.

The big C word (Christmas) has been on my mind this week, so when I've been having ideas, instead of spending on a whim, i've been keeping a record on my spreadsheet so that I can consider what to get when the time comes and when funds allow. Normally I'd just buy now and think about it later, and sometimes I'd regret some purchases made on a whim. Trying to avoid this by putting it all down on a document for consideration. It gets it out of my head at least!

doingitanyway

Told you you would get back onboard with the fitness (wish I could)

CU and Christmas savings look good. I find it easier to save in the CU than in my own account. Less likely to dip in.

I agree re big loan, once you are half way it feels so much more manageable.

Well done. You are so organised and all over everything.

Have a positive day