Starting again....for the very last time!!!

Alwaysskint2016

Well well, has 2x NSD in a row! Who'd have thought it was possible.

Its like as if Sa!nsburys knew, they sent me a load of money off vouchers (£6 off when spent £40 etc - one each week for the next 6 weeks). Handy but I only get my fuel from Sainsburys for the Nectar Points (plus they cheapest around) and find them a little costly on food etc compared to Ald!, but we'll see may try it for a week and see how it compares.

I'm trying a new goal (idea stolen from a post on MSE) to make £10/day for the month of August. I'm at £19.36 so its a start.

I've had an email about gas/electricity - we're being switched to Octopus Energy on 21st Aug. I've not had the tariff for gas yet but electricity looks to be more expensive. I've been on MSE Energy Club and if it's the same tariff on there for Octopus looks like we'll be shelling out an extra £33/month. I'm going to be looking around for cheaper before the 21st, but can't start the process until after this date. Meter readings also given yesterday so final bill for Iresa should be through soon.

Alwaysskint2016

Bit of a good/bad weekend MSE'ing TBH.

Friday I spent the last £10 of the food budget (until Tuesday), then had a weekend in, weather bit miserable here so no money spent. Sold an item yesterday so made £20 but..........succumbed to a weekly takeaway ritual last night so spent that £20!! I'm very disappointed with myself but will learn from it and move on. (I blame the fact the chicken did not defrost in time so had no alternative lol - excuses, excuses!)

Today went to the in laws for the weekly Sunday roast dinner (so saved on dinner costs, and cleaning up :-$) Then popped to Tesco as forgot OH had work tonight so £15.75 spent after we'd used up all budget on Friday. So had to dip into savings but will repay on Tuesday.

On good point managed to get a few items in Tesco with yellow stickers - Small Baguettes 4p, Strawberries and Raspberries 20p each, green beans 12p, swede 6p and brocolli 10p. I never get YS bargains as I'm quite fussy but feeling a little proud of myself lol.

Good news is the chicken has now defrosted and is in the slow cooker making a lush curry. Half to be eaten for tea tonight with rice and poppadoms, rest to be frozen for a later date. Want to get into the habit of doing this.

Alwaysskint2016

Just checking in. All good on the budgeting front so far (early days I know). A few DD's have come out this week so debt total has come down (even if it is just 0.27% lol)

I need to do the weekly food shop this afternoon and plan on using Sainsburys seen as I have a 'spend £40 get £6' off voucher. I've made my list and even used the online shop mode to pick the cheapest of everything,then printed off the list to go myself to save on the delivery cost. Would do click and collect but I'm picky with meat and veg and prefer to pick my own. Just need to stick to plan now.

DH filled car with fuel last night and instead of the normal £60 it only needed £50 so saved £10 this week. Plus he has less shifts so shouldn't need to use as much fuel.This should last the 2 weeks.

Having ready Kitten's post about about uniform, I've decided to try and dye last years school jumpers to get them back to being a nice bright red, looking very worn and faded ATM. All going well should save a bit on uniform. Still need to get new Shirt, trousers and jumpers for oldest as he outgrew his last year.

Checked the Park Xmas savings total this week and once this weeks DD clears will be £860 of the £1000 planned to save. So should be reaching total by end September. I'm so glad I've done it tidy this year. I always get so stressed for Xmas and it usually ends up using credit cards or my bonus (if i have one).

DH applied for a new job yesterday, if all goes well it would mean he'd have a much more stable income and a much better salary. Don't want to count my chickens yet so we'll see.

Went to Slimming world last night, another 2lbs lost making a total of 1st 11lbs since 17/04/18. Would have been more but put 5lbs on whilst on holidays last month and been messing around since coming back. I'm going back to plan from today to try and shift the 3lbs needed to get my 2 stone award.

Plan of Action:
1) Concentrate on not adding to the debt - cards are gone
2) Save an Emergency Fund - Have £217.45 at the moment of £1000 target
- Thinking of opening a new savings account without online access. I have multiple savings accounts with Nat West acting as piggies but as I have an app on my phone it's too easy to move money around if things get tight. If I had a bank account (like the old days) where you physically had to go into branch to withdraw money it would mean less dipping into the piggies. Not sure if these are available though
3) Once emergency fund sorted get cracking with the debts. I've decided to concentrate on the credit cards as from my calculations by the time the 0% deal ends we'll still have a hefty balance on the cards which will then shift to higher APR's and no guarantee will be able to get 0% balance transfer deals. The loans can just run their course.

NeverendingDMP

Not sure if you need school uniforms and if you can buy some things from any shop but Sainsbury's started a 25% off clothes yesterday. That can be used with your x pounds of x spends voucher. Might be handy for pants socks tights etc

Alwaysskint2016

Uh oh! had a bit of a melt down this morning, completely out of the blue. I've been feeling rather guilty lately for not being able to do much with the kids over the holidays. We have been to Spain for 2 weeks before the 6 weeks holidays started but since then due to money and work commitments they've hardly left the house. They're fine with it mind, being on their computer games all day, it's me that's having the issues. I see posts on FB of other parents taking their kids on daily outings all the time and makes me think I should be doing more. Dont get me wrong my kids are very lucky and they want for nothing and DH reassures me by saying things like 'I never went on holiday to Spain when I was they're age and it never hurt me' etc but still don't stop me feeling bad. They're growing up so quickly and they'll be leaving home before we know it! Going to try and go out for a family day on Saturday on the cheap.

Sorry for venting.

Done the food shop yesterday and all was great, went to Sainsburys, stuck to list and budget and saved. BUT this morning DH popped to the butchers and thought while he was there he may as well buy our months load of meat seen as we're running low and would have to go next week anyway. So £68 spent on meat an that will be portioned out and frozen to meal plan over the next few weeks.

Whilst I was in Sainsbury's yesterday I looked at the 25% off clothes for uniform but they didn't have anything I needed in the right sizes. So may have to leave it till next week to use next weeks voucher and buy online instead. Thanks for the heads up

efes_shareholder

The parent guilt is usual I think

I am one for making memories but a lot of my debt has been acquired giving my kids life experiences
Whilst they are very grateful and will often re count their memories of holidays and days out I am sure a lot of things they don't remember

I hated my kids vegetating in front of technology although they seemed to love it and I do think its good to draw them away

I always now look out for deals for things we may do together ( even though they are now all young adults ) , Meerkat 2 for 1 cinema , half price theme parks , special offer theatre tickets and also groupon are all things we can take advantage off

Alwaysskint2016

Over the last few days I've been planning and working out how we're going to get to our DFD. Our minimum payments come to just over £700 per month at the moment. I've set the DD's to take a set amount, just above the current minimum amount, so as the minimum payments decrease the DD's stay at the set amount. We're also used to saving £60 per week as this is what we've been doing for the last 2 years to pay for our annual summer holidays. As we're not going away for the foreseeable, I plan on using this £60 per week towards the debt repayments plus my annual bonus with work we could clear our debt by Xmas 2020 (28 months). I'm happy with that, it'll mean I can be debt fee by my 40th.

Monthly minimum repayments - 28 months @ £700.00 = £19,600.00
Weekly additional payments - 123 weeks @ £60 = £7,380.00
Bonus - 3 x £1750 = £5,250.00
Total repaid = £32,230

OK our current debt stands at £33,092 which is a difference of £862 but I'm sure we can make this up by using any extra income through more hours/less spending/selling etc, and depending on how that goes, may even mean this date is brought forward a little.

It's really nice to have a plan, something written down, some kind of light at the end of the tunnel. It's also taken a little pressure off us thinking we've got to cut back to the bone to get this done. We can just do what we've been doing but instead of putting the money to a family holiday abroad, we're using it to sort ourselves out. Don't get me wrong I'm still going to be watching every penny and cutting down where I can, no waste, as it'll be great if we could get there sooner, but if not no worries. No pressure.

I'm really pleased with how we're doing at the moment. The NSD's are great, then food planning and batch cooking is really helping reduce waste, in fact we're eating better meals instead of rubbish pizzas and no takeaways had this week! I feel really positive at the moment and want to keep this up.

OH is a bit miffed that I keep talking about money and finances as I do have a tendency of getting a little obsessed!! but it's what I need to do to keep focused and I'm sure he'll thank me in the long run. In fact after having a chat this weekend and going over my plan now that he can see we're not going to be going without things he's more on board (I think he thought I was cutting the food budget back so that we're just living on beans on toast), although we have had this a few times this week lol

Back to work tomorrow. Still haven't sorted kids uniform. Have bought the red dye today to try and dye the school jumpers. In fact I found one that looks like brand new down the back of one of the wardrobes. I think we thought it had been lost lol so that can be worn for a few weeks.

Alwaysskint2016

To do this week:
- Meal plan for next week
- Do shop list and go shopping Wednesday for anything needed. Use Sainsbury$ to use the save £6 when spend £40 voucher (If dont need that much stick to Ald1)
- Fill my car with fuel (about £40)
- Only 1 DD this week for £30
- The Gas/Electric switch from Iresa to Octopus Energy takes place on 23rd. Should be having final bills though from Iresa (from online account based on correct meter readings, should have £60 credit carried over to Octopus). Need to check final bill and online accounts with both companies.
- Off the back of this need to look for cheaper supplier and switch
- Sort kids school uniform

Alwaysskint2016

To do this week:
- Meal plan for next week - DONE
- Do shop list and go shopping Wednesday for anything needed. Use Sainsbury$ to use the save £6 when spend £40 voucher (If dont need that much stick to Ald1) - SHOPPING LIST DONE, going to Ald1 after work
- Fill my car with fuel (about £40) - Remembered I'm off work next week so could get away with only putting in £25/£30 (£40 usually lasts a fortnight
- Only 1 DD this week for £30
- The Gas/Electric switch from Iresa to Octopus Energy takes place on 23rd. Should be having final bills though from Iresa (from online account based on correct meter readings, should have £60 credit carried over to Octopus). Need to check final bill and online accounts with both companies. DONE - Final bill received and I do have a £60 credit to carry over to Octopus. Final bill checked and all correct
- Off the back of this need to look for cheaper supplier and switch - Have looked around (inc cashback sites) and everyone is more expensive. I have a few quotes, just need to decide and start the transfer process
- Sort kids school uniform - Putting this off as really don't want to spend on uniform

On plus side, done some more selling and savings pot coming on nice now £409.46.

Had a nice surprise yesterday when I logged in to check Quidc0 to find that I had £22 credit sitting on my account that I didn't realise. That's been cashed out and included in above savings total.

I've also had a bit of a tweek about with YNAB. As great as it is for budgeting I've noticed today that the figures in the reports section are wrong so can't use the average etc. Where I'm dipping into savings/using credit cards (not this month though) and moving money around, the figures don't add up. It looks like we have a lot more incoming (money borrowed from savings) and less outgoings (as been spending on credit cards) which are not taken into account. So I've sorted this and plan on starting fresh in September then as the months go on will only use the figs from September onward to do averages etc. We'll see how it goes.

Budgeting is hard!!

OH been to see if can get more hours in work, fingers crossed on this front.

I'm starting at college in September, 1 day a week and is closer to home than work so planning on saving a little on petrol money.

We have a birthday on the weekend. I already have a gift ready so no costs there, just need to get a birthday card.

No idea what to do on the bank holiday weekend yet, something cheap hopefully.

Alwaysskint2016

Right, I've bitten the bullet and switched energy suppliers (again!). My transfer from Iresa to Octopus completed yesterday and having worked out costs based on a years consumption have switched to Outfox The Market. We have a very high useage and dispite trying to reduce I'm still paying a lot for electricity. I know Iresa went bust for many reason and one being super cheap tariffs, but that was great for me. Switching to Octopus meant I was going to be paying £33.00 per month more !! I've now switch to OFTM and paying just £10.00 per month more. I'm happy with the £23 per month saving. On the plus side it is 100% renewable energy and no fee for leaving if any issues crop up.

Done the food shop last night. Went £15 over budget, spent £65. I really find it hard sticking to a groceries shop budget amount each week, I'm just hoping to pull this back with next weeks shop (hopefully) needing very little. So far this month we've spent £361.68 (Averaging about £90.42 a week). I really need to look at this and find ways of cutting down. Don't get me wrong have a freezer full of meat and meal plans written out so it could be worse. This is all food/dog food/toiletries/cleaning & washing products.

How much does everyone budget each month/week for groceries? I know this has been asked in other posts. We're a family of 2 adults 2 teens and a dog. I know it will be better when the kids go back to school and they have packed lunch.