Journey of a determined single mum

enthusiasticsaver

Good idea to start a diary and savings pots are the way to go. Emergency fund also is a necessity alongside debt reduction to avoid using cards. If your kids are prone to losing stuff like lunch boxes etc then tough love may be needed. Mine had to make do with free takeaway/plastic containers and empty ordinary drinks bottles if they lost theirs. They took more care of their stuff after that. That or use Birthday or pocket money to replace them.

abbylou

Thanks for the advice!
I do have two saving pots. One is my emergency fund which has about £700 at the moment. My aim is at least £1000 but a month’s wages would be even better.
The other pot is my bathroom fund.
My bathroom is literally shot. The suite is old and cracked, the tiles are falling off the wall etc. My best friend’s wi detail husband is doing it for me in a few weeks time so I have been saving for it for a long time. I think the money I have will be wiped out but if there is any left it will go into the emergency fund.

As I am new to all this pots business I think I am going to keep finding things I have forgotten to make a pot for! At least each month I can rejig the budget slightly to allow for this.

My biggest worry this year is Christmas and ds birthday which is a few days before. Normally I would whack it all in a card without a second thought. This year I really don’t want to do that but I fear my realisation of finances has come a Little too late this year to save enough. The budget is so tight I can’t put any more in that fund. I will just have to save as much as I can and maybe try to borrow from other pots.

Mum_and_Wife

Just found your diary, good luck with your new journey to become debt free x

abbylou

I’ve just sorted four birthday presents on amazon for £26.75 including delivery.
Dd has a friends birthday party a week tomorrow then I have 5 nieces/nephews with birthdays in a 10 day period in October!
Normally I would just buy willy nilly and not think about it.
This year I looked really carefully and also thought about size so the postage to them is not extortionate.
I bought dds friend and then 3 of the cousins, all lovely books. I thought i’d get ahead with some of the October ones now and save on delivery.

Today I have to nip out and pick up ds’s contact lenses and return some clothes to Next that I ordered for dd before my ‘epiphany’. She doesn't like the school tights, too woolly for year 7 apparently! At least that will be a small credit to my account.

I will fill up with petrol whilst out as I still have a few journeys out this week planned, one to my parents which is an hour drive. I plan to use some but not all of my petrol budget and see if I can get away with not siending it all. Once I am back at work my petrol costs will go down.

abbylou

thanks Mum and Wife for your good wishes, I have ‘t Worked out yet how to copy someone else’s comments into my post!

Lonire

Hi there,

For cooking recipes have you heard of a girl called jack? Some great budget recipes and tips for getting by especially with children to feed as well. I’m sure if you google it the recipes will be there.

Good luck for your journey.

abbylou

Thanks, i’ve heard of a girl called Jack but not really looked at it. I will put it on my to-do list.
So today I have done my little errands. Returned dd’s tights so that will be £11 off my Next balance.

The dc are at their dad’s today and tomorrow so I am taking the opportunity to catch up on work. I am a teacher and as usual have left everything to the last minute! I had to wait ages for my laptop to fire up which was very annoying but i’m pretty pleased with my progress so far. Tomorrow I hope to have a full day at it and really get my head down.

I have been breaking up the monotony of Work by doing a few surveys. I’m a way off a payout on most but every little helps!

Honeysucklelou2

Oh the joys of planning...got to get my head down to it this week too!

abbylou

Good luck honeysuckle, I am at it all day again today!
My neighbour started some sort of diy at 7.30 so I was up nice and early!

abbylou

So today was a NSD thanks to my school work - my first one and the first of many I hope!

I cashed in £6.91 from surveys today and have some more pending so hopefully they will be confirmed tomorrow.

I broke the back of my school work today, feeling a bit more prepared to go back now. I am going in later in the week to finish sorting my room out.

Plans for tomorrow are visiting my parents during the day and then it’s and bobs around the house in the evening. I have some laminating to do for school too - such excitement!