Taking back the control

Thick_n_Thin

So yesterday turned out to be quite pleasant, went for a nice walk along a coastal path, took a flask of coffee with us so no temptations whilst we were out, treated OH to some beers from ALdi so small spend there, evening meal from freezer ( continuing my plan to run down the food in freezer) have received a bid on the jumpsuit I listed at the weekend and an enquire on measurements on another item, so at least I will have 1 definite sale this week. This morning I have tidied 82p over to Xmas savings which now stands at just over £41 so on track to reach £50 by end of the month if my eBay sales come through! My £5 overpayment is showing on my mortgage account so the mortgage is now £70.365.15p. My monthly payments are taken on 1st of each month so I will tidy up any untidy loose change to make it a nice even number then.
My plans for today - frogmarch OH to phone shop, he is now out of contract so needs to go sim only( this would save nearly £40 per month)
OH needs to ring old credit card up and cancel, we are £34 in credit so need this back ASAP so it can be thrown at the card
Pay the money we where gifted last week into the bank
Small top up shop for pack lunch tomorrow, we are planning doing along walk up a mountain!

Thick_n_Thin

Make each day count- OH changed his phone over to sim only making a monthly saving of £45!!!!
He also phoned 2 old credit cards up to cancel and close and checks are in the post!
Tea from freezer
Thankful for - my OH being on the same page on terms of finances!!

Thick_n_Thin

I’ve been working on our monthly budget, one thing I would love to be able to achieve is the ability to pay annual bills such as car insurance instead of paying them monthly, also to have cash saved for bigger household bills such as gas/electricity ect, as of next payday I will be saving into a separate account to enable me to do this, I’m thinking £150 per month to start with, 9 days until pay day!

Thick_n_Thin

Yesterday we climbed Snowdon. Such a lovely day together and relatively low cost, just petrol and parking costs, we took a packed lunch to eat at the top, the weather was perfect for hiking, sunny and warm but occasionally cloudy and overcast which was welcome the nearer we got to the top, the view from the summit, when we could see through the clouds was spectacular. As I was walking I thought about how similar the journey is to trying to clear debt, at the start it’s exciting and you are full of energy and enthusiasm and this sustains you for a while then it starts to get a little bit challenging and you take a little break to gather your energy before you continue, again you start full of renewed energy and motivation, then it starts to get really difficult and you wonder why you started, there is still such a long way to go, you are tired, uncomfortable and it dosnt seem like you will ever reach the top, all the while you are measuring yourself against other people, some who are racing past you, some are on their way back down and offer words of encouragement. You look back and see how far you have come and how little you have to go to reach the top and that every footstep is getting you closer to where you want to go, you take a few more stops, occasionally a diversion and go off track but eventually you make it to the top and when you get there the views are spectacular and well worth the pain!

Thick_n_Thin

Wishing my life away waiting for payday on Friday, I have zero I’m my current account, & £6 in my purse, £4 is earmarked to pay for postage on and eBay parcel on weds, on a positive I have managed to squirrel away £56 into my Christmas savings account. Friday can’t come quickly enough...

Thick_n_Thin

So some small successes today, received a refund from Tesco credit card for £33 ( the account was in credit when we closed it) OH transferred it to me and I promptly paid it of the Halifax card which is £1599.00 but interest free. So I am pleased with that as it could of been so tempting to spend it being the week before payday but I was actually excited to pay it off the card. I also got an offer on an item on eBay, only £5 but I accepted and will squirrel the mine across to my Christmas savings pit to get me over £60:j:j

Thick_n_Thin

Pay day tomorrow! I have spent the last couple of days jiggling the budgets around and have set up various pots to allocate money into
1, long term savings ( this currently has just under 4K in and is for emergencies only, ideally I want to get this to 5k but won’t be able to achieve this just yet.
2, gas/electricity/tv license, this will get £75 per month to support when bills come in. Objective this winter is no heating until October and then we will restrict usage, this can easily be reduced as we don’t really manage our usage, OH will sit in shorts and complain he is cold!
3, car insurance, tax, mot, - this will also get £75 per month, ideally I will increase this going forward but for now I will stick at £75
4, household savings- this month this will get £175, this pot is for things we want to do to the house that we need to save for, for example we are currently decorating our hallway so soon we will be needing to buy paint/wallpaper and carpet for the stairs, so this month will probably be paint and possibly wallpaper and then I will need to save for the carpet after that.
5, Christmas savings, this is my own separate pot and has to be fed from my personal savings and Tilly tidys and eBay sales.
As I get paid every 4 weeks rather than monthly every couple of months I have a month where certain direct debits don’t come out so I will divert that money into my pots to give them a boost for example this month I don’t have to pay my phone bill so £19 will be getting diverted into one of the pots!
I have also factored a payment of £100 to the credit card, my minimum payment is less than £20 and it’s at 0% so at least it’s coming down if not quite as quickly as I would like. I have decided to not think about trying to make overpayments on the mortgage just yet as I would like to get my savings pots up and running before I start getting my big winter bills in Jan and don’t want to spread everything too thinly, I think I will revisit this idea after Christmas. I have kept the shopping budget quite healthy at £300 or £75 per week and this is one area I am determined to get under control, I know the secret is to meal plan and take a shopping list to avoid the top up shops but I just can’t seem to control it, i need to spend a bit more time planning my shopping trips I think!
1 more challenge is the overdraft, my plan is to tackle this seperatly and fund this from eBay sales, I know I can make £50 per month easily on eBay, I have lots of clothes and footwear to sell so I just need to get on with it, so the plan is to reduce by £50 per month, it’s currently £400 and I want it gone but I know I need to be realistic with how much I can throw at it each month.:money:
3,

Thick_n_Thin

So pay day has been and gone, budgets have been done and money allocated to pots. I have kept to my 1st week food budget and came in at bang on £75. I didn’t do any top up shops throughout the week and kept alcohol purchases to a minimum. One epic fail though was an impromptu night out last weekend that resulted in me blowing 80% of my personal spends for the month. This is another area that gets me in trouble, I don’t go out a lot but when I do it costs me a fortune. Anyway it’s done now and I will have to sacrifice my cut and coulor this month to stay within my budget. Another positive is that I’ve started running again and have done 3 runs this week:j

Thick_n_Thin

So it seems I may need to purchase a new washing machine.... its making a terrible loud noise when it’s spinning and dosnt seem to be rinsing properly.... OH is having a tinker with it now. I really do not want to have to buy a new one

Thick_n_Thin

Well the washing machine is hanging on by a tread, still making a terrible banging noise but I will go as long as possible before I have to buy a new one, it’s making me think twice before putting things that have been worn once into the wash basket. They say these things come in 3’s so number 2 is the oven, there seems to be something wrong with the temperature, it’s cooking things too quickly and I have nearly burnt the last two evening meals. Again I am not going to start looking for a replacement just yet, I’m gonna wait this one out! Wonder what number 3 is!