Slipping Through My Fingers

teafor2

Well, today was a lot more spendy than I thought it would be

Coffee - £6.30
Dogs - £6.50
Slippers - £12.98
General bits and bobs - £5.97
Stamps - £6.96
Gift Card for DS - £20

Total spends: £58.71 :eek: That now leaves me with £78.44.

I knew December wouldn't be a true account of my spends, I don't normally buy £40's worth of gift cards for example, but even so looking back at what I have spent I can only see a couple of coffees, a piece of cake and a pair of slippers for me! I know I've saved some and paid some extra off the cc debt but I'm talking about actual 'things'.

Never mind, it's giving me a good idea of what my money goes on and I'm already thinking about how to change a few things in the NY.

teafor2

Forgot to say, on the plus side I kept all my receipts :j

sarahsays

When you were saying you didn't know where all your spare money was going, I was thinking, bet most of it goes on the children, because I know that's where all mine goes! looks like I might have been right - lol

teafor2

You most certainly were right sarahsays :rotfl: And the dogs obviously come a close second. Do you know I spend more on having them groomed than I do on my own haircuts over a year. Think they work out about £320 and I spend £90

teafor2

Morning Everybody

Really not planning on spending anything today and I just hope it stays that way. :cool:

I've decided to add a couple more categories to my list for when I start budgeting properly in the NY so at the moment I've got:

DS1 savings - £10
My savings - £25
CC extra payment - £20
Coffees - £15
Hairdressers - £10
Dogs - £25
Christmas - £10

Total = £115.

I think that covers everything which means I should have £125 left to spend which I'll divide up into a weekly budget.

It'll help to put money away every month for the dogs as I'm always short when they need grooming. And £120 will cover what I'm responsible for buying at Christmas.

I'm not keen on seeing £115 gone before I've even done anything, but I have to keep reminding myself that this also covers saving some money and bringing my debt free date forward.

Have a good day everybody

enthusiasticsaver

teafor2 wrote: »

Well, today was a lot more spendy than I thought it would be

Coffee - £6.30
Dogs - £6.50
Slippers - £12.98
General bits and bobs - £5.97
Stamps - £6.96
Gift Card for DS - £20

Total spends: £58.71 :eek: That now leaves me with £78.44.

I knew December wouldn't be a true account of my spends, I don't normally buy £40's worth of gift cards for example, but even so looking back at what I have spent I can only see a couple of coffees, a piece of cake and a pair of slippers for me! I know I've saved some and paid some extra off the cc debt but I'm talking about actual 'things'.

Never mind, it's giving me a good idea of what my money goes on and I'm already thinking about how to change a few things in the NY.

All these little bits add up. I would have asked for slippers for Xmas

teafor2

Flipping heck ES, you're right about the slippers :T Why didn't I think of doing that. Mine only cost £5 but I've been given some Christmas money from Mum so I could reimburse myself. I've already bought myself a bottle of Baileys - my annual must have tipple and she wouldn't mind I've already worn them either. As adults we're a bit past having to keep things until Christmas Day.

I'm doing it, I'm putting £5 back into my account. Thanks for stating the obvious :T

enthusiasticsaver

I also would say if you only have £240 disposable income and £80 goes on the credit card then £160 is not a huge amount of spending money if you are buying for DC, dogs, personal stuff for you and other odd bits and pieces. How much disposable income does your DH have and are the joint household bills split fairly?

I would say I am only an early retiree because all our money was split from when we first got married 36 years ago. My husband was a much higher earner as I worked part time when our DC were small and relinquished my high stress job so we weren't both working long hours and travelling a lot. He was and is totally on board with that and we both have the same amount of personal spending money. He says though the reason we are debt and mortgage free and have savings is down to me as I did the budgeting. His pension is a lot more than mine but we wanted to retire at roughly the same time so he retired at 58 and I went down to two days a week then retired last year when I was 58. I could not have done that if I was living on just my pension and savings and expected to contribute half to bills.

I have realised on here many people are in dire circumstances because their husbands don't share their income and expect their wives to cough up half for bills even though their income is lower due to accepting lower paid jobs to fit in with childcare commitments and wondered if that is the case with you? It is only fair to pay half the bills if your income is the same.

enthusiasticsaver

Also that ABBA song makes me cry too :rotfl::rotfl:

You are doing well though in writing down all the little bits and pieces. Great diary. Subscribed.

kazwookie

Get a small note book and write everything down, mine has 3 coloumns date / item / ££, so 01.12.18 / hair cut/ £20 then all I do is add up the end coloumn, and check against banks statements etc.

What rate of interest % is your CC charging? if it is at 0% then great, if not is it adding interest on interest, it may be worth moving this to a 0% card.

I would also suggest you look at other areas as well, ie mobiles/ gas/ electric / cars / insurance house / cars etc what else do you both pay out of one subs? look at old bank statements.

What about your husband, you write a lot about 'it comes out of my money' , what comes out of 'his' money? what about re assessing, what is whos etc / looking at all bills / spending again, because what did work, may not be working now.

If there is money to free up then you will have more 'your money'

Good luck