Why is spending money so easy......

mark55man

Hi good luck and you made a great start. Nothing to add yet as I can't type straight with the cat on my lap!! but I'll be back

Snwps

Just about to join Prolific anyone got a referral code?

Scott-Weiland

I dont think prolific academic offers a referral system let me check.

Snwps

Total debt figure stands today at £36,938.61 which means I've paid off £554.64 (1.48%) of the original figure of £37,492.25. Only just scraped into the £36k figures but its a milestone none the less.

I'm happy its a new month as previous months breakdowns on YNAB have been misleading as we were still using the credit cards when we were short. Not so much in June, but from July it will show an accurate monthly spend which will help sort our SOA.

I have been plugging away at the EF which currently stands at £257. Been selling over the weekend and made £85, need to keep up with this.

I know I've mentioned in previous posts about me finding a second job. I'm not have much success if I'm honest but we may have some good news. DH may have found a second job which can work around this main job commitments. He's had the interview and has got the job we just need to finalise the details and start date etc. If all goes to plan we will have about £700-£800 extra per month to use to pay towards debt. I'm not wanting to count my chickens but gosh this will help out so much. Its hard not getting carried away doing sums on my spreadsheet to see exactly what this can do in terms of our debt free date.

DancingInTheRain

Well done on getting into the £36k's, great start! x

Snwps

Morning all, not much to report on the debt busting front. Things seem to be flowing as they should all pots in YNAB topped up yesterday after DH's payday.

EF pot currently stands at £285.71.

I need to go grocery shopping after work and have £64.90 in my pot which should be plenty although I need to keep about £15 for the Sunday packed lunch shop so only have about £49.90 to spend today. Going to sort my meal plan and list in work.

We got the holiday/summer clothes down from the attic last night to see what clothes fitted the kids for this summer now the weather has brightened up. I was surprised to see that DS2 has grown so much over the last 12 months that hardly any fitted him so I've got a huge pile of hardly worn shorts, t-shirts and vests to go through and list on eBay to hopefully make a little cash. Luckily some of the clothes for DS1 now fit him so they have plenty of clothes now just need to get a few joggers and hoodies.

Plan to take the kids to the bank on Saturday to open their first bank accounts. Been meaning to do this a while just hard to find the time due to working same times bank open (other than a Saturday morning).

Snwps

Current debt total is £36,808.31 - 1.83% paid in just under a month. Paid £684.94 in total.

It feels as though I've been doing this a lot longer than a month but don't feel I'm getting anywhere fast.

The kids have now set up their new bank accounts and I've set up a weekly standing order for £5 each. I'm hoping they can learn to save and handle money now to build a better relationship with money than I have as an adult.

One of the cars had it's MOT on Monday and thank god it passed no issues - other car MOT booked in for 25th.

Ebay selling is going really well. I've got loads of items listed and have sold 7 items which comes to about £25 with a few days left to go. I've got lots more to add to Ebay it's just finding the time to sort the listings. Once I get started it's pretty repetitive.

I've also set up Shoppix and added a few receipts. Will keep doing this and see how it goes.

The pet insurance renewal is due in August. I've had the renewal docs from my current insurers and its gone up by about £3 per month. So I'm going to have a look on Top Cashback/Quidco to see if there's any cheaper deals.

Grocery shopping budget is on track as is the fuel budget. I'm looking forward to seeing actual monthly spends at the end of the month so that I can check/update my SOA.

To Do:
* Sort pet insurance
* Take kids for haircuts on weekend
* Sort through the garage - see what needs taking to the tip/can sell on
* Continue with ebaying - add more items and post sold items
* MOT 2nd car

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Re 2nd job.... I have my main job (2 days a week), I then work in a supermarket on Saturdays and then I do some childminding too. I didn't find any issue job hunting, try to be as flexible as possible even if hours aren't perfect. Once you're in, it's easy to 'tweak'! I originally accepted 16 hours (too much for me!) and then 6 months later reduced to 8, which is what I wanted in first place.

suki1964

Well done so far

I have to ask though, what's this "packed lunch shop" all about?

Do you not use what you have already in the house for lunches?

Me and Mrs Suki both work part time so need a pack up 3 or 4 days a week each. Mum is home all week and needs lunch ( neither me or Mr Suki are a 3 meal a day person when er don't work so tend not to worry about lunch on days at home ) and I get them all out of the weeks main shop.

We don't buy anything special for lunches, we use left overs mostly or Ill make a pot of soup, pasta salad etc just using what needs to be used up from the fridge

Plus there is always stuff like tuna, sardines, eggs and cheese plus salad stuff

It saves a fortune

Tomorrow I shall be taking some cereal in with me for breakfast and two eggs and a container of soup for my lunch. Mr S will have the left over stir fry from tonight ( he's home tomorrow).

Once you get in the swing of making an extra portion or not eating that last sausage because its there and saving it for the following day, wasting nothing, the food bill drops quite a bit

Snwps

suki1964 wrote: »

Well done so far

I have to ask though, what's this "packed lunch shop" all about?

Do you not use what you have already in the house for lunches?

Me and Mrs Suki both work part time so need a pack up 3 or 4 days a week each. Mum is home all week and needs lunch ( neither me or Mr Suki are a 3 meal a day person when er don't work so tend not to worry about lunch on days at home ) and I get them all out of the weeks main shop.

We don't buy anything special for lunches, we use left overs mostly or Ill make a pot of soup, pasta salad etc just using what needs to be used up from the fridge

Plus there is always stuff like tuna, sardines, eggs and cheese plus salad stuff

It saves a fortune

Tomorrow I shall be taking some cereal in with me for breakfast and two eggs and a container of soup for my lunch. Mr S will have the left over stir fry from tonight ( he's home tomorrow).

Once you get in the swing of making an extra portion or not eating that last sausage because its there and saving it for the following day, wasting nothing, the food bill drops quite a bit

Hi Suki, thanks for your post. All good points made. DH and I follow the same principle as you to some effect in that I take to work what ever is in the cupboard/fridge that morning and left overs are so quick as it's just a grab and go lunch.

What happens with us is that I go shopping on a Tuesday after work once DH gets paid (he gets paid weekly) to do the normal weekly shop. But as the kids need packed lunch Mon-Fri I find it easier to get the weeks packed lunch stuff on a Sunday to last the next 5 days as its fresh. Plus if I was to get the stuff with my normal weekly shop on a Tuesday the kids will eat the Mon/Tues stuff over the weekend so will need to go shopping anyway. I am strict though on the Sunday shop in that I only get whats needed so in effect it makes no difference if I was to buy it on the Tuesday or Sunday cost wise.

We're only talking stuff for sandwiches, crisps, chocolate bar, piece of fruit.

I would love to see my kids faces if they opened their lunch boxes and saw they had 2 eggs and some soup. :rotfl:

I suppose I could move the weekly shop day to a Sunday and do it all in one. May have to try that out. :beer: