A welcome wake up call

twiggy86

So this week I've spent:

£48.11 on groceries
£81.55 on general
TOTAL: £129.66

Seems high, although £40 was for my hair lazer session. So without that (as its not a regular general spend) it would have meant general spending game in at £41.55 with a total of £89.66. Also included £9 for two lots of hair dye so a saving on future trips to the hairdressers!

Aim to bring it down further this week - both general and groceries.

twiggy86

Relatively frugal but fun weekend!

Saw some friends and their little ones at the park on Saturday - £3 spent on parking but avoided an ice cream or a coffee. Other than some food shopping, that was all I spent all weekend! Plus I visited a friend yesterday and after a lovely catch up, came away with two pasta bowls and a full flash floor cleaner!

I cleared out my purse on Friday and found a couple of gift cards lurking! So I've used one today to buy a present for a friend's daughter, but I will need to pay to post it to Australia!

I have got a few more things I'll need to pay out for in the next few weeks:
Postage for present to Aus
Card and gift for baby shower (twins!)
Paddle boarding lesson on Thursday (plus maybe lunch with a friend)
Night out on Friday (although may drive)
Birthday card and present for dad
Birthday card and present for OH

Swear there's something I'm missing!

savingholmes

Very frugal. Great when you find unexpected gift cards or money

twiggy86

Savingholmes - Shows how very blase I've been with money though that I didn't even know I had them!

As much as I'm keen to clear the ne*t account asap and meet my first goal, I've just paid off the minimums on two of my cards as they're due just after pay day but rather get ahead of myself! So just paid:

Hcard - £64.57
Bcard - £79.51

Making my new debt total = £13,084.34

Soon be into the 12's!!! Also means so far this month I've paid off £521.65, although after interest the difference is "only" £333.99 (can you tell I've got a spreadsheet!) Goes to show what I can achieve with a bit of effort!

I've also currently still got £230.86 set aside for debt busting but as I'm "new" to budgeting I don't want to pay it all now only to find myself short at the end of the month! However, it is nearly enough to clear ne*t!!!

twiggy86

Actually, I've just paid the £30.86 off ne*t so my account was a nice round number!!!

Eyebright

You're doing really well! I'm also coming back to the forums after a hiatus with debts that need busting, and no savings for life's emergencies and Christmas etc...

I'm hoping to get a diary on the go to help keep me focused and motivated, as it's going to be a long journey I'm afraid!

Thanks for the inspiration, I'm off to subscribe

twiggy86

Eyebright - I'm so pleased to have inspired you! It's going to be a long journey here too, but I need to keep telling myself how all the little bits add up and all help to get this debt gone!

Annoyingly today I made my lunch and then left it on the side at home! So I will need to buy something for lunch but will get something cheap rather than one of my favorite places! However, that will mean so far this month I've bought lunch 3 times instead of pretty much every day! I've spent £5.97 this month rather than god knows how much (probably between £60 - £100!) and the fact that I know exactly how much goes to show the change I've made - so I'm not going to beat myself up too much!

twiggy86

Ten minutes on the phone and I've just reduced my mobile bill from £17.92 a month to £8 a month! Why have I been assuming that because it's sim only it would have been a good deal?! Been on the same plan for about 5 years!!! I must look into the TV deal next!

savingholmes

Great news on reducing costs and on debt over-payments. Look forward to hearing more of your progress. Some good habit changes too it sounds like.

clearmydebts

You're doing great!

I am another one returning to the MSE fold and determined to bust through my debts this time. Will subscribe and look forward to following you on your journey!