£50,000 in 3 years diary. Can I do it???

RoxieW

hi spendless! ah -no need for condoms - have got the coil! not taking chances there!
no unfortunately we dont have a vue near us - our odeon does a kids club buts its just really old films that have been out ages and you could get them on dvd (or have most likely already seen them!)
re the tax credit - we get £176 ish a month at the minute - although they've been up and down so many times with work/childcare/salary changes this tax year it may just be that we're owed some - I find it confusing how its all worked out to be honest! I hope we're not being overpaid - we've had that before :mad: It will very likely go down in April I imagine.

Spendless

It was wondering if you were being overpaid that made me post cos better to know and sort out, than receive an unexpected bill. You can put your circs into this website www.entitledto.co.uk

RoxieW

HI all - not been around for a few days as not much is going on here and I haven't been spending (yey!). Just gonna review all my figures for the end of the month.

RoxieW

Jan Update

Mortgage 401
Rent 130 *
Council tax 0
Gas and Elec 70
Phone 15
Mobile (payg) 5
Sky 17
Net 20 **
Petrol 150 ***
dale lunches 70
food 300
water 15
house maintainance 20
insurances 40
school dinners 40
activities with todd 40
boys football club 40
v license 11
charity 12
contacts 20
dentist 5
haircuts 20
newspapers/mags 10
clothes 33
mine and dales spends 100
family 'fun' 116
eating out 100
driving lessons/tests 0

= 1800 spent

Income 2700

= 900 left over

+ 200 Quidco = £1100

Then, of course, minus Dales birthday trip to Prague £900

= £200 to save for Jan.

Which I'm happy with as I thought it would take 2 months to pay for the trip when its actually taken one with a bit left over. Yey! Does help that theres no council tax this month and our mort payment has gone down by £50 a month :j

Although I've gone over with a couple of things (food in particular by £100) this month I'm still really happy with myself comparing it to when I first started this challenge and was spending £500 in a month on eating out plus about the same on groceries :eek:
Its really helped to have to put things down in black and white and hopefully we'll do better in Feb.

RoxieW

hi all - snowed here last night - took the kids out in it and had fun throwing snowballs etc. Good clean FREE fun!

Skye_27

Hi,

I have been following your diary and think you are doing v well.

I spend a fortune on magazines, really need to curb it!

mrs-d_3

Hi Roxie how are you? You are doing great with the money. How was the weekend away? Also how did your appointment for the mole go? Hope you got all clear. Keep us posted.

dfw844

Hi,

Long-time lurker here, just wanted to say I am missing your diary! Hope everything is OK with you, sure we'd all love to hear from you soon.

xx

RoxieW

Hi all

So so sorry to anyone remotely interestly - thank you for the message dfw844! Totally totally fell of the wagon - with a huge bump!! And was far too ashamed to post here.
To update - had the mole removed. Go for results this friday - so fingers crossed. Thanks Mrs D for asking.
Not much else has happened apart from spending like crazy people and being in complete turmoil with the whole another baby or not issue. Aaaargh - its driving me mad, I'm so confused.
Anyway, we have resigned ourselves (ish) to staying in the house we're in, as to be able to afford a bigger house I'd need to be working which I dont want to do if we have another baby. (Bit of a catch 22 as we could realy do with more space if we have another but hey, this is why I'm all confused!)
So anyway, we decided to have a clear out and a spruce up to fall back in love with our little house. £1000 later (and lighter!) and we've redecoated, new carpet, mattress, rug, curtains, far too many cushions, curtain poles, inner set - yes I went ott - you all get the picture. But to be fair - most of it was needed - new carpet and new mattress definately so the bulk of the money was justified. Still, its made a massive dint in our savings plan.
Bit of good news is thats dales boss gave us a computer - for no other reason but that dales a fantastic employee! And its really nice too and dale had been hankering after one for a while.

So, now - the plan is too stick to the budget - March is a new month and all that. I dont seem to be doing to well so far but hopefully continuing to post will keep me on the straight and narrow. And dale'll get a pay rise in apr - lol - fingers crossed!!

So sorry to anyone who's missed my random ramblings - as i said, totally lapsed. I also charity shopped loads off stuff when I was having a clear out as I couldn;t be bothered to ebay - whats gone wrong!!

On the positive - I've joined the giving up alcohol thread (as i like a tipple and it wasnt doing my waistline any good) and I've not touched a drop since Saturday night. I've also excercised two days on the trot - hope to keep it up!

Snaggles

Hope the results are okay Roxie.

I know exactly what you mean about needing the extra room if you have a baby but not being able to afford the extra room AND a baby. That's the position we were in too (I say 'were', because our baby is 10 months old now, so the decision has been well and truly made...lol!). We're a bit 'cosy' with 4 of us in our tiny house, but I can't imagine being without either of the kids now.

Don't worry about falling off the wagon - the great thing about this site is that it doesn't matter, all that matters is that you get back on again. Good luck with it.