Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

South_coast

Moaning once indoors sounds like a plan - you've got the windows closed after all 🤣!

newgirly

😆 I do lots of that anyway southcoast! 

Still not looked at the finances 😱 and I’ve woken up with a burning desire to ditch overpaying the mortgage and book a holiday somewhere and buy a load of new clothes for it 😂  but no, I shan’t! Instead I think I’m going to the factory to help dh with a big private job he’s doing this weekend, ds2 has asked me to the cinema so I may squeeze  that in too. 

I’m out of petrol and low on food so the overspending will have to get worse 😩 I guess I should check the accounts really….

newgirly

Finally I’ve snuck back in after looking at the finances 🙄 

The bad news:

Council tax up from £164 to £174 pm over 12 months 

water up from £32/£38 to £40/£41 

Cinema up £18.40 to £19.40 

I’m short £258 😱 this is a combo of vets bills (another £68 today for 2x antibiotics) washing machine payments until the extra garage money starts and food overspending really - we have had a lot of them here sometimes this month, plus I’ve been lazy.

Dh says he may be able to give me some money towards this, not sure how much yet, if not I’ll empty the premium bonds account of its £100 and gradually pay the rest back over the next few months I guess!

The good news: 

I’ve had the gas and electric dd reduced in the yearly review to £242 from £280 😁

Haggled the sky from going up to £109 to £84 - multi room/Netflix/BB and phone incl

Sky mobile £7 to £5.60 for more data 

So direct debits are as low as they can be now, plus we have no garage costs and car tax bar £20 per year.

April is going to be a very tight month, I’ve already used all extra that would have been left to try and plug the gaps 😆 if I can get through in one piece then may should have some surplus. We are away for a week at the end of the month with zero budget for that- its a cruise and I’ve booked the drinks package though so we shouldn’t need anything, it’s a uk one so we have not booked any trips. 

newgirly

💙💙💙💙💙MONTH 6 OF THE 33 MONTH CHALLENGE💙💙💙💙💙

Start balance 1st October 2022: £61,452.11

Balance today: £52,053.19

Total reduction since month one: £9,398.92

Total reduction for March: £1,914.44 


Hanging on by a thread this month! Nothing left to fall back on 😩 However another month has been ticked off, I can hardly believe it, plus I’ve not yet raided the regular saver or premium bonds 😬

Ramouth

You are doing great!  It hasn’t been an easy month so you deserve a really big pay on the back!

Moneyfordreams

That a fantastic result since October - well done 

newgirly

Thanks 😊 may need to dip in to replace the £258 we are short, will have to see! 

I’ll make a lot more effort in April with the food budget, I’ve quit using my tesc@ delivery plan even though I’m paid up until august I think, I’m back at l!dl. Now you get a 10% off coupon off your next shop if you spend £250 in a month (up to £20)  I’ve hit that in March so will do a big shop for store cupboard stuff at the start of the month. It’s need somewhere to store it. 

Ramouth

Thanks for the tip on the Lidl discount.  I’m not sure we would manage to spend that much as there is only two of us but it might be worth trying there for a whole month to see.  We went to Aldi yesterday for the first time in ages and I was surprised how much cheaper it was than Tesco - although still noticeably more than 6 months ago!

try_harder

Brilliant numbers for March .Great work .you are doing so well .Keep at it !

newgirly

Thanks tryharder 🙂

Ramouth, I think there’s a lot of prices that are the same as Tesco, especially if like me you buy from the cheapest ranges often. However I’ve noticed some is a lot cheaper, for example I buy the packet Mexican rice pouches sometimes they are 35p in Lidl and 75p in Tesco 😱 also you get a coupon for a free bakery item once a month (I think!) so I usually go for a large sourdough loaf worth £2 odd 😁 also got a bag of almonds for free too the other day.