Third time's a charm!

twiggy86

Just checking in quickly! 

I've made a couple of CC "minimum" payments (always a bit more than the minimum) as the statements had come in. Plus the TCB amount came in, as did £5 from Shoppi* so I've used that as a small overpayment on my "priority" card (i.e. the main one I'm attacking). I've also claimed £1.70 from TCB which had become payable,  so that will also be used as an overpayment. Plus in the next few days I should get my £5 reward from my bank account. 

I have also reshuffled my spreadsheet slightly which I'm hoping will help my feeling of organisation! Is was all there but I suddenly had the realisation that a few things were in an order which didn't totally make sense! I have also started tracking the percentage of my goal that I've achieved - every £71 is 1% and I'm already over 10%! Definitely helps me feel like I am making progress! 

[Deleted User]

Just interested to know if you have managed to balance your budget including debt repayments. Best wishes.

SusieT

twiggy86 said:

Just checking in quickly! 

I've made a couple of CC "minimum" payments (always a bit more than the minimum) as the statements had come in. Plus the TCB amount came in, as did £5 from Shoppi* so I've used that as a small overpayment on my "priority" card (i.e. the main one I'm attacking). I've also claimed £1.70 from TCB which had become payable,  so that will also be used as an overpayment. Plus in the next few days I should get my £5 reward from my bank account. 

I have also reshuffled my spreadsheet slightly which I'm hoping will help my feeling of organisation! Is was all there but I suddenly had the realisation that a few things were in an order which didn't totally make sense! I have also started tracking the percentage of my goal that I've achieved - every £71 is 1% and I'm already over 10%! Definitely helps me feel like I am making progress! 

Thats great, not only have you cleared 10% but you have also reduced the interest by 10% and that amount of what you are paying is now coming off the capital, so a good win there It is always good to have the spreadsheet items in a tidy order that is easy to read, makes it feel a lot more organised 

twiggy86

Happy Monday! 

I had a great weekend with friends - some money wins, some money mistakes! 

On Friday I went to my local stitch night - ticket was already paid for and realised somewhere I can park for free. I had planned to throw some pizzas in when I got home for a quick dinner (as wouldn't be home until 8:45ish) - however I'd mucked up in the week and ended up having the pizza on Wednesday, as the meal I had planned would have meant it would be ready 20 mins before I had to be somewhere 10 minutes away to play netball! But as I hadn't come up with an alternative quick dinner for Friday to replace the pizza and therefore ended up getting a takeaway. 

On Saturday a friend popped over for a cuppa and a catch up - plus as she was popping to the shop on the way I asked her to grab me some sausages which she then wouldn't take the money for! I then went out for a friends birthday for bottomless "brunch" (although it was at 7pm!) which included food and unlimited cocktails.I had a few drinks at brunch but then decided not to carry on drinking so switched to diet coke. Total spent was £39 including taxi there, although I do need to check what I owe for taxi home as I was the first drop off. 

Yesterday was a very quiet day at home. But OH popped to the shop for a few bits we needed and of course bought things that we didn't need! (I'd given him the "food shop" card). This, plus my own slight over-spending, means I think the food pot will run out before the end of the month. But I'd set £50 aside to cover any interest which may have come in on my Bcard (over-estimating to be on the safe side), which I've just done a balance transfer from - however statement came in and they haven't added any! So as much as I would love to use it as a debt payment, I'm going to move it to the food pot. I really want to bring our grocery spend down and so the amount I budget is always what I want to spend, rather than what we generally spend. So I think I'm going to have to increase the budget and do my best to not spend it all - rather than give myself an optimistic budget! 

Another small result was that I meant to buy something online on Friday but forgot and then had an email with a 10% off code! So I ordered it yesterday instead using the last of my Christmas money! 

Right that's enough waffle for a Monday morning! 

SusieT

Prices really went up over the last year. I did a food shop last week which came to over £90  it included some store cupboard and cleaning things, but it is a lot more than I had expected to spend. The non store and cleaning things will last until the end of the month as I put bread in the freezer, so I will save on fuel for another trip but it really does blow the budget very easily even if you stick to the list. Well worth upping the budget a bit so that you can come in under especially when you have a helpful OH who sees extra things to buy

twiggy86

@SusieT - I swear my food shops used to come to £30, now I seem to average £70!!! So I'm just going to accept that I spend more than I think I should, budget accordingly and hope I have some left at the end of the month which I can then throw at the CC. 

I realised I also had a couple of other MSE moments this weekend - I dyed my own hair and did my waxing! Plus nothing new was purchased for my night out! I also started a scrappy project - a multi colour pillow cover for the living room where we are trying to inject more colour - I already have some pillow blanks (is that the right word?!) and I already have the scraps AND its a free pattern that I'm adapting. 

Today I had my £5 reward come in from my bank so that has gone straight off the CC! I also don't think I've reported that so far for the I have paid cleared over £1,000 and have dropped from the £17s (ouch!) into the £15s!!!   

twiggy86

Went food shopping last night... over-spent! 

So I'll need to re-look at my budget again to see where I can shuffle some money from to top-up the food shop pot. It's looking like I'll have to use the £50 I'd set aside to overpay my parents this month, but I'd like to see if I can re-allocate something else as I'd love to overpay them - especially as they were so nice in reducing the total by £200. 

twiggy86

I've managed to have a re-shuffle and the £50 is still earmarked for my parents! I put £50 petrol in last night (which will hopefully last until me new "budget month") - I had £66 in the petrol pot so I moved over the £16. I also took £5 from a few pots for things needed later in the year (e.g. car insurance) which I can top up before they're due later in the year. I'm really praying these efforts will be enough to see me through! 

I had put my food shop on my CC the other day when I saw the total and realised I wouldn't have enough in the pot - so CC was a temporary measure until I could sit down and assess. So I have cleared that this morning - so happy to have that balance back at zero! 

Not sure I have anything else really to report! 

twiggy86

Back from a quiet weekend and pleased to report that nothing was frittered! OH did request a takeaway pudding after a roast yesterday and got a sharp no! He used the line "I can sort when I get paid next week" - still no darling!!! I did lend him £30 as he needed to pay a deposit by 8am this morning which he didn't have - its for a weekend away with friends and I didn't want him to miss out (yes he should have been prepared for this!) But on the whole I am getting better at saying no to him! (Makes him sound like a child!!!) 

I was meant to be having dinner at a friends tonight but we've moved it to next week as it works better - so I will have to find something for dinner for myself tonight! Rest of the week is pretty much sorted other than eggs and flour (pancakes!) and some lunch bits, so hopefully won't spend too much!! If I do manage to have anything left in the food pot at the end of the budget month, I will shuffle it back to some of the pots I stole it from (although there probably won't be much). 

Never knew I could waffle so much about the blooming food shop!!!   

twiggy86

So as the new budget month is drawing near (see below), I have made the £50 overpayment to my parents! So that leaves £150 which I can hopefully clear next month! Be so happy to have them paid back, not only because it means it's another debt gone! That means the total difference in my debt total for this budget month is just over £800! However that does include the £200 that my parents wiped off what I owe them. Not bad going though whilst I'm trying to get back in this game! 

I have had £30 appear as confirmed in TCB from my home insurance renewal last October! That will be a debt repayment when it appears! I am also waiting on £30 for my car insurance from end of September so hoping that won't be too far behind! 

Technically OH's payday is Saturday so thought he would be getting it Friday - however he's been paid today! Well I assume he has as he's sent me some money! The pots are very low but I think I will stick with trying to draw it out until Friday to start the new month - and therefore start spending this money - as otherwise I'm conscious that next month will end up being a very long month! But equally it makes no sense to use the CC if I run out of money in the pots. Hopefully I shouldn't need to do any more food shopping this week as dinners are all sorted. 

Goal for the new budget month will be to try to get the grocery shopping total down - although I have increased the budget. (That's it for food shop waffle!) Hopefully this will mean no re-shuffling of the budget - although re-shuffling is better than putting it on the credit card!