Taking care now before I blow it all away (again)

Squirrelz92

Well done so far!!! x

Chemtrails

@Squirrelz92 thanks I’m hoping this continues!

@_Dolly_Rocker_   It’s weird how we think we can buy all this stuff and still have money in our accounts! It’s  wilful blindness or denial or something lol

i have put a budget together for November now I know how much is coming in. Some payments this month are one offs, like the one for beauty treatments. This is to get my eyebrows tidied up and ‘tache waxed. Beauty is pain ya know (or something). Also budgeted for a friend’s birthday dinner and ticket for work Xmas do. Council tax is due to increase, they haven’t recalculated since I am no longer a student but I’m sure I will get a bill through at some point. I am putting money aside for dental work and money for Xmas presents. Should be able to claim some mileage expenses back. Anticipating car insurance to reduce, I had to add on business use and paying the extra money on top of original policy payment.

Budget

Income                                            2611

Mortgage, building ins and life ins.     500
Octopus energy.                                   183
o2	65.00
Groceries	275.00
Petrol	140.00
Car insurance	56.75
Car Tax	15.00
Tesco card	75.00
Aqua	375.00
Hayu	4.99
Milk/eggs	90.00
Music lessons	60.00
Dinner	25.00
Presents	150.00
Dental work	250.00
Virgin	43.00
Sky tv	67.00
Swimming lessons	23.00
Council tax	98.00
Lowell	15.00
Takeaway	20.00
Beauty treatments	29.00
Vet plan	17.99
Glasses	11.00
Night out ticket	15.00

Chemtrails

Oh I withdrew 26 from prolific last week and paid it to Aqua. My minimum amount this month is about 160 but I am paying 375. I am determined to get rid of this balance, hopefully by June next year, might be unrealistic but good to have a goal I suppose.

enthusiasticsaver

£90 seems a lot for just milk and eggs. Can’t you get that with your other groceries? 

Chemtrails

enthusiasticsaver said:

£90 seems a lot for just milk and eggs. Can’t you get that with your other groceries? 

It maybe seems a lot but this is a 5 week month so would usually only be £72; we go through a lot of milk/eggs. I get from a local dairy and like supporting a local business. I don’t really want to give the supermarkets any more of my hard earned dosh; they get enough of it quite frankly.

Fizzy11

I’ve just read through your diary and you sound like me a very long time ago. Now late 60’s and I promise you this short term watching every penny will pay off in the long run. I remember my OH saying we didn’t need to watch every penny when we were massively in debt but it really was the only way. Vinted is a great place to sell stuff if you’re not already. My D buys her kids loads of stuff from there as well. Good luck. Hope it’s okay to follow. 

Chemtrails

Fizzy11 said:

I’ve just read through your diary and you sound like me a very long time ago. Now late 60’s and I promise you this short term watching every penny will pay off in the long run. I remember my OH saying we didn’t need to watch every penny when we were massively in debt but it really was the only way. Vinted is a great place to sell stuff if you’re not already. My D buys her kids loads of stuff from there as well. Good luck. Hope it’s okay to follow. 

 Hi @Fizzy11 , thanks and of course that’s ok! 

I completely agree with you about watching every penny. I think I well and truly had a lightbulb moment going through my statements. Previously I would budget say 250 for groceries but not track this anywhere. Now I have a budget spreadsheet and different pots in my bank account.
I was at the shop this morning as we fancy a cooked breakfast so needed to get slice sausage, tattie scones etc -items we wouldn’t usually buy from the supermarket. When I got home I moved the money from my grocery pot in to main pot so this spend is accounted for. I didn’t do this before: I really think I have the potential to be good with money lol 
ebay and vinted are my first ports of call when buying stuff. Last month I bought boots rrp 130 for 20 quid that had never been worn, they had never been tried on and are the real McCoy. Also a pair of those Nike air max trainers that rrp at 130 but got mine for 28 and had only been worn a few times and look as good as new…can’t really argue with that!

I can’t be bothered selling though, I tried last year but got bored of it.

Chemtrails

November has been a decent month financially.
I have been paying too much tax so phoned HMRC last week to sort out my tax code. The change is already reflected on my next payslip and clearing about £100 extra a month now.
I received a refund for a class I am postponing until the new year at some point. That was £240 I put towards Aqua. This month I have paid a total of 630 towards Aqua. I noticed on my new statement that I have been charged more interest than last month even though I haven’t bought anything on the card and have paid much more than usual so hoping there will be an interest adjustment in the next few days.
Other good news is I will be receiving a back payment of roughly £1000 in December which will cover the rest of what I need for my dental treatment. 

Also mortgage payment is reducing by 30 a month to 279. I think in my previous budget I had put down 500 for mortgage, building and life insurance but it is actually only 340 all in now.
im getting paid on Weds will do a budget for December over the weekend.

Chemtrails

So far today I have dodged 2 x takeaways!
This morning I done some studies on prolific and one of them asked if I liked pineapple on pizza. Next thing I know we are looking for Hawaii pizzas at domino’s etc on just eat. Except I am not a fan of domino’s and i find the prices ludicrous. There are no decent pizza places in my town either. So my partner went and got a £2 one from supermarket which was absolutely fine and I don’t feel like I have been ripped off.
I had told mr chemtrails to go to Costa on the way back to get some coffees as I had a notion for a hot drink with cream and marshmallows etc but Mr C put his foot down and just bought ingredients, coffee beans etc from supermarket which was a hell of a lot more sensible, cheaper and delicious!
we have in the past spent a fair bit of money on takeaways but now I am examining my spending I just find them to be overpriced and not really worth it, especially the big fast food places. 

Chemtrails

Overview of November spending
- went over budget on groceries by about £75. This is still a lot less than I had been spending previously
-had to buy myself a new winter jacket (44.99) and get fitted for and buy a new bra (£37) Also hadn’t cancelled you-move supplements properly so was charged £25 for this.
- I had to reduce my expected saving for dental work due to overspends however:
- I received back payment of £466 ( had wrongly calculated £1000 but 466 not to be sniffed at!!!)- put this straight in to dental pot
- Everything else was on budget, I haven’t used my credit cards this month for the first time in ages, am really pleased about this
- I have money coming in on Weds 29th but not sure the amount so depending on this might be able to put more to dental savings