Statement of intent

RosieTiger

Stuart,
congratulations on reaching the 1st birthday - please keep it going, it's very useful for the rest of us !
RT

JoKay_2

Hi Stuart

:T Thanks for your spreadsheet - it took me a while to work out how to use it, but I think I'm getting there....!

I've had a good look through your thread, and have to say that you're an inspiration, and I particularly like your recognition of the balance between becoming MF and enjoying life!

I also like your idea of splitting the grocery spending into food, cleaning and toiletries - I can see this would give a much clearer idea of what is being spent where, and what saving could potentially be made.

Good luck for the future!!

StuartGMC

JoKay
Glad the spreadsheet is useful, good luck with your journey.

Have just moved £13 from TopCashBack to PayPal. Have only been on TCB since March 2008 and still need to improve on our returns but it's about £78 in that time. Not a lot, but it all helps. Meanwhile markets have dropped back a bit from recent gains as would be expected, but no real concern there; just not sure when we will breakeven in the short term.

StuartGMC

I've just checked up on my credit report on Experian; no need to run off the credit score as nothing has changed since I did so before and got 999! Anyway, useful to keep an eye on who is checking up on me, latest have been Post Office when moving daughter's money to a 12month bond and Direct Line just before they renewed the car insurance.

I've also tweaked some of the household budgeting spreadsheet so the fuel costs are running since Jan 09. With the lower prices the average cost per week in fuel has been just under £30, and having been away on business etc the average mileage per month has also dropped a bit. However, petrol prices are climbing rapidly at the moment and I expect that to continue through the summer too.

Similarly we've noticed the grocery costs have been rising as well. I think these are genuine rises not OH buying more things.

We've just bought replacement batteries for the smoke detector upstairs (the downstairs one had the batteries changed last month). These cost a bit but we do change them every 6months - when did you last check yours?

determined1_2

Changed mine last week!

Can still remember when next doors had a low battery and was beeping when they went on hols :mad::mad::mad::rotfl:

ShelleyC_2

Mine beeps when its low - one has actually been taken off the ceiling as it keeps beeping despite new batteries. I do have two others so hopefully enough.

I agree petrol and groceries seem to have leapt up in price. I've been reviewing my groceries receipts and definite rise without an increase in my wine buying

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Don't need to check my downstairs firealarm... OH does it for me when he cooks bacon under the grill! I do check the other ones and the carbonmonoxide detector once a month though. Is that a bit paranoid?

I didn't fill my car up today when I saw the price of petrol pushing £1 again! Boo.

Hope you had a good weekend around all your number crunching for meters, spends and fuel!!!

StuartGMC

Well I was reading numbers and doing some projections too through the weekend; the results not being what I want them to be presently. Sent £150 to my father as it was his 70th recently so add to that the car insurance and other costs, the flow of money is definitely going in the wrong direction. Unlike the little Dutch boy, it seems more than a finger in the dyke is required at the moment to stem the flow. Very aggravating as I think when we add on some new walking trainers etc for holiday and associated spend then we are in severe risk of needing to move the MFD back....

We'll just have to see how things pan out over the next month or two.

(That must be enough analogies for one post!)

earthgirl

We all have months where the sums don't work, but keep up the inspiring work!

SmlSave

Sounds like you need a hug Stu, so here's one ((hug))