The Final Furlong

Afternoon
I have totalled up my figures and have balanced to £1 out. I'm happy with that for my first month. So... I had an underspend on groceries and petrol and the second payment for the C/C did not come out after all so I have been able to reduce my O/D by another £100 (now stands at £100), paid £100 to USA fund (now £150) and £50 to emergency fund (now £100) and have started a birthday pot with £30. I have paid £283.21 out of this month's money to the holding account as well as £450 for the salary o/payment. I will need to pay for the hotel for the wedding (I think this is £145) and as the bride & groom have requested cash rather than gifts I will take this out of my personal spends for the month.
September's budgets are as follows:
Groceries = £150
Personal spends = £100
Petrol = £50

I have also decided that as my salary has reduced I will pay myself 50% of all income from private work and put the other 50% away for tax/advertising I also have a few things to sell on FB this month so that can go to C/C debt. I'm pretty pleased with that.

I will update debt totals when all payments have gone out.

Today has been another NSD and tomorrow will be as well as I won't use new budgets until 1st. I'm also going to try to keep out of my O/D again in September so that it won't incur a fee again. If that happens I should be able to clear that next month.

I have felt much more in control of my spending even though it has been quite a spendy month and having a budget has highlighted my areas of temptation or just not thinking. I found myself in a garage saying "I'm not paying 90 pence for a can of diet coke" and then checking my bank and finding I'd paid £1.30 for a bottle of the same from the vending machine at work without giving it a thought. On the plus side, I have taken lunch to work each day which I want to keep up when I'm back to regular hours next week. Some of this was being social as the others go to the college cafe! for lunch mostly but I have just taken my lunch in there with them and nobody has said I can't as yet. Also my own lunches are much better even if only a sandwich some days.

It is great that I know that the hotel cost and wedding gift are already covered this month which takes away some of the stress and that I can still go out and have fun on a budget. It just needs to be planned in advance.

September should be a quieter month socially. Apart from the wedding I have a theatre trip planned on 13th with my DIL and her mother. The ticket was part of my birthday present form DIL & DS. I'm sure there will be coffee and catch ups along the way but nothing too expensive.

I haven't worked out when my debt free date will be yet as there are too many things still up I the air but I may have a look at that in January.
First month over and next step forward, there's a long way still to go.
Bye for now
Dottles x

Thanks Chrystal, Savingholmes and Seasidegal, I feel so much better knowing where I am with my money however it is only the 1st month so don't want to get ahead of myself. Keeping this diary really helps me stay on track though.
I spent £49.45 yesterday on groceries but have full freezer and cupboards and doubt I will need to top up this week and hopefully only bits and fresh fruit & veg for the rest of the month.
Some private work done this morning so £30 to put into holding account with more expected on Friday. I hope to get to the point where I can pay it directly over to a C/C but right now I'm not confident I won't need it. I guess this will be easier as my emergency fund grows.
I spent a lovely afternoon with GD4 today before she goes back to school on Wednesday. These times are so precious as they grow up so fast and before you know it they have busy lives of their own.
Back to work tomorrow and the end of my short weeks. I had a phone call today to say that all but one of my students have passed their exam and are progressing to degree level. I'm so pleased for them (and a bit proud). These are the times that I remember why I do what I do.

I will need to get petrol tomorrow but other than that I'm going to try for NSD's for the rest of the week until Saturday. It should be doable.
I'm off to bed now as I will need to be up early in the morning (groan).

Sleep well all
Dottles x

Thanks Beanie, I'm teaching the first year of the degree this year so will be following them in their next step.
Well, I survived my first proper day back at work and got quite a bit done but not a lot of it was what I had planned so will need to get my head down for the next two days. I might take myself of into a quiet room where I won't be disturbed.
I spent £30 on petrol but otherwise nothing today. Evening meal was fish from the freezer baked in foil with slices of lemon and lemon balm from the garden, sliced courgettes (also from the garden) baked with butter and black pepper, lovely.
The garden veg is slowing down now and I've been taking stock of what was successful and what not so much. Courgettes-yes, tomatoes-ok, runner beans-disappointing, borlotti beans-nothing, kale-carterpillar feast, aubergines-nothing, chillies-yes, lettuces- not bad. This year I have planted quite a bit in pots and I will use this as a basis for planning/making changes for next year.
I've been thinking about my health lately and have decided to get back on the diet to try to lose some weight. I calculated my average steps over the past couple of weeks which only came to 6,000 daily so am going to try to up this gradually starting with 7,000 this week. Food wise I do like to cook from scratch which has been helped by budgeting and therefore meal planning so this area should be easy to tidy up a bit. I would lie to have lost 10lb by the time I go away at Christmas. Should be achievable.
steps today = 7160 go me!!
Night all
Dottles x