£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

copperman05 wrote: »

Just wanted to say hello and good luck, have you tried using budgeting software like YNAB (YouNeedABudget)? I've found it invaluable in getting my finances sorted, and strangely even fun to use.

YES! YNAB saved our bacon, it was using that which gave us our LBM and turned the whole thing around. We use it religiously, and I can completely see why were in such dire straits beforehand - we had no bloody clue how much money we had at all.

Day 3

And onwards we go.

Good news this morning - my snowball calculator hadn’t taken account of the £96.14 CC DD that went out (it’s ok, my budget knew it was coming!), so my Debt Free Date has come forward one month without me having to do anything. OK, so it’s not overpaying, but it’s nice to see that actually I have budgeted for something and it’s happening as planned.

I mentioned yesterday that I'd written a clothing list for the children. Here it is, mainly as a reminder to me not to buy more:
1. Leggings for child 3 (already got as a hand me down on arrival at relatives)
2. Tops/dresses for child 3 (already got, as above)
3. Wellies for child 3
4. Possible wellies for child 1 and 2, need to double check sizes
5. School shoes for child 1 (almost definitely)
6. School shoes for child 2 (probably)
7. Jumper for child 1
8. School jumper each for child 1 and 2

I liked my To Do list yesterday, so to continue in that theme...

To do today:
1. Pay in cheque received as a refund for a cancelled magazine subscription (tiny amount, only about a tenner, so it's been sat in my purse waiting to be paid in for a fortnight).
2. NSD, ignoring some posting for business (budgeted for in business account - which incidentally has no overdraft or debt, in case anyone sees this and wonders! - and not related to personal budget).
3. Update YNAB (budgeting app, for anyone not familiar) and make sure everything is on track.
4. Do 2 hours work today while relatives take the children out - the work that earns me my guaranteed £250 a month can be done anywhere, so will attempt to get ahead on that so I can spend some time working on other things later in the week.

To do this week:
1. Redo our budget to ensure that even if I only earn my minimum of £250 per month, that the shortfall is gone, whether it has to come from clothes, food, entertainment or whatever. It's lovely to try to earn extra to cover it every month, but I need to get us to a position where if I don't that we're not getting further into debt. I have done this already, yay me! I will post it in the form of an updated (and wildly depressing, but accurate) SOA when I get home at the end of the week.
2. We are away visiting family from Monday until Thursday, so no worries about food shopping until then (DH at home, but can make do with what's in the house, there is loads), but I'm going to challenge myself to make Thursday's top up shop to get us through until the following Tuesday (normal food shopping day) come in at under £30.
3. List child 3's old cot on eBay
4. Menu plan for next week and use MySupermarket to keep the cost down to <£60 for the week
5. DH - water meter reading to make sure our direct debit is accurate
6. DH - gas and electricity readings, to make sure direct debit is accurate