3rd Time Lucky?!- Attempting to clear £6645.93 of debt in 105days (3months+13days)!!

Aww Thank you Enthusiastic Saver & PositiveBalance:wave::wave::wave::wave

Enthusiastic saver- Id like to think it will be a bit easier, now we are roughly on the same page...and looking to the fuure

Positive Balance will be sending virtual cake and fizz your way for sure..if you're not by London I shall Skype you in!! Im a dab hand at that now:rotfl: Fizz all round:beer:

I never thought i'd see the day (and that's the truth) I had about 2 days of excited wedding fever then came promptly back down to earth when I realised the costs and that this is dangerous territory of someone with my track record:rotfl: Aiming for September 2019..my first virtual save the date:j:beer::beer::beer::beer: so sky is going to be one of many cuts wel be making (if I can get away with it)..Decided on wedding first in case he changes his mind:rotfl: PositiveBalance weve got 30 days for sky to actually cut off- ill check for signs of life after that! On thin ice as I subbed his Shredded wheat for generic- the side glances I got for it (Honestly I had them this morning and genuinely couldn't tell the difference- ok they were smaller but thats about it) Hell get used to it bless him.

Wedding first then house saving, I think ill try and save 2/3 spare funds to wedding and 1/3 to house deposit as I don't want the house to be sidelined completely and I don't want to over spend on a wedding. Will try to keep it reasonable...I keep telling myself it'll be just one day its the marriage that counts...would love a good old fashioned Eastend kneesup though :beer: I'll be popping over later virtual cup of rosy in hand to see what ive missed whilst ive been MIA lovely.

Update for today: I managed a NSD and to bring a pack lunch- left overs of thai green curry. managed a 1.5lb loss on slimming world and had a genuinely cool day! Downloaded new money podcasts to keep me determined and did a electricity comparison whilst the internet at work was down. Thank you 4G;) Managed to find a pair of gloves and my old winter coat whilst looking for something else. Really need to declutter- but happy as it will do me for this winter *winning*

Looking at pintrest and listening to podcasts is my new thing at the moment, love listening to how people achieve their goals...and cool new things to try...My current fave is life hacks and tiny homes (adequate as we are in a one bedroom flat with limited storage) oh minimalism is quite good too! sorry I digress...

Currently reading start late finish rich highly recommend it! I feel like I have all these goals and im far away from them all...so baby steps...3 goals: 1) Packed Lunch>>work. 2)Bank another NSD 3)make £10...anything else will be a bonus...

Goodnight Diaryland:)

Sx
A

**Slides back into my thread and scurries back onto the MSE Bandwagon!! **

Hi Positivebalance and all:hello:

I cant believe its been over a year since I updated my diary:eek:
Time has flown by, I part think its a subconscious decision to stop my self being completely accountable... But im back, offically married and ready to bare all.

It was a fab day and I hit my £10,000 saving target and borrowed some from my emergency fund to cover the rest without going into debt or bashing Mr Credit card....In total we spent about £14,000:eek: I know as I write this it seems obscene but If I could do it again I wouldn't change it, it was a great day:) everyone seemed to have fun and was adequately fed and watered...ok you got me, I definitely wouldn't mind that money back in my account but I still wouldn't have changed the day!:D argh and maybe take the no shows off the list cause (that was a stupid waste of money):rotfl:

To add to the many joys and blessings life has given us we found out a couple of weeks before the wedding that we are expecting our first child...slightly unexpected, very scary but also very lucky. So this is what brings me back to diary land. I need the accountabilty and in truth there's nothing that helps me save money than this debtfree community.
I'm 13 weeks at the moment so it's early days... I have 6months to rebuild my emergency fund and a maternity fund to cover the fall in earings.
These are my goals and are the figures that I feel comfortable with. Anything that we don't spend will be rolled over into a house deposit.

I've already managed to save £1,700 from last months paycheck and ebay sales (wedding dresses and other wedding stuff)
I plan to make the maternity fund (£10k) goal my priority, having printed off 10x100% grids with each square representing £10 nd each grid representing £1000...it's literally [STRIKE]death[/STRIKE] save by a thousand[STRIKE] cuts[/STRIKE] colours. I also plan for us to live quite frugally through the maternity leave so that should hopefully add to the savings...so that's the plan, if all goes well! I just need to execute it as best I can.:o

I'll also be taking up NSD, having less & cheaper nights out (can't drink now anyway:(), selling what I can and using as many tricks and cheats that I can source on fellow dfw's diaries:D....

So that's a quick catch up on my so called life;)
I'll be back later with my November budget plan abit later...Have a lovely evening diary land

Sx

Thank you Positivebalance, its good to be back!:beer: :D I have some cake stashed in the chest freezer don't you worry! It's still good:D ...

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update, I've been paid and managed to update my YNAB budget and have paid £300 to my maternity savings. I've allocated £200 monthly shopping budget for food & household (OH will probably add to this if he wants anything outside of what I've brought. £50pw isn't too bad for the 2 of us- I don't think. Today I've meal planned based on what Ive purchased. Dependant on my batch cooking Monday/Tuesday evening.

Plans for this week- Post dress I sold on ebay to buyer, Batch cook a lasange and shepherds pie and pasta bake (for lunches).
I confess Ive spent £100 on maternity clothing bundles, which includes different outfits, jeans and a winter coat... which I think was a bargain...nothing is fitting very comfy at the minute. Better to have clothes baggy than not doing up.;)

I've also been looking at cotbeds and moses baskets on ebay obviously can't buy anything now but I'm enjoying budgeting for it
Other than that my only other spends this month has been the rent £619, Council Tax £150 both of which hubby will reimburse me half, £300 to maternity savings, Food shop £100 and £50 xmas presents.

Still to come will be: another £100 foodshop, netflix £11, mobile phones £25 (for 2lines), £50 birthdays, £20 get well soon flowers and gift, £10 tfl out of zone top up, £50 contact lenses, £100 charitable giving oh and £18 lotto (A girl can still dream) barring that it's battening down the hatches. Any funds left over will go towards some Christmas shopping and more to Mat savings. Well thats the plan...:)

Thats enough babbling form me- thats the plan anyway...right off to watch a film now...evening all and have a fab week!:D x

Hi PositiveBalance:wave:,

Sorry I've been MIA, Such a busy time, I hope you had a wonderful time lovely & have fixed your laptop...I'll be popping over with a cuppa real soon for a proper catch up.:beer:

So my savings figures haven't increased yet since my last post as we've been cash flowing Christmas but I'm more determined than ever to save in 2020, Im cutting it all a little fine- In true Shelbi Tradition.:o

I've been giving some thought to my annual bills, I need to be sure I can cover all my outgoings next year especially as my maternity pay will dwindle from October onwards. Over the next few days I will be attempting to sort my 2020 budget.

I'm thinking of joining the frugal living challenge 2020, attempting to live on £4000 for the next 12months (excluding Rent and council tax) I'm going to be honest, it will be tight- obv the £4000 will be my challenge not OH's, so this will not be our household annual expenditure, he so would never go for that :rotfl: but I can do it on my side. So that's £333.34pm spends per month excl. rent and council tax. I'll post my proposed budget once I'm done but by following this I should be able to save around £1500pm (hopefully).

Got to run but I will be back with my 2020 budget post later, Hope you all have a fab and fun day...

Sx