June Money Challenge

[pixie-gem]

As requested - new thread for June

I personally want to save every penny i can and pay off as many little things as possible, (i tend to concentrate on the big stuff but it's the little things that add up)
Also i need to pay for the holidays i keep booking (and i'm still not going anywhere this year *insert pouty face here*

Um.... (see told you i didn't know what to write)

If you want any advice tips etc then this is the May thread

http://www.minimins.com/slimming-world-off-topic/315463-may-money-challenge.html

Good luck!

 

[sparty]

Sub sub
May went out the window after my hols and June not looking great as my car died over the weekend. (Should find out the damage today) I also have a few birthdays etc but going to sit and plan at some point the next few days til payday and see what I can do.

 

[pixie-gem]

Is it just me or is it easier somehow to find the money for holidays/nights out/insert your bliss here, than it is to pay bills?

 

[sparty]

God yeah! But less of the 'bliss' for me this month after these car repairs - really need to save this month as much as possible.

 

[pixie-gem]

You can do it chick.

Half the time i think i should be saving, and the other half of the time i'm thinking i could get hit by a bus tomorrow and you can't take it with you.
I seem to be in a constant battle with myself lol

 

[sparty]

Yeah I know what you mean. But if I had some savings I wouldn't have to struggle this month to pay for the car. What I want to do is get together a fund of about £500 in case of car repairs in future. My bf has a great new contract (he is a painter and decorator) so will be giving me more money towards bills now. I'm going to put half of that towards the £500 and half towards paying down other bills in order of importance each week.

Need to do a meal plan for the week so I'm goin to get the new mag today.

 

[Lucylu79]

Im ready and raring for June!!! I want to save something, even if its a fiver!!!

Just checked and I overspent £297.19 in May!!!!:wave_cry:Money I don't have, my credit card does now!

 

[Happy Holidays]

I'm going to give it a go this month, every so often I update my excel spreadsheet with how much the dd's cost & then think well it's ok I have £x left each month but then don't keep track of how much I'm actually saving.

Anyway it's payday on Friday, I think I'm overdrawn so I'm going to factor that in my plan & I'll let you know what I'm up to after Friday!

 

[Mandlegrot]

I overspent by about £300 too, but then again my employer 'missed' about £300 off my pay in April so its no wonder. I am fully getting involved in this though, I'm just waiting for all my bills to come out my account first (should be done by 2nd June) so then I know how much real money I have. Its been an expensive month as I was so in debt from last month, in rent arrears, a bank charge here and there PLUS MOT on my van...but I'm just about there, although I don't think I have much for savings and I spent all of my measly £50 savings last month trying to pay bills. I want to get back to the days of saving £500 a month, although I now own a van so monthly insurance payments and crazy prices on diesel might make it more likely to be £300+ but that still good. Should be on to do this by next payday as I will catch up with my rent and will be on top of bills and debt again.

I have three things to save for:

1. Trip out to see my dad in Malaysia at some point this winter (get away from the cold lol) I need about £1000 for flights and spending moniez, plus I need a new passport so really your talking £1100.
2. I want to pay back my dad some of the money I owe him from buying my van when i go out to asia, so would love to take an extra £2000 with me to give him.
3. Van improvements - I need my ceiling done by a carpenter, I want vinyl flooring in and I want to rebuild my bed as its in bits at the min. Plus needs a service, and some waxoyl treatment when its dry enough. Gonna aim to do one of these jobs each month

Not much then :/

 

[Mandlegrot]

Gonna aim to get this all done by Jan sort of time, gives me good time to save money, pay for flight and passport nice and early, get van done...then head out to asia Jan/Feb for 3 weeks and enjoy

 

[sparty]

I'm going to do a spreadsheet for June too - i think thats a great idea.

I'm def in my overdraft (waaaaay into it). I want to make it a priority to get out of it in the next few months so I need to break my bad habits.

My wage doesn't change each month so I know I can pay all my bills and have a little left over if i only had my wage to live on but my problem is I have a spending habit and always use my cards for whatever I buy....usually food actually. I need to start leaving my cards at home more so I can't do this - I am def more careful when I have cash.

The other thing I find hard to keep track of is my bf's wages as this changes depending on where he works as he is self employed. Luckily he had a lot of work coming up so I'm going to keep some of that aside for when his work dries up to keep us on an even keel and off of our credit cards!

 

[nettie]

I am sooo rubbish at saving money and despite having quite a good wage I am always willing on pay day during the last week of the month. The amount of money I spend is quite embarrassing and I really need to stop spending so much money. I had a look at my bank online and most of the money goes to local supermarkets.. you know when you run out of bread and end up spending £60!? Maybe that's just me
I do need quite a few things this month... need to pay £90 for sons school trip, £72 for a new passport and I am desperate for new work trousers now I have lost weight. I am going to put £100 in the savings account when I get paid and pretend its not there!

 

[nettie]

I use to go in supermarkets and spend 30 mins or more looking at offers and being skint at end of month.Go in for some fruit and come out with cleaning product because it had 30p off or chicken beacause it had 50p off.Not that I needed it but seemed a good deal at the time.

I am terrible, I usually go to Tesco when I need bits and end up in the clothes section. There is a small asda around the corner from me so I am going to make a conscious effort to go there.. not only will that reduce what I spend at the till but it will also reduce my petrol costs

 

[pixie-gem]

You could also say that about losing weight especially on the days you are struggling.

Look in the other thread Pixie where I post what I have saved over the last few months by cutting right back on only buying what I need.

In the long run I'm probably paying a bit more for food as I don't take up many of the offers but at the mo that money what I would of spent on buy 1 get 1 half price or whatever is sat in my bank account.

That makes sense and you have done fantastic!

Have decided I'm going to put away £500 a month plus whatever I can scrounge up from selling odds and sods etc. that is what I would be paying off the holiday anyway so I may as well make the interest til it's actually due. Want to get into the habit of automatically putting what's spare straight into the savings acc so it hopefully becomes a habit.

On another note, I was so proud of paying off the credit card and I now have to use it tomorrow to pay for the dentist as I just broke a tooth!
So that will be extra that needs paying come pay day.

 

[SlimmingKitchen]

I'm looking forward to starting the June challenge. I get paid on Friday and Hubby got paid today and its the first time in months we didn't go overdrawn so I'm really happy as this means the May thread definitely helped me xxx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

 

[babybuffy84]

Yeah a new thread for this month fab !!!! I got paid on Friday currently have £180 in the bank to live off and think I have £35 in my purse,I need to get Father's Day gifts still and also buy a countdown at Sw to save a bit off money I get paid 3 weeks on Friday the rest off the money in mine to do whatever I like with I will admit most off it gets spent on work days on fruit & coffees which I really need to knock on the head as its too expensive just need to buy more when I go food shopping to last me the week in work !!!
All My bills and food shopping and petrol are accounted for separately

 

[sparty]

I'm already starting to plan in my head what I need to spend on this month. So far I have Father's Day, my dad as my bf mum birthdays, nan birthday and my niece birthday! Plus a christening and whatever it costs to fix my car.....eeeekkkkk!!

In have already bought my dads present for his bday so that is something I can tick off. My niece will be about £20-£25 for her present and that's my next job!

I am very jealous of those who manage to save a large sum regularly (but I did know I wouldn't be able to do this when I bought my flat) or who managed to save in may. My goal is to try and save at least something this month lol. And to not spend on my credit cards! And to get out of my overdraft lol! (Not much then!!)

 

[Happy Holidays]

Martin's money tips today suggests getting a 0% cc for purchases & getting rid of your overdraft that way, he does say you need to make sure you pay off the minimum each month. This sort of makes sense if you can do it & not put extra on the card & also can pay off the balance before the end of the 0% purchase period.

 

[sparty]

Yeah I saw that too - I've signed up to his email list so I get his tips sent to me once a week or so. I'm not sure how you would 'pay your overdraft' with a credit card though?! Doesn't make sense To me?!

I've currently got 3 credit cards - two of them are interest free so I don't want to get another really. One of them has just finished its interest free period and ill pay that off when I get paid on Friday so will be down to two credit cards.

I sound awful with money don't I?! Thing is that I move my credit cards around a lot so I don't pay any interest on anything. That gives me a great credit rating and my credit limit keeps going up and up. My last application offered me a limit of over £9k!! And I wasn't allowed to cap that limit until I had the card for 6 months!!!

It's easy to see how people can easily get into debt and slip into using credit cards more than you should! This thread has helped me to think more about money and whether the things I am buying are necessary. I think it did me some good last month before my holiday.

 

[pixie-gem]

Need to do what those extreme couponers do lol.


Would love to be able to buy a place in the sun at some point before I die, so I need to stop booking Holidays and do some serious saving like cavegirl.

People do it all the time, there's no reason that I can't, other than putting the effort in anyways x

Sparty that's a massive limit! My limit won't even cover a cheapo holiday. Had it for 2 years, always paid off every month and its still the same limit as when I got it! (To be fair it's probably a good thing lol)