Striving to save and stay solvent!

Thanks Bob, yes, I think there has been an explosion of home businesses and craft based start ups in the past few years and there really are some talented people out there who I'm in awe of. Unfortunately, for every one talented person there are three ready to rip off designs and use other people's hard work for their own profit and this really does suck the enthusiasm out of you after a while.


Well, I came home from work early to sit with DS who is fine in himself, but is contagious, so can't go to school presently.
It's a lovely day and I was yearning to be outside, so I managed to plant some runner bean and beetroot seeds, strip my bed and do two loads of washing, all of which is drying on the line. I gave all the plants a good water, cleaned up the kitchen a bit and have re-purposed a storage box to store all the bath toys in in the bathroom which were threatening to take over. I made a phone call relating to the central heating cover I've been forgetting about all week and have thrown all the windows open to air the house.

I'm bored and looking for things to do now whilst not really having the will or energy to do any of them iykwim!

I'm considering joining weightwatchers or slimming world. I'm so miserable about feeling overweight - I could of with losing at least 2 stone - but it would mean taking DS with me of an evening and then that wouldn't really be fair on him and would be stressful for me I think. Plus, it's quite a price. :O
I'd love to rejoin a gym as I live near one and used to love going, but again, there's the time, money and lack of childcare issue. Everything seems to be a catch 22 at the moment!

Right, budget for next month done.

Thanks to my parents' kind gift, I will still be able to stash a fair amount away into the savings pots next month and I'll also be able to save nearly enough for my half of the holiday balance, which is due to be paid in July. I just need to save/make another £26.50 by then and then my contribution will be covered.

I've merged a couple of savings pots too to simplify things, cancelling one of my e-saver accounts, of which I have many.
The two pots pretty much get spent on the same thing anyway, so it makes sense to have one to cover all.

I really HAVE to stick to the budgets this month. The groceries budget was £85 over and the 'spends and house budget', well I'm not even going to admit to... lets just say there has been more than enough spent on this house this month.

With regards to the groceries, I'm going to change my tactics on that one for a month and see if it works better for me. I usually go and do my main shopping at Aldi, probably once every ten days or so, but end up popping to Asda, Sainsburys and Home Bargains throught the month to top up (invariably picking up extra things I don't really need when I'm there). I'm going to see if I can sort 4 online orders via Tesco throughout the month instead and try and keep these as close to £40 a time as possible. As much as I like Aldi and it is good value, I'm wondering if online shopping will make me stick to a list and could free up some spare time for me too. Think it's worth a try.

Another survey to do and then I'm off to bed, hopefully for a bit more sleep than last night.

Ebay have sent me a refund of £3.82. Not really sure why as there's no explanation, but I think they may have overcharged on selling fees, anyway, I'll take it! :rotfl:It's been withdrawn and added to the savings already.

I need to post some business sales tonight, so not a NSD but shouldn't need to spend any more.

I finally received my Tax Credits renewal form yesterday and have submitted it online today. I've had to estimate my self employment earnings from last year for now, but will do the tax return this week and get the actual total to give to them. It's vastly down on the previous year as I stopped taking orders early due to the house move, so may help boost my tax credits this year.

Money is tight again.
Depsite best efforts, I still seem to be heading over budget every month. I guess it's because my budget is so tight in the first place, but there's not a lot I can do about that presently.
I'll have to take a little out of the savings to top up the bank account at the rate it's going this month.

It hasn't helped that my trip home for a few days cost me more in fuel and supplies than I had anticipated and that the cupboards and fridge were as bare as can be when I returned, so had to do a big (for me) shop. I spent £59 on a Tesco delivery, but had a free loaf of bread voucher and a £4 off coupon with that. I also took advantage of the free delivery saver for a month offer, so the delivery was free.

I would normally shop in Aldi, but the quality of fresh stuff in our local one has gone downhill and the prices seem to have gone up. :mad: OH said the same thing last week too, so I feel I got quite good value with all I ordered from Tesco and the quality was good.

My mortgage has finally dipped under the £80K mark this month, so I'm finally in the £70ks. Can't wait until I can start overpaying this.

I need to look at ebaying some bits again this month, will see what I can find to go in the pile that is building up in the spare room. I also need to take two bags to the charity shop soon to clear a little space.

Father's Day gifts are bought and DS's Dad's birthday gift for next month is bought and paid for. It's my brother's birthday and OH's Dad's birthday next month, but can wait for next payday to cover those.

OH and I are off on an overnight trip away and event at the weekend. His Christmas gift to me, so will only cost me spends of a few drinks probably and I've offered to drive as my car is more economical. Am REALLY looking forward to it. I'm feeling really down about things at the moment. Work is the catalyst of this I think - there is no morale or motivation for various reaosns I won't go into and no-one actually bothers to talk to anyone anymore. I can literally sit at my desk all day and not speak to a soul, then I go home and have very little contact with anyone other than DS. I actually burst into tears when I left yesterday and they just kept coming last night when DS was tucked up in bed. Loneliness is the worst feeling.

Anyway, it's a job I guess and just about pays the bills...


Hope all is well with everyone.

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

Sorry that your work is like that. I must admit I do value the chit chat at work as the only adult conversation. Is there another department at work that you could transfer to or is the low morale throughout?

Enjoy your weekend away and well done for getting your mortgage into the 70s. That's great!

Unfortunately not Honeysucklelou, my job is quite specialist and I work in the department that only deals with 'that', so there's no openings elsewhere. We could potenitally be relocating around 5 miles away by the end of the year, into a larger building where we will see more people, the HQ if you like. I think I may be happier working there, but it is going to thro up all sorts of time and money issues with getting back in time to pick DS up from school and I will have to pay for parking there too.
Swings and roundabouts I guess.

xx