My diary... becoming debt free whilst still having a life!!!

~Yorkshire_Belle~

Hi Ruby (cos it is your diary!!) hope you are OK.
Thanks Cas for thinking of me. I am very busy at work and at home at the moment and although I do try and read I don't always feel I have enough to post re DFW iyswim.
DS has a birthday next week and am trying to sort out party (all booked but think I can get vouchers!) I too do the big spend and then get all anxious!
I am still thinking, but not buying, for Christmas. Have become such a skinflint I don't want to spend anything on rubbish! I am already shelling out left, right and centre for DSs normal activities - mainly because there are 3 of them not because they do too much imo. Must stop moaning musn't I :rotfl:!
SH as you are addicted to baskets you can make some up for me :T - what would you put in for a 14 year old boy?

See you all soon - I love this thread
Belle

PS I have 'monthly pots' for dinner money etc which I then turn into weekly pots - how sad am I!

rubydoiwannabee

Hi YB and SC,
good to see you both here, thanks for sticking with my diary.
I'm just off to bed, so I don't eat..... seem to want to snack all the time at the moment!!!

Night, night - don't let the bed bugs bite!! (Ew!! not a nice saying really is it?)
xxxx:A

savingholmes

Hi all!

For a 14 year olds hamper....

Could go for a movie theme hamper
Reusable box or hamper, with popcorn, one or more DVDs or vouchers to get rentals, shandy / soft drink cans, M&Ms, minstrels something like that....

Could go for a sports theme hamper
Favourite team items available from places like soccer world, sports direct.com etc, perhaps with choc footballs or boots, I think Rustyflange or Rainmac found a good source of low price originals.... Could be that you do it in a rucksack so as an example, I found a no-fear rucksack for £5 reduced from £10 (Mr T), I've bought no-fear T shirts from SportsDirect for £5 or a shirt for £10 or a jacket for £10 RRP £45. If that is out of the price bracket - then a no-fear or similar woolly hat

Could go for a car or motorbike theme hamper..... or whatever their hobby is.

If they are a gamer - you could do a basket similar to the movie hamper but with perhaps cards from their favourite games and things like that....

Hope that helps.

Bye all

~Yorkshire_Belle~

SH
I like the movie one - thanks for the ideas. I will defo look at sports direct also as DS2 is football nut :rotfl:
I have asked for kitchen knives for Christmas - so much OS so little time!

irishchick_3

Hi All,
Hi YB especially! You struck a chord with me in your thread. I too have done lots of thinking and surfing for xmas ideas and then when it comes to the crunch I dont get anything cause Im now too tight to spend money and keep telling myself to wait! Thing is tho, I'll wait and then there will be no bargains left! Thats what I love about this diary, you really aren't alone! Even in your madness!
Is life getting busier at the mo or is it just me? I havent a minute when I get home from work and house is the casualty in this! Bomb-site would be the word! Then you spend your precious w'end doing h'work and I despise that!
Thi isnt the romantic, disney movie idea of family I thot Id signed up to 2 yrs ago!

savingholmes

YB Glad you liked the hamper idea.
Hi everyone else
IC I agree the disney movie thing is just that and at times real life sucks!

Today I was in town for work, and in my lunchbreak went to Debenhams where I picked up 3 freebies:money: - 2 perfume samples and a spiral knife cutter thing. They are by the way selling an unbreakable knife promotional set for £23 which they claim is worth £90. If you don't believe them you get the spiral knife free anyway!

My life is way too busy too. Today I foolishly promised my kids to take them swimming. That wouldn't have been too bad except for the confession that my DS's hamster had died - possibly due to him not feeding it for about a week despite being told to and regular assurances that he had:eek: - we only bought it over the summer and I'm gutted as it was a nice one. On top of that the cage was about £50, and I had just bought a fresh stock of supplies. DS is very upset - especially if it is his fault - but doesn't want the responsibility of another one in case it happened again. I want him to realise the seriousness of it without scarring him for life which is a difficult balance. I'm planning to make him clean it all out and bury the hamster but then may try and sell the cage boxed - complete with starter kit of bedding and food! The alternative is to put it all in the loft in case we ever have another one but not sure I'd want to go thro this again. This is the 4th hamster we've ever buried altho the other 3 were pre-kids and were due to age or the hamsters themselves fighting with each other!

They had been campaigning for us to get a dog - which I didn't want but OH did but this experience makes me even more reluctant... Then I read an article that the King Charles Cavalier spaniel which I liked the look of can writhe in agony due to its brain being too big for its skull...:eek: .which put me off even more as it was the only one I fancied...

On top of that the MIL had the kids for the w/e and rang us to say that DD has little visitors again. Her hair has been treated 3 times since she returned to school - what more can we do. She has reasonably long hair - we've cut a couple of inches off already (just glad the hairdresser didn't notice or say anything about visitors:eek: ) but don't want to cut it any further if we can avoid it. My MIL said she'd treated it but I found a live 1 again today - so I need to re-treat tomorrow! This is real world stuff - they don't show this in the movies!

On a more positive note my DD has been invited to 2 more parties - so I get to use up some of the bargains I have already paid for and wrapped up reducing my guilt factor of having the pressies lined up with no home to go to!:p I did manage to get a Lancome eyeliner today that I had been looking for for a while, my local town centre doesn't sell lancome products and I fell in love with it at an airport a year or so ago and had run out since. Even tho it is expensive - the ones I've bought since were complete false economy as my eye lids have been feeling irritated and sensitive. :rolleyes: Another positive - we have found out we can get the printer ink we want from PC World and get 2.5% back thro quidco. Haven't found it cheaper anywhere else anyway!;) best of all OH is going to do it so starting to get him more into the swing. I've also got £6 so far queued up from quidco due to be paid in Nove as they have received it....

Bye for now

savingholmes

:hello: Hello - where is everyone?

On the hamster saga - we've decided we are going to buy another one tomorrow. DS cried for an hour yesterday and an hour today so I think he has got the message. We had a little funeral for it today and buried in the lawn where DS had naughtily dug a hole a while ago.

My job is looking more insecure by the day :eek: - so I'm going to start applying for other jobs but am not sure what to do for the best re the debt. I don't know whether to save the extra money above minimum payments in a separate account until the 0% runs out in case I suddenly lose my job. That way we could keep up the minimum payments and mortgage for longer. Otherwise we would end up borrowing back from credit cards anyway - assuming they are still available by then... That way we can still separate out the money and use it to pay off CCs if I either a) keep this job or b) find another decent one... It makes me want to finish Xmas shopping quick and make sure all the food cupboards are extra full too which I know is not completely logical as it is all the same pot of money.

I have finally got round to cancelling DS's after school place from part way thro November, so at least my costs are coming down...:cool:

1_step_closer

You have all been very busy! I have too (apologies for not posting) as me and hubby are in the process of trying to sort out a DMP through payplan. Huge phone call tomorrow going through everything and I am shattered after a week of severe worry, finding all the paperwork etc etc. I did start a new thread to ask for advice and stuff really which is why I neglected here......................sorry xxx

I just hope they can help and not say that we dont have enough disposable income or something like that. its wierd what your mind thinks of at 2am, 3am, 4.15 am !
anyway I will keep you updated and will try and sleep now.........

1 step x

savingholmes

HI 1 step closer - I hope tomorrow goes well for you. Try and get some sleep if you can... start a sleep ritual or something....

sistercas

1_step_closer wrote: »

You have all been very busy! I have too (apologies for not posting) as me and hubby are in the process of trying to sort out a DMP through payplan. Huge phone call tomorrow going through everything and I am shattered after a week of severe worry, finding all the paperwork etc etc. I did start a new thread to ask for advice and stuff really which is why I neglected here......................sorry xxx

I just hope they can help and not say that we dont have enough disposable income or something like that. its wierd what your mind thinks of at 2am, 3am, 4.15 am !
anyway I will keep you updated and will try and sleep now.........

1 step x

good luck with the phone call

SH I love the movie theme hamper It is DD2's birthday soon and I have bought her a DVD i am going to do the hamper for her ( what a fab idea) she doesnt know what she wants yet and I darent just get her stuff like I used to as she is so fussy ( she is going to be 13) I have bought her a couple of pairs of pyjamas as I thought that would be fairly safe. and DD1 has got her some art stuff. other than that I have no clue.

off to mr T and Aldi today as I have a day off.
have just got an energy saving monitor from lidl which tells you how much it costs to use electrical appliances :eek: havent tried it yet but I am hoping it will show the family how much things cost when they leave things on

hope everyone is ok