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

rubydoiwannabee

Hi IC,
good to have you back and I'm glad you are feeling on the mend!!
As for advice... well the thing that helps me feel in control is all the stuff said below really, things like:

• an OCD like checking of online banking
• using spreadsheets to see the impact of spending, e.g. ensuring that if I am going to spend something it doesn't make me overdrawn in our account without a limit.
• sticking to a weekly budget. This has been the biggest most effective change for us. I can see now that the main reason for our financial state is the size of our mortgage (we have totally overstretched ourselves) and as a consequence we have NO unaccounted for income once things like birthdays, xmas, cars, childcare, travel etc. have been accounted for. So we religiously stick to a shopping budget of £60-65 a week for the four of us. We withdraw money every fri and saturday and that is what we live off, when it is gone it's gone. It can be really tough, but it has turned things around for us. I am really, really proud of my DH for living like this because he finds it a lot harder than I do.

Sorry.... that was rather a lot of advice!!! Hope it helps in some way and as you say imagine how much worse it could be if we hadn't had our LBM's!!!

with love and take care of yourself.
x

rubydoiwannabee

Here are pictures of the tubs I am planning on giving for Christmas to my DD and my BF DS both aged five.

Contents:
DD
Pink fleece blanket with a lovely fairy castle on it (Matalan £4)
Disney Princess bag with pens and paper in it
Tinkerbell soap
Fairy lockable notebook
hair bands
flannel muffin
Little miss chatterbox notebook
Disney princess activity book
Total cost £15

BF Son
Ben 10 PJ's
Ben 10 Mug with sweets
Ben 10 Pencil case
Ben 10 stickers
Marvel Super Hero's goody bag
Total cost £20

Just got to work out how best to wrap them now.

irishchick_3

RUBY,
Thanks so much for the great advice! Im def going to go for the budgeting again. When I was unemployed for 8 mths this year I had 60 pounds budget a week for food and there are 5 of us. And I did it and always felt so proud that I managed it. But since I got a job, Ive gotten lazy and just ran into local shops for dinner, way too expensive! Why do we never learn from our mistakes?

sistercas

ruby the baskets are fabulous they will all love them and you can upload pics better than me:p
been to the lowry shopping centre today. bought DD1 some shoes for her birthday. they have really high heels ( to me anyway lol) they look really expensive and were only £25 and I asked for a discount as I was buying a top for DD2 too and she knocked a further 10% off:j
hope everyone is ok

savingholmes

The baskets look gorgeous! Hi everyone else - We are away overnight... having a look around the area for OH's possible new job tomorrow! I'll let you know how we get on later in the week.

rubydoiwannabee

savingholmes wrote: »

The baskets look gorgeous! Hi everyone else - We are away overnight... having a look around the area for OH's possible new job tomorrow! I'll let you know how we get on later in the week.

Good luck SH, I hope it is everything you need and want it to be.
I'll look forward to hearing how you got along.

rubydoiwannabee

DD and I have just spent an hour or so putting our first ever flannel muffins together and I think I am hooked. Only took a picture of them wrapped but they have pink and white flannels with a heart shaped pink bath bomb on top and the bomb has a little red glitter.



Think I might be off out to buy more flannels and bath bombs one day soon.

savingholmes

rubydoiwannabee wrote: »

The cup cakes look lovely. Rainmac gave me some cup cake cases so I hope to make some flannels cup cakes soon too!

Trip was okay, met some of the key people for OH's potential new role informally and picked up property papers, looked around the town etc. Back in a couple of weeks for a proper interview... We have some serious thinking to do. ...:eek: between now and then...

sistercas

cup cakes look lovely Ruby really pretty, I have made some sock muffins with bright fluffy socks from primark with a bath fizz on the top looks quite nice, I have been looking in hobbycraft today for cellophane bags to put them in but couldnt find a thing
taken DD's to see high school musical today we pre-booked and its a good job we did because it was packed, dont think they would have got in otherwise. I didnt watch it, did some shopping instead but it did cost me lunch for the 3 of us and then they wanted sweets and drinks to take in :eek:

made a veg stew for tea in the slow cooker as we are all out at different times tonight people can just help thenselves to a bowl and I am making some crusty bread to go with it
hope everyone is ok YB where are you ,miss you on here x

sistercas

contains
3 bun mixes
lolly making kit
various sprinkles
decorative sweets
marshmallows
childs wooden spoons/ rolling pin set
childs cake tins x3 animal shapes
cookie cutters

sorry just cant get pics any bigger have tried but i'm carp at it lol (it looks better in real life too!)