The Quest

[Deleted User]

moo2moo wrote: »

DD2 turns 6 on tuesday and is still adament the only thing she'd like as a present is a chocolate cake with chocolate buttons on top of it.

Sounds good to me :rotfl: :rotfl:

Lula-Hula

Hello,

good to hear from you Moo , sounds like you're pretty busy with plenty of projects to occupy your 'spare' time too :rolleyes: .

I took DD into town this morning & bought her a new coat with christmas money from relatives - saved me £30 which is just as weel because I read the letter that swimming teacher gave me & realised I have to pay for the whole of next terms fees next friday, £60 & it's my last pay for 2 weeks :eek: but because I'm a good DFW I've been saving towards her activites so I only have to find an extra £10 :j . This budgeting lark actually works, when it's done properly :rolleyes: . I'm really confident about my clothes challenge & great that you're an expert on not buying Moo, you can steer me away from temptation.

DD was finding the wait for her friend to come & collect her unbearable so having throughly decluttered yesterday I thought we might as well put up the tree & decorate it. DD refuses to actually hang anything on the tree as apparetnly I just move it all around, I confess to being a tad perfectionist when it comes to festive decorating . I love finding new ways of doing really simple simple things that just make the place look cosy & festive. I always keep ribbons & have just attached a length of a red & gold one that came off a box of chocolates along the bottom of a big old battered pine mirror & it looks great .

I have a 'date' with the o/f tonight but am delaying it. I'm having too much fun at home & the thought of all the effort involved in preparing to go out when it's freezing cold & pouring with rain puts me off. I'd rather slide into my trackie pants & veg on the sofa with new books from the library .

Oh well, s'pose I ought to be a bit enthusiastic & it will be nice coming home to see the place all twinkly & cosy

Lula

moo2moo

Oooooh how did your "date" go???????? Spill the beans. Your life is far more exciting than mine.

I spent last night working on my 2009 master plan. Based on the make £10 a day challenge which over a year is roughly £3500 I initially figured that was a ridiculous target for the year. But on the other hand its only a tenth of my debt and it definately hasn't taken me ten years to reach this point so my personal challenge for the year is to achieve double that amount in overpayments. Complete lunacy. Especially when my basic salary is only £11K. Heres hoping the OH gets lots and lots and lots of overtime next year. Off to see what I can come up with as a New Years resolution involving a very large skip.

Lula-Hula

:eek: havent been here for ages,

i've actually been hovering just about everywhere else other than my Quest, largely because I havent felt as if I've done anything very DFW recently .

I seem to have been spending money on non essentials forever & although it's presents & festive food stuff it still makes me :mad: . I've wrapped everything now & was feeling fairly smug until dad rang (for about the 10th time this week :rolleyes: ) to say that he's paying for the christmas meal for everyone which is great apart from I'd arranged to pay for DD1 meal as part of her present, that means I now 'owe' her another £55 of presents... would it be terribly & awfully mean to only spend another £ 20 or £ 30 & put the rest towards debts It's not just about the money, I dont want to go shopping again either .

The cheque from my grandmother ( towards flights for next summer hol) has now been paid to CC1 so that balance now stands at £ 2,128 & with CC2 at £3,718 I've achieved my target of getting below £6,000 :j . Of course this is only temporary as I do actually have to buy flights very soon
but I want to pay as much as I can off first & havent yet sorted out how much money i have to live on for the next couple of weeks. I get paid tomorrow & then again on tuesdays just for mondays work then that's it until 9th january :eek: . I've got the money from car sale in the bank + have another £100 going in but want to use that to buy some cheap bedroom furniture when the decorating's done.

My contents insurance is due for renewal in January & having had a quick look I reckon i can save £50 next year. I'm cancelling my all singing all dancing AA membership which is also due in January ( they want £150 :eek: )
& am going for a basic package instead which should save at least another £100 - all through quidco of course :cool: .

Right, got to get an early night as it's DDs christmas assembly tomorrow & i need to be fully appreciative of her angelic dancing performance .

Bye for now

Lula xx

moo2moo

Hello Lula!

You're not the only one hemorhaging money at the moment, mine sems to be flying out faster than its been flying in although being ruthless with myself seems to be working wonders. At this point in time we'll be sub £34K on New Years Eve which is a full thousnad less than I predicted. Just need to be extra strict with myself between now and then. I've had a few random splurges, the OHs Nintendo DS being my worst to date.

I still have to come up with something for DD2 who is currently the recipient of a jumper and a cardi. She had a fab birthday, in the end she chose a scooter which she'd seen in a sale for £6,coloured baloons, a tiny gooey chocolate cake with an entire pack of white chocolate buttons attached and dinner from the chinese take away in front of the fire in her pajamas. It was decreed to be the bestest most fabulous birthday ever.

Today is my last structured day at work, after that I get to do whatever I feel like whenever I feel like doing it until the staff start back. Apparently random visits deter burglars and vandals. So that'll be lots of long lie ins and quick drive bys on my way to and from places. Actually this week has been super, its been non-stop parties and happy cheerful people. I've had Christmas dinner four times so far and the staff room is full of chocolates and people on diets.

I've signed up to the 'Make a small fortune from a tenner' challenge thread as a big of a giggle, matched betting keeps tempting me but I'd be gutted if I screwed up and lost. At least this way if I can make my magic tenner multiply enough to give this a go then I won't be too traumatised if it all goes pear shaped and at least if I open all the accounts via Quidco I can't go too far wrong. Its been enough of a kick up the derriere to start on free daily scratchcards.

Off to do some housework.

makeup

Wow, just finally finished reading through your Quest, Lula!

You are doing so well - you must be really proud of yourself.

I had to laugh at a comment you made earlier about your sister being very good with money as mine is exactly the same. I don't think she has ever been overdrawn (and certainly never lived in it as I've done), has plenty of savings and I just found out she was overpaying her mortgage until she had her baby....just wonder why I got all the spendthrift genes?

I've really enjoyed reading your thread and look forward to hearing about your 09 adventures!

Good luck and Happy Christmas!

moo2moo

Good morning all.

I have 3 days in which to transform the house into something Anthea Turner would be proud of before the realtives descend. I started yesterday by evicting all the OHs carp from the dining room into the room closest to the garden so that when it finally stops raining it can go in the shed. I have no idea why 3 tool boxes have migrated into the house or the random pieces of timber or the fishing rods, 6 fold up garden chairs .. you get the picture. Fortunately I think thats the worst room in the house (ignoring the one I've just dumped everything in). I've done all the laudry including the ironing, theres just an overflowing basket of socks left to pair up.

Ventured into the Co-op for milk yesterday and left with 2 bags full of mega reduced food which went straight into the freezer. Still have to do my Christmas dinner shop but I'm avoiding that until the last possible minute.

Hope you're all having just as much fun! Mind you at least while I'm stuck indoors evicting spiders I'm not venturing out into the sales.

moo2moo

Its another Super Spendy Sunday here. OHs car insurance is due for renewal and despite an entire weeks worth of surfing I can't get it as cheap as I'd like. His current company have whopped up from last years £250 to a ridiculous £480 apparently all due to him buying a car in a lower insurance category. Truly bizarre. I've managed to find one at £307 which allows him to do 30,000 miles this year fully comp with £45 cash back via Quidco its not quite as bad as it could have been.

Just waiting for DD1 to arise from her pit then we're off to the farmers market via the hole in the wall.

Lula-Hula

:eek: havent been in for ages.

DD's christmas assembly was great & in the last couple of hours before she broke up I got myself breakdwon with RAC for £35 so saved £15 rather than staying with AA for next year & got £25 quidco cash then saved £50 on contents insurance for next year by switching & another £25 quidco cash. I now have £115 quidco which is a good thing as I've gone way over budget on food spending due to late changes to the plans & me now having guests for tea on christmas day & then for lunch on boxing day. The only thing we dont have is any fruit or veg which I'm intending to get at the local co op tomorrow. I refuse to get the car out & if necessary we can walk a mile to the local waitrose.

I finished work about 4 on monday so DD & I decided to brave the hoards at Ts, but there actually werent any. No queues at the tills so we did the whole trip in about an hour & a half .

I also for some bizarre reason paid another £60 off CC2 on friday I must have got carried away by the quidco transfers which was really stupid of me as the payment isnt due until 9th January & now I'm £60 short for next week :mad: . The window cleaner usually makes a christmas eve appearance :rolleyes: so I've had to allocate a sum to him & I also need to top up another £20 on the gas to see us through til next payday. All the funds bar the council tax, dentist - due a visit in january :eek: & car tax are empty but I'm looking forward to starting to fill them up again as from the first week in january .

Fortunately & thanks to car sale/generous dad :A I have money in my savings/emergency fund & I still have the crispy £50 note from a year ago :j. It's quite cosy nestled up to CC2 & our passports - serious emergency stash :rolleyes: .

It's unlikley that there'll be any more credits or debits on the CC this year so I'm declaring total debt at £ 5,786.28. I know it's all down to me but although I cant remeber the exact figure of when i started ( will need to check snowball ) I believe that I've paid off £1000 since April & I'm ok with that. I did spend a lot on the CC ( dentist, car, tv, fridge/freezer which came to over £800 :eek: ) so I could have cleared a lot more but I wasnt really working to a budget then & it was like a swansong of spending before I became a reformed DFW :rolleyes: .

I have learnt soooo much since i joined MSE & all the debt i have cleared & the savings & freebies I have achieved are thanks to all the fab people on this board so :T :A :beer: to everyone on the forums & of course Martin himself :cool: .


I've been toying with the idea of starting a new diary for 2009... but I think I'm going to stick with The Quest; I like it here it's the same journey & I'm very fond of my 'regulars' & their wealth of support, advice & Moo2 s amazing & apparently endless knowledge on just about anything .

Hello & welcome to makeup too :wave: thanks for joining in .

to PurpleTea, Moo2, Mum2one, Bowski, Sarahb, Waspeze, makeup & absolutely all the other fab people that pop in or read I hope you all have a wonderful christmas time & guys ; the days are getting longer again now :j

:xmastree: :xmassign: :snow_grin lula xx :snow_grin :xmassign: :xmastree:

[Deleted User]

Hi Lula hun,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too.

Hope you have a fantastic time and get all the presents you have asked for.

Tea
xx