Mrs. P's Diary

MrsPorridge

Hey Buddiebabe - thank you.

Good luck with your tooth.

I gave up on Farmville ages ago - it got to the stage where i wouldn't go out or if I was out I was constantly checking my watch and worrying about getting back before my crops withered

I have picked up loads of shopping/meal planning tips from the Old Style Boards. I know this is an area which I can cut down on considerably - most of my over-spending occurs on food

MrsPorridge

I'm checking my online banking every day.

I've been putting £100 on one side each month for holidays and £70 for savings. That will now end as our holiday is in a couple of weeks time - I am going to allocate that money as follows: £100 towards the Egg and £70 for emergency (well, I will see how that goes for a couple of months - if I end up frittering it away then I will try and put it towards the Egg).

More good news:

will have a student teacher for 3 weeks in September so that will help the income side of things.

Just checked our mortgage statement we are on a fixed rate of 4.99% for five years. I had thought we had another 14 months to go on the fixed rate, but its till January 2011 - so only five months. Hopefully the mortgage rate will remain low (although knowing my luck........), anyway that will be a saving hopefully at least £100 each month - again I can throw that at the Egg.

Feel really motivated at the moment - just need to keep an eye on my spending and not go mad. By looking at the online account each night it really does help.

Things to watch out for - don't overspend on our holiday. Its self catering and if we eat out it will be fish and chips. We are taking our little camping stove and will hopefully use that in the evenings to maybe do some sausages for hot dogs etc. We will use the stove to make a brew of tea, coffee etc., while we are out and about. We are planning to do lots of walking. Also, we are NT members and can use that at certain places in Scotland so will do so.

I know I can do this and I will.

MrsPorridge

Oh my hippos arrived today - well 2 of them did. When I ordered them I just didn't think and ordered 1 - then realised we have 3 toilets so I then ordered another 2.

DH will fit them tomorrow night.

They also came with lots of helpful hints so will be reading up on that as well.

Had home made pizza for tea tonight using left over curry as the topping. There is enough for me to take some to work tomorrow as my packed lunch which is great.

MrsPorridge

Not much to report - still spending too much on food.

Have decided next month to try shopping weekly with a budget. Think this might be better than our monthly shop which we then have to top up weekly - will try and see how it goes. Have a new supermarket in town and they do brilliant bargains early evening with almost out of date food - have bought some and then frozen it.

Have been eating loads of fresh veggies from the garden and making ratatouilles and bakes to freeze.

We're away till the end of August

Have put cost of teeth on the Egg so that is the first thing to pay off:

Debt busting ideas for September:

First thing to tackle is to pay as much off the Egg as possible.

1. DH has found some items that hopefully we can sell. Will photograph them and email to specialist shop to see what they are willing to pay for them (if indeed they want them)!

2. Boot fair - still have stuff in the shed as never got the motivation to do the boot fair - will try and get that done in September weather permitting.

3. Have a student teacher staying with us for 3 weeks so will use that money to pay straight off Egg.

4. Will live off the freezer food as long as we can plus veggies from the garden - will then try the weekly shop.

Money_Fritter

Hi MrsP,

How are you doing, hope you have a nice holiday.

I have fell off the MSE band wagon at the moment, too busy saving for my holiday. I go next Tuesday, but I needed it and it is once in a lifetime. Hopefully when I get back I can get back into MSE.

Take care

Money Fritter

MrsPorridge

Right I'm back off my holidays and I'm raring to go MSE-wise at least

My lovely Dad gave me some money which we used as holiday spending (I don't like to think what state I would be in if he hadn't done that)

Big spends this month:

Bike service - only have £50 towards this - am expecting it to be in the region of £500 - will use the overdraft (now at zero) and then decide what to do.
Teeth - owe a final £500 to dentist - will take £400 out of savings to pay for this.

Will see what happens after the bike service (this Friday) and then decide what to do - whether to use the OD or put it on the Egg card.

Hopefully still have a student teacher coming to stay for 3 weeks towards the end of this month - this money straight off Egg card (or overdraft if used).

DH has some items we are going to sell - so will get act together and photograph them and then email them to a dealer to see how much he's willing to pay for them - DH expects something in the region of £800 - I'm trying not to get my hopes up about this - but whatever we get will go straight off Egg card)

This month will try and do the following:

make a PAD most days to the Egg card.
check bank account each day.
re-do a more realistic SOA.

Today went to do a "weekly shop" rather than monthly - spent £58. However did buy things on offer e.g. 8 tins of baked beans which will last for a month or more. Will do the shop weekly this month and log how much money spent so I can see if it works out cheaper. I did have a list but also checked out the special offers and only bought them if we would use them.

Feeling positive now and will check on bank account tomorrow as its my pay day tomorrow

MrsPorridge

Well - its not good news.

DH bike service £549
new tyres for car £325
plus still have to find £500 for my teeth - which I can pay in October.

I have taken another £1000 from the Egg card - I can do a transfer from that into my current account. In someways its a godsend in others its not.

I am hoping by the end of this month there will be some money left so I can pay that straight back (although I doubt it).

Heard today on the radio about the tax overpayments and underpayments - some people have been paying too much tax and are due a rebate others have not been paying enough - I said to DH you can bet your bottom dollar both of us will have been affected and we will both have been UNDER PAYING our tax We will see

On to more positive things:

Have emailed the specialist company photos of DH items to sell and am just awaiting the reply.

Have the student teacher arriving in a couple of weeks - she is with us for 3 weeks and we will get around £400 for that.

Still have a shed full of stuff for a boot fair but haven't got around to doing anything ab out it - suspect we won't get around to doing that till next year now.

Hope to have a student inJanuary for 7 months which will give us extra income.

Still feeling fairly positive - onwards and upwards......

MrsPorridge

What can I say? I'm so ashamed I've gone completely off the rails - took my eye off the ball and coupled with the fact that DH bike was just over £500 and I needed new tyres at just under £400 plus another dentist bill of £200. I have just ttransferred another £750 from the Egg to the current account.

I've just no idea where my money has gone this month - I have just spent and spent.

Now feel sick and shocked - so surely this will make me pull myself together?

No news on the items DH was trying to sell - will email the seller again. Still have student teacher coming in a couple of weeks. So that is at least positive.

MrsPorridge

Got an email from the specialist buyer - willing to pay us £725 for the items DH wants to sell. We have agreed to go for it and he is putting the money in our Paypal account. At least that will go straight off the Egg and I'm now back where I started.

Our student teacher comes next weekend and that money will go straight to pay off the balance for my teeth - that is all done then (for the moment anyway).

Next payday will try and stick to SOA - check my banking online each day and make as many PADS on the Egg card as possible.

MrsPorridge

£460 PAD to the Egg card today whoop, whoop.