Earthgirl gets back on track!

cha97michelle

Well done on getting onto shop and scan. It soon builds up to a voucher once they ask you to do surveys. I don't do the till receipts as it seems a whole lot of faff for the reward although i suppose i should. It would be an extra £26 per year.

I did food on the go for a bit, but we never really bought any snacks while out so that was a bit of a poor earner. Then there is the webview they do now where they monitor your internet use. I don't do that one either as it is not compatible with our desktop. Shame.

I can't believe i just saw you got your bag packed. I am going to be so broody once these babies do arrive. My new niece is due on September the 1st and i can't wait. I saw my SIL last weekend and she is really suffering in the heat and there house is still in uproar with the DIY. I remember it very well.

There used to be a cow and gate baby club thing too. Not sure if they still do the free gifts but worth a look?

earthgirl

Total overpayments june:
£19,689.5 (£17689.5 from previous years' isas)
+ £2300 payment into 2010 isa


Hi all, I am feeling fairly happy, as for the first month since I started my challenge of 'live off £1130 / month in April, I have actually come in under budget, at £1069.97, and not over for a change, except for electricty If I count the big bill I got when changing utility company I am in fact £129 over budget :mad:

Thankfully, I also marked hundreds of A level papers, and am expecting a payment of around £1000 mid July, plus I sold old gold for £64 this will cover the cost of the electricity and then the rest can go into OPing.

Of this £1130 budget per month, £500 is standard mortgage payments, £100 endowments, and it also includes all costs such as insurances, council tax, utilities, car maintenance etc, divided out over 12 months, so I am very happy to have had most of it under control, bar the winter fuel usage.

I would like to reduce this to £1117 all in next month.


Part of this is due to reducing our costs -

• Petrol was only £40 this month due to drop in tutoring clients, I expect this to drop further when I finish work.
• Sky down from £45 /month to £18 at the moment until the football starts again :mad: this should be covered by the reduced petrol expense above.
• Home insurance down to £198 (£250 budgeted)
• Grocery spend was only £3 over budget at £83
• Again no mobile phone top up (budgeted £5) I have reduced this to £2.50 / month from now on.
• I learnt how to cut my own hair, and it looks fine (this would impact on my 'kitty')

I have a kitty system for unbudgeted spends, which works quite well for me, as it means if I want to buy something, I have to sell something first, or do a mystery shop. This way I have got rid of a lot of clothes and other items that we don't use, and I have also bought all the baby stuff we needed (since april), and some energy saving devices, out of this money.

The main sucsess with my 'kitty' is Ebay - total made after postage is almost £50 for June. I have £37.14 left for July even if I don't make any extra money.


Threats to me not meeting my new budget:

• Interest rates rising and in the longer term the VAT increase will affect my outgoings
• We must continue to reduce our energy budget - I don't ever want another big bill.
• Pregnancy brain, and the increased costs of having a little one around!!

To help me reduce my electricty I switch everything I can reach off standby, and I charge my laptop (used for work) and phone at work, and only use it until the battery runs out, I don't plug it in again. I have bought a solar / usb charger for when I leave work with my first voucher from shop and scan, and have a few ideas about how to keep these items charged in dreary winter!

I have fitted a timer to the heated towel rail, and we notice no difference - our towels are warm on a morning and dry fine during the day. Dread to thik how much we have spen on this over the years:o!

I have also took over the washing, and do half the amount of washes that OH used to do. My forfeit for this is making sure he has everything ironed and put away so that he isn't tempted to put a wash on for a t-shirt!! I have also bought him extra bits of clothing to see him through the week. Obviously all is line dried at the moment - challenge will be to keep this up in winter!

Other ideas for saving on electricity:

- use future shop and scan vouchers to buy a good flask so kettle is only boiled once a day for this.
-see if I can get the microwave switched off when its not in use, it has a clock display, but i can't reach the plug - need some sort of remote controlled on and off.
- think about meal planning so cooker is used sparodically for more than one meal.
- think about extra electricity having a baby may use???

earthgirl

I have been paid and have done the following:

Filled my 2010 Isa allowance with payment of £300
Put £600 into easy access savings account just incase we go over budget when the little one is born (so I don't have to dip into ISA).
I should be able to add to this by another £400 by the end of the month as well.

Mortgage minus savings now only £17,742. If we stay on budget this month too, we can make another £1000 OP at the end of the month

Courgette

earthgirl wrote: »

Grocery spend was only £3 over budget at £83

Not being cheeky, but what do you actually eat!!! As in, we're millions of miles away from this and I thought I was doing pretty well. You've given up your allotment too haven't you. Hasn't that put your grocery bill up?


Pregnancy brain, and the increased costs of having a little one around!!

Lordy, lordy. Thank goodness it's not just me, I thought it was a bit of a myth but I've had a terrible week for forgetting things. Yesterday morning I nearly had a little cry convinced I'd been pick-pocketed at the hospital cos my purse was 'no where to be seen'. Hubby found it on the table.
To help me reduce my electricty I switch everything I can reach off standby, and I charge my laptop (used for work) and phone at work, and only use it until the battery runs out, I don't plug it in again. I have bought a solar / usb charger for when I leave work with my first voucher from shop and scan, and have a few ideas about how to keep these items charged in dreary winter!

I think solar things still work pretty well in the winter too

I have fitted a timer to the heated towel rail, and we notice no difference - our towels are warm on a morning and dry fine during the day. Dread to thik how much we have spen on this over the years:o!

Just don't think about it, it's all you can do

I have also took over the washing, and do half the amount of washes that OH used to do. My forfeit for this is making sure he has everything ironed and put away so that he isn't tempted to put a wash on for a t-shirt!! I have also bought him extra bits of clothing to see him through the week. Obviously all is line dried at the moment - challenge will be to keep this up in winter!

Radiators, and a rack in the bath - leave the window open for a good breeze and should be fine. We don't have a TD and the only time I find it really hard to dry things is when it's still and damp

- think about extra electricity having a baby may use???

Steriliser, unless you use a chemical one. Obviously if you exclusively breast feed you won't use this much but you'll still need to sterilise dummies if used and nipple shield if you need it.

Increased use of washing machine too if you're using reusable nappies. Don't be fooled by anyone who tells you you need to boil wash or even wash on 60, normal temperature is fine, it's not as though they're anything other than nappies. If they were a nappy one cycle then a face cloth next it'd make sense but no one (surely? No way!) does that


You're doing absolutely brilliantly :T:T:T And you've overtaken me on the amount owed :rotfl:

earthgirl

Thanks courgette!
Feeling really positive about the mortgage amount due now. I know my OPs will drop soon cause of mat leave/ childcare but hey ho, thats life!!

Thanks for the info re the sterliser and washing the nappies. I think I will get more terry nappies as I can then put a full nappy wash on, and still have some for whilst they dry. Great idea about drying over the bath, will look into a rack as well.

Thanks!!!

earthgirl

Right, here is my to do list altered to reflect the lazy day I had yesterday:o, and the busy day I had today:j I'd like to get some of the ALMOSTS finished, it annoys me to have 1/2 done things!

School tasks (to be done at school during normal lesson times - not taken home!)
[STRIKE]- cover work for speaking exams
- clear in tray[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- write yr 9 sow almost! [/STRIKE]
-tidy cupboard
[STRIKE]- -finish file of work for replacement [/STRIKE]
- do some marking
- Print off tutoring resources
ks3 [STRIKE] ks4 [/STRIKE]ks5


Income
[STRIKE]- - find more items to ebay at weekend [/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- -small business work - 2hours done, just need to update news and testimonials page of website. [/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- apply for more marking positions for jan/ next year[/STRIKE]

Outgoings/ savings:
- plant more lettuce, carrots etc.
- complete tax return started
-investigate child benefits, trust fund etc again
[STRIKE]- complete 1st shop and scan[/STRIKE]
- go back through house again trying to find ways of reducing energy
[STRIKE]- look at solar/ renewable energy chargers etc, and wind up radio.[/STRIKE]

Other
- credit check (2 weeks time)

earthgirl

Hi All,

I haven't been posting as I've been busy at work, handing over to my maternity cover, and I've been saving electricty at home, so only using my laptop until it runs out of charge. Its working quite well, it means I don't waste time online, and I managed to use and charge my laptop at both cafe mshops at the weekend!! This post might be quite rambling though as I haven't updated for ages.

I have decided that due to my impending maternity leave, my kitty system for unbudgeted spends is going. I have been using it like an imaginary account - If I want to buy this item, I sell something or do a ms to pay for it.

I will not be able to mystery shop, due to being on ML, and although I can ebay, I will need this money to overpay. Tutoring will also be practically impossible with a little one. I have been used to overpay £2000 or £3000 per month, I know I will feel like I'm not making much progress on ML (completely made up for by having a long awaited bundle of joy!!) so every penny must go into oping.

So I completed 2 mystery shops at the weekend, which boosted the doomed kitty by £10, and I also made £10.45 on ebay after posting last week.

I had 18 resuable nappies but decided that I didn't want to be constantly doing nappy washes, so I needed more reusables maybe another 5 or so, but spotted a great deal and made an impluse buy!

I spent £55 on another 30 bamboo resuables, 13 liners, 18 more wraps, and 12 muslins!!! Now I have faaaarrrr to much!! But still, the seller said some of it was new, so I will sell on the new stuff, and try to make some money back. I needed the muslins and some more nappies and wraps, so I don't feel too bad about my big purchase, and it was a bargain!!

I also bought a new nursing bra for £5.49, and my mum is getting me some more when she gets the call to come down!!

So the doomed kitty 'account' now needs £12.90 to clear itself, and then no more spending- everything goes into OPing! I have a ms next week (expecting £10 payment) and I have about 12 items ending next weekend on ebay, some with watchers already, so fingers crossed.

I have decided to switch and fix electricity prices until september 2011. The fixed prices are only marginally higher than the best deal that I got a few months ago. I have talked to the new supplier, who say that they won't be able to switch us over until after the 1st of Aug, which suits me, as we incurr a fine from the current supplier if we switch before then. I will check, but I think that if the supply doesn't start until after August, they can't charge me for organising a switch before then (??)

I had to take 2 of the jumpers I got for OH back to the shop as they didn't fit him, so the Christmas present budget has gone up again. Bought him a fleece and a designer jumper for £30 in the debs sale instead. This is good as I have to buy some spirits for a few of ohs relatives.

Shop and scan is going fine, so I will save up the vouchers to give to OH for Christmas, or for baby stuff, to get some deals in the Jan sales.

School sports day today, but I am not needed, as I normally do a very active job, and I have been told I am far too enormous to do it haha! Instead I am chilling out with the hayfever sufferers, poor lambs!

I plan on making a card, doing a bit of school work, and maybe some small business work.

earthgirl

My very depleted to do list!!

School
- tidy cupboard (you can tell I have no notion!)
- do some marking MOST DONE JUST YR9 LEFT
-print off specs/ exams and other tutoring resources for ks3 and Alevel DONE


Savings
- plant some more veg and maybe some flowers
- maintain focus on reducing electricity usage

Other
Credit check (1 weeks time)

Income
ongoing - check for ms, and do small business work.
- complete tax return
- investigate benefits

SmlSave

Good luck with your new kitty system hun

How is your veg going in the garden? My courgettes seem to be attracting slugs aplently this year but then my strawberries and tayberries are doing a bumper crop!

earthgirl

Garden doing OK,I miss the produce from the allotment, but will get back on top of growing my own properly next year.

I have spent another £20 on food as we needed stuff, and about £10 was on fruit and veg. I am going to go over budget this month on food now, but we went a bit short on fruit last month, and my freezers are full so I don't need much more stuff, just top up shops really.

Got parents evening tonight at 7pm, so going to have a relaxing day, and then back to mse tomorrow!