DFSD's motivational ramblings...

debtfreesomeday

Thanks everyone, you're all stars. :A
I'm feeling a bit more in the 'just got to get on with it' frame of mind this morning, so that's exactly what I shall do. It's payday on Thursday, so Thursday night I intend to sit down and go through every penny of our budget this month and stick to it. It's only our poor planning and weak will that is leaving us overdrawn these past few months, so this month it has to change. We will be overdrawn to the point of about £150, so I need to make that back this month somehow. I'm not entirely sure there's anything else I can ebay, and the Amazon sales seemed to have ground to a halt for now, so I'll have to try and look at another way of making a bit extra. I am quite crafty, and have recently got the old sewing machine out again to make some bits and pieces, so I'm wondering if I can sell some of those things on ebay or etsy or anywhere else. I'll have to check that out, although I'm not entirely sure they're anywhere near good enough.

There may also be opportunity for overtime at work this month as this is typically our busiest time of year. That is quite a good earner, but one of the problems with doing it is that it takes up to two more months to actually be paid for the overtime. :mad: Still, it's extra money and if it's offered I will, begrudgingly, work it as we need the funds.

On Saturday, hubby found out he won some concert tickets for two different events this week. One is tonight, so we shall be having a free night out tonight., and the other is later in the week. It's not my sort of music, but will go anyway as hubby is keen and it's free!

Happy Monday everyone and thanks for your ongoing support.

DFSD
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yukkibear

glad you're feeling more positive today x

debtfreesomeday

Right, I've just worked out the budget for next month and I'll have £140 left once everything is paid for. This usually goes on buffering the groceries and petrol budget in addition to other things, so this month we'll just have to stick to the budgets - groceries in particular.

I have one birthday to buy for this month, for which I already have gifts ready - bought in the sales. There's also mother's day coming up; we don't spend a lot of money but we do buy a little gift for each. I will see if hubby can buy for his mother and I'll find something to send to mine. I was hoping to send flowers but this will probably be too expensive. I'll see if I can find any good deals on for flower delivery.

I was hoping to buy a few things for the house this month - we need some new lighting etc., but that will have to wait unfortunately.

Roll on another penny pinching, no money month! Urgh.

debtfreesomeday

I've just taken advantage of the £5 voucher for milk & more deliveries advertised on here, so we now have some bacon and juice being delivered to us on Friday for free. I needed to buy these this week anyway as we have a friend coming to stay at the weekend and need some breakfast supplies in, so this has saved me a fiver off of the shopping already.

I was going to put bread on the shopping list, but realised I have everything in the house to make some in the bread maker, so I'm going to make a few loaves this week. I'm starting the month as I mean to go on! I have ordered some bread flour though as I'm nearly out of this, and shall be making more use of it this month for sure.

brizzledfw

Hi DFSD - making your own bread is probably still cheaper than buying although I am never that sure once you factor everything in. But we add seeds eg. sunflower seeds into our breadmaker and it makes it very yummy. But they do good jam chutneys etc etc too - any point in doing something like that for Mothers Day presents? Much cheaper than flowers (which are often pretty rubbish for the environment too..just trying to make you feel better;-))

Chocforever

Hi DFSD

I would go for the overtime - it will pay for some holiday spending money.

Hope you had a good night out - it is nice to go out and see something different. And how can you refuse a free night out?!

I've started the MB notes - I may tempt you yet.

debtfreesomeday

Morning all x

Brizzle - great idea about making gifts - we made quite a few cookie and cake mix gifts at Christmas, put them in nice jars and they went down really well. Unfortunately it won't be suitable for my Mum as she is on a very restricted diet due to her varying conditions, but I am thinking of making something fabric-based that would be useful to her. Maybe a nice bag or something for the kitchen, I haven't quite decided what yet, will need to find some more ideas. I love making and receiving homemade gifts, it's so nice to think someone has spent time and effort in producing something for you. We are going to try and make chilli jam (like spicy chutney) this year from the chillis we grow in the garden. We were overun with them last year and froze a lot of them, but it would be nice to make somethinig different with them.

Chocs - yeah, if the overtime's offered I will definitely do it, bar one weekend in March when we have my parents coming to stay, hopefully.

The concert was brilliant - we went along expecting not to enjoy it very much as it's not really our thing, but we really enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to the next one tonight - also free! :T

Oooh, MB notes... I don't think I'll take a lot of tempting - it's definitely something I want to try, but I'm scared of losing all my money! :rotfl:I tried re-reading a little of the guide again the other day but got distracted by something else and didn't get back to it.

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

Two more days 'til payday... (Not that I'm counting!:o:rotfl::o).

I was up early(ish) again this morning, so did the scratchcards - 10ps - and have prepared the chicken for dinner tonight and have left it marinating in the fridge. Tonight's concert doesn't start until 8pm so we'll have time to go home, cook and eat first. In times gone by we would've just gone straight out for a meal somewhere beforehand which probably would've cost the best part of £30. :eek: I can't believe how much we used to spend on eating out, it makes me cringe thinking about it.

I also need to fill in my student loan deferment form which arrived in the post a couple of days ago. Thankfully (or not, depending on how you look at it...) I still don't earn quite enough to repay it (I studied in London so the earnings threshold is slightly higher), so that wil be deferred for another year. It's one of the old-style loans and was not for the full amount, so is not a huge sum, but it wouldn't help us to pay it back at the moment.

I've ordered an onine shop to be delivered tomorrow night, with the money coming out of the bank Thursday or Friday and falling into next month's grocery budget. I've also found out about a local fruit and veg box delivery scheme which I'm going to look into a bit more. I'm thinking that it may help us avoid the supermarket in between online orders, as this is the time when we tend to go with the intention pick up some fruit and veg and end up buying a few other bits that are on offer which we didn't plan to buy, resulting in the budget creeping up. I'll investigate and see if it's worth it.

Happy Tuesday everyone

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

I received my £10 voucher from one of the survey companies today, so just ordered 2 books from Amazon. I was going to use it to buy a gift, but I've been extremely selfish and bought myself both a crafty book and a cooking book I've had my eye on for a while.

Chocforever

Selfish? I don't think so! More like inspiration for gift making ideas ...

Another late night for me at work. Wish I was getting paid overtime at the moment. Whilst the weather is rubbish, I don't mind working so much and normally it is much quieter in spring and summer so I have more time to do other things so it kind of balances out. Or that's what I have to keep telling myself as I'm starting to get quite tired.

I have had a few MS free days and it is quite refreshing not spending part of the evening filling in questionnaires. I have a couple on tomorrow which sound quite nice and a free lunch and I know the questionnaires aren't too arduous so that's OK.

Hope you had another good concert tonight - it is energising to have a good night out doing something different. I'm going to a concert at the weekend and very much looking forward to it.