Jamiedodger's Happy Times 2009 Diary

pixieface_3

it soon adding up jamie keep up the good work
pixie x

JAMIEDODGER

You're up early pixie:)

Yesterday a friend popped into see me which was nice, while she was here we were talking about the work I am doing on the house and the plans I have got and I realised, I will need some electrical work done in the front room which needs to be done before the flooring in DD's room. Her room is above the front room and I need the lighting electrics moved. So this morning I made my PAD of £19 and most of this went towards the elcrticians costs. I need to get an electrician round to give me a quote so I know how much this work will cost but I think that will set back the buying of DD's flooring another month. Im not that worried as the work needs to be done in the right order, no sense laying the flooring to have to take it back up again to do the electrics!

DS1&2 are off on holiday today with their dad:) They are really looking forward to it and I know they are going to have great time!

I am hoping to spend as little as possible this week. There are 8 days left of the month including today. I have plenty of food in, really only need to buy bread, fruit, and milk. I will send DS1 up the shop this morning to go and buy 8 pints of milk, which should last until wednesday, then I will go to tesco and buy the rest of the months milk and any bits I need:)

Wednesday I may also nip to B&Q and pick up the paint to finish the boys room,want to get it finished while they are away and I have no kids on wednesday so perfect day to do it:D

I am hoping to up my PAD tomorrow by another £1 which makes £20 per day. I love seeing the balance of my ISA go up everyday:):T

I will have to lower the PAD payments from the 1st of september as I like to start smaller at the beginning of the month! I should have enough money saved by end of october to have the decking and electrical work done, then I can rethink about DD's flooring (and then xmas!!!)

I am going to work on a 2010 plan today. I know how much I have available to spend each month, and what work I need done, so I will be planning what I am going to do each month of next year:) I love this kind of planning, it makes me feel like I am getting somewhere and there is a light at the end of the tunnel:)

September I will be aiming to spend no more than £220 on groceries. Thats the plan. As the kids are back to school then, I will be able to go back to food shopping once a week:j I find it easier to control that way!:D

Right, off to make a cuppa, then I must get started on the packing!!

pixieface_3

Hi Jamie and yes am up early ...or should i say was! i am up with my foster baby from 5.45 every morning she giggles and shouts that loud I have no choice to get up (well i dont actually get up she has her bottle and a cuddle in my bed then i have my morning cuppa and 10 mins on my laptop before i venture downstairs
I have taken your advice a PAD, I have also started a 50p and a £2 tin ....AND i have bought 6 xmas pressis one for each of my grandkids AND I have wrapped them!!!!!! (sad I know).............. good luck with your 2010 plan
pixie x

JAMIEDODGER

Pixie - You foster? Thats brilliant! I always wanted to do something like that, it must be very rewarding. Good news on the xmas presents! You are super organised!!! (Not at all sad!) Glad you have started PADing:T

Managed to do PAD this morning of £21:j this takes my total to £111:T

Had a bit of a drama here yesterday morning, the DS charger exploded and threw all the electrics!!! Scare the bejesus out of DD, she was shaking for ages.:eek: Threw the switch back on but nothing, so had to call out HA to have a look. The breaker was faulty so therefore not tennant responsibily so no cost to me. I will be contacting people who I bought charger from as it was only a week old!!!:mad:

Managed to finish sanding down boys room and most of the prep work. Just want to be able to paint it on wednesday. Its looking good:)

Made a start on my 2010 list! Got to about August and couldnt think of anything else I needed to do!!:rotfl: Never mind I am sure things will crop up, plus things never work out exactly the way you plan!:rolleyes:

6 PAD payments left in August, aiming for £20 per day so another £120, total £231:D Bank account is looking fairly healthy for end of month, I may even manage a few pounds more.:T

Have also ordered my Airmiles from tesco. £19 converts to 456 Airmiles:T Grand total: 5565..... so 4435 to go:j I really need to up the ante with clubcard points if I am going to reach my total by December 2010 and have enough points to pay for our holiday to Disneyland Paris! I need to remember to use my clubcard plus instead of my normal clubcard. I will be able to do this as soon as kids go back to school and my shopping goes back to weekly!!

I had a call from my boys last night to say they had arrived ok. They are having a nice time and will be going swimming tomorrow! I hope ex has a good experience and wants to take them again next year:rolleyes: Lets hope so as the break is good for me too:D

DS3 & DD are still asleep, I may get another 30 mins quiet, so going to make another cuppa!

pixieface_3

hi jamie bet you had a real fright with your electrics glad no one was hurt,
yes i foster kids and its a great job.......... plus i have loads of kids of my own so it's all good fun, i was a midwife before and got fed up of the nhs system so decided i needed a change and it has been the best decision i have ever made and now feel a lot less stressed than i did and i am more than happy:)
The trip to Disneyland Paris sounds great the kids will love this, i am thinking of taking mine in 2011 so i best get saving.
You are doing well to manage to put £20 away each day it's mounting up fast...keep up the good work
pixie x

JAMIEDODGER

Thanks pixie:) I think Disneyland is gonna be pretty expensive so I will probably start saving from January 2010 for our trip in April 2011.

Have done my PAD this morning, £22:T

£1 to Flooring
£20 to Decking
£1 to Electrician

I think I should be able to order the materials for the decking by 2nd week of September:D By the time my order arrives and the decking is built, should be end of September, then I will need to stain it before wet weather sets in!! I am quite excited now:j

Decided to make a start on ceiling in boys room yesterday morning...and got carried away, painted ceiling, walls and sanded down skirting and door frame so today, all I have to do is paint the radiator and gloss the woodwork:D I have a friend popping in this morning so will be nice to have a cuppa and a chat with her:)

Didnt get enough sleep last night as I decided to stay up until midnight and watch Wire in the Blood. I kept thinking I must go to bed shortly and it never happened, Id watched the whole thing! Tired this morning though!

Plans for today.....

- Enjoy cuppa with friend
- Pack kids off for their day out
- Go to B&Q for radiator paint and gloss
- Go to Tesco for remaining 6 days food
- Go pick up bed base for ds2 bed
- Withdraw £20 personal money for Hypno Challenge
- Decorate
- Nap while paint is drying:D

Sounds like a plan!:)

Must remember not to feed cats after 6pm as my boy cat Chris is going in tomorrow morning to be neutered:eek:

Right off to do jobs now...

jtb2412

Hi JD et all

A good time had by all at the wedding and birthday parties over the weekend. Spent rather a lot but doing the 4K challenge enables us to treat ourselves once in a while and appreciate it !

Busy week here, uniform shopping and altering (why are school trousers always about a meter too long :rolleyes: !!!), catching up with washing, cooking, gardening/allotment and preparing for this weekend. We're away (again ) for MIL and FIL Golden Wedding Anniversary celebrations. Not an expensive weekend though as staying at my parents and MIL and FIL insisting on paying for everyone's meal out. Have offered to buy some wine instead of a pressie so hopefully they'll take us up on that.

Your PAD going very well JD, I'm impressed ! I think I need to start something like that for the decorating fund which has now turned into DDs 16th Birthday fund :rolleyes:. She doesn't want a party but wants to spend a weekend at Alton Towers and stay overnight in the hotel. TBH we were looking into costs of a party and it's going to be cheaper to go to AT ! Will be Xmas as well as birthday pressie as her B'day in Dec (going in Oct to AT).

What's the £20 hypno challenge JD?

Right off to get turkey leg in SC (turkey leg £1.47 and a pack of stewing veg for 28p from Mr T last night, potatoes, cabbage and runners home grown so a cheap meal tonight :T).

Hope everyone has a good day xx

JAMIEDODGER

Morning everyone:wave:

Jtb - You have been busy lately!:) You are right though, doing the 4k challenge enables you to spend money on other things, be it treats, decorating your home or holidays. The Hypno £20 challenge is where Hypno06 takes out £20 and see how long she can make it last. If you have a look at her diary, it gives me of an explanation.


Paid my PAD this morning of £22.:T :

£1 to Flooring
£20 to Decking
£1 to Electrician

Grand total now £155:D

I had an electrician round yesterday to quote me for the work I need doing in the front room, knowing that electricians are quite expensive, I had budgeted to save a fair bit for it, plus extra just in case. I was overjoyed at the price he gave me:) I also now have a total to work towards. £153:) I will be booking him in for last week of september/first week october to do the work.

I have finally finished the boys room:T:T:T It looks fab:D I picked up a bed base for DS2 cost £15 and will start putting back all their stuff today.

Didnt manage to make it to Tesco yesterday so will be going this morning, DS3 is off out again so just me and DD today. Nipping out at 8.30am to take cat to vets, should be picking up this afternoon.

I am keeping a close eye on the bank account for the last few days of August, I have four direct debits due out but I think I can still manage to PAD about £20 a day for the last few days, I am hoping for a total PAD this month of £250. This will mean I need a further £200 to be able to order the decking. If I can PAD £20 per day from 1st to 10th September, I can order decking on 11th:D:D

Because of lower amount quoted by electrician than I had expected, I need to redo 'The Plan' this is my list of jobs needed to be done and rough estimates between now and December 2010.

Gonna make another cuppa and then get the kids up and dressed...

elantan

jamie this is a brilliant idea ...i didnt know you upped the pad throughout the month ...so do you start at a smallish amount and gradually bring it up throughout th month? i see it is really working for you thats fantastic ...are the kids having fun on their hols?...i know what you mean by getting carried away when you are painting it just seems so easy while the brush is out etc ....just watch you dont paint any kids if they dont move fast enough lol

JAMIEDODGER

elantan wrote: »

jamie this is a brilliant idea ...i didnt know you upped the pad throughout the month ...so do you start at a smallish amount and gradually bring it up throughout th month? i see it is really working for you thats fantastic ...are the kids having fun on their hols?...i know what you mean by getting carried away when you are painting it just seems so easy while the brush is out etc ....just watch you dont paint any kids if they dont move fast enough lol

Hi Elantan:)

I try and figure how much I want to save over the course of the month and then divide by the amount of days, this is my rough PAD amount, however there are times in the month that I have a lot of direct debits going out so around those times I will PAD a lot less and then make it up over the month. Also if I have any extra coming in which I wasnt expecting, this will get PADded too:) I have also been challenging myself to spend very little (hypnos £20 challenge, I am trying to make £20 last me 2 weeks so my personal spend over the month is only £40) I have also been doing the store cupboard challenge to use up what I have rather than buying more in, extra money goes to PAD payments. Anywhere I save money over the month, I make sure I PAD that too.:T It really seems to add up!

Kids are having a great time with their dad, I have spoken to them a few times, they are home today, I have missed them!

How are things going for you?