Jamiedodger's Happy Times 2009 Diary

elantan

that is one pad mrs well done ...not long now till the decking is done

hypno06

Mine are back to school today, so we have to get back into that routine of who goes into the shower, when. We do have 2 showers, but still can only use one at a time otherwise one gets boiling water, and the other gets freezing cold!

It is on my list of things to do, but that cost money - get showers that allow hot water whenever!!

Have a good day, and good luck with the 10min visit!

pixieface_3

Hi Jamie
wow how do you manage to save £17 per day???? you must be fantastic with your pennies!! i am amazed
Pixie

JAMIEDODGER

Morning all:)

Pixie - I dont have any debt left and after 5 years of being on MSE I have managed to get my outgoings down to the bare minimum. It has been a long struggle to get to this point, but there were times when paying off the debt that I managed to feed the 5 of us on £40 per week. I dont spend that much more now lol, maybe £50-60 per week instead, but MSE habits die hard and I bargain buy everything, shop around, ebay, amazon, pigsback etc I dont spend that much on xmas and birthdays. Now all the debt is cleared I decided I wanted to do up the house as we had lived here for 5 years without doing hardly anything and it was desperate for an update.

Sorry that was a bit of a waffle

Paid another big payment of £61 this morning, this brings total up to £310:D:D:D I am £80 away from target:T I may be able to squeeze a decent payment through tomorrow as I get my tax credits, I think I have accounted for everything possible going out this week but I may not reach my target until next week....we shall see! Had to pay £25 yesterday for a school trip (already!!) so need to adjust figures...

Kids officially go back to school today:j I have a lot to get done in the house today and a lot of junk clearing from everyones bedroom!!!

Better get on....

JAMIEDODGER

Morning:)

Made a PAD payment of £12 this morning to take the total up to £322... Just £68 to go!!!:D

Kids went off to school no problems yesterday:) DS2 was so tired and a bit grumpy last night though. I think it was all the walking around from classroom to classroom which is a lot different from junior school.

DS1 has a lot of homework now he is in year 9. I am trying to get into a routine of doing it straight after dinner! No tv until finished!!!:)

Still going through paperwork (yuk) I seem to have had a load through in just the last two days from schools asking for money, school trips etc. So will be tackling some of that today.

Food shopping day today! Will drop DD off at school, come home and start on shopping list. Hope to spend no more that £50!! Also need to go to the post office to send off an ebay sale! Have listed another item.

Washing pile almost up to date, think I will get away with only one wash today!

Hope everyone has a good day!

elantan

fantastic ...can i ask where do you get the sums from ...i sit down with our budget and know how much i can have as extra etc ...i am lucky if i can do £1 or £2 a day .... so what formula do you use to see how much you can transfer every day

JAMIEDODGER

Morning:)

Elantan - I sit down with my budget and total incommings and outgoings, including all food and extras I know that are coming up that month, I always do my budget at least a month in advance. The remainder left is what I plan to save. I then write out the budget in full statement order from 1st to 31st on a spreadsheet so I can see exactly how my money flows throughout the month. This shows me periods of time during the month I have less money or more, it also ensures I never go overdrawn. Then I input a daily Pad into the spreadsheet checking I still dont go overdrawn and adjusting where needed. When the month starts I put in the carry over from the month before as starting balance, total up each column (income and expenses) and every day through the month I check off what has come in and gone out that day, if any unexpected bills etc come in I lower the total Pad amount for the month and adjust daily pads. Hope my waffling helps:D

Paid £9 this morning. Total now: £331:) £59 to go!!!! I have a couple of cheques due to be cashed, but they havent gone through the bank account yet, so if they dont go through tomorrow morning, I will move them to monday and will be able to PAD a bigger amount tomorrow! Currently aiming to order decking on tuesday, however, I wont be getting it delivered until next weekend as mate needs to shift it into back garden and a saturday suits him better. I dont want to leave it sitting on front lawn for even one night. Hopefully he will be able to start the following week. Once decking is ordered I need to find the money for him to build it. He wants £150, this has already been worked out and put into this months budget so thats what I will be saving for next.

Time is slipping away from me this morning, better get on with lunchboxes. Housework planned today but am having friday as me day and meeting a friend in town for a hot chocolate! Will be spending some of that £20.

Sold another ebay item, so another one has been listed, need to pop to post office today and send it off, I think I have enough money in paypal now to order another xmas prezzie so will look at some point today:)

Have a great day everyone x

elantan

it certainly does thanks jamie ...i think i need to get me one of theses spread sheets ...saying that i think i need to get me to understand and be able to work them as well ...i still stick to pen and paper and while thats handy it isnt always right human error steps into the mix (well with me it does anyway )

JAMIEDODGER

Elantan, you can do exactly the same thing with pen and paper, it just takes a bit longer thats all, when my laptop broke I had to go back to doing it like that, it works just as well:)

£23 to PAD this morning:) Grand total £354, so just £36 away from target now! Will check bank account tomorrow morning and make sure nothing else has gone out, if not I will make another payment tomorrow. Hope to reach target to be able to order on tuesday still, but need to recheck budget first.

Off out for coffee and cake with friend this morning, will be taking out of my £20. Its also pocket money day today, so need to withdraw some cash from bank to cover that! I am getting really excited the closer I get to my decking target now! After that I need to save £150 for decking to be built and then £153 for the electrician!!!

Have a good day all...

brummiebabe

Hi JD = still lurk on your diary - you were one of the first ones I used to follow when I first joined MSE (a few years ago now!!)

Just wanted to say I think you do amazingly well & totally put me to shame!! Am hoping that I'll be as inspired to do up my new house - when we finally get to move in!

Will now go back and lurk in the corner.....:o