2010 Resolutions - My Crafty Diary

craftingmad

Well sadly I did'nt manage to get any tidying done but I did pluck up the courage to ask my mum if she could sell some of my cards at her groups and she willingly and enthusiastically agreed so I sent her off opn her way home today with a basket full of cards so fingers crossed there might be a bit more money for the pot very soon.

I also ordered some clubcard deal vouchers today which we plan to spend on an outing to the Tower of London whilst we visit London soon with the kids. I calculate that by using the vouchers we have saved a massive £31 on this outing so thats money I am putting into my "earnt" pot as if not we would have spent the full price of £43.50 - yipppeeeee!!!!!!

We also nipped into town on Saturday just gone and I stayed away from the craft shop and put back two craft magazines totalling about £8 before purchasing them so I think I am definately back on the MFW road again!

Hopefully going to prepare a budget tomorrow so that I can see if I can cut back on some things to give more money spare to put towards the mortgage each month - fingers crossed!!!!

craftingmad

Hi all,

Well I am madly trying to find out 3 months of statements so that I can prepare a budget and see where we can cut down but think they must be buried under all my crafting stash - it could take some time and I may never be seen again but hey at least I'll have died happy!!!!!!!!!!!

I have decided to see if I can cut back by £100 a month in order to boost the mortgage overpayments (we currently make OP of £500 a month) so that should hopefully help us on our way. I know that by now sticking to my £40 month craft budget I can save £50 straightaway - just got to stick to it now have'nt I!!!

I also hopped on the scales last night and had a shock - I have put on nearly two stone since Christmas and I now seriously need to loose some weight to get me back in shape and have more energy so the Wii Fit came out last night(which was bought for my birthday 2 years ago and has hardly ever been used) together with Wii Fit Plus (which I was bought for this Christmas just gone) and I have just done just under 2 hours burning 503 calories in the process so I am full of energy and now ready to start to pay this mortgage off.

Not sure which will happen first - the weight loss or be MF. Anyone care to bet (take into account my love of CHOCOLATE and my ability to not be able to say NO!!!)?

craftingmad

Well, I'm still here but am still wading through the piles of paper, brads, stickers etc to find more bank statements.

I have however found one and think I have already found a way to save £100 a month in order to put this money towards overpayments:-

£50 month - Craft (budget now just £40)
£20 month - Nappies (currently toilet training our little 2 year old so will soon not need any nappies as he is dry at night already)
£20 month - Food (this only amounts to a £5 a week cutback so will hopefully be able to save more than this)
£10 month - Magazines (I'm a sucker for craft magazines but have decided to cut down on the number I buy - Cutting out 3 will save over £10 a month - am hoping to cut them out altogether but for now not going cold turkey quite yet)

Well all these cut backs start today (apart from toilet training - this could take a little longer) so hopefully by the end of this month I would have saved a further £100 for the mortgage fund. Fingers crossed xxx

SmlSave

Well done on getting on the WiiFit and sorting through your paperwork

Not sure which will happen first - the weight loss or be MF. Anyone care to bet (take into account my love of CHOCOLATE and my ability to not be able to say NO!!!)?

this is how i feel! just eaten a cream egg too.....

craftingmad

Hello again,

Well I've a few things to report today (I'll start with the negative things first!) so here goes:-

1. Sadly got no more tidying done as have been busy with the playgroup I run today.

2. Potty training not going well today - he has managed to use the toilet a few times but each time has also wet his nappy (he was wearing them as we were out - usually he wears pants when we are inside which is saving on nappies) so budget cutting on this front is not looking good for this month

3. Good news!!!! Not spent any more on craft and have also not bought any magazines despite being around several for sale over the past couple of days so budget on track this month for these cutbacks.

4. Received cheque today for £55 from Cash for cartridges for empty cartidges i sent them in February. A few of the cartridges I sent were rejected as faulty but I still got more money than expected as they gave me £2.50 for each cartridge whereas I thought they were only going pay me £1 for black cartridges and £2.50 for the colour ones so thats a bonus and more for the "earnt" pot.

5. Made (and came across a few) cards today, priced them up and placed them in a pretty basket ready to take to playgroups next week to hopefully sell some.

6. Been on Wii Fit each day since I first reported and have managed to burn off 500 calories each day so thats great and must be helping the weight loss - mind you not sure if the chocolate bars I ate after exercising will help!!!!

OK got to go now I'm tired after all this exercising.

Happy crafting everyone.

craftingmad

Hi All,

Well I m pleased to say it has been 17 days since my last craft purchase and my bank account is looking a lot healthier for it! I even resisted buying the TSV from QVC yesterday and all the one time only's so I really do think that I have turned a corner! I also had to go to my local craft shop yesterday to pick up a raffle prize for a fundraising event I am holding for the toddler group I run and I went away with only the donated raffle prizes in my hand - nothing else - its a miracle _ I have never walked into a craft shop before and came away empty handed! Imust mean business to clear the mortgage off as quickly as possible so thats great news I think.

I've done really well with the food shopping too. I think I am on target to be at least £75 saved on usual monthly shopping bill so I'm a happy bunny there too.

Plus I managed to sell £6.45 off cards at playgroup on Thursday so that a bit more for the "earnt" pot. Its creping up slowly.

Also the potty training is going well so although we are still buying nappies for nighttime and whilst we are out my little man is not using them the majoprity of the time and actually using the toilet so this month I have easily saved the £100 I hoped we would already and there are still 5 days in the month to go. Yippee!!

Sadly though I have not been on the Wii Fit again or managed anymore tidying but my little ones have been poorly and I have a stinking cold so please can I be excused?

I have managed however to sus out how to upload photos onto listings in Ebay (for some reason my computer wanted to do funny things when it came to pictures) so I can now finally lits lots of lots from the big box of stuff to sell I currently have sitting in my craft room and shed. Fingers crossed to raise some cash there.

Oh and my little one is at a party today and I am so proud of myself. I have managed to put together a really nice craft set present out of all the extra craft bits I already have so hopefully the birthday girl will love it and I've saved some cash.

Happy MFW day.

craftingmad

Oh No - I was doing so well with not buying anything but I have just received an email from a favourite online store of mine www.clipcropcrafts.co.uk stating that everything on their site is half price - what do I do - they have some great digital stamps at just 25p each, fab download sets at less than a £1 and also some stickerpotumous sticker sheets which I have been trying to resist for ages now at just 25p sheet!!! Is it worth grabbing them now while they are so cheap and accordingly can be justified or should I hope for a power cut over the course of the sale (48 hours so very unlikely) so I don't get tempted!!! OOh I hate it when this happens!!!!!!

craftingmad

Just thought of another solution as I think its highly unlikely the power cut is going to happen - can everybody rush off and buy everything so that there is nothing left to get tempted by?

I do not need anything, I do not need anything, thing MF, think MF - I'm turning my computer off now!!!!!

craftingmad

received an email from a favourite online store of mine www.clipcropcrafts.co.uk stating that everything on their site is half price - what do I do - they have some great digital stamps at just 25p each, fab download sets at less than a £1 and also some stickerpotumous sticker sheets which I have been trying to resist for ages now at just 25p sheet!!! Is it worth grabbing them now while they are so cheap and accordingly can be justified or should I hope for a power cut over the course of the sale (48 hours so very unlikely) so I don't get tempted!!! OOh I hate it when this happens!!!!!!

Well no power cut sadly but I'm doing well - just under 3 hours to go and I've managed to resist so far. I'm amazing myself at my own willpower! I have just looked though and the stickers I've got my on are still there and a couple of the downloads I really would love are getting low on stock but I must resist!!!!

It has made me do a bit more tidying in the craft room and I've found a few more goodies which I'd forgotton about so its done some good I suppose but I really, really want them!

Happy crafting to you all.

SmlSave

Well done for resisting! See if you can press spam next time you get a tempting email

Hows the tidying going?