I'm going to do a diary too :)

Queen-Bee_2

Hi gerbiljo - chin up, you're still making inroads and even small steps count, especially if you're in for the long haul!

Your £25 budget aspirations sound pretty ambitious to me considering there are three of you - as I've written in my own diary recently, I struggle to get by on £20 and there's just me and a cat to feed...
QB

cha97michelle

Don't get down. We all seem to find we make less progress than we want, and there is always someone who says keep going it will be worth it.It is extra hard with kids. My DS2 was 2 last week, and he is really clingy. He always wants me. It is their age. She won't remember, and in the long term you are doing it for her so you have more free money when she is older. Just make the most of the time you are with her.

setmefree2

gerbiljo

thanku! another hard day grrrrrrr i didnt get home for lunch and so had to buy some grrrr so now i owe the till about £7 (a couple of lunches where i didnt get home overall) but it is now the weekend and from next weekend the weekend starts wednesday!

qb haha that includes the dog and cat food also so i guess it is tight but we often fail it!
cha thanku i really hope she doesnt remember!
smf ty i needed that!

feeling a bit better now xx

gerbiljo

Expensive shop this week! We needed more meat and some bug spray as the greenhouse seems to have an aphid infestation! I have been taking lots of cuttings so I'm starting to wonder what to do with them as they've been fairly successful, the front of our house is quiet so putting them out the front hasn't done much, so thinking might put some on ebay...tho I'm sure its worth it

Had some vouchers so spent them which was like a fun free spend

gerbiljo

Hubby had a pizza last night which was a deviation from the the meal plan but our local takeout is pretty good and it was £3.99 for a large one. I just cooked myself a meal so I feel I've been good, a pizza wasn't worth that for me and for me to get picky bits like mushrooms/potato skins etc it would have been about a tenner and too much to eat so i decided to stay out of it! I may suggest the takeaway guy should create a mini mix box haha. I guess it means we have an extra dinner now for the coming week which will save me some shopping money at some point!

Went to a jewellrers yesterday to discuss selling some jewellry (i have no idea how to spell this morning, u know when u just get a brain freeze).

Going to look at house with sister today, this will make me want to move, so on second thoughts might just send hubby as she wants his opinion anyway to avoid me 'thinking about' extra things I don't need to.

I have made a decision to unsubscribe from loads of survey websites as their emails are annoying me and they don't pay me anything. I don't have the time to work out if they are any good. I will keep my shopping scanning and yougov tho i find that rubbish, they never send me anything but I do have a tenner in the account (which I presume i will never see as they'll never send me a survey to get me to £50). i find the shopping scanning good tho and definately worth while. I would like to find a way to have all christmas shopping covered by a non- salaried income so will think about this! I have been trying to read lots of diaries to get ideas but I think some don't work for me, I need to read some again as I am getting people confused!

Going to start thinking about my daughters birthday now (not til nov, she'll be 2) and what she can dress up as, last year she was a fairy, wel see, she might just be a fairly again. I am going to make a timmy time cake.

Might put a couple of cuttings on ebay and see... (but not this weekend) I am very excited with herbs at the moment as they are easy to grow and I made my own stuffing last week which was yum!

Only a 2 day week coming up for us and we have decided to have a meal out one lunch time which we can us a voucher for so it will be about £30. I am hoping to have about another £100 to overpay from money left over in the food/ petrol account, I think driving slower has helped and I think it is more calming not rushing around when everyone else seems to be in a rush. Apart from that we will go to the farm as we have a season ticket so its a free fun day and if our daughter is kranky and we have to go home there's no money wasted.

Final thing, was naughty yesterday and went in an equestrian shop. MY dream is to get our daughter a pony obviously if she doesnt want it thats ok as I do and will look after it, but its something I always wanted. The ideal idea is that once the mortgage is paid we move to the country and get some land and lots of pets- like i don't have lots already! (tho we do live opposite a stables so if the mortgage idea went up the creak we could keep one there hehe and I am on the waiting list but its really busy so it wont happen!) so it was a real tease but seeing all the pink cute stuff for little riders was amazing... Anyway I did indulge in my dream by letting our daughter have a pony ride last time at the farm and she cried the whole time (I have erased this from my memory!)...apparently I am now classed as a pushy mother! (says my sis)

Finally finally, might have some spending in B&Q today, we need to replace the balustrading on our stairs (hubbys next project) so we need some wood and have a 10% card. I want to make a mosaic too for the wall so might need a few bits for that...

Thats it, hopefully I can update again when I pay off some money instead of just spending!

gerbiljo

oh quick extra... noticed some of you have added months until completed (re being MF).... I have counted this and its...34 oh dear that sounds more to me than I wanted. Gonna add this to my signature, tho it is wishful thinking as its based on the current interest rate! I still think max 40 tho, gonna put 34 as I'm ahead in the MFiT-T2 challenge and felt I wasn't tough enough so now I'm being tough haha

jess444_2

Hi,
Just wanted to say how impressed I am with your determination to pay off your mortgage. I will be reading your diary with interest.
Jess

pammyj74

how did your cuttings take so well, this is what I have been trying to do and failing. I have started growing from seeds tho and some have done well, others have been eaten and some just didnt even try!!

I wish my mortgage was even 40 months to finish! mine is 138 :eek: at the moment lol trying to get it down to 109. This is about my expectations on a single mums wage lol As i sit at home alone at night I have the time to do the surveys and the reviews etc, may as well while I am watching TV!

How old is your daughter? I am studying for accounts and thnking as most jobs are full time, whether to go for them but then I enjoy picking the kids up from school etc They would probably actually enjoy going to after school club but I see it as another bill to pay :mad: the wages would have to be worth it!!

gerbiljo

jess444 ty!

pammy, only new to the whole plant thing so I've kind of made it up and been lucky. What i expected tho was that they would root in a few days, but it takes more like a month. I got some rooting powder from asda and I cut off a bit and pulled off the lower leaves then stuck it in some soil, keep it wet, if it stays alive (sometimes i just get another trimmed bit for comparison) then I find if I leave it a month it roots. I've done lots with marguerites which are really easy and now I'm starting with the herbs. I originally got the powder for my buxus cuttings, which seemed to live and not root and so i threw loads away but i since found out for them rooting can take up to year, iv noticed some have new shoots but no roots so i am hopeful that they will take. I had bought some more powder from a garden centre for them but it seems my other stuff might have been ok after all. Hubby bought me some trays so i can fit lots in as the greenhouse was getting crowded with pots. I find some seeds work and some dont I I'm not really sure either what goes wrong sometimes, we had loads of spinach last year but less luck so far this year.

I know I can't really moan....I guess last week was a low point, we are extremely fortunate to have 2 decent salaries. I have chosen to sacrifice time with our daughter so I need to come to terms with that because that time is lost now so I might as well achieve our goal. What you are doing is truly amazing, even more so for just having the one wage. I guess I don't have as much time to do surveys etc so perhaps I should not stress my self out further (I don't get in til 7:30 pm every night so our little girl gets lots of late nights!)

I agree about after school club! I think once you become in tune with your money you really need to justify spending these pennies! Our daughter is nearly 19months, our 'target' would mean I could pick her up from school etc as I won't need to work FT and I really feel thats important for me as I don't want her talking about her friends etc and to feel like an outsider, I feel like its my genetic right as a female to get pick her up from school and I don't want to be denied that either so I 100% understand!!! Saying that I am truly blessed that my parents look after our daughter 10 hours a day 5 days a week for free, tho my dad now often says 'hurry up and pay off that mortgage!'