sj`s diary

savingmummy

SAVING DIARY!!

I need to have a diary, a place where i can keep track and see what i`m doing. My written diary is full of crossings outs and i often run out of space where i vent to myself.
I`m 28, married and a sahm.
I become DF in Jan 2010 after a long struggle, my debt was not huge but big enough for me as i have no income at all (well CB each month).
The debts were all catalogues - I become addicted to these when i gave up work in 2006.
ALL accounts have been paid AND closed, and i no longer have any in the house :A
DH has 1 debt which is a fixed sum loan agreement starteded Aug 2008. This he kept from me as he knows i hate loans/cc`s.
Total £11,310.00 it is a management loan which consolidated o/d and personal loan. loan is for 120 mths.
It won`t be paid off until Aug 2018 but the repayments are low and manageable.
We are finally managing ok right now, well better then we have been.

SO now i am debtfree i am saving up as we are moving into a house hopefully this year.
We are currently living in a small 1 bed flat (LA) and so it is a matter of waiting now. We have been on the list 4 yrs, i am being patient as if it wasn`t for LA we would be homeless.
We do struggle and it is very hard living in overcrowded conditions but we manage and know it isn`t forever.
Our LA does a express an interest every fortnight and currently we are coming top 5 out of 150+.

So saving plan...

*Last week i got a letter showing that southern electric owed us money on gas, so i asked for it back and they sent me a cheque of £45.42 which bumped the savings abit
*Sent off an old mobile we found and got 37.00:beer:
*I am doing the sealed pot challenge and so far it is feeling heavy and i know we are doing well with that! Not keeping count which i regret but it will be a nice suprise when its opened - This is not for xmas but for our home!

*April we are doing a carboot sale. We have sorted out all the childrens toys, cleaned them, replaced batteries, checked them and are selling them, childrens clothing and general bits we don`t use/need are also going along with my glass wall unit.

*surveys are helping too - £20 paypal from lightspeed so far has been out into savings!

I was hoping to have 3k for our new house BUT am not sure we will reach it tbh, i will be happy if we have though 1.5k.
I want enough for flooring and decorating materials, have already bought a lot of things for the house so will not need furniture or assessories etc - kids rooms are complete right down to curtains, rugs and lights lol!.

TTFN x

sunny-2009

Hi Saving mummy,

Have followed your posts about becoming debt free and I think you did amazing! I know catalogues can be addictive, my mum has a few and is yet to have her LBM. Will be following your diary! Congrats on becoming DF, I can't wait for my day. Good luck with the savings! x

savingmummy

Thank you
It is horrible, them big paper books look at you and clap at every page you open
I hope your mum finds it soon, maybe even sticking to just one really helps.

Good luck becoming DF, if i can do it ANYONE can xxxxx

savingmummy

Last night i couldnt sleep. I didnt go to bed until 2am.
Up at 6.30am and havent stopped.
I have done the bedding, cleaned kitchen and bathroom and just got to remake beds and hoover now.
Just taken DD to nursery and spent 1/2 hr looking for roadkill her new hobby we found 0p lol!

Have just looked at my paypal account and have £44.00 to put in to my savings account - woohoo! will add to my signature in a minute.


p.s - wow £10 away from £700!!!

OK beds all remade, hoovering done, DS having a nap and i`m enjoying a coffee and a bit of MSE.
I have been thinking today about what we need and what we have already....trouble is everything that i`ve bought is boxed and packed away and i`m sure half of it i`m forgetting.
We are taking what we have as it is all new-ish and in fab condition onyl thing needs replacing is our bed!

savingmummy

DH has come home early today and has told me he may help to sort out our storage and see what we have and what we haven`t got yet.
I need to know so i can then estimate how much we need for each room etc.

I have been clearing things out and we now have a fair bit for the carboot sale in April. Trouble is we never seem to very well

I have been thinking about out future....its looking so grey right now, bit like the weather Grrr!

-We will never beable to get a deposit for a house - would take a lifetime unless we came into money!
-We can`t get a mortgage - credit rating is probably bad and we dont earn enough!

If in years to come we are offered to buy our council home we still won`t have the deposit for it (hopefully i`ll be working though).
How much deposit would we need for instance a good few £10,000`s - impossible thought


*Feeling a lot happier tonight.:j
Spoken with DH and our plan is to SAVE once we move and have settled into the house.
It may takes 10/15yrs to SAVE but we will do it!!

I`m feeling much more positive and need to keep this PMA going
:T

Off to bed for some sleep which is very much needed, i`m not sleeping well at all lately x

savingmummy

Today i have been making plans.......will update in a bit.

I have decided to continue saving so that when we move we can decorate throughout and have flooring etc.
We have appliances and furniture so no need for new!
Spending we will keep it all to a min, try and find good sales/deals on flooring/carpets.
Kitchen and bathroom plans have been stopped - these are a luxury that really don`t NEED to be done, PLUS it isn`t `our` house to do that sort of thing!!.:A

Any savings left will remain in savings and then we will continue to save HARD!!

I have had a look on our LA website and found this `When you apply for the Right to Buy, we tell you how much discount you are entitled to on the market value of your home. Usually this means a minimum of 35% discount on a house after 5 years tenancy, rising by 1% for each year to a maximum of 60%.

However, there is a maximum discount that x x x Council can give under the law. This discount is currently capped at £34k.

Looking at private renting today £1500+pcm for rent:eek: even with me working F/T we couldnt afford that!

Think i just need to focus on moving, settling in and getting things straight...........IT WILL COME TOGETHER

BEAT_THE_DEBT

Just dropped in to say hello!:beer:

savingmummy

I have just been on valued opinions and got my 1st voucher :T
I chose the £10 Argos as the other rewards i don`t think id use for anything i NEED! I will be putting it towards something for our house!!

Awaiting Toluna £10 love2shop voucher too (8 wks to come the email said) - been a few weeks so looking at a few months until i get it lol! Is it worth it?

Pigsback i have now stopped. I used my last lot of PP`s on a cd album for DH as a valentines/anniversary pressie.:A
I find it so hard to get pp`s as i dont shop online, so rely on free pp`s which take an age!

Lightspeed I`ve been doing well this year and had a few surveys cashed £20 into paypal BUT no surveys this week

That is all i do right now until i find more that are worth doing

sunny-2009

Hey SJ!

Im sure you were tired the other nite with not getting to bed til late, I need my 8 hours otherwise im very grouchy..lol I can sympathise with you about savings for a house etc Me and my fiance have been saving for 3 years now and are almost ready to buy somewhere although it hasnt been easy with most banks wanting you to put down a ten % deposit! We're getting married next year so it feels like I never have any money to myself! Also trying to clear a small amount of debt, its tough going!

When are you moving? Im sure you and DH are looking forward to getting something bigger! By the way what does LA mean? Have you plans to go back to work this year or next?

Natalie x

savingmummy

HI :beer:
Yes lack of sleep is horrid too many thought run through my head as soon as i settle for the night, my 2 little ones are up at 6am most mornings and my eldest don`t sleep too well through the night. :rotfl:
LA is local authority/council unfortunately!
We can`t wait to move out it is so hard and very overcrowded.

Plan is if we move i will return to work as i will be nearer to my parents so they can do childcare.
We live away from everyone here, no close public transport, i don`t drive, family don`t drive and childcare is very expensive - more then my dh`s/my monthly income.

Well done for saving hard :j You must be so pleased and excited! x

Pinky15

Just wanted to pop by and say hi!
It sounds like you have a good plan with the savings!! I have 3 little ones too and hoping to become a sahm mum later in the year. So am desperately trying to save and do house up a bit before our income is reduced. I find though as you do one room the rest start looking shabby:D. Poor DH is sick of paintbrushes lol. Have you tried freecycle for some of the bits you need for the bedrooms?