sj`s diary

savingmummy

Yes it sure is! People were spending so much there and it really isn't that necessary. We were self catering anyway so we just took a box and filled it with what we had in the fridge and cupboards
We made up a packed lunch in the mornings and took it with us or DH would pop back to get it.
We even took our own 500ml bottles and filled them up with drinks back at the apartment.
In the evenings we just cooked what we had with us.
Everything in the resort for the kids is free including swimming some people in the reviews stated you would need £50 a day pp!!! We spent £0
We left the resort some days but walked so didnt use any petrol at all.
Certainly can be done. Both DS and DD had a bit of spending money given to them by my parents so that helped out when they wanted sopmething or wanted to go on a ride that wasnt free!
We are lucky really that our two are not wanters, if we say no then they just accept and forget about it. Some kids there were HUGE wanters and got what they begged for!!

savingmummy

My dining tables and chairs look really nice and are perfect for us 4.
They were easy to assemble too which always helps lol!

This morning the man came to re measure the bedrooms (they lost the paperwork from before). Previously we were quoted £625 for the 3 bedrooms, He quoted today £450!!! Apology was given as quite obviously we were misquoted by the other chap.
SO next weds the bedrooms will be done:j
We paid a £130 deposit today and the rest is paid on the day. Also means i will only owe my dad £300.

We will now beable to complete DD`s room, at the moment her wardrobe etc is still in boxes.
We need a wardrobe for DS`s and then the kids rooms are done.

A bit of bad news for our room though.....we bought bedsides from a seller on ebay and were going to buy a wardrobe to match.
We put off buying it as we didnt want to spend all our savings as we knew we would need flooring. NOW the seller has gone from ebay
I cant find anything remotely the same on ebay and quotes offline for similar ones have been 1k+ :eek:
SO now saving really hard for our room as at the moment our clothes are in suitcases - looks so tatty

savingmummy

What a lovely weekend
Kids enjoyed the garden and spent yesterday afternoon in a paddling pool! It really is great having a garden.

My mum bought me 2 standard patio roses and i potted them last night, our first lot of plants!
We are going to make a flower bed and get some plants for one side of the garden by the fence and i cant wait to do that!

Tomorrow we are getting our home phone set up - taken so long!!
Weds bedroom flooring is being done in the morning and then in the afternoon we will make up DD`s bedroom furniture and get her room complete.

We have found another seller who sells similar furniture for our room so we are going to go and see his showroom and see what they are like in the flesh, much cheaper then the 1k`s online x

Pinky15

Yep think it's def better to shop around than go with the 1k furniture - ouch:D
My lot all had a lovely weekend in their paddling pool too. Its amazing what the pool a few ice lollies and some sunshine can save on the weekend budget!
I was really pleased as I found the paddling pool boxed up in the back of the cupboard - I had forgotten i bought it till I started rummaging - it was very Msaver!:)

savingmummy

Aw yes kids love paddling pools Ours was free my husband found it all sealed in plastic and in the original box unopened/unused!!!
We have been so busy doing things and getting things straight, housework takes me ages

Our new flooring is all done now, all the rooms look much better. DD`s room is complete now and DS`s is also complete (wardrobe going up in the morning) We bought the wardrobe from Argos and got £20 off! Dont know why and didnt ask LOL!

We are starting to save next month, this month has been a huge expense and our savings are on 0!! MOT next Thursday Fingers crossed it is OK.

We need 1k for bedroom furniture and bed for our room then we are done. The house will be finished completely
THEN we will be saving for a house to call our own one day, I am happy here and love the house and area but still see us in the future buying and moving into a private house. Alot of hard work and a lot of being very careful over the next few yrs but it will be worth it.

DD starts school next Jan, we were told Sept but DH went down to the school as we hadnt heard anything and they looked in the files and it is January so i have a while yet til i lose one during the day. I`m dreading them starting school BUT it will mean i can get a job hopefully fulltime and hopefully a good salary.

savingmummy

Well the car passed the MOT but the two front tyres will need replacing very soon as they are almost on the borderline of being illegal :eek:

I got a message from our housing to say we were in rent arrears :eek: 1st time ever!! We appeared to have missed a weeks rent.
Originally we were paying by DD but DH rang the housing and said he wanted to change the payment type and chose to pay by payment card and by doing so missed a week
So he has had to pay 2 weeks which is his whole weeks wage :mad:
We now have no money until next Thursday when he gets paid

We then got a letter from the bank saying he was overdrawn!!!!! DH rushed to the bank but was told the rent came out but was then recalled which caused it to go overdrawn. As it was already processed he is now being charged for being overdrawn even though he isnt! He forgot to cancel DD with the bank which was his own fault

We are still awaiting our council tax, it is yet top be valuated, all we know is we are band D. We call each week and they say you will hear soon....how much is it going to be, by the time we get it we will owe months!!!:mad:

Everything is money I thought things were on the up for us!

SO a pretty bad and stressful week.
We started a little job today Betterware, not a great earner but it is something i suppose. We get just 20% of what ever we manage to get in orders which isnt very good at all.
We done this before 4 yrs ago and gave up after 5 months but it is better then nothing for now.

At the moment we are pretty much back to how we were STRUGGLING BUT no debts which helps i suppose.
I even opened my sealed pot and so am out of that now, was £64 and we bought food for this next couple of weeks otherwise we would have nothing.

At the moment i just can`t see us saving, we are sleeping on the floor and it will be ages before we get a bed.
Our clothes are in suitcases and i can`t ever see us getting furniture.
And i`m not even positive about a major savings account being set up for a deposit to buy the house - it is all really tough at the moment.

We were going to be having a few days out next month but now they are cancelled, thank god for free parks, forests and beaches x

Pinky15

Ah bless - we all have days when we feel really down by it all. You are doing really well though - keep going. parks and woods are fab anyway - just what the kids want!
Hope the betterware goes well - how about avon? x

savingmummy

Thanks pinky
It all seems to happen all at once Makes things so hard!
We applied for Avon and kleeneze and they came round for a home visit but there is an outlay with both, embarrassing thing was we didnt have the money for the starter packs to even attempt a start at either!
Yesterday DH came home with a letter saying from August his wages will be being paid monthly not weekly, so i`m now trying to work things out to reschedule the change his always been paid weekly so the change is going to be hard to start with BUT one good thing is direct debits will be now set up - i prefer that anyway so thats one good thing!

Pinky15

Didnt realise you needed an outlay for Avon - out of the 2 I would def go for them - I never look at the betterware/kleeneze books but sometimes get something from Avon. I think they have quite good incentives too.
Dont be embarrassed about the money - in the past there has been days where I hid from the window cleaner - wouldnt mind but had fairly good wages - just a case of frittering I suppose before my money saver days lol:D I now have a £10 note sat in the cuboard for next time he comes - how times have changed!
We also get paid monthly I just divide it between the weeks in the month and pay all the bills by the 15th so I know what is left to spend - I mean pay off bills:D
Have a good day x

savingmummy

I know what you mean not many people want betterware or kleeneze, kleeneze is very expensive and the outlay for a starter pack was £150.
Avon would be much better but you have to pay for all stationary and also pay for a starter pack which included books and order forms etc.
Betterware gives you everything for free but is much poorer in pay, we put out 160 books yesterday.
My parents done it for 7 yrs and the most they got was 40 a week Better then nothing though i suppose.
Thats a good idea about dividing wages between the weeks, I`m think of getting him to do this before the monthly wages start sop he gets a head start on how to manage it. It`s going to take DH a lot of getting used too but i`m sure it will soon become the norm.

Done some ironing yesterday and got £20 - went towards the rent we owe.

Our fridge is empty and so are our cupboards ( Hope DH manages to get some tips today to help out otherwise i`m unsure what we will do!