positive mental attitude!

saxysarah

ok i have a main thread on the DFW board with my SOA etc and its not looking as bad as i thought - however i still need to cut back and get in some extra cash to get those debts paid off so I figured here is a better place to kinda blog (maybe to myself) about how i'm doing:p

plan to switch to rollies at least during the week to cover my monthly overspend:D

doing a £5 a day for March challenge and hope to chuck that at my CCs

Gonna use some of my student money to clear some CCs and reduce my monthly outgoings

Gonna keep dreaming of that elusive disney holiday to keep me going- me and 5 kids (aged 3/3/8/12/15 anyone got a figure for that?)

Hoping that organising myself financially will spill over into keeping my house tidier - not sure how tho

Happy De-debting everyone:rotfl:

beanielou

Happy debt busting to you too.

Moneytroubles_2

Welcome to diary land - Keep posting :-)

saxysarah

back from my 5.5 hours overtime ;-) 2 hours to cover me finishing early this week and 3 and half hours to go towards my march challenge - Happy days

saxysarah

well today i'm actually going to do something small about my lovely debt - i'm going to register 2 of my cards for online management etc and a) pay off the smallest one and make a decent payment off the 2nd one - I always feel that CC companies actually make it quite awkward to pay - although I have rung them a few times no one ever wants to take a payment over the phone!
I also am going to find something to list on ebay even if its only 1 item and check out my freezer and cupboards and do a meal plan and shop for this week so I dont go over budget on my food. As a trial i've taken the food budget out of the bank and am going to aviod using my debit card to pay at the till so i have to think about what i'm buying - may even take a calculator round the store with me ;-)

I have a £10 tesco coucher and farm food vouchers so i'm wondering if when i use these it will count towards my March challenge and i should count them as cash in my shopping budget then using them to pay off CCs or whether they are a bonus and would be in addition to my shopping budget for the week...............any suggestions?

saxysarah

oh and as an afterthought after that i'm going to clean my house / get sunday dinner on/walk the hounds/do some GCSE maths revision with DS1/ make some headway with my own 3000 word advocacy essay/advise on DS2's art homework/practice reading with DS3 and bake some cakes with Troublesome Twosome DD1and2 not forgeting putting away the ironing and getting ready for monday morning mayhem.......................best i get off here and get on then!!

saxysarah

WOO WOO Finally!! have registered my cards online and cleared CC1 (£33.40) and knocked a chunk off CC2 (£500) hooray!

now onto the housework ;-(

saxysarah

omg well the money saving is going ok today....ish but i cant say the same for the housework! plus puppy has chewed up my cool and funky headphones and big dog has only gone and got me some brand new air conditioning for free (plus one less window!!!!) took hours to clear up and replace with plastic bags for now! but no harm done and no glass in any furry paws either thank goodness!
think i've sorted my shopping budget for this week - its looking not to bad! meal plan is as follows:

breakfast/snacks have plenty of cereal/toast etc couldnt list very piece of fruit/yoghurt/ sarnie/junk that the kids eat would be impossible!
monday - pork chops/jacket and salad (jacket cheese/beans for the 2 youngest)
have pork chops in the freezer/salad in fridge
tuesday - meatballs n spag (ham and tinned spagetti for DS3)
meatballs/dried spg and tinned spag already have just need some pasta sauce

wednesday - sausage/ mash/peas n gravy
have sausages and peas
thurday - pizza/wedges nd a choc gateaux for a treat as thurs is when they have to cook for themselves
friday - homemade battered fish n chips
fish fillets in freezer
saturday - h/m lasagne (macaroni cheese for little ones)

sunday - who knows will entirely depend on who is around!

so I only actually need to shop for the following:
baking pots 8 for £1.40
pasta sauce 2 for £2.00
pizza's 2 for £4.00 (bit pricey but the value versions get wasted and no time for homemade on a wednesday)
minced beef 2 for £6.00 one to freeze for next week
lasange sheets 30p
italian herbs £1.36
mushrooms £1.39
garlic bread £1.00
large value chedder £5.63
'square ham' x2 £3.28
tesco value biscuit barrels £2.18
tesco value crisps £1.69
chocolate biscuit bars (32) £3.03
milk 4pts x4 £6:00! blimey is it really that much 2 for £3 in tesco?
bread x6 £4.50
toilet rolls/kitchen roll £5.20
washing up liquid x2 £1.50
eggs x15 £1.46
apples £2.48
white cabbage £0.95
bananas £1.12
onions 47p
spread x2 £1.29
passata .64p

all comes to about £54:j was going to do it online but then i remembered i have a store only £10 off voucher for a £50+ spend i also have a £5 farm foods voucher for a £50+ spend so if i picked up a minimum of extras to make it to £60.01 technically i could use both so my shopping would be £45 and i've forgotten cat food and yoghurts already so.......................

I do have £20 of clubcard vouchers as well but i may hang on to them for now.......
i'm lucky this week in that i have a lot of stuff in the freezer will not be the same next week so won't blow any savings from the food budget as next week it might not be so easy!
:j
Have i missed something glaringly obvious? or have i just halved my food budget?

saxysarah

hmmmm forgotten squash as well ;-( theres always something! must remember to take the chops out the freezer later! actually managed to get all the ironing away and hoovered and fed the tribe! so the house only looks usually messy rather than a war zone gonna head in the shower next and refill with coffee and maybe i'll have just enough energy to post something on ebay/amazon and look at this daily clicks stuff AND a bit of coursework! MAYBE!.....................yawn

saxysarah

wel i'm tired! trawled around the cashback sites etc and registered for one and got a £10 bonus although it'll take months to track probably! too tired to concentrate further on clicking and 2 tired to post anything on e bay either tonight but I am feeling quite positive I have finally made a start instead of just thinking about it so i'm not going to be negative and remind myself of all the things I didn't manage to get round to! tomorrow is another manic day so maybe i'll attempt to 'chill' for half hour and get an early night ;-)

saxysarah

Oh i'm not feeling so clever today! glands feel all swollen ;-( think a duvet day is called for to catch up a bit! well not so much a duvet day as quiet day to catch up with all those phone calls etc I need to make and do some fiddley stuff i never seem to get round to! Hopefully will fit in some coursework to tho to make up for not being in college today and get the shopping done too- but for now i think another cup of tea is in order ;-)