DFSD's five year plan... and all it brings along the way

debtfreesomeday

Yes, not a bad buy - just waiting for them to be delivered to work today via the dreaded Home delivery network - I hate it when things are delivered via them, it's never simple! I'm leaving work by 4.30pm at the latest today so I hope it's here by then. :mad:

Feeling better today thanks, but last night I was absolutely exhausted. I didn't stop from getting in after work until abut 10pm - floors were cleaned, the house was hoovered through, I made sure the spare beds were ready for the weekend's guests, made a lasagne, moved some furniture round in the dining room, with a little bit of gardening and two loads of washing to boot! Hubby cleaned the bathrooms before he had to go out and helped me once he got back, but I did overdo it last night and was so tired with backache when I got to bed. My own fault.

I've transferred the odd amount over from the bank account into the maternity leave account this morning as I'm trying to do daily. It soon mounts up.

I also broke my phone yesterday. :mad: It was on its way out anyway, but I dropped it again last night and the screen is kaput. I found a cheap one on line this morning for £29.99 with £10 free PAYG credit. I actually have a contract but will use the free credit and then swap the sim over.

Have a good weekend all

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

Phew, parcel arrived - I was starting to lose hope! Means I can now leave work early! :j

Chocforever

Hurray! Have a lovely weekend.

And nice to see the savings in your signature

Best wishes x

debtfreesomeday

Not a good start to the week - my Mum has been rushed to hospital again this morning with a bowel blockage. I'm waiting on news and praying she'll be ok.

Chocforever

Oh no . I hope you get some good news on your Mum's health. And I hope you are feeling a little better too this week even if this additional stress can't be helping.

Best wishes to you and your Mum.

debtfreesomeday

Thanks Chocs. I'm sat here waiting for some more news from the hospital again tonight, trying not to stress but inwardly going out of my mind with worry. I'm just so sad and angry that we / Mum now has another hurdle to face. Life is just not fair.

debtfreesomeday

After another tough time, my darling Mum is out of hospital now and recovering but we're all hoping and praying that it's not the start of more problems to come.

With regards to moneysaving, it's not great but it's been worse.

We have had to buy new house phones this week as ours broke (£29.99), and I also had to by a new mobi as previously mentioned - I'm still waiting for that to turn up though, I hope it hasn't been half-inched by unscrupulous delivery people. :mad:

We have spent a little more on groceries, but not a lot (about £10 - £15). I haven't been great on taking lunches this week and have had to buy something once or twice, so that has got to stop. I'm going to take some bread out of the freezer tonight so I can make a sandwich for tomorrow.

We need to fill the car with petrol tomorrow which will cost the best part of £50. It should do us for another 10 days or two weeks though.

I have bought a couple more Christmas presents very cheaply in the Debenhams sale (with free delivery & 10% off code of course! ). Two were under £3 each and one, for hubby, was £9, but that looks a bit dubious as to whether it's actually going to be dispatched. :mad:

I also managed to find a lovely tunic top in their sale for £15 (half price ) which I have bought for the next 2/3 weddings we are attending, plus a function in October - there should be room for a growing bump in it.
On Saturday I need to find a pair of trousers & cardi to go with it, I think I have some suitable shoes already and maybe a necklace. I usually go for dresses when attending weddings so I hope it's not seen as to casual. Will be the first 'trouser outfit' I've worn to a wedding. I also bought a maternity bra for £7 in their sale too as I was in desperate need of one. :o:o

I forgot all about the music magpie stash we sent off ages ago, until I received an email from then yesterday saying the discs had been received. I should think so - it must be at least two weeks ago they were sent. :mad::mad::mad: My cheque for around £12 should be sent off within the week - apparently.

I also need return some items for a refund on Saturday. All of the clothes I ordered from Dorothy Perkins were like tents, and were awful, so that's £40 going back into the bank account which will hopefully cover the trousers and cardi for the wedding.

I also ordered two sizes of tunics from Debenhams for sizing and the larger needs to be returned which is another £15 back.

Today we received a letter from Lloyds, telling us that from later this year, they intend to charge £5 for every month we use our agreed, authorised overdraft, plus extra interest charges. I'm pretty fuming about this, so much so that I will consider changing banks. One thing's for sure though, we shall NOT be using the overdraft when this starts if we have to eat bread and water for a month! Time I start getting right on top of the ball and budgeting like I've never budgeted before. I'm not happy to pay this. I think we may be overdrawn this month, but shall do our utmost not to be next month.

Time to stop being slack and controlling the budget for the whole month, not just the first half!

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

Just been doing some maths and, after spending approximately £45 on petrol tomorrow, we should have £138 left after bils etc. This will need to cover petrol for the rest of the month - which includes one 400mile round trip - as well as groceries and the clothes bits I need to get for the weddings. Eeek. MIGHT be do-able. Will have to be do-able!

Also, we received £20 in clubcard vouchers today - I'm amazed it's this much as we hardly ever shop in Tesco. But, I remembered there was a clothing promotion on for 1000 points when spending X amount which I took advantage of months ago - if I remember rightly, I think I returned the clothes anyway due to poor fit!
BUT - with the 'voucher exchange' promotion they have on at the moment, we can double them up for £40 worth of vouchers. They currently have a baby monitor we were hoping to buy later on reduced by £10 for £39.99, so I'm planning on getting that 'for free' if it's still in stock once we get the vouchers changed over. We could get £80 in restaurant vouchers but we really don't need them, and this is far more important and something we would have to buy anyway!

Bargain!

Chocforever

I am delighted to read your Mum's health has improved and hope she remains well (or at least better).

Gosh, you have been busy. The top sounds nice and using the T vouchers for the baby monitor is great. I was just wondering what to do with my vouchers the other day. I don't have that many, but probably enough to get some restaurant vouchers or use on the current promotion.

I managed to sell a couple of my items on Ebay and just waiting for people to post feedback that they received the stuff OK. I never draw the money out of Paypal until I know they are happy or I feel I'll jinx it! Of course, spending time on Ebay inevitably means I have bid on a few things too, but just small stuff and things I need. Hopefully I will still have £30 or so left in Paypal.

I have finally booked a holiday. I am going to a spa for a week with a very good friend, so it should be fun and relaxing. Just what I need; can't wait.

Have a good weekend. Have you got anything planned?

debtfreesomeday

Thanks Chocs - it always seems to be one step forward, two back with regards to Mum's health. She keeps fighting though, so we have to be positive, or try our best to be.

Glad the ebay sales went well, £30 is not to be sneezed at. I never did get round to listing the second wave of items I had but it's still my intent to do so at some time. I only have a couple of things to list anyway so it's not big money.

A spa break - how exciting! You more than deserve it Chocs, so have a wonderful time and relax.

Not much planned for the weekend really - a bit of shopping and a few jobs around the house that need doing, but I'm most excited about a potential blackberry picking outing! (even though it is a bit early still).

Petrol came in at £45.09 this morning and I've transferred the odd pennies in the bill account over to the maternity leave stash.

I've completed one more survey - now 80 points away from payout - and I think hubby will be receiving a 'man facial wash' to try out soon!

DFSD