Stop the ride, i wanna get off!

Pips_Mum

Using the saving account to save to pay off bigger amounts but leaves you some incase of Emergencys is solid gold genius!

As for being 30 now and needing to be responsible errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr no!

x x x

ragstoricheswannabe

Happy new year everyone!!!!!!

Well they say you should start as you mean to go on, so heres to a really tight year!:rotfl:

Found ourselves with just £30 for our weekly shopping:eek: so, after months of talking about it i have finally sorted out my cupboards and freezers!

Found loads of stuff i didnt know i had (naughty rags) so we actually managed to do a food shop for 5 people with £30 and i think we came home with a bit of change. We laughed all round the shop as i was adding up what was going into the trolley and the OH was working out what option was cheaper etc! Talk about baptism of fire. Have to say though we quite enjoyed the challenge, and this week it will be easy to use the stuff in the cupboard for meals as i am working every other day so can do 2 days meals in one day. Will be more challenging when i am working 3 days in a row.

so meals so far this week:

Sunday: Sausage Casserole and mash. (sausages 15p whoopsies, casserole mix from cupboard, onions and carrots in casserole from freezer)

Monday: Tuna and sweetcorn fishcakes and chips. (left over mash from sun, tuna from cupboard and sweetcorn from freezer)

tonight: thinking scampi from freezer, chips and beans.

Not sure about the rest of the week, but still have a pack of 15p sausages so thinking toad in the hole one day and found some fish fillets and garlic rice so maybe another meal. Gonna search for cheap meal ideas later i think.

Well, my wedding day is fast approaching and im starting to panic alittle now. not about stuff i need to do as done most, but about my skin. Its not in good shape at the mo and dreading having a spotty face etc on the day!!!! Think i might have to change the products i use as clearly not working. What do you all use???

ragstoricheswannabe

Didnt do too badly with the shopping again this week, £49. Think the mil either wasnt impressed with our frugal shopping or felt sorry for us so has almost filled the cupboards. shame she didnt check what we had before she went so i now have loads of tins of beans, cereal and salad! Just found a pack of diced beef she bought and shoved to the back of the fridge so a nice beef stew is in the slow cooker (had to wash the dust of its been that long ) and have bulked it out with potato, carrots, swede, lentils, beans. Proper hearty stew. Added flour when i cooked the meat as seen others do it on the tv so will see if it helps thicken it.

Me and the OH are doing pretty well on the spending front too! Might get a decent nights sleep soon as all i have had is budgets and ideas to save money whizzing around my head!

The money for the loan went out today, but when i have checked i owe more than i did before the payment went out. :mad: Really dont know how they work out the interest.

Not much else going on here, life is quite boring with no money. Weather is pants here too so cant take advantage of the free outdoors. Oh well, they say no pain no gain! lol.

natsplatnat

Hi Rags!

YAY to the MIL buying your cupboards - I know you have duplicates, but they will get eaten at some point!

Browning the beef with flour will thicken the stew - sounds yummy BTW!

Lack of money combined with pants weather is not fun... but on the upside.... every nook and cranny of the house is steadily being de-cluttered! (a bonus as it needs doing and I begrudge doing it when the sun is shining!)

Well done on the shopping costs and you and OH keeping an eye on the extra spends!

Keep smiling!!

Nats x

ragstoricheswannabe

*hangs head in shame* I'm back!!!!!

Most things for the wedding have to be paid for next month so will hopefully be able to get back into debt slaying once more so wont feel like such a fraud being on here. At the moment the wedding is coming in under the £10k budget i had in my head so all good. The honeymoon has been put on a credit card (really tried to avoid it ) but its at 0% for 15 months, we get points back on what we spend and also get the protection that the cc gives on big purchases. Plus we have asked for contributions towards it rather than presents so fingers crossed people are generous.

Have been busy this week trying to sort out our money. Finally have the second account in both names (what a palava that was) so can use it as a spends only account as planned, have had my gas dd reduced as paying too much each month, got someone coming to survey for FREE insulation as my house has none when we have checked so that should hopefully reduce the gas bill aswell and been looking on the voucher and freebie boards.
Have got loads of clutter we are gonna sell cheap to make some extra pennies and declutter the house.

The plan: to pay off as much as possible this year so we can take the kids to disneyworld next year, think they deserve it with having no extra pennies to do anything for the past how many years.

Then i want to pay off the rest then save up to do the house up with an extension, new windows that we need, decorate and sort the floor out in the living room so it doesnt bang when the kids are playing/ save for a deposit to move.

so heres to getting back on the wagon, watching the pennies and working towards a better life for the rags household!!

natsplatnat

Hi Rags!

Good to know you are still doing well and plans for the wedding are virtually sorted!!! Not long now until the BIG DAY!!

Well done on reducing your gas DD and looking into insulation!

Your money plans over the rest of this year and into the next few look good.... and most importantly, doable! Good to have a lovely target like Disney at the end, nothing like motivation!!!

Don't be a stranger, Nats x

Pips_Mum

Welcome back Rags!

I have to know if MIL is still with you or if she is under the patio!!!

ragstoricheswannabe

Ha ha ha! she has been very close, but no still with us with no signs of movement:mad:

Well, i have just made some soft baps from a massive bag of mixture i got from approved foods and have to say i am mighty impressed!!!! They are actually soft and very yummy! Also got a massive bag of pizza base mix as my kids could live off garlic bread so thought i could do my own and also got a huge bag of jelly crystals that i am gonna try tomorrow as a pudding for the boys.
Wasnt impressed with the chocolate moussy pudding mix as tasted a bit stale when i made it, but kids werent bothered which is a good job really as was another big bag!

Slowly getting back in the habit, have spent most of today having a good read for motivation.

My card for the second account came today, but no pin number which is very helpful, not! will give it till next week then they will be telling me it over the phone so i can start to put my plan into action.

chevalier

Hi Rags
Sorry that your debt busting hasn't been more smooth. The thing with the having to feed 5 and there only being 4 in a packet must be a pain. On the other hand eventually you will only need to buy one packet over the months.

Well done on wedding. Not long now. Glad that you have been able to do it fairly frugally.

ref OH what about loading up a prepay card for him. that way when it is gone it is gone and no overdraft to dip into. Might re open his eyes to what he is spending?

Did you ever get his overtime money through? If his boss is not financially savvy then maybe it is time for your OH to jump when he has the choice rather than having to take any old thing if the firm goes belly up?

And just another little nudge to think about registering as self employed ref the tax man. The last thing you want is for some nasty person to dob you into them, and you have a large tax bill and fines:eek:

Sorry also to hear about the MIL situation. There is no good way to resolve this situation. But I would be pretty hacked off if my MIL came to live with me because she couldn't afford somewhere to live, but then was going off on foreign holidays alot.

By the way you HAVE increased her rent haven't you? I mean just the energy hikes alone would have to be accounted for, as well as council tax rises and the like....:D. So there would be an increase anyway.........You can't sub her you have your own problems..

good luck with that one. Perhaps next time she goes on holiday you could congratulate her on having saved her deposit for her next place. I mean she wouldn't be going on holiday without having saved that up first would she....
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ragstoricheswannabe

Hey chevalier, thanks for stopping by!

We have now come to an arrangement with regards to his overtime and night out money as we were sick of waiting 6 months+ for it.........we now fill the car up on the company diseal card! His boss doesnt have to pay him and we get more fuel for our money, its a win win situation. As regards to jumping, its something he has looked at, but for the money he gets now he would have to have 5 nights out which we dont want, or take another day job which would be a £400 a month wage decrease which we cant afford.:(

Me and the OH had a big heart to heart the other week bout MIL still being here, i had just had enough and told him so. Brought up the fact the money she gives us covers not a lot, but he feels he cant ask her for more as she looks after the kids alot for us when he has a late finish on teh days i work. I still want to put it up by a tenner a week at least, we shall see. I cant see there being any end to her being here to be honest, you think she would have the decency to try and find anything (another room in a house share thing etc) to allow her son to start married life with some privacy. maybe not?! *hopping off my soap box now

Well my soft baps are a hit with the kids! They are quite small so they both asked for 2. Should save me some money on bread this week as im sure teh big bag i got makes a huge amount. Might try and shape them into finger buns next time so can do some iced buns for a treat.

Right, confessions time. My debt totals. Am really disappointed as been on here now for 4 years and got no where! :mad: But i will change that with my renewed approach and determination to give my boys a better life, and for me and the OH to be able to relax and no we dont have to worry about where our wages have gone the day after pay day. (and hopefully move away from our very grumpy neighbours so my kids can act like a child does, run, bang and make some noise)

so here it is:

• sofa: £516.48 0% and ends in october
• cc: £3,076.03 5.6% life of balance
• honeymoon cc: £3099 0% but have asked for contributions as wedding gift
• loan: £21,299.01 10% term ends 2016.

Total £27,990.52. :eek::mad::eek::(

More than when i started.:mad: But hopefully wedding guest will be generous and when that amount reduces right down i can transfer the other cc to it.

Lots of hard work ahead me thinks.