Walking the walk...

E2006

Shopping done. £23 in Al** but I needed chicken and they didnt have much left other than big packs that were £6.99. It worked out cheaper to go to Mr A and get three lots of meat for £10 which included 2 packs of chicken, and one pack of pork loin steaks which had 6 steaks in. Added to that were the extra bits I couldnt get in Al** so I spent another £28 in there. More than I had hoped, but there will be some crossover into next week, and I really couldnt be bothered to do too much shopping around being poorly and all.

Anyway, meal plan for this week is as follows:-
M - Tuna pasta bake
T - Chicken, salad and potatoes
W -Jacket, tuna and salad
T - bacon and mushroom pasta
F - Chicken curry, rice and naan breads
S - Fajitas - maybe!

Breakfasts are cereal, fruit and yogurt. Snacks are fruit and a cereal bar, lunches are salad for me, sandwhiches for DH and DS along with jam tarts and fruit.

DH brought me some lunch back from his mums today so that was a free meal. Tonight im having some cheese on toast.

Other than a milk top up (and possibly banannas) I shouldnt need any more shopping this week

Em

E2006

Off work today. Still feeling rotten! I took DS to school this morning then stuck my pj's back on as soon as I got back in the house and thats how ive remained . Ive pottered about - hung 2 loads of washing out as its nice and windy, and washed the mountain of dishes, but other than that have spent the remainder of the day on the settee (eating :EasterBun). Why is it that its so much harder to be good when you're off work??!

Ive spent most of the day on here (of course) getting more inspiration in all areas - saving, debt busting, cleaning and meal ideas. My head is fit to bursting now with so many good ideas.

Ah well, off for a last quiet cuppa before picking the monster up from school.

Em

E2006

Another post - can you tell Im off work on my own with just my diary to talk to...? hehe

...anyhoo,.. after reading a post on the oldstyle bords re cleaning/decluttering etc, im going to do a 15-20 minute blitz on the spare room (AKA the tip), which is where my everest of an ironing pile is stored, along with endless other bits of junk. Will report back asap...

E x

E2006

..managed 15 mins, but I tidied away loads out of the ironing basket (towels and teatowels, underwear and DH's stuff that he irons before he wears) so that looks a lot better. I also put away the case from London, and the bits and bobs left over in the case (after the washing had gone in the laundry basket).

Im going to do something productive, even 2 mins worth, every time I get off the sofa/go into another room for something, even if that only means taking something upstairs every time I go uo or clearing something away whilst waiting for the kettle to boil etc. Im also going to put the washing away as soon as its washed rather than shoving it into the ironing basket, which inevitably I have to clear out at some point anyway...

E2006

Im so :mad::mad::mad::mad: DH just doesnt 'get' this! He keeps wasting money on stupid little things. Its small amounts, but they all add up, and make a big dent in a budget that is already tighter than it should be. This morning he took £2.50 out of the food purse to buy himself a drink from the shop. Now, I know this isnt much, but whats wrong with having a drink in the house? The other day he came home with a £2.50 football magazine for DS (who is only 4 and not into footie at all) to 'get him into it' more! I would guess he wastes at least £10 per week this way.

He also has little extras, he goes off to work every day with a few pound to buy drinks etc. He was at the match yesterday and spent £25, and he does this every other weekend. He buys sandwhich's etc on a weekend, when theres stuff in the house. I never buy drinks/treats etc, and whilst the majority iof my days are NSD's, he spends everyday.

Ive tried talking to him, but he thinks im being mean when I stop him spending or pull him up about stuff. Even if i relaxed the repayments to allow a little extra spending money, we would still find ourselves in this position, because basically, if the moneys there its spent!

Ive been thinking about introducing pocket money for each of us, but I just cant do that yet. There's only three more paydays between now and the end of the year, and we're on track to pay off the virgin card and argos, as well as a chunk off barclaycard, but it is very tightly budgetted for to allow us to do this, and I dont want to loose sight of that plan, just to spend money willy nilly, and have those 2 debts pushing the debt free date back by at least a month, but realistically more than that.

{{sigh}} I will have to sit down and talk to him tonight, but its hard. He doesnt listen, and will get cross. I know its hard, but its hard for me too. He also needs to remember that we went to London this month and spent £350 in 2 days :eek::eek:

This month things are really tight. The food budget of £200 was reduced by £35 as I had a payment coming out that I hadnt accounted for :mad:, so £165 for a month, and out of that comes £14 for DS's breakfast club and snack money. I had also cut the petrol budget from £220 to £200, so its really close to the knuckle. I have food for this week, and petrol for this week for both of us, but after that theres not much left at all. I will have to get creative.

On a plus, I did my cheapest weekly shop this week - £11 in Mr A and £19 in Al**, so £30 for a weeks shopping :T. Ive also learned how to make cheese scones, and made a batch last week which the boys took for lunches on Thurs and Friday, so I could do that again this week as I have all the ingredients in already.

Even though I have no money, I feel more in control (although a little scared), because I know that we are not adding to the debt. It will get better...

E2006

Talk with DH went fine . I told him how he makes me feel like Im being mean, how we need to keep control of our spends, how we need to learn new habits as otherwise we will never have any money as once the debts are gone we still wont be able to save. He agreed with everything, and told me that it is frustration with the situation that makes him grumpy about me pulling him about spending money. He knows why I do it, and doesnt think im mean at all. We talked about the plan to be debt free, and by April will be in such a better position - so its only 7 months of things being this tight. After April we will effectively get a £500 per month 'payrise' after payment of another chunk of the debt.

So its all good. X factor tonight, and Im sat with a glass of wine in hand, and DH is in the kitchen cooking dinner. He's a good one really :happyhear

LivvyLoo_2

Hi Emma,
You know I had the same problem with OH spending the money, he wanted to buy the best of everything and complained we never went on holiday and complained we couldn't afford nice things etc etc...he would never do cheap and cheerful as he says you get what you pay for so we used to pay over the odds for everything (until we reached breaking point). I think it just gets them down and they bury their head in the sand like it will go away one day.

Well done for explaining to him and I am glad you are back on track.

x

E2006

Thanks LivvyLou,

He is not too bad in terms of material things, he rarely buys clothes, gadgets etc (although always complains he has nothing to wear) but fails to see that he spends in other areas, season ticket for the football, minimum of £25 every other week to go to the match, £5-10 most Wed nights to play footie, money for the driving range etc. I know its carp skrimping and scraping, but it has to be done.

I literally have no money left, but its quite liberating (or maybe its hysteria ). I have food in the freezer, enough petrol to get me to the end of next week. DH has enough to do him this week, but then thats it. I can pretty much cobble together food for us for very little spends I reckon, but DH uses £35 minimum per week petrol, so thats at least £70 I have to find before payday. I will need one weeks worth so £15-20. If I get by on £20 food spends for the next 2 weeks, that means I need to find around £125 to get us through to pay day. I have £90 in the bank but thats for direct debits. eeek. Im not scared (strangely), it feels like a challenge, and If there's one thing I like its a challenge :rotfl:

I have a £5 adsa giftcard and around £3 in cash. I need milk, loo rolls and pasatta, so will get the milk and loo roll from F***f**ds where its 2 milks for £1.50 and loo roll for £1.25. I will get the pasatta from Al** for 29p and then shouldnt need any more top ups this week. The £5 gift card can go towards essentials next week.

We have £100 in the cupboard to pay for some work we have had done to the house, but the thing is they havent quite finished the job, and havent came back to do so, nor have they chased for the money. No doubt they will at some point, but If we get desperate the week before my payday we may be able to fall back on that. Hopefully wont have to, but its there, and its better than using a cc.

x

E2006

Not a NSD yesterday and wont be today. I had a 2 day meeting put in unexpectedly on Monday pm. It costs to park there too, and yesterday cost £4.20 for the day :mad:. I will get it back on my wages (but not until November), but it means finding the money too. Yesterday I took my lunch and as there are no eating facilities in the building I ate in the car. I cant do that today as the girl that I went with went off for her lunch by herself yesterday. I made excuses yesterday that I needed to make a phone call etc, but promised I would go with her today. I know the local pub do salads for a few pound so will just go for that. Again, I get a lunch allowance but it goes on my wages and wont hit them until November. No good when I need the money now :mad:. Anyway, Im going to get there earlier today and see if I can find somewhere free/cheaper to park. Im sure there are some houses somewhere around the meeting venue, although as its in a city centre there may be some parking restrictions (permits etc).

On the plus side, child benefit went into the bank yesterday. It means I now have £80 to get us closer to the end of the month. My petrol took a hit yesterday though as I went from work over to the meeting venue which is a fairly long journey. Im hoping I can still scrape most, if not all, of next week though. Fingers crossed.

Tea tonight - pasta, with bacon (from the freezer), mushrooms and onoins (left over in the fridge).

Off to get ready for work....

E2006

Well there was no free parking today. It was for permit holders round all of the houses, so cost me £4.20 again. Lunch was £9.75 :eek::eek::eek:. We ended up in what I though was a cafe/bistro type place, but it was actually an italian and the cheapest thing was pasta for £7.95. By the time I added a soft drink it was just under a tenner, so a big spend day today. I wouldnt care, it wasnt even that nice :mad:

Back to work tomorrow thankfully so will be taking packed lunch as usual.

It so windy and freezing cold today. Cant believe the difference since last week when it was glorious sunshine! Im going to hop in a hot bath before the boys get back from football and spoil the peace