XSpender - MFW in Training

cha97michelle

Great to hear about your interview. That should help your plans no end. :j

XSpender

Well, I can't find my suit. I thought it was in the drawer under my bed but it is not there and I can't find it in the loft either. Will have another look tomorrow with a better light.

Didn't do the leaflets today as the weather is awful, that heavy but fine rain that gets you so wet and damp.

I am trying to come up with ideas for the training session I need to run for my interview and one of my ideas is budgeting or cutting food bills. I must be spending too long on here:rotfl:

XSpender

DS is in bed having a nap. He woke at 2.30 for a feed, 5am when DH quickly got him back to sleep and then at 5.45. Got up at 5 to 6 fed him and we went back to sleep on the sofa for an hour. Night before he woke up at 3 for a feed and the night before he slept through. I don't know why he is ok some nights and not the rest but I really need him to sleep better if I am going back to work soom. DH says we will take it in turns to get up when I am working.

DMIL and I have agreed that she will have DS monday and tuesday when I go back to work which will save us about £250/month on childcare. We are taking things slowly at the moment after not speaking for over 2 years but they are really making an effort as they have so much to lose if they fall out with us again as they won't see DS as I am not having him messed about.:mad:

I had to pick up DH from work late last night so my planned tea didn't get made and we had a chippy tea paid for out of my personal spends. If I can afford it out of this months GC money I will repay myself but I don't mind if I don't.

Must have another look for my suit today and do a bit of washing and HW. What joy! Also need to plan my tranig session for the interview next week. I have to take a verbal reasoning test as part of the interview and they have sent me a link to a practice one so I will do that today. I am good with words so I am glad it is verbal and not numerical as I am not so good with figures even though I worked in finance for 14 years!

Made a white loaf yesterday as I had run out of w/m flour and then realised I only had half of the strong white flour I needed so I made it up with plain flour and it has turned out well. It is actually very easy to cut evenly, not like my wholemeal slices that start ok then end up as doorsteps at the bottom. A poster on the GC thread told me about 50p bread flour at A$da so I am going to stock up on enough for Feb and for my June box if the dates will be ok.:)

My June box is an idea I picked up on the GC thread. I am going to add an item or 2 to a box or a freezer drawer each week so that in June I will hardly have to spend anything on food. I can then put the food money towards our holiday, the mortgage, savings or something else. I am doing the same for our August holiday too (just a box not the freezer). So far there is a bag of sherbert lemons in my August box left over from last years holiday:D

DH listed our first item on E*bay last night and we will list the rest on Sunday. I still need to find a few extra items to make up to 10 things to list. I would love to do 10 things a week. Our loft could really do with a good clear out.

Hmmm.....might get a box of books out of the loft and stick them on green met. I don't think I will hit my £100 extra earnings target for Jan but only a few quid short. I am going to go for £150 in Feb. My big cashback payments are due march but DH phone will raise £59 so £100 seems too low. The rest will need to be raised from e*bay.

A visit to Costco is on the cards this week. We have run out of coffee and I need to get some photos printed for DH birthday calendar and I will get some for DMIL and my Dad too. I tried to email them yesterday but it wouldn't send. I also need to buy 2 birthday presents and 1 christening present for next weekend. I have a £30 gift card for the shopping centre in town that I got for Christmas so I will use that. May buy the mail to get the 20% off voucher for Debenhams as there is one in the shopping centre if I see anything in there I like.

I am a bit worried that our mortgage payment is going to shoot up with :money: saying to fix it now as interest rates are going up. Problem is we would have to stick with N/W due to our poor credit rating following the IVA and last year they valued our house so low we didn't have any equity and there was nothing they could do for us. More incentive to pay down the mortgage and improve our LTV I suppose.

I am being a lazy moo this morning so best get in the shower and wash my hair before DS wakes up.

Have a good day

SmlSave

Good luck find your suit and lots of luck for the interview

I like the idea of a June box not sure it would work in my house though!

XSpender

Gave up on finding the suit, I don't think I would fit in it anyway:o Invested in a lovely dress and jacket from A$da for £42:) Size bigger than I was pre preggers but it is a lovely fit. DH loved it too;)

I got £40 of Mr S vouchers in the post today from taking out their home ins:T I was so excited when I opened the evelope you thank I had been given a grand:rotfl: That's the next week's shopping almost paid for.:D

Good job really as DH managed to scoff half the packet of turkey I bought yesterday and 1/2 packet of peperoni. I am glad I had froze the rest or the damage could have been much worse:mad: He has offered to have bread and butter fo sarnies next week.:rotfl:

DS has got his first tooth!:D I am a very proud mummy this week.

I finished delivering the leaflets today and have emailed them to see if they want me to do any more as I actually enjoyed doing it especially as DMIL watched DS and DH helped. DMIL wants to try a veg box and so does her neighbour so if they both remember to say I recommended them I will get £20 towards our orders:D Must remember to email DSIL about too.

My extra earnings for Jan are standing at £115.96, my target was £100. I had set a target of £100 for Feb but already have £56 coming for DH old phone and £15.45 payable for cashback. The item we stuck on ebay has 6 watchers so that looks promising. We already have 10 things to load on Sunday and I want to find 10 things to put on each week in Feb. There is enough stuff in this house I can tell you:o I will have a think and may set a really chunky target for Feb as DH is also up for raising some dosh this month. WE have agreed if it is an item the other paid for themself with birthday money for example or got as a gift they can have the money bit if it was bought jointly or out of the joint account then the money goes back into the joint pot. This is the money I will count towards the target.

HM pizza for tea tonight, really looking forward to it:D

XSpender

Only managed to list 3 things on e*bay at the weekend but one has a bid and the other 2 have watchers:j DH got an iphone with his birthday money and it is so much quicker to list them using that the lap top for some reason. My target is to list 10 items a week and make £400 by end of the month. We need to because we have so much to pay out this month including:

• Months nursery fees in advance if I get a job £550
• N0rton anti virus renewal £34
• New car seat for DS as he is too small for his current one (DPIL paying half:)) £75
• 2 birthday and a christening gift (will use vouchers)
• A curtain pole so I can hang my kitchen curtains. Have had nothing up at the patio doors since october!(£40)
• DH birthday (£50, £125 if we go out)

We have decided to redecorate our living room if we raise a lot from ebay. I have never been happy with it and we have been here 5 years nearly! The walls are biege and I thin there is just too much plain wall. We are going to paper one wall and hope it is a bit cosier.

I have been practicing my session for the interview tomorrow. I hope what I have chosen fits the brief. I won't know until I am there. Oh the agency have just rang and confirmed it is completely open so it will fit the brief.

Other agency have just rang to check what salary I am expecting. I know I was on quite a bit more but this is a local job with no travelling which is ideal with a very young DS.

I really, really want one of these jobs.

Right best go practice my session for tomorrow:eek:

XSpender

Survived the interview/assessemtnt yesterday. My training session went well but I don't think I did so well on the actual interview. Oh well, they say we should know this week so fingers crossed.

Bit annoyed about the other one I applied for. They are happy to interview me but they are only prepared to offer the bottom of the pay scale that was advertised:mad: The manager says no one on his team currently gets paid the top end so it wouldn't be fair. !!!!!!!!! What the hell are they advertising it at that for then??? It is too low for me so I declined to take my application further.

My friend has found me a great job in her paper which is almost identical as the job I had before. Trouble is it is based up here but travel is expected across the UK and scotland. I do not think this is feasable as DH sometimes hated it when I was away with work in my last job. He could be quite mean to me on the phone and I would be stuck away from home feeling upset.:( I am sure he thought I was on a jolly when I was meeting a colleague for dinner. I had to eat and most of the talk was about work! He would have to do all the nursery runs and seeing to DS (with the help of his parents I am sure) and I think he would begin to resent it. He has a stressful job himself, I think he is just desperate for me to go back to work to relieve some pressure from him. They are offering a ft and a pt position but I don't know what the pay is nor do I know how much travel there will be.

Oh well, I will talk to him tonight and may still apply. I will just need to keep looking if it is a no go-er.

Costco card renewal is also due this month to add to the list of outgoings. I will probably leave this for a couple of months as I will only be using it for nappies and we have loads from when they did there last offer. I do need to go this week to get the photos printed for DH calendar. I will order them tonight and they will be ready tomorrow.

I also need to get the gifts sorted for this weekends parties and christening. I find it such a hassle taking DS in to the city that I might go to the out of town place. Trouble is I was planning to use my christmas gift card to pay for them and it is for the city centre.

Two of the three items have bids on flea bay and 1 other has 12 watchers. One has a bid of 99p and no watchers. I think DH put it on too low, I will be annoyed if it goes for 99p as it is a £20 boxed unopened toy DS got for christmas that is too young for him. I must get a load of things together so we can put some more on this weekend.

SmlSave

Hope you have good news on the job.

XSpender

I am applying for the job my friend found today. It seems daft to dismiss it without finding out more about how much travel is involved. That is if I am lucky enough to get an interview. Still not heard back about the job I went for this week.

My house stinks of fish:eek: I don't eat it but I have just made 5 portions of kedegree and 5 portions of fishermans pie for DS along with 5 portions of cheese and veg pasta. £1 for the fish, the rice, pasta and veg we already had in. Made them using formula milk which means I will have to get another tub at the weekend. Next time I will use full fat cows milk as he is old enough to have that in cooked food. Us adults only have skimmed so that's no good for him!

DH got an iphone for his birthday and he is thinking about taking out insurance for it as he has it on a 2 year contract. Lloyds have offered us an upgrade on our account which provides AA cover (we currently have RAC at £22/month including discount or caravan club member), phone insurance, travel insurance and a better rate on our savings as well as some other stuff. It is £3 for 2 months then £8 after that. Anyone any advice on whether this is worth it?

They were offering free cholesterol checks in sains yesterday so I thought it would be rude not to take advantage and mine is 3.2:T

DS toy has sold on flea bay for £17 so that needs to get posted. Having a bit of a problem getting the address details up even though it says the chap has paid via paypal. One other item has a bid and the other has nowt. Not sure how much flea baying will get done this weekend as it is DH birthday on Sat and he is going out with his brother and some friends so no doubt he will be rough on Sunday.

Feeling industrious today so going to clean the bedrooms, finish the washing, change the sheets and cook up a storm in the kitchen!

Must ring DM later as want to arrange for her to come up for the day to see DS or I will need to drive down next week. I feel a bit gulty now that we are on speaking terms with DMIL and she gets to see DS every week and my DM doesn't because she lives 90 miles away. I might go down and have a rummage in the charity shops she has near her as they usually have some good stuff.

XSpender

Crazily busy weekend with DH birthday, 2 other birthdays and a christening to attend. We haven't spent a lot at any of them but the meal planning has gone out of the window. Looking on the bright side I have loads of stuf in to make meals for the rest of the month.

Sold all 3 items we listed last week. DH made a right c**k up on one of DS unwanted unopened christmas gifts by listing it for 99p in the completely wrong category so the buyer has got a real bargain there. Oh well, we are new to flea bay so we will ahve learnt from this mistake. Must nip to the royal mail depot when I get off here. We are lucky that there is a RM sorting office/parcel depot 1 mile from us so we can just take the parcels there and do not need to q in a normal post office.

So far this month we have made £113.50 against our target of £400. I am going to gather together a load of stuff, weigh it for postal prices and sort it out ready for a marathon ebay session on Thursday.

No news on the job front, I will ring the agency and see if there is any news. Lovely job centre tomorrow so I need to get my stuff ready for there today too.

Right, off to wrap these 2 parcels.