The final countdown... and a newbie in the DFSD house!

debtfreesomeday

I've unstacked the dishwasher and put all the laundry away; dinner's in the oven and a few cookies have been baked (and half eaten! ). I've been looking through my recipe books this evening and am going to make some naan bread for the freezer tomorrow and maybe some chelsea buns as treats for hubby's lunchboxes this week. I'm in a productive and creative mood!

I've started making a list each night of things to do the next day. I absolutely hate being bored and need to fill my day doing things, otherwise I get really fed up. I'm also trying to get as much organised as possible before the possible hospital stay, so that I can relax in the knowledge everything is taken care of whilst I'm out of action for a little while. Thankfully, I think most of the financial things such as the car insurance, MOT and such has been taken care of now, I can't think of anything else that needs attention in February.

I looked at the monthly budget again last night after receiving the news that the water bill is going up and it seems I don't actually need to adjust anything. I'd rounded the total bills up by £21 a month in my original calculations, to act as a buffer in the account, so that will cover the increased direct debit.

I only came back online tonight to check if my wages have made an appearance in the account, sometimes they show up the night before but not this month it seems. I'm waiting to see how much I actually get paid as, from today (technically day 1 of my maternity leave as last week was annual leave), my salary drops thanks to the rubbish maternity pay I get.

Hope everyone has had a good day

DFSD
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Chocforever

Wow, you have had another busy day. It's a good thing you extended your time at work before ML if you have already run out of things to do!

Not much to report here. Had a long day at work and now trying to deal with a few things for the charity (I never did get around to catching up with the paperwork so I'm in fire fighting mode...) I did a small MS too today so must input that.

I have a very long day in store tomorrow with work. I'm off on Weds and have some nice things planned; can't wait. I also have an appointment booked with the bank to see how much money they will lend me for my house.

And the good news is that after a brainwave last week, I decided to alter my medication and I have suddenly started feeling much better .

Best wishes x

debtfreesomeday

I hope you managed to get some of your charity work done Chocs; so glad to hear you're feeling much better too.

Well today is payday and I've been paid slightly less than I thought I had estimated. Unfortunately I can't check my payslip as this is always given out at work and, knowing my employer, they won't even think to send it to me. I'll have to chase them to do so at a later date.

As per 'the plan', I've transferred £600 to the maternity savings account, so there's £1800 in there now. The birthday savings have had £20 and some odd pennies put in there, so that's £23.75 in there. I intended on putting the ebay cash in there too, but unfortunately we needed that in the bank account before we got paid to cover the cost of the new steriliser I had to order and a bit of petrol. The £8.90 made on Amazon last week can go in there though, as soon as it hits the account - it always takes ages from Amazon.

I've upped both the shopping budget and the petrol budget to £200 each from this month, as we were struggling with the £150 each and often going over. If we don't spend it all, great, any left will be transferred to the savings at the end of the month, but at least this way it's allocated to those expenses.

I have a grocery delivery due later today which will be around £70. It's a bit more than our usual big shop as I've stocked up on some storecupboard items so we don't have to worry about running out when baby is here. There are also some bits included in it that I may need in hospital.

Once everything is accounted for, there should be around £108 left in the account for all other spends. Hubby also has some money left in his account - around £160 - if we need to dip into that.

I bought a new 'budget planner book' in the sales after Christmas which is really handy for detailing everything. Every spend we make will now go into this so we can both keep track of the finances. I've filled it all in for January, detailing the incomings/outgoings/savings etc. and will do so each month. It also has a section for any extra income made, so will be handy to record things like ebay sales or money from Quidco etc.

Right, off to load the washing into the dryer now, I can't wait for the warmer weather to appear so I don't have to keep using the tumble dryer - I hate to think how it is bumping up our electric bill!

Have a good day all

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

Well there goes £59.99 of the £108 'left' - our microwave stopped working and cheapest we could find in the same size (to fit the steriliser unit too) was a penny short of £60. Ho hum, these things are sent to try us.

Grocery delivery arrived and was a few pennies over £70, we're now fully stocked for the new arrival!

I've also re-activated the AA membership, so saved us some money there.

debtfreesomeday

...and add £6.97 on a new toaster after ours started smelling of burning plastic last week. Was going to hold off on buying one, but found a basic 4 slice one in Argos for £6.97 - that'll do us!

debtfreesomeday

The Amazon money has hit the account, so I've transferred it across to the birthday saving pot, there's now £32.65 in there.
I have also received a cheque in the post this morning from the mobile phone recycling place, for £13.21. That will also go into the birthday pot once it's been paid into the bank account.

The bread machine's on and has a batch of pizza dough in it. When it's done, I'm going to make some pizzas to freeze for hubby's packed lunches.

There's also a load of washing on, the weather isn't looking too bad at the moment so I'm wondering whether I can get it dry on the line today. I'm probably being a bit too optimisitic!

dreamdreamer

I honestly have no idea how you do SO much with a nearly-ready baby to haul about too! You put me to shame! But I am one of those people who given half the choice, would happily sit on their backside all day long on my days off! Unfortunately I'm not given the choice because the housework and washing fairies don't visit out house!

And isn't it just always the way that everything blows up at once?! Both of our TV's are on the fritz at the moment, having both been fine for the last 5 and 3 years respectively. Typical! Luckily OH is very electronically minded and seems to have fixed one of them, the other one only went funny after he was deployed so I'll have to get him to look at it when he gets back.

I found a mobile phone in the toilets at a service station today on my way back from St Albans. I was pricing it up in my head as to how much it'd recycle for, but then my conscience got the better of me and I handed it in. I'd be gutted if I lost my blackberry. :eek:

Right, off to stare at my bank balance, I love those few days after you get paid but before everything has gone out. It's like being rich... :rotfl:

Dreamer x

Chocforever

Hope you have had a nice day today.

I went to the bank to see how much they would lend me for my house and the answer was a lot. £290k :eek: , though I think it would be a struggle to pay the mortgage in the first few years if I did that, particularly if interest rates rose. I thought the days of lending high multiples of salary had gone, but it seems not. However, it is nice to know my maximum budget and I will probably borrow more like £240k which is still a lot, but gives some leeway in the monthly finances.

I've noticed a few properties come on the market this month and some seem to be selling so I think I need to get my skates on and get whatever jobs I think I am going to do around the flat done. I may take a week off work to make some progress otherwise I can see me dragging this out for months.

In preparation for a few years of lean times, I then had a very non-MSE day :rotfl:. Went out for lunch, had a massage, went clothes shopping and bought lots of nice food .

Best wishes x

Chocforever

Oh, you have not posted today. Maybe the baby is on its way.....

I had a nice busy day at work today when the time just flew by. And it's payday tomorrow, hurrah!

Came home to a £25 premium bond prize which was a nice surprise and picked up 6 easy MSs (just have to buy a drink to go on a lunchtime).

Hope you are well x

debtfreesomeday

Hi all

No, no baby yet Chocs, although wasn't feeling great yesterday so didn't do a lot. Didn't sleep at all well so went back to bed for a couple of hours in the morning which is very unlike me. I felt better for it, but struggled for the rest of the day! I saw the midwife yesterday and she is thinking the same as me - that baby may be here within the week - as I have a few symptoms and am starting to feel like things are 'ki cking off'. It's exciting and terrifying at the same time, mostly terrifying at the moment.

Not much money saving news to report really. I've transferred the odd pennies over to the birthday account but not updated the signature yet.
I found some 'laundered money' :rotfl:in hubby's trousers before putting the washing on this morning, so that's gone in the sealed pot - all 54p of it.
The car took £43 of petrol a couple of days ago, so that, along with the grocery spends, have been recorded in the budget book. I also picked up some fruit yesterday as I had a hankering for grapes,:o so that spend has also been recorded. The book is working well so far...

I've just spent over an hour :eek: completing a survey online, but it was for 400 points which has boosted my survey account massively. I need another 200 points or so to claim a £10 Amazon voucher which will go towards hubby's birthday gift. :T

I'm taking things a bit easier now that I think I may be in early labour, so have hardly done a thing this morning. I've put one load of washing on and it's hanging on the line outside to dry as it's sunny and breezy here. Hopefully it dries and saves the pennies instead of using the tumble dryer.
I'm going to give the bathrooms a quick wipe to keep on top of the cleaning and maybe do a bit of dusting, but that is it! If I find the energy later I may do some baking, as I find it enjoyable and relaxing. I have all the ingredients in too.

Hope everyone has a lovely day,

DFSD
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