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

debtfreesomeday

One loan has been paid off! :j I phoned them up to check the settlement figure this morning as the regular payment had been taken out today. I spoke to two different people and got two different figures, luckily the person who actually took the payment quoted me the lower figure so I paid that one!
The other loan will be paid off by the 8th November as they take that out in addition to the monthly payment. It leaves us with £30 leftover from the new loan which will go towards making up the shortfall from the MS payments it looks like I'm not likely to receive!

I received a payment from the second company I did some work for - for £11 as expected. I am really disappointed as to how lax the first company are at not getting back to people. I shall email them again today and I shan't be doing any more shops with them.

The odd pennies have been transferred to the maternity leave account yesterday and today so that's an extra £1 or so in there - it all helps!

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

Just checked my tesco clubcard account and, thanks to the huge points-boosting code we used when we bought a bed not long ago, we now have £67 worth of points. :j I see that they are doing another double-up rewards thing soon, which may come in handy. I'm going to take a look at the clubcard site now and see what the best way of using our vouchers would be - there's nothing else we really need for baby - we could do with a new TV as ours is on its way out, but I don't think large electricals are included in the promotion. Hmm, what else could save us money???

debtfreesomeday

Right, after much deliberating with hubby over email this morning(!) we have decided to spend the clubcard vouchers as follows:

£12.50 to buy BIL (and SIL) a heritage days out type membership for 15 months for Christmas (worth £50 + we'll put the odd £2 towards it).
£12.50 in pizza express vouchers (worth £50) for treats for us as we won't be able to afford to eat out once baby's here!
£40 will be doubled up to £80 which we'll get for the baby section in store to buy nappies etc once the stash we have runs out.

Think that's a plan!

Particularly pleased about the christmas gift as he was one of the last we had to buy for, had no idea what to get him, and this is right up his street. It's saved us a good amount of money.

Just tucking into homemade veggie lasagne for my lunch (thanks Mum!).

DFSD

Chocforever

Wow to all the Tesco vouchers . I normally get about £3 worth! That's a really good haul and nice to share the benefit between you and Xmas presents.

I know what you mean about some of the MS companies. I haven't had any problems with payment, but occasionally get some really poor emails and instructions from them. I'll warn you now, I don't think I have ever had an apology from a MS company, even when they really should have. So I have learnt to just suit myself with picking jobs I like and ignore so called urgent requests where they need a favour unless it suits me; two can play at that game .

I'm pleased you had a nice break away, even if it did involve a lot of driving. A change of scene is good for the soul.

I've had a real up and down week, where some things have gone well at work and perked me up whilst other things make me wonder why I bother :rotfl: I am fighting the urge to hibernate with the dark nights and early mornings and I am looking forward to the weekend to have some time to get back to this healthier eating and exercising which has been slipping a bit.

Have you got any nice plans for the weekend?

debtfreesomeday

Yes, it's a good haul of vouchers this month Chocs - mostly due to the extra points code we used online when buying a bed. We rarely shop in Tesco's, so we only usually have a few pounds too!

The MS company in question called me last night - not to reply to my emails - but to ask me to 'help them out' and do an urgent MS for which they'd pay me £5 extra! I politely told them why I wouldn't be doing any more MS's for them until they paid me for those I'd completed. The guy I spoke to couldn't explain why I hadn't been paid either, I found him quite patronising to be honest. Once I've been paid for these I'm not going to do any more, it's not worth the hassle.

Sorry to hear you've not had the best week. If it's any consolation, I've been feeling the same way these past few days. I'm not sure if it's the weather, time of year or the pregnancy hormones, but for the past few days I've been feeling like I really can't be bothered with things and I'm aware I'm quite irritable! I've been sleeping quite well, so it's not that, I hope the weekend changes my mood.

My parents are hopefully coming up this weekend, all being well, and staying until Monday. Dad is going to lay the carpet and put the blinds up in our new room - and re-install the tumble dryer. Bless him, he's a star. It will be nice to spend some quality time with Mum too, I haven't seen her for nearly 6 weeks and miss her loads. I just hope she stays well.

Onto money-saving, and today I have cancelled my union membership at work. Some may say it is not a good time to do so with imminent job cuts, but I have become increasingly frustrated with them and the poor service they offer - they never get back to me with issues I've raised in the past and they seem to take on a 'bully boy' persona in tackling issues. It's not something I am happy to be a part of, and certainly not something I wish to continue paying £14 a month for as I have done for the past 3 years or so. :mad:
It will be a little extra in the pot next month anyway.

I have been paid for one of the £3 surveys I completed this week, but not the other yet. The money is sat in Paypal presently; I was intending to pay it off the credit card, but I may bid on a few cheap maternity tops on ebay with it instead, as I'm really running out of clothes to wear at the moment. I haven't bought any maternity tops yet - just two pairs of jeans from ebay (costing a total of around £15) which should last me through, so I haven't done too bad.

I've spent £3 today, (well, I emptied the change in my purse which was around that amount...), but it was for a local children's charity collection at work, so it was for a good cause. No other spends for me today.

Last night we picked up a few groceries, costing £15. I also withdrew the cash to go in the grocery pot for the month, that has about £100 left in there which should be plenty if spent wisely.

Have a good weekend all

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

I've had such a lovely weekend, my parents came up and I got to spend lovely quality time with them. My Mum was feeling well, (apart from the colds that we all have), and we had some good laughs and fun together. My wonderful Dad has not stopped working on the house for us, I feel so guilty that he has worked so hard all weekend, but there is no stopping him. The new rooms now look amazing. They came laden with home-baked goodies for the freezer - soups, meals etc., and some meat from the local village butchers in my home village. Also a few pairs of bargain pyjamas for me which are lovely, as well as some christmas decorations she has been hand-crafting for a while now. Mum and I went shopping and she insisted on buying the baby some things, she is so excited about the little one's arrival, it's wonderful to see her so happy for a change. Dad wouldn't let us pay him for the new blinds they picked up for the new room either, or the carpet. My Mum also insisted on taking home a big bag full of the baby's new clothes to wash through - (as they have to be washed before first wear) - she said she has more time to do it and she seemed excited about helping out, so I guiltily agreed. I know she will have a whale of a time doing it and sorting through them but I still feel guilty giving her the extra work. Mum and Dad left this morning, and I miss them so much already, I really do. It wouldn't take much to make me cry this morning!

So, spends for the weekend: I spent £13.50 on some recycle bins for the new room to make our lives easier than traipsing outside every time we have a tin/jar/paper to recycle. I also had to fill the car up with petrol yesterday which cost £43.
There were other small spends from the grocery budget, and we paid the house insurance which was £220 - this was already saved for though.

We have £90 left in our petrol budget now, £15 left in the Christmas shopping budget and £20.50 left in the 'bits and bobs' budget. There is around £70 - £80 in the grocery tin I think, I'm not entirely sure about that one - I'll have to check.

Hubby has the day off today and is catching up on the washing (with my Mum's help this morning!). It's a beautiful day here today and as the dryer has been out of action for a while and the weather so bad lately, we had loads of washing to do this weekend. Hopefully it will all dry on the line today, even though the dryer is now back for business.

Not much else to report, I'm feeling a bit rough today as I haven't slept well this weekend, due to this cold I've picked up, combined with being nervous that my Mum is ok at night, so I'm beyond tired I think. An early night for me for sure.

Have a good day everyone
DFSD
X

Chocforever

What a lovely weekend . Your family sound marvellous and I am sure they are delighted to help you or they would not have offered, so don’t feel guilty.

Today I decided to have a slight change of plan on the mortgage front. This is mainly because I discovered I could draw down the balance again on my current product which may be useful if and when I move house. The normal monthly payment due under my mortgage is £300. This year I have been paying £2,000 per month instead and I have decided this month is the last time I do that. Next month I will just pay £1,000 and that will leave a £4,000 outstanding balance at the end of the year. I will then go back to paying £300 a month until I either move or the balance is paid off in 15 months.

So I will actually have some spare money from next month and it means that if I do get a Xmas bonus, it will not disappear to the mortgage. Of course, I will then need to have a think about how much money I need to save up for the next place. The moving house plans have been delayed because there is so little property on the market around here, I risk selling my current place and having nowhere suitable to go. Anyway, this dilemma can wait until next year.

Last week I noticed a branch of one of my favourite clothes shops has opened near where I work. I had a little browse in there today and there were so many lovely clothes. I know where some of my spare money will be going! I will also be building my savings back up – I see yours are mounting up nicely.

Hope you had a better night’s sleep. Have a good week x

debtfreesomeday

It sounds like you have a fantastic plan with the mortgage Chocs, and my, how you've paid a lot off this year - well done - that's pretty amazing. I think you're wise to hold off on moving for now as it obviously not a good time to buy or sell presently. Maybe next year there will be more choice on the market and you will get a better price for your current property - fingers crossed for you.

Hopefully you haven't spent too much in the clothing store by now to hamper those plans!

debtfreesomeday

This past week has been a bit of an odd one - I was off sick with achesty cough/virus thing for 4 days last week and just started to feel better at the weekend. Obviously there was not much medication I could take being pregnant, so I had a few days of feeling quite rough. Baby also scared us by not moving for a couple of days last week as well. We had to be monitored at the hospital in the end, but all is fine - he or she was just having a couple of 'off days' too it seems, but it was very worrying at the time. I'm back at work today though and feeling much better.

A quick money round-up: the £190 HIP grant was paid into our account on Thursday, this has meant us keeping out of the overdraft this month. All being well, we have about £170 left in the bank once everything is paid - this needs to cover petrol and a few groceries - perfectly do-able.

We have decided to make a trip to see my family in a couple of weeks, so petrol will be about £40 more than normal this month, but we should have enough to cover it. This will be the last time we travle home this year if everything is to plan as, I have VERY reluctantly made the decision not to travel home for Christmas. We all think it's best all round, as my due date will be a mere 4 - 5 weeks away and you never can tell what's going to happen. All being well, my parents will be coming up to us on Boxing Day, but I have stressed to them that is weather and health dependent. I'm really sad about not going home - it will be my first Christmas away from home and I rarely get to see all of my family, but it's probably for the best this year - my parents agree. The trip home in a couple of weeks will be the last time I see most of the family before Christmas and before the baby is born as it's only really my parents who come up to visit.

The Christmas shopping budget has been spent for this month - I just need to spend about £25 on some vouchers next month and then buy some ingredients for the cookie mix jars we make and then all Christmas gifts are paid for. I have a few bits to make and labels to print etc., but I shall do that at work where it's free!

The grocery budget is not looking so good - we are a bit short this month again and some of the leftover money will have to be used for groceries. I think I need to sit down and re-assess that budget next month as we always seem to be spending more than allocated. I haven't actually raised that budget in 2 years and I guess food prices have gone up, but I know I can do more meal planning and shop around to make our money go further.

The two loans are now all paid off and the one loan has replaced them. The payments for this start on 1st December and I am strangely looking forward to getting them underway and counting down the months until it's paid off.

The credit card balance is not looking good either, but I'm not worrying about it - we are not adding to it and it is gradually going down and will continue to do so.

We are expecting lots of cashback etc in the next few months which will help us out. Our house insurance came with a deal of £50 cashback, so has only cost us £160 for the year which is a brilliant bargain. My Dad actually found us that deal. We should get that back at the end of this month.

We have about £40 - £50 expected from Quidco, but the merchants seem to be holding on to the payments for a long time at the moment. Hopefully that will pay out over the next few months.

We are also expecting a £50 Sainsbury's gift card from a promotion related to our loan. It is paid out in 60 days of us receiving the funds, so we can expect that at the end of January which will be great timing as I will be on maternity leave by then and probably worried sick about money!

Lastly, we are waiting on the Tesco clubcard vouchers so that we can buy the Christmas gift membership we have planned. We have changed our minds a little as to how the rest will be spent - £10 will be used for £40 of restaurant vouchers, £30 will be doubled up to £60 to buy nappies/toiletries etc for baby in the next few months and we will spend £9.50 on a good food magazine subscription for the year. I have read on the old style board that this is a good mag for meal planning/cheap menus/cooking inspiration so will hopefully help us get out of the food rut we seem to be in (always making the same meals) without spending lots of money. I just hope we get the vouchers before the double up promotion is over...

We now are pennies away from having £50 on our nectar card too, which will go towards buying food for Christmas - we are contributing towards hubby's family catering for us for Christmas and are also planning on making a lovely hot buffet when my parents come up so this will help greatly towards covering those costs.

As per usual, I am transferring the odd pennies from the bank account every day into the maternity leave account. Every little helps in boosting that balance. It is now around £1435 or something along those lines. By January this should be double that amount. Our target is to save a minimum of £6K by the time I have to go back to work (probably Sept/Oct next year) to help us through the following two years until the loan is repaid and we are debt free.
With careful budgeting and saving this should be achievable, but it's so hard to plan whilst not knowing exactly how much I will receive on maternity leave and when I will receive it - I can only guess presently. The longer I can leave it until I start ML, the better, but not sure if I am being over-optimistic with a date of mid January in mind. My work are asking me to give them a date and I just don't know what to tell them at the moment.

Anyway, I've gone on long enough for now, hope everyone else is doing well.

DFSD

P.S. Quite pleased to say we still haven't put the heating on yet, bar a couple of hours here and there when it's been arctic - the hot water bottle has made it into the bed a few times though!

debtfreesomeday

I forgot about the extra £25 we should be receiving from a MS company next month (after they failed to pay us this month!:mad:). That should help out a bit more next month anyway.