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

Chocforever

Hi DFSD

I hope you and your family are well. Thinking of you,

CF

debtfreesomeday

I'm back after a couple of the worst weeks of my life. Both of my parents have been ill, mostly bought on by stress from another family situation which I'm not going to go into. My brother is in hospital and our little boy also had to go back in for another two night stay. I was also ill for 3 days and couldn't leave the house. The 'difficult' situation is still ongoing and my parents are under so much stress, I'm so worried about them. DS is now doing much better and my Mum is also out of hospital so things are slightly better than they were two weeks ago.

Moneywise, we're skint! I've driven home to be with the family this week, so that was an extra £80 or so in petrol. We also were overdrawn last month as I was in hospital with DS and hubby was coming in every night after work, so there were a few takeaways and money spent in the hospital canteen which wasn't cheap. I'm trying to get a hold of things this month though.

Today I've paid £260 into the account - £200 from hubby's phone deal cashback and £60 in birthday money. I was intending the £200 to be added to the savings account but I doubt we can afford to do that this month. God knows how we're going to manage for money once we have to start relying on the savings when I go back to work.

We have to get another new tyre for the car too, I ordered one today and it'll be about £80. The birthday money will go towards this with some from the car/house e-saver account.

I will be driving back to my home town again next week to support the family, then again 10 days after that, so our petrol costs will be through the roof this month.

I made about £100 on ebay after fees, which was an excellent result. I'm still waiting for one payment to clear and then I shall transfer it to the back account.

We have a family birthday coming up next week, but thankfully I sorted their gift long ago so that's pennies we don't have to pay out. :T

That's a brief round up for now, will try and update more this week as I should be at home with internet access all week.

Hope everyone is well
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Chocforever

Hi DFSD

Wow, you have an awful lot going on at the moment. Delighted that DS and your mum are back out of hospital. Things are obviously tense and stressful and I feel for you having so much to deal with and going up and down the motorway.

It is no wonder money has had to take a back seat for a while. If it makes you feel any better, I have managed to run up £2,000 on my credit card over the last month from buying stuff for me and the flat. I'm going to be in the flat longer than I thought (I will bore you with the details another day) so I bought some things to cheer it and me up and a new cooker (old one broke) and TV recorder (I had been using a VHS tape player - I'm not at the forefront of technology :rotfl:) which will also sort me out for the digital TV switchover which happens here later in the year.

I hope things settle down for you soon though it all sounds like it is out of your control. Take care xx

debtfreesomeday

Hope it's not bad news concerning moving from the flat Chocs... and a little retail therapy is needed sometimes. A new cooker is an essential too!

Yes, it's very stressful at the moment, but hopefully the worst is over now. I am going back home again next week, so another long drive ahead with DS hopefully asleep in the back! My darling Mum sent me £20 in the post yesterday towards petrol, bless her.

Staying on the subject of money, I transferred £100.47 from paypal to my bank account today. This was from my recent ebay earnings and a couple of survey payments. It will definitely help the account this month, I think we'd be very short without it, especially as I had to buy another new tyre yesterday which cost £72.50. :eek:

I need to stock up the cupboards and freezer this weekend for hubby to be able to eat whilst I am away! He works late some evenings and, because I will have the car, he will have to get the bus home a few nights so I want to get some bits in that he can just shove in the oven. We have about £70 left in the grocery budget so plenty for now. I walked to the local Lidl earlier today and picked up some veg and a few other bits we needed which cost just over £10. It was a lovely walk today in this sunshine we're currently experiencing. I hope it lasts!

My sister gave me loads of flower seeds last week so I really want to get out in the garden and plant them this weekend. I also need to take down our hanging baskets and take them home as my Dad had kindly offered to fill them with cherry tomato plants for us again this year. They are hanging ones which grow down from the baskets, they're lovely and tasty. Some of the onions I planted a couple of weeks ago are sprouting up through the soil already; it's the first year I've grown onions and garlic so am looking forward to reaping the results.

This week I have been out spending a few vouchers I was lucky wnough to receive for my birthday. Hubby bought me a clothing voucher as he knows I won't spend money on new clothes for myself, so that was a wonderful change to go shopping and buy myself some nice new clothes! I did pretty well with it too in true MSE style... I managed to buy 6 tops, some underwear and a sun hat for DS in Debenhams for £60. It was all in the sale, from 50% to 70% off, so was really pleased with my bargains, especially as they cost me nothing! A friend also gave me a voucher which I used to buy DS a moneybox (£2 in the sale in TK Maxx - we've been looking for a nice one for him for ages), and some paper craft and scrapbooking bits which I am using to make gifts for my parents and my MIL for Christmas from DS - basically a photo scrapbook of his first year -which I'm sure they'll appreciate.

Last night I put some more Christmas gifts I've bought (and wrapped!) in a suitcase in the loft. I'm doing pretty well with the birthday present list for the year too. I have also managed to add a tiny bit more to hubby's birthday fund. It's now at around £60 so about £50 left to find before August.

I have sorted out a lot of DS's clothes which are already too small for him, some of which he never wore! I debated whether to sell some on ebay or do a car boot sale and make a bit of money back, but in the end decided to give most of it to two friends which are currently expecting. We were given a lot of things which really helped out, so it's nice to return the favour and pass things on.

I hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

Finally, £121.05 of the £175+ cashback owed from Quidco has been confirmed and will be paid this month. Hopefully that will go straight into the savings account for when money gets even tighter.

Chocforever

Hi DFSD

You have so much on at the moment, I admire you taking it all in your stride. I hope you are enjoying the sunny weekend at home with DH and DS. Your garden sounds lovely.

You did well on Ebay and Quidco and no doubt that money will come in useful.

I do hope things settle down for you and your family soon.

I still want to move house. To trade up from a flat to a house meant I expected to move further out of town so I can afford it. The hitch is that I have had some seizures over the last few weeks which means I can't drive and this is likely to be the case for some time . To be able to get to work and the shops etc, it is more practical if I stay in the area I am in now. There is also a feeling of wanting to stay somewhere familiar until I know whether the seizures will persist.

You know I like a plan and my current plan is to wait until there is more on the housing market. There isn't much on the market here at all, particularly not in the area I now need to focus on. So I need to find some more patience .

Having rebadged my car insurance/MOT/service pot the holiday fund, I have booked a week away in May! Every cloud....

Have a good week and I hope DS is fast asleep during the car journey. Best wishes xx

debtfreesomeday

So sorry to hear your health hasn't been as good lately Chocs, i do hope things improve for you soon as you seem to have been doing nuch better since the change of meds a while back from what I understand. I can totally understand you wanting to remain on familiar territory for now until things are sorted, there is little point adding the stress of a move into the equation now. I'm sure the move will happen when the time is right for you. Wishing you well, look after yourself and take it easy!

This weekend has not been the greatest, DS's condition has flared up again (he has silent reflux), so we have had little sleep and he has been very distressed and crying a lot. We have a paediatric specialist appointment in early May, so I'm hoping they can help us, but May feels a long way away at the moment.

I have also been worrying about money, or the lack of it. In two months my salary will drop to a third of what I was earning and I'm so worried as to how we'll manage. For now I'm trying to focus on the things we can change such as the shopping budget...

We have decided to change the way we manage the shopping budget and shall be keeping it in an online e-saver from now on, transferring the money to the main account as and when we spend any. We have been withdrawing £200 cash at the beginning of the month and paying for groceries with cash only, but I keep forgetting to put the cash in my purse before going out or not taking enough and then paying on the debit card which makes it hard to keep track of. Hopefully this new idea will work better for us.

Have a good evening all

DFSD

Chocforever

HI DFSD

I hope you had a better week this week and that the family situation is resolving.

Thanks for your support. Yes, you are right that the change in meds last year and early this year made a real difference and I feel much better than I have in years. They were to do with long term heart conditions. Unfortunately, the seizures are a new problem :eek:. Since deciding last summer to take better care of myself, I seem to have had the worst patch of health ever :rotfl:.

I have spent a lot of money recently, partly because I have some spare cash having paid the mortgage down and it makes a nice change after years of cutting back. But I need to rein the spending in now because part of the justification of staying in the flat a bit longer is that I can save some money towards the house. I need to return to my MSE ways.

Some of the spending is due to not having adjusted to being without a car (or more accurately, driving license, since the car is still in the garage). I need to be more organised with food shopping because I keep opening the fridge and finding there is nothing much there so I end up in M&S buying ready prepared food because it is easy and convenient. I also got out of the habit of baking, but now have a shiny new oven so no excuses there either.

I am going away over Easter to see my family and very much looking forward to recharging the batteries and having some free time where I don't feel I should be doing chores or painting . I hope the nice weather lasts until the bank holidays.

Best wishes x

debtfreesomeday

It sounds like you have a lot on your plate too Chocs. So sorry to hear your health is not great at the moment, I do hope the situation improves for you very soon.

I totally understand what you mean regarding the 'looking in the fridge' habit and the costs involved with that. We are getting better about planning and stocking the freezer with meat etc though.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter with your family and rest up a little. It will be nice to have a break away from it all. I have just come back from 'home' again but things are still tense. We were hoping to go home for Easter but, unfortunately, the state of our bank account and the cost of petrol has put those plans out of the window!

debtfreesomeday

It's been another lovely sunny day here and DS an I have managed to get out for a little walk which always brightens the day.

I've done two loads of washing and got it all nice and dry on the line, saving pennies (or pounds!) by not using the tumble dryer. We've also got the dinner started and some meat defrosting for dinner tomorrow as we're cooking for 4 friends too. They've been good to us lately and it's about time we returned the favour(s).

Yesterday I spent quite a bit on groceries, but this was only because Sainsbury's had some great offers on meat - loads at half price. I've stocked the freezer up for the month ahead. Hopefully next month's grocery spends will be less now.

The bank account is not looking healthy - we are overdrawn - but won't be for long one the Quidco cash goes in. It was paid on the 16th but there's no sign of it yet. Life has been extremely stressful lately and I'm afraid budgeting and studying the bank account has gone out of the window.

I phoned up about tax credits again a couple of weeks ago and have received another application form. It will take some filling in though, it's on a list to complete asap. We could do with the extra money, but not sure we will be eligible as we are not yet paying for childcare...

Got to go and get some jobs done whilst DS is asleep,

DFSD
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