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

debtfreesomeday

Thanks YB, yes I'll guess we'll manage somehow, we have to really! Hubby and I had a chat about it all at lunchtime and came to the conclusion that, yes, it's going to be tough and not much fun, but we have no other choice and people live on a lot less.

How's married life treating you anyway YB? Hope you're well xx

yukkibear

Life's OK, we're struggling with money a bit too . I honestly think it's a sign of the times, so we're cutting back and trying to save as much as we can without much sucess at the mo as something always needs paying for.

We're having our honeymoon in July which is something we're really looking forward to, not that I liked paying for it mind you, but the majority of it was wedding presents so that was something.

debtfreesomeday

Oh I bet it will be nice to get away on honeymoon YB, hope you have a fabulous time. We went away for a few days after our wedding and, thanks to in-laws meddling, we had a pretty rotten time. So regret not having a proper honeymoon! Enjoy every minute and relax!

debtfreesomeday

The Amazon book cost me £4.90 to post, so only made a profit of £2.24! :mad: Nevermind, has reminded me why I quit selling on Amazon.

The book I listed on ebay as a BIN has sold for £15 + £3.25 postage. It will cost more than that to post as it is also heavy, but I will hopefully clear £12 profit or so on that one. I have transferred that and a £3 survey payment from the paypal account into the bank already so £20 odd will be in there soon. I was planning on putting this towards hubby's birthday present, but we are also trying to purchase something for DS on ebay so it may go back to pay for that!

DS has a reflux problem which is manageable on good days and absolutely hell on bad days. He is on medication which doesn't seem to work very well, but we havealso been advised to keep him as upright as possible at all times - not easy for a 3 month old! We have tilted the cot with some books (Harry potter has come in useful!) and bought a highchair sutiable for his age in readiness for early weaning. I also sit him in it during the day for short periods. He spends a lot of time in his bouncy chair but is getting very bored of it, so we would like to get him a jumperoo. They are so expensive though at around £100!!! :eek: so we have been looking at 2nd hand ones on ebay. Fingers crossed we can pick one up cheaply.

Off to go and post the ebay parcel now, have a good day all.

DFSD
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Chocforever

Hi DFSD

You have made my day by introducing a new word to me. "Jumperoo"; what a fantastic word. I had to google it to see what it was! I hope you are able to acquire one for a reasonable price.

I have a lot going on, but not really on the MSE front. I had a lovely care-free time with my family over the bank holidays and enjoyed the sunshine. Now I am back at work and have had a long day today at paid and then voluntary work. The realities of life return!

Your signature is looking good. I think I need to set a target to get me back on track with house savings. But I will leave that for another day. Hope you have a nice weekend planned.

Best wishes x

debtfreesomeday

Hee hee, :rotfl: yes, I wonder who thinks of these product names! I placed a bid on a second hand one last week but it went for much more than I was willing to pay so I didn't win that one. However, I managed to find a cheaper version in mothercare which works in the same way but doesn't have a £100 price tag. It was reduced to £59.99 from £79.99 and, with the help of google, I found a 20% off + free delivery code, so we have ordered one from the online for just over £40. Still a lot of money in my book but if it helps then it's worth it.

Glad you had a lovely break Chocs, hope work(s) is not too stressful today.

We also went home for a long weekend which was lovely. We caught up with family and friends and generally spent time relaxing. My Mum and I had a scout of the local charity shops on Friday and bought DS a couple of toys and some clothes for when he's bigger. I'd been looking at one toy in Tesco's the other day, but at £12.97 decided it was too expensive; I picked up the same one for £1.50 in a charity shop.

My Mum has also kindly picked up tonnes of clothes for DS from a local car boot sale which she had washed and ironed and left hanging up in their spare room for him. There is loads of it, from sizes that will fit him now up until 3 years old. She said she only paid around £5 for the lot so she had some real bargains!

My Dad gave us lots of strawberry and tomato plants for the garden which I planted up last night when we got back. They taste so much better than shop bought fruits, and will save us pennies too. He also bought us some new potatoes and asparagus from a local farm shop, some of which we shall eat tonight.

There's quite a bit of washing to do after a weekend away, so one load is on. I was hoping to hang it outside as it's windy but the sky looks a bit threatening now so that may not be an option. There's more to do but will leave it 'til a sunnier day so I don't have to use the tumble dryer.

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

I had a nice surprise when I checked the bank balance this morning, two payments from tax credits, one for £171 and one for £31. I'm assuming the £171 is back pay from Feb and the £31 is the monthly payment we shall be getting but not entirely sure until I receive some correspondence from them. £31 a month is pretty low but it's better than nothing!

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

Just sitting down again now whilst DS is asleep. His reflux has been quite bad for the past few days so it's been quite a stressful and tiring few days.

This morning we popped out to Asda and picked up some groceries, spending £17 which wasn't bad for all that we got. I also bought a cot bed quilt for when DS turns one, reduced to £5 from £10, a waterproof cot bed mattress protector for £6 and some soothers which were on offer. You're supposed to throw and replace the soothers every four weeks which gets expensive, so I buy them when I see them on offer. Hopefully, DS will be sleeping in his own room in a few months so the mattress protector will be a must. I also picked up some swim nappies which had £2 off, down to £2.99 in boots. We hope to take DS swimming soon once he's had his second set of jabs.

Last night I joined weight watchers as I was given a free registration and free meeting coupon which saved me about £15. I really need to lose some weight, so hopefully will be successful at this. They have a new plan since I last followed it and I'm finding it a bit complicated but sure it'll become much clearer as the weeks go on. Wish me luck! It's £5.99 a week but I shall be paying monthly which works out at £2.99 a week - a much better deal. I know it's money we could do with in the bank instead, but I need the discipline of someone weighing me every week to succeed.

Two loads of washing have been done this morning, unfortunately had to be tumble dried as I didn't trust the weather. I put one load on the line yesterday before we went out and it was sopping wet when I got home from all the rain! S0d's law - it hasn't rained today...

A few weeks ago my wonderful Mum kindly cooked lots of healthy soups and pasta dishes for me and froze them in lunch-size portions. I mentioned that I was finding it difficult to prepare healthy lunches for myself whilst seeing to DS and usually ended up grabbing something quick and unhealthy. Unbeknown to me, she went out and bought some ingredients and cooked up lovely things for me and gave them to me whilst we were home last weekend. I thought that was so kind and thoughtful that it made me a bit emotional! I feel so blessed to have such wonderful parents, I really do.

This morning I also ordered two toys for DS for Christmas, both from the grabbit board, reduced by 70%. One of them is going up into the loft until Christmas 2012 as it is a big box of lego style blocks which will be perfect for when he's a bit older. The other will be suitable for this Christmas and that, along with a couple of other bits I've already picked up, will be pretty much all we'll buy him. We shall put some money into his post office account instead of going mad on toys and gifts. He'll be too young to understand and I'm sure the rest of the family will spoil him anyway!

Thanks to the back payments from the tax credits, I had enough in the budget to order hubby's birthday gift this morning. I was waiting until I had earned another £10 Amazon voucher from the surveys I complete, but they seem to have dried up again as they always do once I'm near payout! I had £76 + a £10 voucher to put towards it so £25 came from the bank account.

DS now awake and screaming so got to dash!

DFSD
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dreamdreamer

I had a nice surprise when I checked the bank balance this morning, two payments from tax credits, one for £171 and one for £31.

Great news! Just what you needed to lessen the blow of the imminent drop to SMP.

Last night I joined weight watchers as I was given a free registration and free meeting coupon which saved me about £15. I really need to lose some weight, so hopefully will be successful at this. They have a new plan since I last followed it and I'm finding it a bit complicated but sure it'll become much clearer as the weeks go on. Wish me luck!

GOOD LUCK!! I've been doing the new WW for 7 weeks now. I was still GAINING weight when I started it, but have lost weight every week on it (12lb in total - 23 still to go! :eek:) so it does work. And I haven't even found it that taxing to follow. The online tools are great for getting your head around out points values, tracking etc, so if you get that included, have a look.

Chocforever

Good news on the tax credit money .

Best of luck with WW. I realise it must be hard to prepare meals whilst getting everything else done and seeing to DS, but normally you sound like you eat very healthily and very well so hopefully it won't be too hard to stick to. She says, not that I have ever stuck at healthy eating for long .

My latest thing is to avoid buying cakes and biscuits. If I am desperate, it is OK to make them. I am not sure I could cope completely without them. I figure that this should be a deterrent to mindless snacking, particularly late on an evening. We shall see how it goes!

I am already finding that not being able to drive is improving my diet (not that I am recommending this as a strategy ) . There is only so much food I can carry back from town and if I get the healthy stuff first, there is no room for the snacks! I realise I could internet shop, but I like food shopping and to be able to see what is available for myself and what looks nice. It's great to see all the summer fruits in the shops already and I am doing my best to eat my fair share .