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

debtfreesomeday

Grrr, just wrote a long post and it vanished. :mad:

To sum up, I sold the crib at work for £20, which will cover the cost of the moses basket stand I bought today, costing £20. I also spent another £10 or so on some reduced larger sized baby bodysuits, a parasol clip (which I found cheaper in a local shop than it is on ebay!) bath thermometer and some toy attachment clips to use on the pram. All in all, I feel I got quite a bit for my money.
The moses basket also arrived today and it's lovely. I'm really pleased with that bargain as it was £12 more expensive in store when I saw it today. Thankfully I was in when the delivery van turned up as this particular delivery company are an nightmare if you miss a delivery - we always end up driving the 5 miles or so to their depot to pick the parcel up ourselves and it's always a hassle as 9 times out of 10 they can never find the parcel!

We had to fill the car up with petrol last night, costing £43. That's the first petrol we've had to put in in this month's budget so hopefully the £150 petrol budget will be more than ample this month.

There is approx £130 left in the grocery budget after buying some shopping the other day. We are well stocked up so that should hopefully be fine too.

Hubby is out all day today so I have been mostly on my own (hence the shopping trips!). I have got quite a bit of housework done too though - I've hoovered downstairs through, cleaned the kitchen floor and done 2 loads of washing which is all dry and put away. I wanted to hoover upstairs too today but am too tired to do so now, it can wait until tomorrow - hubby will do it then. The dishwasher has been stacked and done but I don't have the energy to unstack it now, will do that tomorrow too.

I cooked a lasagne for the boys last night and have frozen a couple of leftover portions for hubby's lunches next week. Tomorrow we are going out for lunch, so will be spending a little, but hubby has offered to pay for that. It's not a costly place, but will probably come in at £12 or so.

The Christmas shopping is nearly done. :j I just need to pick up two vouchers which I have already allowed for within the budget. I'll try and do that tomorrow. Then it's just one little token gift left to get and we're done.

Off to turn the heating down now, surprisingly I'm actually too warm in here tonight so will save a few pennies and turn the thermostat down a little!

Have a good weekend all
DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

Just found a brilliant sale section on the M&P website, and ordered 4 lovely baby gift set outfits for £2 each instead of £12 each as 3 of my friends have had/will be having babies in the next few months - these will make lovely gifts, plus one in a bigger size for our little bubs. Also bought a maternity blouse reduced from £35 to £8 to wear for Christmas day - we're at the inlaws this year and there will be lots of guests I have yet to meet, so best make an effort!

DFSD

Chocforever

Well done with the finds on the M&P site.

I am not sure I can claim to have taken it easy this weekend . I had to work yesterday, though it was not too taxing and it was quite nice to get a few things done without the usual distractions and phone calls.

My mum had asked for a red Pure radio for Xmas and it turns out that everyone wants the red one (probably because most of the colours are a bit too 70s; dull green and chocolate brown). After a bit of searching on the Internet, I thought I had reserved one at Sainsburys and got it sent to my nearest store. I debated about walking there in the ice today; I really did not want to but it was only reserved until Friday and I may not get another chance to go. So I headed up there (didn't dare take the car due to the state of the roads) only for them to say their system was showing it as out of stock :mad:. They felt duty bound to search their stores and, sure enough, they eventually found my radio. Hurray! So a worthwhile trip after all.

Other than that, I've been doing a bit of baking, cooking, ironing etc to try to make things a bit easier this week. I am starting to flag now, but really need to get some paperwork done and tidy around a bit before a soak in the bath.

Have a great week DFSD!

Chocforever

Hi DFSD

Hope you are OK and staying warm.

I've eased back on the MSing because of the tiredness. However, I still need to get a few done that I had already committed to and managed four of them today which was good. I am really hoping the weather isn't too bad on Sunday so I can get the two done that need me to drive. Actually, the snow isn't too bad here and it looks like it will warm up by Saturday so that should get rid of the snow and ice.

I should get the rest of my test results back soon and then I will be able to start treatment. I never thought I would be so enthusiastic about starting any kind of medical treatment :rotfl: and I am looking forward to regaining some energy . I am almost missing the exercise and aerobics. Well, almost .

Best wishes

debtfreesomeday

Hi Chocs

I'm fine thanks - no snow here yet too thankfully. My parents are coming up this weekend so I really hope the snow stays away.

Sorry to hear you are still feeling under the weather, I do hope the test results come back soon so you can get your treatment underway and hopefully start feeling better. Everything seems more difficult when you're tired, doesn't it.

Well done on keeping the MS's up though, you are very committed!

On the finance front, we are doing ok this month so far. The first loan repayment came out of the bank account yesterday so we are less than 3 years away from being debt free (albeit, only just!). The direct debits are much more ordered now with the two loan repayments gone and 90% is out of the bank account on the 1st of the month, so we only have about another £60 in DD's to come out of the account this month which is great - it doesn't look like we have much money left, but at least what's in there is pretty much ours.

We delivered the baby crib yesterday and picked up the £20 we made on that. The lady who bought it was over the moon with it too which was nice.

Quidco paid just under £10 into the account in the last couple of days, so that's a little extra in the account.

We also received the £50 in Sainsbury's vouchers a couple of days ago, from the promotion that was running when we took the loan out. We'll save these for Christmas/New Year as we shall now be having a couple of people to stay it seems and, together with the £50 we have on the nectar card, will pay for some groceries over that period.

I found a Christmas bargain in Tesco this week - their Christmas cheeseboard selections were half price from £6 to £3 so I bought two as the best before date is not until 27th December. Whether they'll last until then with hubby on the scene, I'm not so sure!

Earlier in the week I picked up two vouchers that I needed to (almost) finish the Christmas shopping. Now I just have one more little token gift to buy and we're done. Not sure what to get yet but it will be under £10. I am also waiting on the gift membership we bought with the Tesco vouchers as a gift for someone. I do hope it is returned soon.

Think that's all for now...

Have a good day all

DFSD
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Chocforever

Have a lovely weekend with your parents DFSD

And well done for bringing in those bits of extra money from Quidco and selling the crib. It can make all the difference near pay day.

Best wishes

debtfreesomeday

Thanks Chocs, we all had such a lovely weekend together; Monday comes round too soon as usual. Hope you had a nice relaxing weekend yourself.

debtfreesomeday

This morning the petrol light came on in the car, so we put £20 in it. We usually fill it, but it was a bit more of an expensive garage so will fill up at a cheaper place in the week. We've only spent £63 on petrol so far this month, although my lovely parents put £10 in at the weekend too as I did quite a lot of driving when we went out for the day on Saturday, bless them.
They also bought us lots of shopping and household bits and pieces I stocked up on whilst out shopping with them. I really didn't want them to and would never have picked things up if I'd known they would insist on paying at the checkout with their own shopping, it is so kind of them. My Dad also found a bargain hairdryer in an Argos sale bin after mine blew up on Friday. He also insisted on paying for that. I feel bad. Mum also bought lots of home cooking for our freezer too which is wonderful! I had some of her home made soup for my lunch today and hubby took a HM pizza for his lunch, with a snack of HM cheese scones!

Last week I found a good deal on shoes for hubby so ordered 3 pairs. He has huge feet, so finding affordable and good quality shoes that fit is usually a nightmare. These ranged in price from £15 to £30 - I'll get him to try them on when they arrive and send any back that need to be returned. Like myself, he only has one pair of 'everyday' shoes and they are nearly falling apart, so he is in dire need of some new ones. I know that his mother has bought him some for Christmas (as I ordered them for her!) but he really needs more than one pair of shoes, and it's rare that we can afford to buy new ones, bar birthdays and Christmas. I feel terrible he doesn't have lots of nice new things and he has to think of every purchase to the last penny. I wish I could treat him more.


One of the M&P orders I placed last week was showing out of stock, so I phoned them and cancelled it as their customer service is notoriously poor, so didn't fancy waiting ages for things that weren't essential. £20.98 should be refunded to my card soon from that. That will cover one of the pairs of shoes.

Dinner tonight is sorted - yesterday's leftover cottage pie and veg. I was hoping to get some chores done tonight - finish putting the decs up, do some washing and hoover through; but I'm in quite a bit of pain today and fancy nothing but lying on the sofa in my PJ's. I've got burning pains under my ribs which I assume is from baby making room in there, and the kicking is proving very painful today. I haven't slept well all weekend, so sure that's not helping either. Home time can't come quick enough today.

DFSD

Chocforever

Hi DFSD

That sounds like a lovely weekend. And great that they brought some home made treats to keep you going this week

I hope you are taking it easy tonight and snuggled under a blanket .

It is sooo cold here tonight and I was very glad to get home and in the warm. I had a quietish weekend. I got my MSs done on Sunday; the snow has all gone so it was easy to get them done. I sold a couple of things on Ebay and the items have been paid for and despatched so that was nice and quick. Other than that, I caught up with friends and family and the time went very quickly indeed.

I made my final overpayment on the mortgage so from January I can start saving towards the new place.... I've kept a balance on the mortgage in case I want to draw down on it for the new place, but the payments are much reduced so I can start putting some money away. But first Xmas, and I need to check out how many more presents need to be bought and dig out those Xmas cards

Best wishes

debtfreesomeday

It sounds like you had a productive weekend too Chocs. Well done on the ebay sales and the progress with the mortgage, what a great way to head into a New Year. Good luck with the Christmas shopping!