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

debtfreesomeday

I've worked out the budget this morning and I should have £334.24 'left' after all the bills, groceries, petrol etc. has been accounted for, so I've made a payment of £100 to the credit card.

This could potentially be the last full time wage I have for a fair few years now if I need to start maternity leave before the date intended in Jan, so I need to keep on top of things more than ever this month.

I've allowed for £150 for groceries, but we have £100 in nectar card points/sainsbury's vouchers so that will help greatly with any extra food costs we may have for Christmas visitors.

I've allowed £200 for petrol, but hubby has had to fill up the car this morning which took £45 or so, so there is £155 left in that budget. We're not planning any major trips anywhere so that should be fine.

On a different note, last week I ordered some really cheap sale gifts - wait for it - for next Christmas! There was an offer online and the gift sets were half price with an extra 10% off, so I've bought 7 Christmas gifts to put away for 2011 already. May seem crazy, but these will certainly help next Christmas when money is extremely tight due to part time wages and childcare. I also have 3 friend's birthdays covered for next year, as well as my sister in law from various bargains I've picked up this year. I find little things like that really help with the monthly savings as I can guarantee we have little money available when birthdays come up otherwise.

The snow has been falling thick and fast here today already and it's horrible outside. We made it to work today but am dreading the drive home as, apparently, it's horrific on the roads now. We keep hearing of road closures on the radio and now all buses have stopped running locally, still they insist on keeping us in work though. :mad:

Have a good day all

DFSD
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fizzypops

well done on your maternity savings, you sound so organised

debtfreesomeday

Thanks Fizzypops, we have to be unfortunately, otherwise we wouldn't be able to pay our bills! It's still going to be very tight but should be manageable this way.

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I've just spent £20 on 6 more Christmas/birthday gifts for next year in the Lloyds pharmacy sale with a 10% code via the grabbit boards.

This year, I've changed my tactics on gift buying slightly and am buying gifts specifically with individual people in mind - not just buying things that look nice and are a good buy which will be suitable for several people, as I bought some things last year which I didn't actually give to anyone as I couldn't make my mind up then realised they weren't particularly suitable after all! Once these gift orders arrive, they will be wrapped and labelled, ready for the birthdays throughout the year.

Chocforever

Hi DFSD

Well done with the maternity savings; that's a good amount you have saved. Did you really mean you would not have a full wage for a few years ? TBH, I am not sure how it works with maternity pay. Do you get most of your normal wage for a while and then it goes down or do they average it out over the whole maternity leave?

I think I get paid this week, along with the elusive bonus, but it must be later in the week so keeping me in suspense.

I've been thinking about moving again. I really, really want to move, even if it isn't the best time ever to sell. I figure that if I am staying on the property ladder, it doesn't matter what prices are like because it is all relative. I just need a buyer. I did a bit of research about how much the bank would be likely to lend me and the answer was more than I thought. A scary amount, in fact. So I got excited looking at properties which cost more than I previously thought I could pay. And then I wondered how I would feel about having £230k of debt. Mmmm, that is quite a lot of pressure. There is definitely a psychological barrier about going over £200k. It has reined in my recent spending spree just thinking about the interest cost!

Anyway, that is next year's dilemma and I have a few things to sort out here before I put the place on the market.

I finished my Christmas shopping today (some of us are still shopping for 2010 ) and they are all wrapped. I am away at Christmas and, for once, my clothes are all washed and ironed so I just need to pack. Oh, and go to work for a few more days. I hope to finish Thursday and travel then, weather permitting. Can't wait .

debtfreesomeday

Afternoon all

Yes, unfortunately Chocs, as soon as I start maternity leave they drop my pay to 90% of my normal wage for 6 weeks. After that it's cut to half pay plus SMP which is about £124 per week for 18 weeks, hence why we're needing to save now!
When I go back to work later next year I will have to go part time as we can't afford full time child care and I can't cope with the thought of little one being in nursery all week.

Woohoo, bonus time! I hope it's a good'un and helps with the savings.
It sounds like you know what you want to do with regards to moving too. If it's making you unhappy staying where you are then it's not worth waiting. It sounds like next year will bring some exciting changes for you too.

I hope your travel plans aren't thwarted too much by the weather Chocs. Have a wonderful Christmas and New year!

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

As planned, the credit card balance went up a bit last week as I had to put a couple of things on it - it went up to £1071.76, but after paying off £100 is now at £971.76, so signature has been updated. No more shall be put on it now unless absolutely necessary! It's coming out of my wallet tonight and being hidden away.

Today I've asked hubby to withdraw £10 from the bank account (he works in the town centre) and use it to buy some stamps and a few other bits. Any coins under 50p will be going into my sealed pot.

Tonight I'm planning on making some cakes for both hubby and I to take into our respective offices. I have all the bits in for them so don't need to spend any money.

Hopefully we can start making a list tonight of all the groceries we need in for Christmas. We're not planning on going overboard as we are not catering for Christmas day but, but we do have a few visitors coming to stay at various times over the festive period so will need to get enough in to feed them!

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

Another £3 earned in the paypal account from a survey completed last night.

yukkibear

You're so organised. I've only just about finished shopping for this year. Your weather sounds almost what we had hear. OH's work wouldn't let them leave yesterday early as they had no snow. I was taking photos and emailing him so he could show work how bad we had it, so he could come home early.

It's disappearing slowly now, we need some warm weather and rain to wash it off the roads and make them safe again.

Chocforever

Thank you for the Christmas wishes. I hope you have a great Christmas and New Year too!

Ah yes, I forgot you were going part time after the maternity leave. And there was me wondering if you were planning to have a lots of children and need several years' back to back maternity leave . Well maybe you are .

There is no need to apologise for going part time. I'm a part timer and don't have any kids. I would certainly prefer to be at home with young children rather than pay for day care all the time and I think working part time is a nice balance. What is the saying - you will never look back on your life and wish you had spent more time at work?

I've had a good day today, there was a good atmosphere at work, and travelling in the snow was fine. It's due to snow again tonight and tomorrow morning so I'm hoping it will still be OK to travel to work tomorrow and then to my family on Thursday.

Yes, I think next year is going to be a good one . Certainly very exciting for you and I am hoping to make some significant lifestyle changes which should make more time and space for the things I care about .

debtfreesomeday

yukkibear wrote: »

You're so organised. I've only just about finished shopping for this year. Your weather sounds almost what we had hear. OH's work wouldn't let them leave yesterday early as they had no snow. I was taking photos and emailing him so he could show work how bad we had it, so he could come home early.

It's disappearing slowly now, we need some warm weather and rain to wash it off the roads and make them safe again.

Probably too organised for my own good really YB! In the past I've bought bits early and then continued to buy other things as I see them later in the year so ended up with too much, or not using some gifts. This year will have to be different though as we definitely won't have the money available! My idea of wrapping and labelling birthday gifts early is so that I can 'tick off' people when I have bought for them and then will not be tempted to shop more to add to their gifts! I like to spoil people and make them happy - I'm not one for buying things for myself, I'd always go without to buy something for someone else instead, but I guess this didn't really help with the debt in the first place.

Hope the weather is improving near you. We haven't had any more snow and I don't think we're due any more, (I really hope not), but today it's freezing and everything on the ground has turned to solid ice. Hopefully the sun will come out later and help thaw it a little.

DFSD
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