2011 diary - MFW - Can't quite believe it!

Caroline73_2

I'm afraid not Katsu. It's at a hospital which is very close to the town centre and train station so everywhere is double yellow lines or pay for parking.

Hopefully as I'm part time the wait for a permit might not be that long.

pupsicola

Well done on clearing your debt, sounds like its a massive relief to you. I wish you well with your mfw plans too. It is well worth it

Caroline73_2

I've got so organised with my finances this month that I can't actually do much until payday again! I'm finding it so frustrating, :rotfl:

My daily spend regime (rather than weekly) is going well. I had a haircut this week and the cars petrol is 75% full. I also have 4 days worth of proper meals (eg a homemade lasagne) It would never had been like this on Wednesday usually! Tomorrows money will be spent on haircuts for the boys.

I have cashed in £6 on surveys/cashback today so when that hits my account I can overpay that. I've also managed to get an extra shift at work on Saturday. I won't get paid that until the end of January but I should get a really nice pay packet as I've worked 90 hours in December.

sarahevie

completely agree re house prices. Haven't got a clue what ours would be worth. Possibly negative equity though as we bought 2007.

Lots of people are sitting it out (not moving) and therefore not a lot of house sales to compare with. Two 3 beds on our street (they're terraced so essentially the same.) sold for for £175,000 and £169,000 this year.

Then a four bed semi went on the market at £195,000 (reasonable you would imagine compared to the terraces was on 9 months and has recently been rented. Don't know what that says about the market but makes it difficult knowing what to do for the best.

Caroline73_2

All the Christmas Shopping is done - both food and presents and there is nothing left to over pay this month so those really are my 2010 figures.

I've been filling in some spread sheets. I have 2011 all planned out with regard to income and expenditure. I am hoping for a January 2011 overpay of between £500-600, once I've paid my tax bill and credit card. It's a bit difficult to judge as I'm not sure how much petrol I will be using to get to and from my new job.

I'm not naturally organised so this is all foreign to me! I have even written a housework diary and 4 weekly meal planner (Thanks flylady!) so I know what I need to do each day. It keeps me off the streets I suppose!

I will start a big declutter in January so I can hopefully make a bit of money via ebay, but I have to weigh up the money earnt versus effort. I could spend a day listing stuff and posting it or I could take it a charity shop and go to work instead. The latter will earn me more and cause less stress. I need to be careful not to let any time with the family suffer because of the increased hours with the new job.

I think I am becoming slightly obsessive - is this a bad thing? DH and I keep repeating "Do I want to buy this or have a new house?", we're also talking each other out of buying things. I can't imagine doing this without him - as we've both had a lot of debt we're seeing things from the same view point.

If I don't post again before the weekend, have a great Christmas!!!!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Happy Christmas and good luck for a frugal 2011

Squirrel:j

pammyj74

Hi Caroline,

Its good that you and OH are on the same page, it can be really hard doing it on your own but I know if I was still with my ex I would never in a million years have been able to OP what I have this year! He was useless with money.

Good luck with the organising. I was thinking of doing a meal diary but mostly because my son winds me up every day with 'What are we having for tea!!' Would be good not to have to keep thinking about it. As for the housework diary, I would only disappoint myself that I didnt keep it up lol Think I have tried it before and with the kids helping as well but it fell by the wayside!

I am really obsessed about it all and its hard to try and keep it from family and friends as they tend to think you are a bit weird living that way.

Can I ask where you get your hair cut, is it a decent price? I am thinking of getting mine done but dont want to pay stupid money for 15 minutes work!

Hope the new job is working out for you.

Merry Xmas and heres to an organised and successful 2011

Caroline73_2

I had a great Christmas. My eldest was at his Dad's on Christmas Day though so that put a dampened on it a bit. The boys got so many toys but were so grateful and well mannered it was lovely. We used the Portable North Pole thing to do a message for Sam and he was over the moon.

I had Mum and Stepdad on Christmas Day, hubby cooked an amazing lunch. We got a 'small' turkey from Tesco for £12 and it was plenty for us and a curry for today. Hubby and I didn't get each other presents but it didn't matter.

Boxing Day we went to SIL and everyone was totally spoilt. I got £80 in hobbycraft vouchers and £20 in New Look vouchers. I spent the NL vouchers almost immediately online but then spent another £42 on top of that. I got quite a lot for my money though. I found it hard to actually spend it though and hubby talked me into it. I'm still finding the balance hard. As he reminded me, is it money we have and I will wear the clothes as they are everyday basics.

Yesterday my brother and his girlfriend came over for supper. Had a great lasagne that hubby made. I hate cooking and he is so much better. If only he didn't earn 3 times my wage he'd be a great house husband!

Today though I want to get back to business! I want to start 2011 NOW. I hate this post Christmas limbo. :rotfl:I'm hoping I can get the tree down today but I think that I may have to wait until tomorrow as that's what i negotiated last week.

I need to catch up with surveys over the next couple of days, when i get hubby's wages I can OP for January. I have paid off CC which wasn't too bad, I only used it as I wasn't sure where pay days were. I am hoping to pay £800 off.

Disappointment in my OP plan for 2011 already I have an early payment fee on the mortgage which I forgot about, so if we move and can't just extend this mortgage then we have to pay over £3k. The bank says we maybe able to move and extend the mortgage but might not. It depends on the house we are buying. Argh.

Pammy - I go to Headquarters along Gold St. I think it's £25 ish for a cut and blow dry, all the stylists are really good there and they do the boys hair nicely too. the owner lives on the road in between ours.

Pennypincher2

Hello,

I am new too. Grim Visa bill in this month - so not as good as you, need to do bills tonight and put best foot forward from there - there will be changes...

You sound pretty well organised and on fire. I wait for your diary with excitement as I think you are going to really do well 2011.

Bye PP (in training)

Caroline73_2

I sent off £800 for my January OP yesterday and then my blooming laptop died. It's over three years old so I weighed up repair or new and decided on new. I thought with the sales and it being pre VAT rise I'd find a bargain. I got one for £279 with all the bits we need and I got cashback via TCB so I'm happy (sort of). I did get a some extra work this week so I earned enough with those shifts to pay for it.

I've been looking at our expenditure and ways to improve it for 2011. The things we could do to decrease expenditure are limited

• cancel Sky - we rarely go out so it's our only entertainment. I would change to Virgin which is cheaper but I dont want to get tied into a contract as we are hopefully moving.
• cancel phone contract - I will do this in March when it expires. I'm only on a fairly low package at the moment.
• reduce food bill - I have done a 4 weekly food planner but I will change meals based on any bargains about. We have one take away a week as a treat but I could drop it to fortnightly.

I take out £25 a day for the family which covers food, petrol, clothes and entertainment. I've based this on what we spent last year.

Our main way of OP will be to increase our income though. I have my new job starting on the 10th, as well as my current job. DH has a guaranteed bonus in a few months time. Other ways will be

• Do all surveys and mystery shopping that I can
• Save all £2 coins in my jar
• Declutter via ebay and car boots
• Save anything that doesn't get spent from daily budget - it will give me an opportunity to save a bit each day.

I have decided to work out the budget on each payday and then overpay immediately so I save on the interest straight away, if any emergencies crop up I can pay them on my CC and the pay it off the next month before I incur any interest charges.

Oh well that's my end of 2010 waffle! Thanks for reading, you deserve a medal!