Starting my journey

choogirl

Good Morning

Hope everyone is well!

Well theres been some excitement in Choo house this morning - wait for it! The postman delivered me a huge bottle of Sur* washing detergent to test out as part of a survey that I completed :j It should last us a good month :j

Today its the usual round of washing, ironing and cleaning

I've also been thinking about the house and what we need to do to it and I think I need to adopt the same thought process to saving for all the jobs as I did to the debt busting.

Any money made from ebay sales, expenditure savings, surveys, quidco money etc can all go into the house pot. One room at a time is going to be targetted and done in full. In the past we've tended to do abit to each room and not quite finished it all off but now its going to be a room at a time and everything is to be done before moving onto the next project.

Right time to do a list for Mr S online shop and then head out to buy the last few bits for the hall :T

Hope everyone has a lovely day xxx

pennywisepoundstupid

HI choo, good idea about targeting a room at a time, same thing has happened in my house were we have started a job but never got a whole room finished, maybe i need to adopt your idea.

I love it when i get washing powder or dishwasher tabs to test as they are such a huge expenditure.

choogirl

Pennywise - I will update on our progress xx

Yesterday was a HSD, bought the few remaining bits for the hall so by the end of next week I will have a beautifully decorated hall and new carpet :j

We also went to the cash and carry and spent £80 :eek:

I managed to get

12 tins tuna
8 tins coconut milk
24 tins baked beans
Salmon en croute
Gnocchi
Washing detergent (5 litre)
Fabric conditioner (5 litre)
15 chicken breasts
3 bathroom cleaner sprays
32 chipolata sausages
4 packs thick bacon

It sounds alot of money but this lot will last us ages, I'll do another shop there again next month for anything else we're running low on.

My Mr S order is at £75 at the moment but I need to spend £100 to get free delivery. I will have a look to see if theres anything I've missed or can take off and finish it off later.

My grocery budget for August is £290 so after my cash and carry shop and Mr S I should have £110 left to buy milk, veg, fruit, bread etc. It should be do-able as we're at Legoland for 3 nights and Italy for 8 nights.

Unfortunately we haven't got much beer or wine in the house so I might have to up the budget to replenish stocks summer hols essential survival kit May I add that is my survival kit and not used to pacify small children :rotfl:

On some occasions during the holidays I have been known to crack the wine open at 5pm :eek::rotfl:Hopefully this year will be a little easier as they will be out playing if the weather is decent!

mummytogirls

:rotfl: to you saying you need beer for survival in the holidays.... love it!!!

Wow you got a lot at the cash and carry didnt you, do you have to be a member there? Could do with becoming a member myself for those bargains!!!

Could you add wine and beer to the MrS order to get the price up a bit?

Are you back at work tomorrow or you off now?? x

choogirl

Hi Mummy

Isn't beer/wine on every parents summer survival kit? :rotfl:

I'm at work today, Tuesday and Wednesday - my normal hours :j I've just had to sweetalk Grandparents to have the kids and I'll look after my friends kids in return for her having mine. I've stayed away from the holiday camps as they're at least £52 for the day for 2 kids :eek:

We've got 2 weeks off so only 4 weeks to find cover for :j

You do have to be a member of the cash and carry and pay an annual membership fee of £25, I don't know how we managed to join as its normally quite hard to join them. I'll PM you which one we're at

I also forgot that we also bought 2 x 1kg bottles of Heinz tom ketchup and 2 x 1litre bottles of Flash.

Hope you have a good day xxxx

pennywisepoundstupid

Wow you got loads from the cash and carry.

I too have been known to sink a glass of wine before 6pm inthe school hols:o.

mummytogirls

:rotfl: Choo my DD2 would have me drinking every single day if I let her get to me!! Shes a right little handful/madam/swine!! She at 2 bullies DD1 who is 4! and DD1 lets her :cool:. God help me when they get even older.

£52 for the holiday camp :eek:, is that per day?!

My DD's are still going to mil so I cant still get away with holidays. Its when they dont really go to her im wondering if she will retract her services!!

Thats cash and carry sounds fab, will defo look into where it is and how far away. Im certain it will be slightly nearer than you are.

Did you amend your order? I did mine and ended up with it 4p more!!! xx

choogirl

Good Morning

Mummy - it must be youngest children that are the hardest, my DD is the same and is a right madam when she gets going. Its always a little snide comment or nip at DS until she gets him so angry and worked up he gets into trouble for hitting her. I sometimes think she thinks the punch she receives from his is worth it as she gets so much enjoyment from winding him up :rotfl:

Yep £52 is the going rate for summer camps near us, luckily I am fortunate enough that Grandparents will help out otherwise nearly all my wages would all be going to be paying childcare over the holidays!

Well not much to report this morning - I have sent my order to Mr S and its come in at £108.83 but that has got all the staples and meat on that we should need until the next payday in August. I will just need to buy milk, bread, fruit and veg top ups now every week. Hopefully it will be a case of just having a quick 15 minutes whizz round the supermarket once a week now instead of trying to do a big shop every week with 2 kids in tow, which is never the most pleasurable experience!

I also did a caluculation last night on how much money we saved by buying from the Cash and Carry instead of buying at Mr S.
If I'd bought everything from Mr S instead I would have spent £148 instead of the £80 I spent at the cash and carry. Even with fuel and lunch costs factored in we've still managed to save a fair whack of cash!

Tonight is going to be spent reconciling my budget spreadsheet and doing a final costing of how much the hall re-decoration has cost us. I'm also going to plan how much we need to be saving each month towards our next project (still to be decided but so many to choose from)

Finally I'm going to set a new challenge to myself called Alcohol free days during school hols - abbreviated to AFDSH. As the holidays started yesterday and I didn't touch a drop I can claim my first one! :j

1 AFDSH

choogirl

Just logged onto Quidco and they've received my cashback and it will be paid on the next payment run - another £17.39 to the handbag fund :j

I'm going to save up £100, buy the handbag and then any other bits that I make from surveys, quidco, ebay etc are going straight to the house fund to make it all gorgeous again!

choogirl

Good Morning

I got paid yesterday :j The boss made a surprise appearance in the office so we were all paid before he disappeared off again in meetings and holiday AGAIN!

Well the hall is looking gorgeous but now its making the rest of the house look shabby. DH was making noises last night about going to New York over New Year and it was £2k :eek: This was just for flights and accomodation and we'd still need spending money.

That amount of money would sort the 2 kids rooms, spare room and kids bathroom out so Mr Choo was firmly told we would not be booking any city breaks and expensive holidays until the house is looking gorgeous again.

I am now focussing firmly on getting the house sorted out and will be using the same vigour and enthusiasm as when I was clearing debts.

Mr S delivered my shopping last night, they turned up with 10 minutes to spare before the end of the specified delivery slot. Pity as they always give a £10 voucher if they miss their slot.

Both freezers are full to bursting and the fridge looks healthy again. The cupboards have got plenty of cereal, pasta and rice in them so we won't starve.

I need to sort out my Paypal account as I have a few surveys nearing payout. DH has used our current account details for his paypal account so its causing me no end of problems. We have an old current account that I can use but of course all the online banking details have been forgotten and debit card expired so I've had to request everything again.

Better get on with some paid work

Hope everyone has a lovely day!

2AFDSH