determined to be debtfree!

PinotGrigio41

Just dropping by to wish you all a very happy Christmas !!
:rudolf:

choogirl

Hi DFW

Sorry to hear that the little ones are ill, I hope you and DH don't get it.

Have a lovely Christmas xxx

banwa

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

But strangely I had a random call from the letting agents management dept about the money i'd claimed for from previous tenants destroying the home (:mad:) i'd given up hope on a positive outcome but they have agreed to pay 1/3 of costs i had to pay for carpet & garden :jwhich is definitely better than nothing and I won't dispute it as I had no schedule of condition! So that equates to around £200 :j:T

Great news DFW:T

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

My dad has just transferred £200 into my bank account for myself, dh & kids so have put £50 straight into ds1 account and left the rest for jan sales :T i think i may be able to affford some new pans now yey :T

Aren't Dads the best?:A

Merry Christmas DFW:)

debtfreewannabe321

Good morning

Thank you for all the well wishes, I am better now lol but seem to have passed it on to sister in law, niece, daughter (AGAIN) little son (AGAIN) and husband :o:o:o:o OOPS!! It really isn't a nice bug at all so i hope this is the last round of it, i've now had it 2x as have the two little ones :eek:

So christmas went well, we had bbq roast pork (made by hubby) & roast chicken with all the trimmings :T was yummy and amazingly everyone was well enough xmas day to eat :T:T

Boxing day i was in bed by 5pm (only got out at 11.30am) and slept solidly for 15 hours! so i was better by 27th, just in time to look after the sick kids !

Today I'm taking a trip to ikea to see if we can find some cheap (ish) storage for the kids toys. They have baskets in their room but these are falling to pieces and to be honest just aren't big enough!!!! Even though we had a very mse christmas (compared to previous ones!) they still had tonnes of toys (oops) so it's a good job really i sold a load before christmas :rotfl:

I've already ordered around 10 pressies for next year's birthday's & christmas for family all half price or better from mothercare & a book case for the kids (only 15% off but i've had my eye on it for a while ) and 5% cashback through quidco.

I also ordered new pans which is what we desperately needed :T and then MIL left her pans that she had lent us for xmas dinner and said on leaving, these are for you, i have more at home!! :eek: so now hoping debenhams will take back the pans once they arrive here as we don't need them now and can save £80 on returning them

Bank not looking great really, we get paid friday so not too bad. Am also visiting mum & nan on friday for the day then back home by new years eve.

So anyway I have been reading most diaries that are near to the top of my subscriptions but will have a proper catch up later on after ikea

dfw :cool:

mildredalien

Glad you are feeling better, fingers crossed the bug doesn't make it to round 3!

slm6002

I agree i am very happy that at least you are feeling better even if the others are still not right. Glad Christmas day was good and i know what you mean about still having piles of toys even though not buying too much. Would love to go to ikea as never been. Think i would spend far too much money if i did go so maybe better to stay away for a while

debtfreewannabe321

well I went shopping yesterday and have to say I didn't really enjoy it :eek::eek: WHAT is the matter with me?! Has MSE finally got the better of me :eek::eek:

I went for what i needed and no more :T:T:T:T:T

However Ikea is more expensive than i remember :eek: so one toy storage thing later (and a few door mats -59p :money:, and dolls clothes- £5.99 :money: rather than the £20 odd quid ones she wanted from toys'r'us :T) and we left! It cost altogether £112 :eek::eek::eek::eek: I nearly died when she told me!!!! I have to say though it has really de-cluttered our living room, and their bedroom so i think was well worth it :cool:

I also had a detour to the shopping centre and took ds1 to primarni he hs outgrown his jeans :eek: i didn't believe him as they were bought only 12 weeks ago, but he lifted his top up and the buttons were all undone and they were 'resting' rather precariously on his hips so that they were long enough to reach his trainers :o oops bad mummy for not believing him! So £60 later (he managed to pick up ONE thing in the sale :mad:) and we were ready for home! I did browse in a few other shops but i really didn't enjoy it like i used to?! :think:

So anyway have spent the morning thus far doing my spreadsheet for jan. Already we have only £325 spare for cash & petrol after all other spends, bills and savings pots are taken into consideration. :eek: : eek : indeed not a good way to start a new frugal mse year

I have promised to go to my mothers tomorrow & also my grandma's house so need to take into account about 3/4 of a tank of petrol for that trip. then another lot of petrol money to take ds1 to school on tuesday evening!!!

Oh and talking of ds1. I bought him some st johns wort yesterday, I can't talk him into seeing a counsellor, he won't see a dr, and he rarely opens up to me. I get half sentences, and if i dare ask what the heck he is on about i get a gob full and told 'i jus' tol' ya forgodsake' *mumble mumble*

*sigh*

So going to see how we go on that one.

I also broached the subject of changing schools, again he is half/half :wall: so not sure whether to call around schools and see if spaces are available and if they hold them for a term (i need to give term's notice where he is) ho hum

I think I am going to use my diary over the next few weeks as a bit of a spend diary, i need to get back in check spends on food, petrol, and non essentials !!

DH is away from 2nd week in Jan, ds1 is bk to school next week so hoping i can get away with a smaller shop this month on food! We still have food left so i will do an inventory/. I'm still grappling with dh on the food spends. He thinks we should cut out entertainment budget & put it all on the food. He wants to eat 'good' food and not the rubbish i buy . His lbm isn't exactly spurring him on the same way as i was. He is more of a grump and moan about everything rather than just get used to the budget we have for the next few years and then enjoy ourselves ..not sure what to say to him!

ANyway i have rattled on as usual for far too long. Sorry doubt any one is still reading now :rotfl: so am going to go and see what i have achieved this year and report back

debtfreewannabe321

Good things in 2011

• Having my LBM !! Way back in January now, and feels like i've been doing this forever lol
• Cut my sky bill by half :T and phone bill by a quarter
  
• Started surveying and have around £50 either on its way to me or in my gift envelope downstairs for 2012!
• Did a bit of comping, won that fab trip to london to see Thriller & hotel stay :cool:
• Have had 3 or 4 breaks away and all paid for with savings or cash
• Not used credit cards since January :T:j
• Cut all credit cards up, cancelled overdrafts, and refused cards that have been sent through my door (even after i went into a dmp ??? )
• Entered the DMP after finding the cccs and not looked back!
• Found MSE through the CCCS and started my diary which has kept me on track all year
• Made some fab mse friends :T
• Got hubby back safe & sound from afghan
• Found out that a budget is actually a godsend (need to sell this to dh still though)
  
• Cut Gas & elec bills & got £100 cashback :T
• Bought furniture for my room, kids room, ds1 room & a car all with cash saved up and nothing on credit!!!
• Have reduced my debt by £4,000 or thereabouts
• Sorted out my depression
  
• paid for car insurance & car tax with savings (thanks to post office card and other savings pots)
• I have tenants!! :j
• I won back £200 for damage to my property
  
• have made money from selling through fb, ebay, amazon
• Learned what a NSD is :eek::rotfl:
• had an mse christmas and it still felt like we had tonnes of stuff :T
  

Can't think of anymore atm, but if i do i will add them


Bad things about 2011:

• it's taken me a while to get into the budget and stop unneccessarily spending money we don't have
• really can't get on with ebaying :o
• keep 'forgetting' to fill out spend diary- need to rectify this it really helped in the early days!

Ummm again there are probably loads more bad ones :rotfl:my brain has a funny thing of forgetting those :rotfl:but I say let's focus on the positive anyway :cool: and i feel looking at that list of 'good' things i've come a very long way since 2010 :T:j and would love to thank everyone at mse & cccs for helping me


Here's to a [STRIKE]fabulous[/STRIKE] FRUGALous 2012 :beer:


:iloveyou::smileyhea

debtfreewannabe321

have updated sig with some new targets, may include one for weight loss too......but really not 'feeling' the love for that one :rotfl:

Beencounting

Hi DFW321

I LURVE your Good Things List, it's fab :T

It sounds like you've had a great journey (although I guess there's been some ups and downs on the way - I've yet to catch up on your diary )! You've achieved loads in 2011 - reduced debt by a huge amount, paid for everything cash and had a few lovely treats (paid for in cash/wins ) along the way. WOW!!!

I think you should leave the 'negative' list as short as it is and concentrate on the positives, adding any extras as you think of them .

Well done, your list has inspired me to do something similar for my diary...need to get my thinking cap on

Been