determined to be debtfree!

debtfreewannabe321

oooh well i think the race is still on then slm lol...my month finishes next monday!

I've been paid my tax credits today :j but in between me checking my bank last night and this morning, i went £20 overdrawn!!!:mad:!!! so now i'm not sure if i will be charged or not !!!

I've put the monthly money into the school fee fund, the insurance(s) fund, and the gift fund! not much money left really but at least they are paid :T

I need food, but will do an inventory first. DH thinks that unless there is a full fridge and full cupboards and full freezer, we will starve. Fact. end of story. I shall prove him wrong! And I WILL get enough food until monday on a small budget (i will, i will, i bl00dy will ) bread is made for the next few days, will do some cakes later, get value crisps and pop and eat beans on toast for the foreseeable future.

Playgroup today if it is on (not sure cos of half term, am checking though as house is already trashed)

Need to post ebay items, one being picked up tomorrow :T wish they would all pick up then i wouldn't need to waste my time packing them all together

I have more things to list on ebay but am waiting for a free listing weekend. :cool:

I still can't find my wii fit dvd so think i will buy some cheap weighing scales on pay day.

Heating is still off :T and we all have colds from the weekend, when funnily enough the heating was on all day because we were in the caravan and i didn't need to pay for it :rotfl:

I have decided what I want for christmas but am thinking it is quite expensive, but it's something I really want to do (mini course) so thinking I may just get it from dh and it can be a joint christmas/birthday present :cool:

best dash, lots to do and am sat here not really wanting to move!

dfw :A

debtfreewannabe321

Ok well I am feeling pretty downtrodden at the moment. I guess the good news is I got weekly shopping, and sent off 6 ebay parcels for less that £40. (will have to check receipt for food to add to total later but is around £30 as needed nappies, pasta & meat!)

Bad news is I have 18p left in my bank account

........

So I have done a meal planner:
Omelette & salad
Pizza (HM)
Jacket Potato with either prawns (were in freezer already) or cheese & beans
Chilli & wedges
Spag Bol
sausage casserole with sweet potato

I have one variety pack of biscuits to last a week, with 3 children, 2 of whom are on growth spurts :eek:should be fun. Not! I didn't have any money for fruit so that will have to wait until monday. Had to buy The sausages, mince, eggs, wedges...well in fact i had to buy everything I really was at the end of my freezer & cupboards

I think it is safe to say I cannot do a monthly shop for less than £250 for 5 of us!!

I am going to start compiling a shopping list together of stuff we need for next month. I will try and buy the meat, staple items & milk in bulk alongside frozen veg...also nappies & wipes. Then all i have to buy each week is yoghurts (may check dates on these see if i can buy these in bulk for 2 weeks at a time?!) fresh fruit/veg & anything else that has run out. I will sit with dh at some point and get him to help me with a meal plan because he likes to cook more than me so i will see what he fancies cooking. I reckon we can buy 3 weeks worth of food but make enough batches extra from that to feed us for the 4th week....I will also carry on making bread. Much cheaper, and tastier. Just a little time consuming!

Plan for this week is to now have 5 nsd's in a row.....:rotfl:i wonder if i can do it?! 3 is a record so far in a row!

Am going to re-list stuff on ebay wed/thurs eve for 10 days and also list things on facebook, free to advertise there and also people usually pick up so win, win

ok that's enough for now. Not feeling much better. Off to have a cup of tea. We've plenty of teabags & milk so this is now my staple item of food source for the next week :rotfl:

slm6002

well done on getting everything you needed. Picked up the car and went to Mr T's on way home - kind neighbour had taken kids to park for and hour (she is great!). Got fruit and bread to last a little while now. Was disapointed when i checked my free pizza voucher and realised it ran out last week - gutted as i had 2 free meals worth. Never mind used a few others instead and at least we now have some food. We will keep each other going

abba1772

glad you had a nice break.....well done on the 5 nsd's xxxxxxx

debtfreewannabe321

Wednesday

Only 5 days till pay day!!! I can't believe i'm counting down like i used to be, really wish I could get some tenants asap so my income goes up !! Good news is though that the house will be ready for tenants tomorrow the carpet is being fitted then and everything is all paid for. I've sorted out someone to show prospective tenants around the house, and i'm going to do my own schedule of condition. All i'm paying the management company for now is checks on tenants and the drafting of the tenancy agreement. So £225 tops! They of course won't be getting any money until i have tenants because I in turn have no money to give them

Need to clean house today, wait in for someone to pick up something they won on ebay (only £4 but better than nothing, and considering the item cost me £5 new and i've had 2 years of use win win for me lol)

I've re-listed several items on ebay, also listed about 15 things on facebook for sale. I spent some of my ebay money (in paypal) on 2 halloween costumes for 2 lil ones, i forgot they were invited to 2 different parties next monday, one with nursery, the other with a playgroup so thought i ought to get them something! so 2 outfits plus postage came in at £5 i'm getting good at the last second out bidding thing on ebay

DH & I also went through our wardrobes last night have 1 bag of stuff to go to recycling, few things to sell & lots of rubbish in there (really honestly do not know how it got in there, suspecting my children though as it wasn't 'rubbish' to begin with.....i.e a whole bottle of estee lauder perfume emptied out over a scarf :wall: empty tubs of cream & talc- mostly found all over my floor the other week - and for love nor money could i find the empty bottles then!!! :doh:KIDS :mad:

Checked bank this morning. Still no money magically appearing. Shame that. I won't stop praying for it to happen though, :cool:

dfw :A

debtfreewannabe321

ebay item picked up! money in change jar, will take the money to my bank at some point and pay into my f&f account! Checked what money i owe on smallest debts and on 5 creditors I owe just over a grand. So may try and see if I can get enough money together to settle a few of those after xmas. If I pay 50% of what I owe that will mean I only need to save 500-600? Not 100% certain on how it all works but will have a look around on some other threads for ideas on how much I may need to pay them off.

Weather here is awful, black skies and rain and dh telling me I need to put heating on. It's not that cold and i've refused to until next month/week....he'll thank me when the bill comes in i'm certain

slm6002

Well done on the ebay sales and also from keeping OH from turning on heating. My OH is terrible for turning it on and then i dont realise until its so hot. We are all sitting watching a film under blankets currently. Turned my house phone back on this morning and it hasnt stopped. Not even thought about F&F payments yet!

debtfreewannabe321

we're also watching a film...peace :T although i'm not paying much attention as we've seen it about 50 times in the last week :wall:thats the best £2 i've spent in a while!!! (Matilda if you are wondering which film is so fascinating :rotfl:)

I've been rather productive today :A

2 letters sent off to creditors asking again to reconsider dropping the interest!
1 letter to a lovely lady who is running a course near me and i can start on the 5th nov :j dh has said i can have the money from the 'gift' fund to pay for it and it's my christmas pressie. It's £110 for a 5 week course on meditation :A i'm really looking forward to it

I've also signed all the legal papers for the house to be re-marketed and that has been sent too!

The sausage casserole was a great success :T even ds1 & ds2 ate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that is a rarity!!!! Will def be making that again and it was super cheap! They liked it so much though there is not enough left to freeze as a whole batch lol so will save the rest for dh's lunch tomorrow

Need to start finishing off some of these sock monkeys tonight. Will try and get 5 all limbed up and no holey bits lol and finish their mouths all together (and once I have bought embroidery thread!)

No watchers on ebay yet and no interest in stuff on facebook booooooooooooooooo. Still I will keep re-listing. I've not had to re-list things more than 3 times usually before someone buys :rotfl:

SLM if i were you, i'd answer the phone. I ignored it for ages and it kept ringing. In the end I had enough and answered it and told them i didn't wish to discuss my account on the telephone, they were to write to me instead. I then told them i'd made a note they had called and if they insisted on doing so after I had asked them not too, I would have them done for harrassment :rotfl: the little speech worked wonders on all of them and no calls after that :T

dfw x

slm6002

To be honest they have all been great. I know pre DMP when i called and asked if i could pay a day later or maybe slightly less they were awful. Since telling them i am going through the dmp route they have been really friendly to me and very understanding. I have been quite surprised, although feel this is setting me up for a big down when they no longer want to cooperate!

Receipe for sausage casserole ?

debtfreewannabe321

• sausages (i just used frozen ones about 12)
• 1 bag of sweet potatoes (1kg) - you'll need approx 3/4 of these
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 can of cannellini beans in water
• 1 can of sweetcorn
• 1 small onion
• Red lentils to bulk it up a bit so it's more like a broth

Grill the sausages and chop into chunks, meanwhile peel, chop into chunks and par boil the sweet potatoes (for about 5 mins or so).
Sweat the onions then put into a casserole dish with the chopped tomatoes, cannellini beans, sweetcorn, red lentils, potatoes and sausage chunks, mix together and put into the oven until everything bubbles together.
Serve in bowls.

I used the slow cooker instead of doing it this way though and just chucked it all in around lunch time and it was done by 4.30 :T i grilled sausages first though as i hate eating sausages that aren't brown, even if they are cooked :rotfl:

It really was yummy though!