Please Stop Me Now....

mum2one

Fingerprints poem (great for grandparents, - framed )

There used to be so many
Of my fingerprints to see
On furniture and walls and things
From sticky grubby me

But if you stop and think a while
You'll see i'm growing fast
Those little handprints disappear
They can't bring back whats passed

So here's a small reminder
To keep, not wipe away
Of tiny hands and how they looked
To make you smile some day



Flying ahead - but theres some ideas for bday / xmas presents, (budget beaters) x

A girly hamper - hair turban, bath bits, chocolate, wine, make up, etc

A food hamper - homemade cakes, buscuits, chutneys, sauces

A pamper hamper - a blanket, candles, mini bottle of wine and a glass, a girly dvd, a book

A gardening themed one - gardening gloves (pound shops sell these), a kneeling mat, a gardening themed mug, gardener's soap, a nail brush, gardening seeds

An alcohol one - mini alcohol bottles (saw loads in an off license the other day), two glasses, a wine or cocktail book

A movie themed one - a dvd, popcorn, pick and mix

Drink + choc mug – mug, sachet hot chocolate, sachet cappicuno mix, mini whisk, couple of mini bars of chocolate, - wrap in cello

Whisk u Merry Xmas – Large Whisk, fill the bottom with chocolates, toffees etc, wrap the whisk in cello wrap

Ladies gardening hamper – hand cream, nail brush, kneeling mat, garden gloves, garden mug, garden tools – fancy designs

A girly hamper – hair turban, face mask, toe seperators, nail file, tea light candles, nail varnish,

Car hamper – Steering wheel cover, bucket, sponge, shammy, carwash, windscreen cover

Mini pamper set- colour scheme, shower squidee, sponge, flannel, bubblebath, showergel,

Mini food package – Mini jars jam (Morrisons 5 for £1), small box posh tea bags, shortbread biscuits (buy multi pack and split between people), add a mug, put it on a small tray

Kitchen goodies – mini scales, teatowel, oven glove, fancy rubber gloves (kim and aggie gloves – posh style £1.00 shop)

mum2one

Can't take the credit for the ideas, there from the xmas thread in 2009, saved the highlights xx

ROSIEGLOW255

Thanks for all your replies, especially the ideas on things to do, have printed that off for future reference.

Day hasn't exactly gone to plan but had a pretty good day. Ended up going out to garden centre this afternoon, and spent £3 on sweet treats but not too bad compared to other days out we could have had. My chicken dinner didn't work out as forgot to take meat out of freezer. I don't know why i ever freeze meat, I never remember to take it out in time to cook it. Just had sausages instead, was planning on going to buy fresh chicken from shop but resisted urge and just used what was already in freezer.

Haven't done a lot towards money saving today, tweaked budget a little bit and figure for additional/unexpected spending for month is £361.05. I plan on monitoring this daily and list whatever additional spending I do during the month.

Things to Do Tuesday 3rd Msy 2011:

1. Set up spending diary
2. Cancel Egg Direct Debit
3. Update monthly budget spreadsheet
4. Update weekly budget and additional spending in diary

patman99

Blimey mumtoone, that's a big list. That's next years Beaver Scout program sorted.

ROSIEGLOW255

Things to Do Tuesday 3rd May 2011:

1. Set up spending diary - Can't find diary so will have to do another time once pigsty of house is tidied and can find stuff again
2. [STRIKE]Cancel Egg Direct Debit[/STRIKE] - Done
3. [STRIKE]Update monthly budget spreadsheet[/STRIKE] - Done
4. [STRIKE]Update weekly budget and additional spending in diary[/STRIKE] - Done

Had an ok day at work today, it's always hard going back after a long weekend though, hoping to get back in swing of things tomorrow.

Have had a good spending day, other than putting petrol in car, which was a planned expense, haven't spent anything. Was so close to not bothering making lunch this morning and buying something at work instead. I'm glad I made the small effort now, spending £3 a day on lunches at work is such a waste of money.

Going to start looking for an easy access savings account for my daughter now, I would have liked one with a pass book like I had when I was younger but I'm not sure if anywhere does them anymore, which is a shame as it's always a good visual incentive to carry on saving, it's not the same looking at a balance on screen. Odd I know.

To Do List Wednesday 4th May

1. [STRIKE]Take packed lunch to work[/STRIKE] - Done
2. [STRIKE]Update monthly budget spreadsheet[/STRIKE] - Done
3. [STRIKE]Update weekly budget and additional spending in diary[/STRIKE] - Done
4. [STRIKE]Check HSBC Account balance[/STRIKE] - Done
5.[STRIKE]Find and set up Spending Diary[/STRIKE] - Done

ROSIEGLOW255

Well have checked my bank and my monthly surplus has take a bit of a hammering. These are all things which were spent at the end of last month and not monitored so i was kind of expecting some suprises. Some of the spending like groceries can be recouped later on in the month by making savings in future grocery shops.

Monthly Surplus: £361.05

Unbudgeted Items:

Groceries: £49.91
Petrol: £11.27
Daughters Birthday: £47.24

Remaining Monthly Surplus £252.63

Sessie

Welcome to the Club Rosie!!

You will get a LOT of support from the wonderful people here, I know I have!!

Plus, the forums are CHOC full of inspiration and ideas - I have to say I'm sure I spend less these days because any free time I have, I'm on here!! Seriously, I must spend two hours a day on here inbetween work (part time) and looking after my almost 3 year old twins (MORE than full time!!).

I have also printed off Mum2One's FAB lists - they will help me immensely with my children too so kudos to you for those!! Thank you!

One tip I've found that helps me stop buying things is working out how many hours I would have to work to pay for it. I'm not exactly a fashion freak, never have been, all my stuff (when I get any, haven't had anything new for YONKS, if we have any spare cash it always goes on the children) comes from Asda or Tesco or Matalan, absolutely fine for me but - for example, a fancy pair of shoes (if that's your weakness) might cost £60 (I know they can cost a lot more but I'd never DREAM of spending more than about £30 on a pair of shoes and even then I'd feel a bit sick!) - how many hours would that be? Think about how hard you work every day - are those shoes worth say, seven or eight hours work? Especially if you already have some shoes and they're just "retail therapy" or an impulse buy. Try it when you're next tempted, it might just work?!

Returning to your own diet analogy, only YOU can do this - everyone here will be RIGHT behind you and extremely supportive but, as it was for me, it's down to YOU. You're strong enough to do this, think of the message you'll be giving your little one - about not living beyond your means, being creative to stretch your money, about material things not mattering - THAT'S how I do it. My actions will dictate my children's future actions - I don't want them overspending, worrying about debt and thinking that "things" are important. But I can only teach them this by my own example.

Okay, preach over, sorry if it sounds strong, not meant to!

Will pop back and check up on you so if you're in a shop thinking of buying something unnecessary, remember.... we're watching you!! And you have to tell us!!

x

ROSIEGLOW255

Just crossed everything off my to do list for today. Bit disappointed about some of last months spending catching up with me but not surprised really, I'm sure I'll come across some other bills that crop up this month that I wasn't expecting. Just got to keep a grip of things for the rest of the month. Just had to nip up to the shop to do a small top up shop, this first of a few I would think, it wasn't much just £2.24 for stuff for daughters packed lunch tomorrow. I'm so disorganised forgot she was going to be off tomorrow and with childminder, school dinners are so convenient.

Just sitting here watching Superscimpers on Channel 4, not sure how many of the tips am likely to follow but hoping to pick up the odd tip. Got a thing on saving money by taking own sandwiches to work instead of buying when there, there was one bloke on the who spent over £7 on his lunch at work, he could save £1600 per year just by making his own. I thought my £3 a day was bad. Packed lunch again for me tomorrow.

Another person spends £900 per year on magazines, which is a weakness of mine, seems like such a waste of money when you look at it like that although I would imagine I only spend £100 per year on magazines. I'm always a sucker for reading the front cover and thinking each magazine is going to revolutionise my life.

Weekly Budget W/C 1st May 2011

Total Available Budget: £105.37

Groceries: £60.00/£39.31
Childcare: £24.00/£26.00
Other: £21.00/£2.62

Budget Remaining: £37.44

ROSIEGLOW255

Monthly Surplus: £361.05

Unbudgeted Items:

Groceries: £49.91
Petrol: £11.27
Daughters Birthday: £47.24
Cash Withdrawals: £30.00
Extra Childcare: £30.00

Remaining Monthly Surplus £192.63

ROSIEGLOW255

Had a bad day yesterday as had another unexpected expense, had to pay childminder £30 more than expected as ended up paying for full day for bank holiday rather than the £8 I was expecting. Just feel like I'm not in control of my money at times.

On a positive point didn't spend anything myself, was tempted to go to shop to buy some treats but stopped myself as decided it wasn't worth it. I think this is the key, just stopping the mindless spending I am so guilty of.

I'm getting frustrated at seeing my monthly surplus going down at such a rate, I am now almost at the level I was hoping to have left at the end of the month and it's only the 6th. I suppose this is down to bad planning and not accounting for all the spends from last month that got carried over into this month. I must not let this discourage me though, even if I did spend all the surplus this month I will still have paid £400 off my debt and will still be on course to be debt free within a year.

Going to have an easy day of it today, am feeling really tired. I dropped daughter off at school this morning and set off to work, luckily didn't get too far before realising it was my day off. Definitely need a lie in tomorrow to recharge my batteries.