Learning to Live on Less!

debtfreewannabe321

White_Iris wrote: »

Woo hoo, credit card is cleared! No more credit card debt ever!! Just need to get DH to phone up and cancel them this weekend. :-)

:j:j:j:beer: brilliant news!!!

sweetpea26

Excellent WI brilliant now your savings can really start adding up.

Stripes_The_Elephant

Well done WI :T

White_Iris

White_Iris wrote: »

Woo hoo, credit card is cleared! No more credit card debt ever!! Just need to get DH to phone up and cancel them this weekend. :-)

Except he still hasn't cancelled them :wall: They have been sat on the bookcase since my last post, waiting for him to pick up the phone. Admittedly he has had a lot of work on at the moment and it's not always easy to make a phone call when you have two children playing the "who can make the most noise" game, but still :mad:


Anyway, we had a lovely (but expensive) day out yesterday in the freezing cold at a local country show. We spent every penny of the money I put aside, although that did include a birthday present for my dad and a take away for tea. Back to the real world today - just been food shopping (spent £33/£50 ), the dog needs a walk later (it's really grey and damp here ), I'm currently trying to ignore the over flowing basket of ironing and the floor badly needs a hoover :cool:


I've managed another two extra shifts (although only half days) at work, so that should bring in about another £50 on pay day but that has already been earmarked for our summer holiday. It's just a long weekend away but it needs to be booked and paid for as soon as possible. We also have to put away some money for the children's birthday party in May which I keep forgetting about and there are all sorts of things going on in April. I think that unless we're careful, saving for a house will be pushed down the list of priorities (which I really don't want to happen as I badly want my own home again). It's going to be a challenge to juggle everything.

White_Iris

White_Iris wrote: »

I've managed another two extra shifts (although only half days) at work, so that should bring in about another £50 on pay day but that has already been earmarked for our summer holiday. It's just a long weekend away but it needs to be booked and paid for as soon as possible. We also have to put away some money for the children's birthday party in May which I keep forgetting about and there are all sorts of things going on in April. I think that unless we're careful, saving for a house will be pushed down the list of priorities (which I really don't want to happen as I badly want my own home again). It's going to be a challenge to juggle everything.

I've been given another extra shift, a full day this time, but it's at the end of the month so I'll miss the March payroll deadline and won't get it until the end of April. Still, should be useful for the children's birthday though. It looks like our holiday is off as I can't get the time off work, so although it's disappointing it does mean we don't need to find the money to pay for it. The money that was going towards it will now be saved for the twins birthday party instead.


DH is having a bit of a wobble about how much spending money we have each month, so I'm going to try and get him to sit down and look at the budget tonight. If he can figure out a way to have more free cash then great but I've got a feeling he's going to want to use the money we should be saving for our house. It's frustrating because he has full access to all the bank accounts and savings pots and the monthly budget is stuck on the side of the fridge, so he knows (or could check) where the money goes each month but I get the impression he thinks I'm hiding money away each month.

debtfreewannabe321

It's frustrating isn't it, my dh is the same he thinks I have a secret account somewhere with my own stash of money in....I WISH! I give dh £100 a month usually whilst we're saving for the new house but he always manages to get another £20-30 out of me somewhere along the way. I've kinda given up fighting him over it as I feel bad as I control all of his money and take all his wages from him but all the money goes on bills or new house so it's not like I have a huge splurge with his money each pay day lol. Keep going you're doing great and the savings pots are looking good

White_Iris

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

It's frustrating isn't it, my dh is the same he thinks I have a secret account somewhere with my own stash of money in....I WISH! I give dh £100 a month usually whilst we're saving for the new house but he always manages to get another £20-30 out of me somewhere along the way. I've kinda given up fighting him over it as I feel bad as I control all of his money and take all his wages from him but all the money goes on bills or new house so it's not like I have a huge splurge with his money each pay day lol. Keep going you're doing great and the savings pots are looking good

DH asked me the other day, how much spending money he should have left over once the bills money is taken out (ARGGGH! He should know this!!!) and was amazed when I told him he had just over £200 and I had £70. I'm don't understand how I can make my spending money last the month (admittedly with top-ups from survey sites, eBay etc.) but his is usually gone within two weeks of payday!

White_Iris

Phew, time for a quick sit down and a cuppa. I've been de-cluttering the children's toys over the last few days and I've managed to move most of their stuff in to their bedrooms. It has meant a bit of re-shuffle of the things I was storing under their beds, to make room for some under-bed boxes for their toys but I've finished it off today and it does all look much nicer.


I've also had a purge of their dressing up things and used the empty space in the wooden trunk we use for the dressing up clothes, to store some bedding for the sofa bed (which only gets used a couple of times a year).


I've also gone through the things I've put aside to potentially sell on eBay and checked it over quite critically. A lot has been sent to charity and what's left has been organised in to bundles (it's mostly children's summer clothes) ready for ironing and photographing.


I'm waiting in for the postie as he should be delivering some shoes I've bought on eBay (the boots I wear everywhere are getting very scruffy so I really need some new pairs) but the dog is getting very impatient for his walk. Why is it that the postman is always early if I decide to jump in the shower once I've done the school run, but when I'm waiting to go out he doesn't get here until after lunch?

White_Iris

Well postie didn't bring the shoes yesterday so I waited in today as well but still nothing - I'm beginning to think the seller didn't post them when they said they did as eBay estimated delivery yesterday.


I finally got DH to cancel the cleared credit cards yesterday but didn't end up going through the budget together. If he moans about money again I'll just direct him to the copy of the budget on the side of the fridge and leave him to go through it himself!

Mara_uk7

Youre doing so very well, managing to stay focussed and getting DH on board .. that was the hardest part for me !
Im selling more on the Fb selling pages these days. E of the bay has gotten too complicated for my stressed out brain to calculate postages and commissions. Well done and look at that Signature grow !