Learning to Live on Less!

White_Iris

Hello everyone, I hope you all had the Christmas you wanted. We had a lovely Christmas day on our own, just the four of us, and the in-laws came over on Boxing Day afternoon. DH and I both had a few lovely presents, some money and thankfully, very little un-wanted 'stuff' (except the present from MIL :cool:).

The children had a small mountain of presents and for a few days I was feeling quite irritable by the amount of toys we suddenly had but I've had a good clear out and tidy up - a pile for charity, a pile to return and a pile for eBay - and things now seem a lot less cluttered again.

Although I said I was going to avoid eBay for a while I've sorted out some childrens clothes which are very wintery and need to be listed asap otherwise they won't sell until next winter so I'll get them listed over the next few days. I'm also itching to start making some money and build up our saving pots!

The in-laws usually give us money each Christmas and this year we were planning on using it to buy a new mattress (I can't even begin to describe how uncomfortable ours is) but instead this year we get a surprise gift! MIL was really pleased with it - a halogen cooker! Now I know they are supposed to be excellent for saving energy etc. but we don't need or want it and in fact I had only been telling her about our de-cluttering and how I was getting rid of all my kitchen gadgets a few weeks earlier...clearly went in one ear and out the other. Now I have this enormous thing sitting in the kitchen making me feel slightly resentful everytime I see it :mad:

DH has now got up to time to sign off!

debtfreewannabe321

oh no what a pain can you not take it back and get an exchange or refund??? glad to hear you had a good xmas though we also have tonnes of toys. Only one small bedroom for the two of them so have had to spend more money on storage to tidy it all up (hmm something wrong there!) i couldn't take any back though, no receipts lol!

LianneH

Hi WhiteIris

Glad you had a nice christmas! shame about pressie from in-laws, same thing happened to me last year. Mine bought me a tumble dryer-condenser. Must have cost them a fortune and instead of being grateful I was so angry! 1 at the space it took up, 2 at the cost of running it and 3... I didnt ask for it!! It now sits as an ornament in my kitchen and I use it for extra worktop space! Could you ebay your cooker or even take it back for a refund?

White_Iris

White_Iris wrote: »

So for December I will...

• Finish present buying by Friday 16th DONE
• Finish cards by Friday 16th DONE
• Save another £50 in emergency fund Only managed £40 but that's ok - better than nothing!
• Save £50 in my savings pot DONE
• Agree a firm plan re: moving house with DH and stick to it DONE
• Review budget Will do today
• Start savings pot for next Christmas DONE

January resolutions...

Finances

• Increase emergency savings to £150
• Increase personal savings to £100
• Get winter clothes listed on eBay

House

• Clean oven
• Paint dining room

Personal

• Switch to de-caff (once I've finsihed off my big jar of regular coffee)
• No snacking in the evenings
• Make an effort with hair and make-up even if I'm not going anywhere

White_Iris

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

oh no what a pain can you not take it back and get an exchange or refund???

LianneH wrote: »

Could you ebay your cooker or even take it back for a refund?

Selling it was the first thing that crossed my mind but MIL is so pleased with it she's sure to keep asking after it. Also it will come in useful if, in he future, we move in to a rented house without a cooker. It's ben relegated to the attic for the time being :cool:

White_Iris

Arghhh, madness here! DH back at work, children both ill and grumpy, house untidy and suffering from the typical holiday time lack of cleaning and I am kn@ckered! Waiting for our new mattress to be delivered - it had better get here today, I can't cope with another night on our old one, I may end up in one of the cots instead!

Trying to get some computer time in but keep having books and toys hurled at me - entertain us mummy! Going to try and check budget while things are relatively quiet!

debtfreewannabe321

Oh i feel your misery with the grumpy kids & house work!!! I can NOT wait until tomorrow, when ds1 is safely back in school, dh in work, dd in nursery then i can commence operation 'clean house' lol!

Well done on the savings every little helps and some great targets for Jan, look forward to watching you crossing them off

xx

White_Iris

Budget reviewed and we currently have a surplus of just over £25 a month in our joint account (which is where all the bills get paid from). This will all need to be reviewed again in a few months when TV licence, council tax (and probably other things I haven't thought of) go up, but we're ok for now.

Decided to use the 'spare' council tax money in feb and March to boost the emergency savings - if all goes well I should be at £500 by April :-)

White_Iris

Bah, mattress won't be here until Friday :mad: Some excuse about manually processing Paypal and the bank holiday - good job I don't have a life and can wait in all day for imaginary deliveries AND I've had to chase up the cashback claim through Quidco!

On the plus side the children are perkier and there has been significantly less screaming this afternoon :j

I've managed to get 14 items listed on eBay this afternoon - all wintery things which needed to be listed asap to make the most of the bad weather. I have about another 10 items to list next week - cold weather clothes but not too seasonal, so if they roll over a few weeks they won't be completely out of place. Then it's on to the two enormous boxes of clothes and other bits - should see me through until they grow out of their current stuff! Although I need the money, I might put things together in slightly larger bundles than I would normally, just to try and create some space - we'll see how fed up of listing I am in a few months.

LianneH

I totally admire how much you manage to do on ebay. I wish I were that focused!

I understand not being 'able' to sell the cooker, I couldn't 'sell' the tumble dryer for the self same reason1

Here's to a debt busting (and hopefully debt free!) new year! x x