SAHM paying off debts slowly

slm6002

Well not quite as planned as supermarket only had the limited edition sweets which are in red white and blue - not the multicoloured ones i need. I did find some nice cute jars to put them in though. Will keep hunting though and perhaps try a larger tesco or pound shop

slm6002

Another month gone... bills mostly gone out this morning so am broke until OH gets paid on fri. Ended up transfering him some money as he 'forgot' his car tax was coming out today and his bank was empty! This is why i pay all of the house expenses out of my bank account and do not rely on him. We would be homeless in no time.

DD goes on her school trip on monday so have been getting her suitcase ready for her. Should i pack her a few snacks for the evening i wonder? She was nervous before but is now excited. I expect she will go back to nervous again before she leaves though. She will have a great time and it will be a nice break from a pre-teen hormonal fest here at home lol. We have a busy weekend planned before she goes though so no time for resting - just the way it worked out.

Just been to DD's swimming lesson and really wishes now that i took my costume too. It was soo hot watching and then to come outside and more heat. I am now happily in my cool house drinking a nice cool drink - at least until school pick up time

slm6002

OH is sooo infuriating (if that is how its spelt!) he makes me so mad. Its his payday today and by 9.15 i had not told him his bank balance. Some fri mornings i have time to transfer housekeeping accross to my account. Other days i do not - this being one of them. How difficult is it for him to deduct £250 off his bank balance and work out what it left? Instead he rings me to see why i am not home It was youngest DD's trial at school this morning so rather than going home to come straight back i went to the park for 15 min. Cue the - your never at home/the house is a state rant again. Had it too many times recently and the reality is i only meet friends on a friday at playgroup as niece i look after wont let go of me at home so no point being there. We oftern spend the afternoon in town as by the time we have walked home its only about an hour and a half before its school pick up again - arghh.

Sorry for rant it makes me mad. Anyway DD had a wonderful time on her school trip and wanted to stay longer. I didnt get an interview for the admin job at the school but have asked for feedback on why not - hoping they dont take offense at me asking. Grandmother is in hospital again - she is 90 and with alzimers. Had either heart attck or stroke the drs cant work out what yet but is still going! Would be kinder to let he go but i guess its not her time yet.

Youngest DD needs glasses full time but never noticed any problems up til now. Waiting for them to arrive and be fitted so lets hope its soon

slm6002

Wow time flies - OH was a pain in the bum until he got past the busy weekend last weekend - still the odd mood but better now he is slightly less busy. DD has glasses and looks great in them - she has kept them on most of the time which is great. I have applied for another job at a school close by so we shall see - may not work out though as it would mean i would need cover for all 3 after school? Thought it was worth applying especially as the job was almost the same and the application was identical - i tweeked my application a little and resent it.

school holidays are going well so far - total of £1.80 spent on cream to make butter yesterday. A day - annimations and art, B day - bread butter and books. Need to work out next weeks activities but lots of swimming as i have a 7 day pass to use so we will go swimming each day - only need to pay for DD as the others have free swimming due to lessons. Youngest DD got her 5m badge for swimming this week so hoping we might encourage her to go a little further with the extra swimming.

Food budget is still out of control but i have got a meal plan for the week so hoping i can minimise the excess this week.

slm6002

Good morning, yet another month has flown by. Last week we did a lot of swimming £1.95 per day as DD was the only one of us not to have a free pass but i had budgeted for this. We did cleaning, dice games, exercise, finding caches (geocaching event nearby) and games at Grandads house. So far the kids are really enjoying their holidays. Not spent too much so far as most of the activities have been free - only needed to pay for petrol and parking. We have drawn up a meal plan for the week as things are very tight this week (bills have all gone out today) and the main bank account looks very pathetic. On a good note though the ISA i opened to save for my debt lump sum has gone passed the £100 mark. I have been selling bits and bobs and cashback bits go here too. I realise it will take some time but i will keep going.

Today DS is going to his friends for a sleepover and it looks like DH is on a night out so it will be a girly second half of the day. As today is 'H' day we are going to have a home spa day, plus homework if i can get them to do it! Got to pop into town for fruit and butter but that should be all of the spends for today

Also managed to fit just about into my old jeans in the smaller size. Could do with a little more weight loss before i wear them for a whole day lol but they now go past my thighs and do up!

Right off to the park - hope you all enjoy your day

slm6002

I seem to say the same things each time I get round to writing but seriously where does time go? It was August that I last posted - an age ago but has flown by.... I will be retired before we know it at this rate.

Anyway whats been going on here? Well the summer holidays went without any dramas that I can remember - the a-z theme was still a favorite with the kids. Wanting a break from it next year but we will see if they allow! My youngest DD started school and has been enjoying herself and is doing really well. DS has been allowed to use a computer in literacy lessons some of the time. We think we are finally getting somewhere with his learning. I suspect he has mild cases of dyslexia / dyspraxia and maybe even another one. The school wont say either way but things are being put in place to perhaps help. Yay

My mum made an unexpected visit as my nana finally passed away just before Christmas. She had been really poorly for years and finally gave up. As sad as it is I think we all knew it was for the best if that makes sense and doesn't sound horrid of me. Anyway because of this there is a possibility that my debt could be cleared. It would be such a relief and even if I have nothing left over to spend on me (hahaha that never happens with 3 kids) like she had hoped for, it would make me happy to see the debt gone. We are waiting to get final figures before I contact debt people. I am still selling small bits and putting them into my debt fund. It has passed the £150 mark now so although its going up it is slow going.

We had a wonderful Christmas at my sisters. The children behaved the entire time it was like they were different kids. As soon as we got in the car to come home however it changed but at least family believe we have super behaved kids lol. It was so different at my sisters to what we are used to doing but it was great. We have been invited back this year so looking forward to that.

I have joined in this savings pot idea (1p on day 1 all the way up to £3.66 on day 366) like many others but I am picking the amounts as we go and marking them off my sheet. This way when I am poor I can pay the pennies but when I have more I can pay the £'s. Should have a nice little stash by the end of the year

The car is in for MOT at 6am Sat (Hubby is taking it as I don't plan on being awake let along with it to take it). Fingers crossed that it passes. Had to replace the suspension spring the other weekend as it snapped. Hubby and friend soon sorted it for around £15 which I was amazed at. Thought it would cost a lot more.

We are again emptying the freezer this week so I can defrost it and start putting something other than blackberries in it - I have loads and you cant make a roast out of them! Anyway I used the bananas for banana bread for hubbys lunches, and some blueberries for muffins for the kids. We are getting there and there should be very little in it by the end of the week
Ooh and hubby bought me new laptop for Christmas - he had been saving up with Christmas club at work - he hasn't really bought me anything for Christmas or birthdays for the past 10 years so made up for it this year - its great I can actually get on the internet without holding it on its end to get a curser!

Right I am off and I will do my best to get back here before july! Hope you are all well x

slm6002

Well my debt fund pot is almost at the £180 mark after I made £25 on sales yesterday - I am amazed at the things people will pay money for. I have been reading up on selling on flebay and sometimes the rubbish sells a lot better than the actual decent bits. I will slowly work through what I have to sell plus my dad wants to sell 800+ magazines he has been collecting since 1979! Apparently no one wants them as a bundle for £20 but people do buy them individually for £5 each - sounds a better amount of money for us as I get to keep half of the profits and dad has the other half. 800*2 (taking off fees extra) = £1600 each. Wouldn't that be good, unlikely but you never know. Have put a few more bits up so we will see how that goes.

Used up the chicken from the freezer last night and few sausages for the kids. Got tonights dinner out of the freezer defrosting as we speak. Not planning on spending any money today so that's good.

Right off to do some cleaning and to see what else I can find - I have loads of material that I wont get around to using so may bundle up and try selling - my new look on things is that its better to have money in bank or in debt fund and less clutter messing up the house.

Ok see you soon have a great day x

slm6002

Another £4.75 made - now £183 in the debt fund. Best get listing some more items

slm6002

Well no more sales at the moment but got some more bits listed including some of my dads magazines so we will wait and see - it can be addictive this flebay. I am constantly waiting for the little chaching noise my hubbys phone makes when a sale is made, or refreshing the page to see if people have looked. Its crazy.

Anyway removed the few chicken breasts / pork loins from the freezer to have for dinner tonight...not sure which meat as it looks a little like both. Once defrosted I should know lol. This is why I am clearing the freezer as nothing is really labelled right. when refilling I will use marker to write on bags.

Slowly working through the childrens rooms to get rid of some clothes they either don't wear or are wrong size. We get so many hand me downs that are great but no way we can wear everything so the church will get these extra clothes to send to their charity in Romania. I think we must have kitted out many families there now lol. I have been going to the playgroup for over 10 years now and everytime we grow out of something it gets sent there, this includes pushchairs and cots and equipment too. I have already told hubby that if clothes are donated I wont sell them on as it is not right - I will just donate them again. If I have bought it or it was a gift then I may try to sell it first.

Hubby called to say he is probably working sunday afternoon and this means a night out. I don't mind as they then need to make sure he is home Friday night at a reasonable time so he can get his rest hours in It means double pay and night out money. He got all excited yesterday too as it looks like the long awaited new lorries (been waiting a good 6 months) due in march will have microwaves and fridges. He said instead of sandwiches or buying hot food at night, he could reheat leftovers. I think he is slowly getting his lightbulb moment :j Little bits at a time but still getting there

slm6002

Afternoon - the day again is whizzy by. Still need to do the food shop for this week. Not sure what we are eating yet so don't just want to turn up at supermarket and guess. Trying to keep to budget here. I do know we have almost nothing meal wise in the freezer. We have fruit, pastry, a little chunk of brie and ice pops. Think we have done really well last week keeping to our goal and we have certainly not spent all of our money from last week. Will get my set amount out of the bank in cash and start again paying only cash as I think that's where it all starts going wrong.

Had a few more bids on fleabay over the past few days and updated my bank account. Sent off tax return so no late fees for me.

Since mentioning my inheritance to OH he has slowly started coming up with improvements for the whole house and garden and every area of our lives. We've had walk in wardrobes, extensions to house downstairs toilets and hall, carpets throughout, new car, extend and redo bathroom, rip out and do kitchen, get electric in the garage, new boiler, whole house electric wires being replaced! I don't know how much he thinks we will have left over but pretty sure it will be much much less than what he will need. Would be nice but very unrealistic at the moment

Right must meal plan and get to the shops before it school pickup time