Benbenandme's Next Installment ...

benbenandme

Back from the beach, it was blowing an absolute hoolie down there

Washing machine thought it was getting a rest while we were out but I soon sorted that out and its now doing its 6th run of the day, think it deserves a nice sleep after this lot

Soon time to be thinking about dinner, have got some leftover chicken chasseur from Mums, it was gorgeous and reminded me I really ought to make more effort to make stuff like that in the slow cooker. Ds won't eat it so he'll probably be having fish fingers and chips as I desperately need to go food shopping soon.

So, 5 minutes on here, then get dinner, then promised ds we'll go out somewhere on his scooter, then tonight either ironing or tackling a job from the second list. Oh, I did put the windscreen wash stuff in the car, so thats one job done, and I have also emptied out all the rubbish from the car and the stuff that should live indoors, so now it just needs its cleaning done

Spends today = £7.70 on milk, bread etc and 16 loo rolls for a fiver in co-op Car park at the beach was free as its now classed as the winter

benbenandme

After an awful lot of checking and double checking (as I was missing some money that was finally found in a betting account), I now have £95 left to last me until payday (next monday). Thats not too bad, however, I do need to do a food shop this week and we have a week off school :eek:

Luckily the car is still 3/4's full of petrol so no spends needed there, the christmas shopping day on thursday comes from a separate account, and ds holiday club payments are already accounted for. But, it does mean I still need to be very careful, as £95 won't go that far

Tomorrow we're going into town on the bus (promised ds so can't change my mind now), and he has a dentist appointment while we're there too at lunchtime. I need to get my nieces birthday present but again, thats budgeted for from the gifts fund. Bus tickets alone will be about £8 :eek: so I need to be careful with spends for the rest of the day.

We don't have anything too wold or extravagant planned for the week, but its so easy to spend a bit here and a bit there and, especially with food shopping too, that money won't last long at all.

I reckon if I can get the food stuff for £25 which will leave me £70 for everything else (£10 a day). Hopefully should be do-able as we don't need any non food stuff (tolietries or cleaning stuff this week), mainly just fruit, veg and meat and stuff for lunches. I have a well stocked tin cupboard so will be seeing if I can eke stuff out We'll make some cakes and stuff like that one day this week too.

Also, I'm getting close to £300 in the holiday fund which was my target for xmas. Theres still 2 months to go, but they are generally ones where all sorts of unexpected bits crop up (eg. school photos etc), so am not sure I will be able to chuck much extra towards the pot but I will give it my best shot. The aim is to get to £300 by xmas, then the £50 isa payments in 2012 (Jan-Jul) will go in too (7 x £50 = £350), making a total of £650 and then I need to find / make another £350 before I can start on next years challenge of reducing the mortgage to whatever figure Is et myself to aim for So, if I can get above £300 in the pot before xmas it will make next year much easier for the mortgage pot

benbenandme

Have been thinking again about stuff and its gonna get really tight around here as the xmas budget (which was minimal to start with) doesn't include presents for ds I have got him a few stocking fillers so far, but nothing major, so am going to need to get my thinking cap on this time. I still have a while left to come up with a few things, and its not as if I won't manage somehow, just maybe I need to start thinking a bit harder

amber03

well done on having such a busy and hectic day. I love making list and even more ticking the items off. I've had quite a busy day, me and my hoover have become best friends, but now looking at the house its hard to believe it was clean, Oh well thats the joy of having a house full of men,especially when they have spent the day watching football on telly. Think i will start making a list of chores to do this week. I do find that is i make a list i do tend to do them.

I have started to look at xmas stuff but now i ask myself do i really need it and surprisingly the answer is nearly always NO. Good luck for this week i'm sure you will be able to manage, its nice to have a treat now and then, roll on payday.xx

benbenandme

Morning, ds was wide awake at 7.01 :cool: I wish he'd learn to lie-in!!
Clean washing is all in a pile waiting to be ironed now, the rest of the place is tidy except for ds Lego on the lounge floor.

Todays plan = bus to town, ds dentist appointment, pay in cheque at the bank, do some food shopping, buy nieces birthday present, use my Boots voucher in town, clear the ironing, and maybe start on ds bedroom :eek:

I have explained to ds about the £95 and he's fully on board, choosing to go on the yellow buses (will be about £5 instead of the red ones that he prefers (about £8) We're tracking the money spent on the kitchen noticeboard a la Immoral Angel for those of you who have been around a while

benbenandme

So we finally made it home ... we wnt out at about 9 this morning, paid in the cheque at the bank first then caught the (first of many) bus. We went to a nearby town and changed onto a different bus as ds has never done that route before (luckily I bought all day tickets ), then on to another town where I managed to divert him into a few shops , bought him some new gloves for the winter from Primark for £2, they're the fingerless ones that have a mitten bit that you can button over the top if that makes sense?? He loves them Went into the £1 shop and got a box of toffifee to go with a friends xmas pressie as they're her favourite, a pack of ds stylus for monsters stocking, a halloween outfit for mums dog (a cape and a headband thing), and a box of savoury biscuits to go with some dressings for an aunt/uncle, (£4 in total). Then back on the bus to another town and off to the dentist where she said ds teeth were lovely and doesn't need to see him again for 6 months :T Then back to the beginning on the bus, into Sainsburys where we had lunch in the cafe courtesy of my nectar points that I'd forgotten to add in yesterday so am not counting it towards spends , back on the bus to the furthest town again, where I discovered I had £14 on my Boots advantage card, so that will go towards xmas too :T then finally back on the bus to the beginning, into Sainsburys to get a couple of bits (£3) and home

benbenandme

Hot bubble bath with candles done and I am starting to feel human again The rain is hammering down outside now, going to put my cosy sleepsuit on and do very little else this evening, I am on holiday after all

Tomorrow will be an indoor day, mainly with the aim of reclaiming ds bedroom We might try to get shoeboxes or something else like that started too.

Up to date total left £81 / £95

benbenandme

Now I know we're not into November yet, but I have been giving some thought to next years targets already

My overall aim when I first started out on my mortgage free journey was to get rid of my mortgage by my 40th birthday (August 2013). Well, due to various unexpected 'hiccups' (ie. losing £340 per month of my income from child maintenace due to the often forementioned crim), this is looking like a lost cause. However, that doesn't mean we can't carry on and just take a slight detour en route and get to the destination in a more scenic fashion

So, by the end of 2011 I'm hoping to have got the mortgage to £27k and have saved at least £300 towards the holiday, and all other accounts to be at zero (ie. none are owing).

What I've been thinking so far is this ... whatever the balance is of the holiday by Jan 1st will come out of my isa's. They are earning almost no interest and that way I will be motivated to get stuck into 2012 on the mortgage front again. That gives me another two months to try and save as much as possible so that I don't have to take so much from the isa's (with me so far?) ...

So, 2012 ... the mortgage should be at £27,000, and with just normal mortgage payments this should reduce over the year to approx £24k. My aim is to get as close to sub £20k as possible. I don't think it will be possible but I don't want to rule it out. Who knows, the crim may land a job when he's released and start supporting his son, but lets now get carried away :cool:

I am also planning on getting back into comping over the winter, the weather is rubbish and I hardly ever switch the tv on anymore, not even bothering with x-factor this year, although I have seen most of Strictly. I am going to aim to do at least 50 comps a week, now that I am back into ebaying I can always sell any unwanted prizes on there (here's hoping )

I just think I will need every random bit possible next year to get anywhere close to where I want to be. I am off now to sort out Novembers budget, hopefully it won't be too bad as we are back at school. We're going to my brothers for bonfire weekend and the train tickets are already booked and paid for

benbenandme

Time to get cracking on the other list ....

Half-Term List:

1. [STRIKE] pay in cheque[/STRIKE] DONE
2. return library books
3. christmas shoebox
4. [STRIKE] sort out present cupboard[/STRIKE] DONE
5. go christmas shopping
6. [STRIKE] dentist for ds[/STRIKE] DONE
7. haircut for ds
8. [STRIKE] novembers budget[/STRIKE] DONE
9. general xmas planning
10. write xmas cards
11. write and send letters for dads birthday memory box
12. sort all food cupboards
13. [STRIKE] buy gloves for ds[/STRIKE] DONE
14. clean the car inside and out
15. [STRIKE] fill up windscreen wash [/STRIKE] DONE
16. don't put the heating on DONE SO FAR
17. complete tax form and return
18. [STRIKE]chase quidco re. insurance thats been declined on there [/STRIKE]:mad: DONE
19. speak to ex in laws to arrange next visit :cool:
20. book appointment to make a will
21. [STRIKE] check all other banking stuff, eg. how isa's are doing[/STRIKE] DONE
22. Buy and post nieces birthday present

lilmissmup

Ben Ben I fully expect this time next year to see the mortgage total close to £20k..... you are great at achieving your challenges, I am trying to set myself the challenge of just leaving work worries at work and spending my spare time doing the stuff I enjoy and concentrating on college plus also want to get back into MSE a bit more!

How are you doing on the mccains website? Are you on Swagbucks too?