On the up (Hopefully)

sugarcube84

Thankyou Mr Tax Man you made my weekend (for once!) £457 tax rebate!!

Also made us think that we need to ring up and check hubbies!

sugarcube84

Well we didn't need to ring up his cheque arrived 2 days later for £517!!

I cancelled the childcare vouchers and sent off my tax credit form, the money has gone into the bank but no award notice which is strange, i expect it will be sent at some point its a busy time of year for tax credits.

We have been making an effort to take packed lunches but i haven't had chance to sit down and meal plan with the cupboard contents, i did batch cook last weekend so i have a few meals in the freezer for when we are too tired to cook and got loads of veggies in to do soup with. Shouldn't need to buy anything other than bread/milk/ham until the end of the month which is good.

I have also been doing more surveys got a £10 voucher in the post and £6/£9 worth of luncheon vouchers. Good job really i have got my nephews 1st birthday prezzie to buy plus our friends are having a baby in 2 weeks time so need a little something to go with what i've already bought.

Had a frank talk with the hubby as he's been hoping we could go to his friends wedding in London but looking at the finances (and the state of the garden) i dont want to spend £100 on travel/hotel + drinks+food +present when i have said that we arent doing a sun holiday beacuse we can't afford it (which would be much cheaper) and if we found the money we could put the money to better use either debts/holiday/family days out/garden.
I think he can see where i'm coming from but he is disappointed that we can't see his friend get married. Think it has sunk though, as last night we worked out how much he will earn this month and how much he will make next month, when he will have the overdraft paid off and has told me after that happens i'm in charge of the 'spare' cash and what it pays off.Think his lightbulb is starting to flicker!

I've got some stuff to ebay so i must start to sort that plus i need to keep an eye out for some cashback i'm due and i need to sort out some photos of ds to take advantage of some photobox offers that i got though and then i can tick off another couple of christmas presents.

Off to check the banks.

sugarcube84

Not to much to report today, need to do a to do list as i keep forgetting to ask/remind hubby about stuff at night.

Tea is sorted, had a good tidy up at home last night so hopefully i can put my feet up tonight!! or list some ebay stuff and sort out a new 0% credit card for the hubby to do a balance transfer for the last time (it will be the last time!!)

Off to have a nosy at the other boards.

sugarcube84

Started to think about christmas and realise that i need to do something to earn some extra cash. I already do surveys from valuedops and p1necone but 1psos have but my account on stop as i'm with their sister site? Anyway visted the up your income board and i'm now a member on sw@gbucks and already have 230 points in one day, plus signed up for quidco (i'm already on topcashbcak) and t0luna so hopefully that should bring in a few extra pennies just means i'll spend most of my weekend doing surveys :-(.

sugarcube84

Payday!!!

Checked that all the bills have been paid, transferred money across to my 'bill' bank account and updated my figures in my spreadsheet. Feeling quite optimistic looks like August could be the month that i clear the overdraft and potentially hubby could halve his with the work he has got on!!

Got a couple of birthdays my dads -sorted, and hubby's not sorted!! think i'm going to arrange to go out for a meal or think mil has ds on weds night so we could do the orange 241 and go to the cinema....hmm will have a think.

Right, well off to check for meal deals and must remember to withdraw my food money as i'm going to do a big shop on the way home.... ooh must do a meal plan first!!

Bye for now!

sugarcube84

Banks are still looking good (i know its rather early in the month to say that!) but i'm determined to stick to budget this month.:)

I've been over to the os board and the thread about £7 a week food budget is inspiring! Determined that next time i go shopping i'm going to stock up on some lentils!!!! Plus i'm going to make a effort to bake/cook at weekends, flapjacks/biscuits and soups etc so that lunches are taken care of and a couple of evening meals.

Had a long hard look at debts and now that hubbys income seems to have become more consistent i'm happy with the budget as it stands as the minute. What this means is that i am going to set us a goal!!

The only debt we pay interest on is the loan, the balance currently is £1200 and each month the interest is around £20. I know that sticking to budget i should have £300 spare (now that the overdrafts look like they are going to be cleared)....so i want to clear the loan by christmas.:) Should be posssible and i think we need something to work towards. I knwo we are working towards being df but i think we need to break it down into more manageable chunks so we can have goals and achieve something...if you know what i mean:o

Another thing that makes it look achievable is that it looks like i'm finally getting a promotion at work!! Very overdue and i have worked so hard to get it and it looks like its finally paid off, won't feel happy (or celebrate) until the money is in the bank and i have a change of t's and c's letter, but quietly optimistic.

So goal number one in our df quest
- pay off natwest loan £1200 before christmas 2012.

There its in writing now i have to do it!!!:rotfl:

sugarcube84

Had a productive weekend. I washed all the removable sofa cushion covers and damp clothed the whole of the sofa so it's looking much cleaner. I also sorted out a load of stuff for ebay so it now needs photographing and putting on.

I changed the gas and elec suppliers as our deal runs out soon and should get £70 cashback:T I also applied for a new credit card to do a balance transfer for hubbys card, this will be paid off beofre th 0% runs out!!

Also got some freebies throught the post a whole bottle of top to toe wash to trial and two facemasks and today i've just won a packet of baby wipes so i'm doing quite well

Need to do a small shop bread, sandwich stuff, mayo, milk, nappies and that should last until the end of the week when i do a big shop. Also need to buy cards as its my dads birthday but i have a £10 sainsbobs voucher so thats that sorted.

Off to do my CV and application for my promotion!!!! :T

sugarcube84

Well hubbys credit card arrived through the post, just need to activate it.

Had free food most of the weekend as i went to my dads and a family party (got leftovers for yesterdays lunch:)) and went to hubbys family for tea last night!! Which goes some way to balance the weekend that hubby had, which involved a 30th and a stag do!!

Had a couple more free facemasks through and i can almost order an amazon voucher through one survey site so that means i can order replacement inks for the printer when i get that through.

We have been invited on a family holiday next May, only have to pay for flights as family have said they will pay for food when we are there sounds great and a holiday would be lovely but flights alone are £600 and we can't expect them to pay for trips out etc when there so realistically we can't afford it.:( Family is going to be really upset as its a close family members big birthday while there so they wanted a special holiday to celebrate it.

Had a bit more work done on the garden, very slowly getting there. I know we should be throwing all our money at the debts but we are paying extra off and getting jobs done around the house as well, we can't do the garden over the winter so we need to do what we can afford now.

Going to go check the banks and the freebie board, bye for now.

sugarcube84

Woohoo my cashback for the pet insurance is payable so that ds winter coat sorted and a much needed new jumper for the hubby.

Gotta love the cashback!!!

sugarcube84

Well we had a mahjor panic this week got 2 letters in the post for hubbys personal and business bank accounts and it looked like they were recalling the overdrafts and personal loan!!

Anyway it's all sorted now the overdraft on the business bank was only for 12 months which hubby wasn't told and it should be cleared in 6 weeks anyway so the bank are happy with that. Think it's given hubby a wake up call, his lightbulb was on a bit of a dimmer switch and he now seems much more focused :T

Off to London this weekend for a wedding we have treated ourselves to 2 nights as a birthday/christmas present, we are going out for a nice meal (50% off through toptable) and then on sunday we are off to the natural history museum (free) so should be a lovely weekend.

Need to nip to the bank to bank the contents of the penny jar to pay for our meal and the rest of the trip (not inc hotel) should be covered by the birthday money that i got.Off to check the banks and for freebies, have a lovely weekend ms'ers!