On the up (Hopefully)

sugarcube84

Read hubby the riot act regarding christmas prezzies last night, i always buy the prezzies and then when i tell him what ive got he always says its not enough, well this year it is!!! Think i will probably just wrap everything and not give him the option of complaining.

Today i have

- packed a lunch for me, not sure about hubby as i left before him
- checked banks/freebies
- found an aldi near work so next time i need shopping im going to try there instead of asda
- still havent put gas and elec meter readings in, must do that tonight
- will print out guidance notes for hubbys interview in work saving our printer/ink/paper

Think thats about it

LianneH

sugarcube84 wrote: »

Todays little update, hubbys auntie bought me a birthday cake so ive brought it into work to share with the men (im the only female in the office, the joys of working in construction!!) lovely pink butterfly cake which im sure they will enjoy!! so ive saved a few quid on cakes that i would have bought (tradition you buy the cakes if its your birthday).

that used to be a tradition in my work too - why is it that if its your birthday you buy everyone else a cake??!? never understood it!! Luckily I work in an office with mainly ladies that are on constant diets! so this tradition has faded!

glad you had a good birthday and your diary sounds very positive! Hope your Hubby gets on well with his interview x

sugarcube84

Been stupidly busy and not had time to update for a while. Over the weekend we went shopping for a few christmas presents 5 presents bought for £27.46 not bad and these are special people so im pleased ive managed to get nice presents without spending as much as i would normally.

I've just done my meal planner for the next 10 days so im going to nip to the aldi near work and then go to asda on the way home, making the most of hubby picking up ds from nursery.

Hubbys interview is tomorrow he has spent the day preparing reading through the guidance notes and the reccomended reading within them. Think he is getting a bit nervous.

Small DFW things ive done/ planning on doing today.

- [STRIKE]
packed lunch/ lunch from store
-meal planner
[/STRIKE]
- Shopping try to stick to budget
-gas and elec reading ive still not done them!!!!
- [STRIKE]use photopcopier in work to print and copy stuff for hubbys interview[/STRIKE]

Think thats it, small list for me today.

sugarcube84

Well i went shopping stayed under budget (just) so thats 12 days from the meal planner plus

- another chicken drumstick meal, as i split the pack in 2
- another mince meal, big pack worked out cheapest per 100g
- and another beef stew, again split the pack.

Not bad :T just milk and bread to buy when we run out, which means i have stuck under my £180 budget!! I know thats quite a big budget to some but ive worked it out as £41.54 a week averaged over the year and thats for brekkie/lunch/dinner/snacks/drinks for the 3 of us including treats such as choccies and some guinness for hubby. Im quite chuffed with myself

Things to do today

-check banks and freebies
- charge phones in work
- packed lunches already done
- tea already half made (just need to do mash for on the top)
- dishes

and hubbys ineterview is at 12.30 so wishing him lots of luck, it would be fantastic if he got on it.

savingholmes

Hi SC well it looks like you've got off to a running start with your DFW journey - well done! Hope your hubby's interview goes well and look forward to reading your progress

sugarcube84

Thanks savingholmes it all gets a bit much at times like the fact hubbys work will slow in winter plus the fact that this time next year he could be a full time student but i try to focus on the things i can control and make a difference to (like the food budget)

I forgot to mention that i went to the asda price checker and as they were cheaper but not by 10% i got a voucher for £2.02 thats the milk sorted for the rest of the month!! :T

savingholmes

Hi SC - Have you found the Make £10 a day challenge on the DFW board yet - I found that a God send

sugarcube84

savingholmes wrote: »

Hi SC - Have you found the Make £10 a day challenge on the DFW board yet - I found that a God send

Arrgh i just lost a full post - stupid computer.

No i havent tried that yet, i might when i have a bit more time.

Well hubby got the place on the course, :jim so pleased (and proud of him) :T this means that
-we dont have to pay for him to do A levels its free (for the first year)
- its a year less until he qualifies as a teacher now looking at 2015 not 2016 so by the time hes 30!!
- he wont have to compete for a place on the degree course next september as he is guaranteed a place

So good news all round, hes just rung to say he has been offered some work experience as well :T

I have updated my sign with accurate figures, we are slightly worse off than we were but we have made a good dent in the overdraft this month so staying positive.

We need to sort this out more than ever as hubby is going to be a poor student :rotfl:but im so happy that he will be doing a job that he wants to, yes it will take 4 years to get there but compared with the 35 years to retirement it is definitely worth doing!

We have a couple of expensive months coming up
-Oct holiday and water bill
- Nov crimbo prezzies

I think being realistic we arent going to make a massive dent in the debt until Jan 2012, but are aims for the rest of 2011 are

- clear barclaycard
- clear overdraft
- cut food spend in Dec by going to other peoples houses to eat :rotfl:
- try to beat the crimbo budget we have set

So as always we are staying positive, we have a lot to look forward to and even more reason to clear the debts as we will be taking on more through uni fees next year (but im not so worried about them i have a student loan myself, you dont really notice it) Looking at long term benefits

savingholmes

Congrats to OH

My DS was just laughing about the eating out at others houses thing - but we've done a fair bit of that in our time too!

sugarcube84

Looks like i will be staying under my £180 food budget for the month and ive just been to pick up my portable dvd player that i won through Total Rewards so thats going straight on ebay.

Bad news, forgot cousins 21st so need to buy her a decent prezzie, she does a lot for my little boy as her mum (hubbys auntie) looks after him 2 days a week so thats the (small) overpayment on the credit card gone.

BUT hubbys dad is giving up some of his gardening customers (retiring) and wants hubby to take them over and buy the van off him at....50% off the going rate!!! So even thought the insurance will cost a bit more per year for the van we will be saving money off fuel and should be able to pay a lump sum off the credit card as the van is cheaper than our 4 x 4.

DFW things ive done today

- checked freebies
-checked mysupermarket to see where is cheapest for our next shop
- picked up my prize
- had breakfast, lunch and got tea planned from the meal planner
- done the gas and elec meter readings

Thats about it, got my credit card payments to make in the next few days and then ill be able to update my sig.