** Wish I was a money fairy **

Lemon_Tree

sounds like you're all organised. i'm awaiting payday as well but have to wait until friday but i've done all my numbers already so i'm ready to rock and roll.

Housework*Fairy

Hooray, I've done it! I've done a month, not used credit, and actually saved some money

Overdraft was: £1027.03
Overdraft is: £679.83

So this month, in the spends account I spent £347.20 less than I brought in :j

Although admittedly we had £145 extra come in from mileage cheques and extra work.

We didn't go without, I paid DS1's deposit for his school trip to Spain, We bought a new rabbit hutch, there was haircuts for DS2 and DH, DH had new trainers, We had a family trip to a magic show, I had a night out with work and went for a curry.

Obviously I know the money left in the overdraft is not paying off the overdraft as I will need to break into it. Last month I was in credit for only 8 days of the month!!! This month already (and DH only got paid today) I have had to send off £75 for a speed awareness course for the plonker going through a speed camera, and I had to pay 6 months road tax at £118. I can't remember the last time I didn't pay for road tax on a credit card though so this is a real achievement.

I was a lot more careful with shopping, shopping mainly at Lidl and Farmfoods and only using Morrisons for emergencies. I steered clear of going to the supermarket on the way to work.

DH had a bit of good news today, his boss called him in and said he wants DH's role to expand, so he's giving him a payrise in January and letting him employ a trainee. I don't know how much difference the payrise will make but it would be good if it were enough to replace the child tax credit that we are due to lose next April.

Here's hoping November can be just as frugal

PS in other exciting moneysaving news, a company called at the house today and spoke to DH about installing solar panels onto our roof. He doesn't dare say yes to anything since the time he switched our gas and electric and ended up costing us money, so he said he'd take a leaflet and look into it.

mooomin

Housework*Fairy wrote: »

Hooray, I've done it! I'

Done what, done what?!?!

Housework*Fairy

flying_fresian wrote: »

Done what, done what?!?!

I pressed enter too soon, that is what I done

mooomin

Housework*Fairy wrote: »

I pressed enter too soon, that is what I done

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

mooomin

Oi, where are you hiding?

Housework*Fairy

I know, I've been a bad fairy!

Well, the money saving HAS slipped but only a little. By that, I mean I haven't really been ruling the bank card with an iron rod. DH has slipped back into his cheeky little habit of going to the cash machine every other day and taking out a tenner, but I guess it's better than a tenner every day.

The week before last I didn't get around to going food shopping so we ended up living out of the freezer and cupboards and having three takeaways that week!!! However we did go for the cheap option with pizza twice (£10) and fish & chips once (£11). Funnily enough doing that actually meant we spent LESS on the grocery budget for that week, although we did have some strange combinations for tea.

Currently £166 MORE overdrawn now than we were last month (eeek) but this is because I shifted £70 monthly payment for the school trip across to the current account and also DH has paid out an extra £50 for petrol for work expenses. I've got the £50 reimbursement still to put in the bank and a cheque for £31 for a typing job I did, and DH fixed a computer last week which he is charging £100 for. I don't know if he will 'give' the £100 to me. I hope he might if I guilt trip him about Christmas :rotfl::rotfl:

In other exciting news the fuel bills came at the weekend. Was gutted to see that despite paying £41 per month (was previously paying £30) I used £150 of electric between July and October, so clearly something needs to be done. However the gas bill came and I'm £315 in credit!!! However from past experience my winter bills can be up to £600, so I might be in debit by the time spring rolls round.

DH's boss spoke to him recently and said he had some big contracts coming up so DH would need to take on an assistant. I begged him to take me on, but he was having none of it :mad: but he did also mention that as DH would be the assistant's line manager, and he was taking them on at the same salary as DH, he would make sure DH would get a payrise next year (hooray) but no figures are available yet. Hopefully it will cover the child tax credit that I will lose in April.

I really need to start shopping for Christmas, I wrote a Christmas list and there's 26 people on it (7 children, 2 teenagers) including my own . It's just finding the time....

mooomin

Housework*Fairy wrote: »

I really need to start shopping for Christmas, I wrote a Christmas list and there's 26 people on it (7 children, 2 teenagers) including my own . It's just finding the time....

27 people is insane! Are they all relatives? Even then, do they all need a present? I think that most people would be understanding if you said to them, we're skint, can we not do presents this year.

Do you have any money set aside for Christmas? If not, then buying presents for 27 people is only going to add to your debt while also adding additional stress to your life. If you're struggling to keep Mr Fairy on board with your budget, Christmas is a massive additional pressure.

Myself and one of my friends have agreed to do gifts for £5 this year as we've just shelled out nearly £700 on vet treatment for the moggies and her car has just had £500 worth of repairs. Things crop up making Christmas more hassle than it's worth, try and scale back :rudolf:

Housework*Fairy

flying_fresian wrote: »

27 people is insane! Are they all relatives? Even then, do they all need a present? I think that most people would be understanding if you said to them, we're skint, can we not do presents this year.

Do you have any money set aside for Christmas? If not, then buying presents for 27 people is only going to add to your debt while also adding additional stress to your life. If you're struggling to keep Mr Fairy on board with your budget, Christmas is a massive additional pressure.

Myself and one of my friends have agreed to do gifts for £5 this year as we've just shelled out nearly £700 on vet treatment for the moggies and her car has just had £500 worth of repairs. Things crop up making Christmas more hassle than it's worth, try and scale back :rudolf:

Most of the 27 are family and a lot of them, I can get away with cheapish presents, socks and boxes of chocolates and what-not. I'm very time poor though. Both my kids have been pre-warned that there will not be a mountain of presents to open this year which is the main expense. Also DH has three of his brothers and sister's who have birthdays in December :eek:, I'll let you know what I buy. I do have a Lola perfume set put away from last year that I bought in the January sales which I will probably give to my mum

Wayhay, after reading what I had written up there ^^ about being overspent on last month, I had to pay out for the road tax and speeding course, so along with the petrol it's only an extra £20 or so and DS1 needed new school shoes :-)

Lemon_Tree

at least it sounds like you're being realistic with how much you can spend on people for christmas, that's half the battle.
Oh and just my thought (feel free to ignore) on the £100 that your OH will earn from the computer repair, if he won't put it into the household pot then i would suggest that he use that money instead of taking a tenner cash out of the bank for a while. But i am a harsh wife lol