** Wish I was a money fairy **

Housework*Fairy

I'll probably come back and edit this as I have to disappear in fifteen minutes to do DS1's paper round. The good folk of the people's-republic-of-where-I-Live-shire NEED their Sunday Mirror.

Found out yesterday that my MOT had expired on Friday - ARRGGHHHHHHHH - so that's Ronnie Renault off the road until I get get him into the garage. My neighbour sold me the car and said she couldn't find the paperwork but it was taxed til the end of October (correct) and it was MOT'd until sometime in December however they brought the papers round, gave it to DH who put it in a cupboard and forgot to tell me.....I then asked neighbour if she had found the paperwork and she said yes. I asked husband where it was and we found it in a cupboard and discovered MOT ran out on 11.11.11 - surely the most memorable day of the year......anyway neighbour's husband is a mechanic so he was gonna see if he could fit me in on Monday for MOT. Hopefully it wont be too painfully expensive.

Made a start on Xmas Shopping yesterday courtesy of Home Bargains and Boots 3-for-2 offers.

People to buy for:
My mum -
[STRIKE]My dad[/STRIKE] - Old spice aftershave and deodorant set

[STRIKE]My brother[/STRIKE] Lynx deodorant / shower gel set
My sister-in-law
Nephew 1 (9)
Neice (5)
Nephew 2 (1)

Husband's mum
[STRIKE]Husband's step-dad[/STRIKE] Lynx deodorant / shower gel set
[STRIKE]Husband's brother [/STRIKE](31) Lynx deodorant / shower gel set
Husband's grandma

Husband's dad Lynx deodorant / shower gel set
Husband's wife number 3

[STRIKE]Husband's ex-stepmum[/STRIKE] -Marc Jacobs Lola Perfume, purchased in January sales (she always gets me summat really nice)
[STRIKE]Husband's ex-stepmum's new husband[/STRIKE] - Lynx deodorant / shower gel set
Sister-in-law 1 (21)
Brother-in-law (15)

Neighbour's kid 1 (9)
Neighbour's kid 2 (7)
Neighbour's kid 3 (5)
Neighbour's kid 4 (4 months)

[STRIKE]Friend 1 [/STRIKE]Soap & Glory trio of body sprays
[STRIKE]Friend 2[/STRIKE] Soap & Glory trio of body sprays
Friend 3

DH
DS1 (15)
DS2 (8)

[STRIKE]Secret Santa Present[/STRIKE] - A bracelet I bought for a relative's birthday two years ago and never got around to giving them

Colleague 1
Colleague 2

Godson1 (15)
Godson2 (10)

Along with the following birthdays: Friend 4 birthday (18th Nov), Sister-in-law's 21st birthday (17th Dec), brother-in-law's 15th birthday (1st Dec), Sister-in-law's 25th birthday (1st Jan), brother-in-law's 32nd birthday (28th Dec)

I know it looks terrible, but I can genuinely get away with token presents. for example, I will get colleague 1 and 2, a handcream at no more than £1.50. I'll update what I have bought when I have delivered the neighbourhood their daily dose of sleaze...

mooomin

You forgot my birthday which is also in December :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

That's quite the list Good luck! Worth being totally cheap and checking Poundland too - they have some books which can be good depending on what people are interested in. I got my dad a book from there recently and he was thrilled with it (obviously didn't tell him it was a Poundland purchase!)

Housework*Fairy

Car was MOT'd today and all in was £100 which I could have cried with happiness given that it's an 11-year-old car.

Also found two more kids to add to the Christmas present list which I had completely forgotten about, my two Godson's - how bad is that??? To add to it, one of the Godson's birthdays is 23rd December so that'll be another present to buy too. :eek::eek: someone please remind me on 26th December that I've got 30 people to buy for, so not to leave it til the last minute.

mooomin

Housework*Fairy wrote: »

Car was MOT'd today and all in was £100 which I could have cried with happiness given that it's an 11-year-old car.

Also found two more kids to add to the Christmas present list which I had completely forgotten about, my two Godson's - how bad is that??? To add to it, one of the Godson's birthdays is 23rd December so that'll be another present to buy too. :eek::eek: someone please remind me on 26th December that I've got 30 people to buy for, so not to leave it til the last minute.

Have you got Tesco vouchers you could double up for toys? Could you go for books from the Book People (cheap as chips + Quidco!)?

mooomin

Also, WOO for cheap MOT :j :j

Housework*Fairy

I used all my Tesco points earlier this year on a kindle (great investment) and I haven't really used Tesco since I embraced cheap shopping. BAH! I will be more organised for Xmas 2012

Housework*Fairy

Ye Gads! What a difference one month makes. November has been a terribly expensive month and a very long one and I have ended the month with the bills account being underspent by £5.30, and the spends account being overspent by a massive £434.59! :eek: I'm particularly gutted because I was overdrawn over my limit by £11.14 for the grand total of one day (yesterday) which means that I will probably get charged for unauthorised overdraft, however much that is. Gutted? Much!

There are several reasons for this (aren't there always)
1. My catalogue came out twice this pay period, on 31st October and then on 28th November so that was an extra £22.41 I didn't account for
2. DH got paid on 27th October and then on 29th November, which was a whopping 33 days between pay periods, nearly five weeks, which included five weekends and thus five weekly shops. I'm getting fed up of never knowing what day he will get paid.
3. Had to pay £75 out for DH's speed awareness course. A totally and completely unnecessary expense which I am still hopping mad about.
4. £118.75 road tax was due (mine for 6 months) which I had no savings for.
5. At least £70 spent on Christmas presents for most of the 30 people I have to buy for.
6. We went to see a fireworks and monster trucks display at £36
7. DS1 needed some new shoes - £14
8. Had to pay my newspaper bill which I hadn't done for the best part of a year - £80
9. Have really taken the eye off the ball as far as DH and his cash withdrawals were concerned. He's been withdrawing £10 every day for a lot of days this month.
10. Again with shopping, I've not meal planned and have just stuck whatever I fancied in the trolley. I've been going to the supermarket through the week and also getting cash back.
11. Not been looking at internet banking daily
12. DH had a day off work in October which was deducted from his November pay so we were £38 worse off straightaway.
13. Unexpected MOT which only cost £100, but I wasn't expecting to pay it out of my October wage.

What also made it worse was we had extra money from DH doing a job for £100, £10.16 from Quidco plus I 'borrowed' £50 from the Bills account to make sure I didn't go overdrawn in the spends (laughs hysterically) and which I must make sure is paid back

So I am going to keep track of things this week, check my HSBC spends account daily and not let DH have the bank card.

I've got my kids to buy for for Christmas, although most of the adults are bought for now.

So November - a real eye opener.:eek:

Lemon_Tree

eek, but have you learnt anything from this month? thats the critical question
the obvious things seem to be (and from experience i've learnt some of these things)
check your internet banking daily, keep your own record of all transactions and check the month before you get started.
stop the newspapers, that's a huge sum for having the paper delivered, i'm surprised they waited so long for payment
start saving now for your tax disc in 6 months time
now you know when your MOT is due it can't be unexpected again therefore start saving now.
take a shopping list with you
start saving for next christmas - it's gonna happen on the 25th Dec lol
kneecap your OH when he next plans to get cash from the cashtill (only joking!)

sorry not meaning to sound rude or horrible but you have to turn this month into something positive and if it's a learning curve then so be it.

keep ticking along you will get there

Housework*Fairy

I have definitely learnt that I have to check internet banking on a daily basis and not to go to the supermarkets through the week 'for a couple of bits' as I never just buy a couple of bits.

mooomin

*wanders in*

*sits down*

*gets chased by dust bunnies*

Where are you Fairy, not sitting on top of the Christmas tree already surely?! :xmastree: