A new start for a newbie

vintage43

In my quest to be more money saving I am putting home highlights in my hair with one of those kit things, the streaks are around the front where it is most obvious so I hope it works, if it does it only cost £3.44 instead of the normal £52:rotfl: cross fingers:rotfl:
Also tonight, cos we are away for the weekend we had a funny tea - pizza, sausages, beans and hash browns, all stuff that needed using up out of the fridge, the kids ate everything, yet when I carefully prepare something some gets left on the plates!
son#1 is leaving home for a while tomorrow, going to work away with his cousin who is a proper money saver - she never buys food, gets it free when it's past it's useby dates, the place she works let her stay there free if she does some work for them in the week and she busks to make money otherwise, everything she buys is preloved, so hopefully he'll pick up some tips from her:A It will be sad to see him go, but he needs to spread his wings and there is no employment here at the moment, he's lived away before so we are always sorry to see him go but happy when he comes home for a bit!

vintage43

The Christmas fayre went well, the start was too early on a Sunday morning so not many people came to see what we had, but I managed to make £44.00 clear profit after all expenses were taken out and that's gone into the sealed pot! My son is going to a christmas fayre next weekend in Manchester so he's going to sell the rest of my stall stuff and we'll split the takings. Lot's of people said i was undercharging so I'll ask son#1 to up the prices a little.:xmastree::xmastree:
Don't know how but my Next bill has crept up to £744, I have sent everything back that I possibly could, maybe it hasn't been deducted yet, but that was a bit of a shocker!:eek:
Off to work now, then when I get back make up two wedding things to post tomorrow, that will be another £8.00 off the next bill, I just know though that when they start the xmas sales that I'll buy all next years Xmas gifts from there, will this save me some pennies, hope so!:rotfl:

Have a great day all x

vintage43

Did ok today I think, got some more xmas stuff for the kids, a jumper for eldest with 25% off so only £21, a free view box using my Mr S points, and three X points on that shop. Xmas candles scented in tins reduced from £6 to £3.66 then i used up an old boots gift card and boots points and got 5 great gifts for £14.00 which shouls have cost £12 each. three Xmas candles for the price of one, same on pizzas. Horray stuck to my budget and still have £10.00 left:j

vintage43

:eek::mad:
Can't believe that I have spent so much this month, feel like i'm back to square one, not sure how to sort it out, think i will have to make a New Years resolution, perhaps trying to sort my self out in December was too ambitious, feeling really unhappy with myself:mad::mad::mad:Dare not update my signature, will have to look at it in January, fresh start restarts on jan 1st

Cherryjack

vintage43 wrote: »

:eek::mad:
Can't believe that I have spent so much this month, feel like i'm back to square one, not sure how to sort it out, think i will have to make a New Years resolution, perhaps trying to sort my self out in December was too ambitious, feeling really unhappy with myself:mad::mad::mad:Dare not update my signature, will have to look at it in January, fresh start restarts on jan 1st

Dont worry vintage, December is such a hard month and the most expensive of the 12..your in the right mind set now to take on January.. start a small saving for next xmas and pay into each month.. it will ease the guilt next year. You would have spent alot more if you hadnt have been trying x

ecoelle

Hi, just a suggestion, but maybe you could try posting your SOA today. Then you could forget December and start focusing on a new monthly budget to start with in January. I sometimes find that looking forward at the new year can be a good thing and it might motivate you to set a new challenge for the new year;)

LianneH

Vintage, dont give yourself such a hardtime, as Cherryjack says December is such a difficult month. Just look at all the Xmas bargains you got and would you have even tried for them before??

chin up... keep posting here and all these wonderful people will keep you going

L x

vintage43

I will have a go at starting a statement of affairs for January, have to wait until the CC bill is in, see how much damage I've done, my toilet broke and i didn't have enought money left to have it fixed, had to keep flushing it by filling up a mop bucket and tipping it in, Super Dad came to the rescue and fixed it for me at a fraction of the cost, but need to start think about having a contingency budget, a christmas budget etc, had a look at the budget planner and am going to start that in january, factoring in debts, I want to pay off more than the minimum payment. Where will I find a good SOA spreadsheet?? Thanks for the replys, I think my lightbulb moment really has come, just been kidding myself up til now:mad::o:o:o

vintage43

So much for a no spend day! £15 on crackers, after saving loo rolls to make my own, why oh why am I drawn to the pretty things???
Christmas is great but it is just such a struggle when your the only wage earner with a mortgage - I have set up a budget planner now to start on 1st Jan, I intend to piggy bank some funds into a Christmas account a birthday account and a holiday account, I think the last one is wishful thinking on my part. Had some chicken pieces for tea tonight that cost a whole 30p for the bag from a wholesaler, scraped all the spare skin etc off for the cats and dog. Not a bad dinner tonight, £1.50 for three people, two cats and a dog, about 30p each approx. How can i do that but then spend 315 on crackers - there is no logic!:o

debtfreewannabe321

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html that's the link to the soa

and don't beat yourself up, i think a fair few of us fall at the christmas hurdle. There is always next month to start afresh (and a new year) i've kind of given up watching spends now BUT am just trying to limit the damage now december is ALWAYS the hardest month for me! harder than the summer holidays even with 3 kids (well actually probably even with that!)

:A