We are about to pull the purse strings soooo tight!

mummytogirls

Morning Alice,

Hope you have a fab day out today, you deserve it !

Oh insurance can be soooooooooo stressful cant it! DH had real trouble cancelling his bike insurance when he sold it back in 2010, several stressed out phone calls later it was sorted. Fingers crossed for no charges xx

Alice_in_Poorland

PeterJohnson wrote: »

It sounds like my house! DS1 and 2 had their hair done today and it's DS1's birthday Saturday :eek:

I'm having the shoe argument with the better half and she thinks it's worth the extra money for decent shoes but the prices :mad:

I don't know how he goes through them so fast. This time of the year is certainly testing especially when finances are so tight and as you as with Christmas on the way. Have to say though last year we planned Christmas so well for the first time ever and saved about 300 quid compared to previous years . . Need to get planning . .

Last year we were really lucky and DS2s school shoes lasted the whole school year....just about. The shoes he's just had cost £42 so fingers crossed they last the same.

I have started my lists for Christmas presents and things to do (I know, sad!!). Have got a few presents and once the kids go back to school it will be full steam ahead.

mummytogirls wrote: »

Morning Alice,

Hope you have a fab day out today, you deserve it !

Oh insurance can be soooooooooo stressful cant it! DH had real trouble cancelling his bike insurance when he sold it back in 2010, several stressed out phone calls later it was sorted. Fingers crossed for no charges xx

Thanks Mummy, we've had a fab day out. It wasn't that busy so the kids got to go on all the rides, so we really got our monies worth.

The only downside to today is that we have picked DSs car up on the way back, and although it drove great it has leaked oil all over the drive. OH has had a look and he thinks it is coming from either the sump or oil filter (which has been changed). Now we are not mechanics in any way, shape or form so I called the garage and he was going to contact the mechanic and get back to me......that was an hour ago, I've just tried his mobile and its gone straight to answer phone......I fear the worst :mad:

I've just taxed my car so thats £137 paid out today as well as £40.50 to get into theme park. So my NSDs for August is only 12 days.:( September will be better.

Going to get the washing done tonight so I can peg out first thing. DSs football season starts tomorrow so will be out in the morning. Need to do meal plan and start thinking about lunch boxes again, these six weeks have just flown by.xx

Itsadogslife_2

Hi Alice, hope everything is OK with you?

I have started thinking about Christmas, those were the days when I used to leave it until December and spend too much money.

Little Itsa seems to be still believing in the old Father C at the moment, don't think we will get away with it for much longer, she is 7, 8 in February.

Alice_in_Poorland

Hi Itsa, we are doing OK at the moment. More ups than downs :)Hope all is good with you?

Would be great if Little Itsa can hold out for a few more years before she finds out the truth about you know who!!! Our 2 oldest boys have never said they don't believe, think they are just trying to keep me happy.:rotfl:

Finally got intouch with the garage and have arranged for the new car to go back on Monday. Fingers crossed that will be it sorted.

Have had a busy day, football matches and training, dropping kids off, picking them up, a birthday party, dropping off friends birthday present and ended up with a chippie tea. So thats it now, no more junk food, will stick to meal plan, no more days out for a bit so should getting everthing back to normal....whatever normal is in our house.

Tomorrows jobs -
1/ vac car
2/ wash car
3/ cut grass
4/ ironing
5/ put name tags in uniform
6/ meal plan
7/ update spending diary
8/ put stuff in local paper again for this week
9/ Weight myself :eek:

Have a good Sunday. xx

Alice_in_Poorland

We've had a lovely sunny day today and got all the jobs done except the ironing. I'm still on holiday tomorrow so will do it then.

Today I have sorted all the money pots out, DS2 bus money pot, OH works lottery, gave DS1 £30 towards car tax for his car as OH will be sharing it. Total left in my purse £1.30.

Will have to pay DS3s swimming lessons on Wednesday, but hopefully Monday and Tuesday will be NSDs, I must get back on track, would like to do 15 this month.

I got on the scales this morning and oh boy have I got my work cut out. I would like to lose 2stone by Christmas, certainly do-able just got to knuckle down and get on with it.

Looking forward to my last lie-in tomorrow.xx

Alice_in_Poorland

Back to work today, DS3 back to school, DS2 back to school tomorrow, back to doing packed lunches .

Have checked budgets/spending diary and the insulation company still haven't taken payment , wish they'd hurry up.......never thought I'd ever say that!!!

Today was NSD 3, tomorrow have got to pay for swimming lessons and pay the window cleaner so will get £60 cash out. Need £47 for swimming and £10 for window cleaner, also need some bread and pay my works lottery, so that will be £60 gone more of less. xx

Alice_in_Poorland

Called into A1di today, spent £17.56, got bread but also stocked up on kitchen roll, toilet roll, washing up liq, cotton buds etc etc.

Will chase insulation company on Friday if they still haven't taken payment. Will be down to pence in the bank over the next week. Really need to keep on track as OH still on reduced hours.

On a plus point the weather has been fab. xx

Alice_in_Poorland

The insulation company still haven't taken payment :mad:. I don't know whether to ring them to see when they are going to put it through but we are really short this week.

Over the next 6 days we've got to pay car loan, CCCS payment and mobile phones, and if the insulation companys payment goes through we will be in a minus situation (until next Thursday when OH gets paid again). I could transfer some money from our emergency fund but not sure there is enough, plus I will need to get petrol and some food.

Will sit down (with OH) tonight and have a fiddle with the figures. I took my eye of the ball last week for a few days and look what has happened!!!

I really don't want to reduce our payment to CCCS but with OHs reduced hours and we've lost our tax credits things are tighter than ever.

We CAN do this. xx

Alice_in_Poorland

What a great day! There wasn't a cloud in the sky today.

Have got all the washing dried, including all the sheets/quilt covers. Just got a mountain on ironing now.

Today was a LSD, just £1 for DS3s football training. So still on 3 NSDs so far this month. Tomorrow is DS2s cricket presentation so won't be a NSD tomorrow either.

£on asked for meter readings, have emailed them and apparently we are £194 in credit. They have just put the monthly payment upto £114 per month too.....cheeky monkeys!!

We've looked at the budget/account balances and if we take everything out of the emergency fund we should be OK if the insulation company take their payment before next Thursday when OH gets paid again. We must make sure there is always enough in the account to cover that as i'm not going to chase them.......well not at the moment anyway.

Hope everybody is having a good weekend. xx

Alice_in_Poorland

Well that's Monday over, and another spend day.

DS2 needed swimming shorts for school. I'd held out and didn't buy them in the summer because we didn't know which term he'd have swimming. So spent £4.99 on shorts and £1.99 x 2 on goggles for DS2 and DS1.

Also spent £2.98 on cat food but had a 60p off voucher.

Apart from money for direct debits and insulation company we will have £9.08p in the bank to last until Thursday. :eek:
Roll on Thursday.xx