Got to get a grip of this...

E2006

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

hey it sounds like you are having a great easter i haven't done half as much with my kids and just realised our zoo passes run out this week and that was the only season pass i held oops so going to try and get a day in there before friday

Glad to see your mojo is back for the debt repayments always helps when you're focused xx

Hi DFW, hope the weather holds out so you can get to the zoo. We've found our season passes to be a godsend - especially when we've bought them on offer.

To be honest, we are really impressed by how many lovely days out we have had so far for so little spends. We are using things on our doorstep, where we wouldnt have bothered before, thinking that we had to 'go' somewhere to feel like we had 'been' somewhere, if that makes sense. Friends of ours have gone away for the hols, and text today to say they had paid to take the kids swimming, and to soft play. We both said 'they could have done that at home and saved the cost of the lodge'! Clear evidence that we are getting better :A:rotfl:

Definately on board with the debts again. I check my spreadsheet daily just to see where Im at! I just wish I could wave a wand and get rid of it, but then again, that wont teach me the lessons I need to learn from this journey.

E x

debtfreewannabe321

E2006 wrote: »

Definately on board with the debts again. I check my spreadsheet daily just to see where Im at! I just wish I could wave a wand and get rid of it, but then again, that wont teach me the lessons I need to learn from this journey.

E x

:rotfl:i'm the same with my spreadsheets :rotfl:and i think the same. it would be so easy to have the debts paid off in one if we could all just win / come into some money! But then we wouldn't learn anything and i know i for one would just keep repeating the same mistakes until i did learn :rotfl::rotfl::o

E2006

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

:rotfl:i'm the same with my spreadsheets :rotfl:and i think the same. it would be so easy to have the debts paid off in one if we could all just win / come into some money! But then we wouldn't learn anything and i know i for one would just keep repeating the same mistakes until i did learn :rotfl::rotfl::o

Definately, me too...thats why my debt spans about 12 years (back to my uni days) despite it being paid off a few times during that period _pale_

E x

E2006

PAD of 85p to MBNA. I shouldnt really call them PADS as I cant make payments daily, but not sure what else to all it - EP? (Extra payment, maybe?). Anyway, its great seeing the long list of credits to the account

Its raining again today so the open air museum may be off the cards. If we dont go today, we may go bowling instead (which was going to be tomorrows activity), but then if it rains again tomorrow we still wont be able to get there, and we really want to go as theres a steam fair on, which includes steam trains which you can have a free ride on - trains are DS's absolute passion. Oh well, we can see if the weather improves over the next hour or so.

Payday one week tomorrow :j

E2006

Been a bit of a :mad: day today.

We finally took DS to the open air museum he has been wanting to go to all week. About an hour after arriving we got a phone call to say that someone wanted to view our house (I think Ive already mentioned its on the market). Seeing as though the market is very slow at the minute we didnt want to pass up a viewing, as as the couple lived out of the area they couldnt be very flexible re the time of the viewing, so we headed off home almost immediately after the phone call (thankfully DS had been on the train and was quite content to go to the gift shop to spend some of his money), but on the way home we received a call to say they had viewed another property in our street and it was too small so they wernt coming to ours! :mad::mad::mad:

Once we got home I rang the mortgage company to query something about our mortgage deal, and the person I spoke to was a right c*cky so and so!! So that just made me even more :mad:

Ive been working out the budget for the next month and its going to be soooo tight. We have loads going on - a wedding about 2 hours away from home (the hotel is already paid for, but we will need money to spend, a gift and petrol (not to mention an outfit for me if I cant fit into my dress by then :embarasse)), a christenting, 2 meals out, 2 birthdays, my neice due to be born (and if overdue will be induced before next payday) and a long weekend away. Think its going to be a beans on toast month :rotfl:. Seriously, how cheaply can I do the month??:think:

Tea tonight was chips from the chippy (..she says as she wonders how she is going to fit into that dress.......)

E x

E2006

Morning diary...last couple of days off . Still, suppose we must go back to work soon.

Normal Saturday today, DH is off to the footie, I need to go and get some food shopping, and get some washing and tidying done. I will probably take DS to the park to tire him out. He is already pestering me about where we are going to go today!

Ive been through the freezer to see what we have in for a meal plan - not a lot! Theres one portion of chilli, a small portion of chicken (enough for 1 person), 1 small portion of smoked mackrel, a pack of stirfry (I froze it fresh so not sure how it will turn out once defrosted), small portion of korma sauce, couple of sasauges, some oven chips and a couple of peices of breaded fish. The cupboard is bare - I dont even have any beans in! Im going to Al*i only for shopping. In fact, Ive decided that for the month of April, Im going to do my full shop in Al** - meat included! I reckon this should save me a small fortune. The only thing I cant get there is the stirfry packs - I really like Mr A's hot and spicy one, and for £1 its not too unreasonable.

Anyway, I have only £20 left in the bank until payday on Friday, so it needs to be a low spend shop, that will cover packed lunches for me, DS and DH. Meal plan Im thinking will include the following (although Im not sure of order):

1. Chilli & rice
2. Me: smoked mackrel/DH & DS: breaded fish, all with boiled pots, peas and sweetcorn
3. Me: Chicken stirfry/DS chicken korma
4. HM chunky chips, beans (and for the boys sasauges)
5. Jacket pots, beans and cheese
6. Chicken portions, veg and pots (I will buy these from Mr A - only 99p for 2 large ones)

That should empty the freezer, so I can get it defrosted as Ive been hoping to do for a while now. Will do that next weekend if I get a chance.

Oh well, off to get dressed for the day.

E x

E2006

Back to work today. It wasnt too bad - nice short day of only 9am-3pm. I spent the day trawling through hundreds of emails though, so dont feel like I achieved an awful lot - its always the same after a holiday!

I managed to get there and back on left over petrol from the weekend but will need to top up. I was hoping to get to the end of the week but no chance!

Tea tonight is left over roast chicken dinner for DS (which he is eating now, and it smells gorgeous!), and baked potatoes with cheese and beans for DH and I.

Pay day in 4 days :j

E x

Forgot to add, shopping on Saturday came to £16.16!

debtfreewannabe321

glad work wasn't too stressful! nice to have a short day to ease you bak into things We're also emptying out freezer at the mo as we're pretty low on money after needing to fix the car last week so i'm trying not to dip into any more savings/pots before pay day (but saying that pay day is 2 weeks away so may have to yet!) xx

E2006

Wow, its a year since I started this diary and I havent posted in a long time but a lot has happened in that time! We've paid a huge chunk off the debts and have only £3000 (ish) left to pay off. This has just been transferred onto a 0% card for 24months and should be paid off by the end of that time. Its low enough now that we can just set away a standing order and forget about it.

Our finances are so much better now than they were this time last year. We are all sorted for Christmas - all paid for in cash! and we feel so much more in control now.

We do have a challenging time coming up however...Im expecting another little one early next year and therefore for the majority of the year will be on maternity leave and therefore reduced earnings. We really want to keep making positive progress and not end up in the position we ended up in after I had DS of being in quite a bit of debt because we just couldnt manage on the little money that was coming in.

We've started saving and will hopefully have £2500 in savings before I start earning a reduced salary, but we booked quite an expensive holiday before finding out I was pregnant (reasons why we spent way more than we normally would but I wont go into these now), and whilst its affordable, it needs to be paid for before I leave work so that we dont have to worry about finding the money when Im off work.

Anyway, the plan is budget budget budget! Thankfully we dont really need much baby stuff because we have everything left from DS so thats a saving. But we do need to stick to the monthly budget every month to stay on track with the savings, holiday and then managing on a reduced income, so that will be the focus of this diary over the next year or so

E2006

NYE 2012 already! What a rollercoaster year 2012 has been....hoping that 2013 will be just as good on the ups and a vast improvement on the downs! We are just having a quiet night in tonight, me, DH and DS. Got a nice creamy pasta and garlic bread and a glass of fizz on the menu (a small one for me, lemonade for DS). We will probably be in bed way before the new year comes in but we dont mind that too much this year.

Im not making any new years resolutions this year, other than to cherish every moment with DH, DS and soon to be little one. The plan for the year is to reduce the existing debt further, save hard for maternity (for the next few months anyway), and budget and live as frugally as possibly. I'd love to end my maternity with money left in the savings!

Ive joined the weekly spend challenge, and the 'meal plan and stick to it challenge' to help with the weekly budget. We've been so good during my pregnancy at not wasting money and eating takeaway's etc, and I really want to continue this once LO gets here.

Ive also put in my signature savings for next Christmas. The plan is to save £50 per month (which is probably the maximum I will manage on maternity) but that will amount to £600 by Christmas. This year was all paid for in cash, which is a huge improvement on previous years and we want to make sure it stays that way.

Anyway, happy new year x