Moving south for winter

FlacosFloozie

Well, long time no post. I really must not absent myself from MSE for it is bad for me (and my finances).
On the plus side the original debt is coming down slowly and steadily... but slower than it should have been the last 2 months.
The downside... and its big... I asked MrFF what he would like to do for his big birthday, coming up in December. I was expecting we'd rent somewhere and throw a bit of a party... not cheap but not excessive. Instead he came back to me with taking a trip we've talked of doing for years. Now it is our first holiday in years and it should be fantastic but we've also had to buy extra clothing, etc and its all spiralled a bit out of control. I estimate we're now about £1500 above what I'd budgeted :eek:
We do this every time, we relax a bit about spending money and the brakes come off entirely
I can't face adding it to my signature so its going to stay a separate total for now but this is it the spending stops here! As of next month we are back to being frugal and will not stop until the debts are paid off.

FlacosFloozie

I passed the 50% mark today! Think I might have a glass of wine tonight to celebrate

snozberry

excellent news!

FlacosFloozie

Okay the good bit. My original debt has reduced by over 50% :j I'm really pleased with this. My aim is to clear the remaainder of this by my birthday next year, this means paying back £865.25 per month. In actual fact probably a bit more as some of the Bt will stop being interest free for a few months. My budget says this is doable but I'm going to need to hit ebay etc to raise extra money for car tax and servicing.

Now the midling bit... we're going to have to move in the spring as landlord wants to sell the house. In a way this is good as it is costing us a small fortune in heating and still has damp problems. We were thinking we'd like to move anyway but its going to be tricky to find somewhere reasonable to rent with the 2 cats and moving itself will be a bit stressful. It will also mean a tricky bit with finances as we're going to need a new deposit before we get the old one back... and something tells me we won't get the full amount... Anyway, will be a bit stressful but managable.

Lastly, the bad bit. There is new debt :eek: possibly the greates DFW sin. Its from our holiday which, inevitably, ended up costing more than I'd planned. On the one hand it was a fantastic trip. It cheered Mr F up so much and by the end he was talking about looking for jobs in other feilds as it would allow us to do more hings like this. On the other hand, I'm annoyed that my progress is not all it could be and I'm embarrassed that I had such a major splurge However, its all at 0% for now. It going on my sig as £X for now and once the original debt is gone then I'll own up to the amount and that will be my next target.

FlacosFloozie

Well a quiet Sunday and an NSD. All the shopping is done. I have to work tomorrow but have xmas day and boxing day off so looking forward to spending some time with Mr F.

I also have a shiny new (paper) diary for 2013. I am a bit of a stationary addict but usually get my fix with work related freebies. However, I really like this. It has blank pages at the back that I've listed all my 2013 goals in with space to record progress.

At the front there's a page with the months listed for putting improtant dates like birthdays in. I'm going to fill it with when all the yearly bills are due to try to help me be better prepared.

And it has a cartoon hedgehog on the front, how cool is that

snozberry

Hopefully you will find a much nicer place and one that is kitty friendly soon.

I love stationary, too.

FlacosFloozie

Well, its been a productive day off. I got a lot of housework done and made it to the bank to pay in the christmas cheque and the bagged up change. I've checked my online banking and it's already cleared so that's a bit more paid off the credit card

FlacosFloozie

A slightly spendy day today. We went for a hike in the woods but were a bit late setting off so had lunch in the cafe first, then coffee and cake after . With parking our total spend was £21 but it was worth it for a lovely afternoon out.
Mr F is putting in another job application at the moment so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him.
My current account is puzzling me at the moment. It's in credit and my overdraft limit hasn't changed but the money available is showing as £100 less than the two combined. I shouldn't have any other transactions coming out and its been like that for 3 days.... I'm driving myself nuts trying to figure it out but I guess I'll just have to wait.

FlacosFloozie

Its been a quiet but MSE day today. Did the weekly shop at Mr T's. Spent sl more than plannes as lots of offers on so have stocked up the freezer. This should make next week's shop a cheap one.
I've cleaned the bathroom, done 2 lots of laundry and baked some buns. I've also got 5 things listed on ebay and 2 have watchers already so I'm hopeful for some sales. I've got plenty more to go on but I always find it takes so long to upload photos and list so I think I'm going to aim to do 5 items a week. There are enough 99p ones that I'm not so worried about waiting for free weekends.
I've also taken the time to paint my toenails- they're now a sparkly metallic green. I don't really get to wear make up or dress up for work so this is my little bit of glamour

FlacosFloozie

Its been a quiet snowy weekend at here at Floozie towers but its made me realise how many little MSE ways I've adopted.
Today I finished the bottle of shampoo I'd cut the top off to get the last dregs out of (got an extra 3 washes), my conditioner was a freebee sachet from a magazine, my shower gel bottle was rinsed out to get the last bit onto the sponge and my skincare was superdrug own brand instead of my previous pricey one.
Lunch was made from stores and dinner will be the 2nd helping of yesterday's roast chicken- there's also enough for a 3rd dinner tomorrow.
I've baked buns and made tablet from scratch so we have unhealthy stuff to snack on.
The kitchen and bathroom are clean and tomorrow's lunch is made- no expensive trip to the corner shop.
I've also got another 5 things listed on the bay of e. I think I'm going to try to aim for 5 things each week. It takes so long but is my best bet for making a bit of extra cash. 3 of last week's items have bids and will sell. One has 24 watchers so I'm hoping for a last minute bidding war