gingernutbizkit's dfb blog

gingernutbizkit

thanks cb and banana.

I think my wife wants to buy a new tv.... and probably lots of other things.

I think may be I should treat her seeing as she has had to go without for so long..... by that I mean go without money

gingernutbizkit

Sorry for the delay in this update..... here's our latest.

The past month has been a really good one for us.

We managed to save £200 from christmas money given to us - my wife still got to have the V+ box she wanted to.

With two weeks off work our petrol bill was less than half and we managed to avoid sale shopping for things we don't need so our credit card bill was the lowest ever - meaning £500 more towards our debts.

I put the rest of my slimming world items on ebay and so far less than half have sold and made us £250

All this means that ........

:j WE HAVE PAID OFF OUR CAHOOT LOAN!!!!!!!!!!! :j

gingernutbizkit

Hi all,

Here's feb's update.......

* Still selling on Ebay - now made approx £450

* I have created a very thorough budget for this year and a sheet where we can record our spending to monitor how it is matching up.

* I desperately need a new car as this one is destined for the scrap yard!!! We have looked at different finance deals but decided that we will try stoozing to allow us to borrow for free over the next year.

* Decided to go camping in france for the summer. Looking at ferry crossings at the moment. So far I have got the quote down from £330 to £50!


On a more personal note..... we have made an application to become foster parents. The agency is meeting with us on friday and have already said they want to hurry through the application. I'm starting to look now at signing up with some agencies so I can have some work to fall back on at times when we have no children placed with us.

Off to alter my signature now!

gingernutbizkit

We have now started the longggggggggggggggg process of becoming registered foster carers. So far we have had our first lot of training and our first meeting with a social worker. We have another 9 social worker appointments, a house inspection, finances inspection, two more training days and a panel interview in June. Phew!

As yet they have been quite unclear about income - we're not doing it for the money but knowing what we will be living on would be helpful

Our finances are looking in better shape although we have a lot of changes to make to the house before we can be improved. It would have cost us £10000 to move home and then more money to do up the new house so staying and doing some work on our seems the better option.

For the first time ever we are having a holiday in 2 weeks time that is all paid for before we go - spending money included :T

gingernutbizkit

Things are moving forward nicely. The fostering is still on track and we're looking at starting some time in the summer. I'll be finishing my job at the end of July and I can not wait!!!

Just joined the May Grocery challenge as I think that it's the next area of spending I need to get under control. The goal is £150 for the rest of the month. I've spent £50 so far and should just need fresh bits and pieces as the weeks go on.

gingernutbizkit

As I said we have started on the grocery challenge. I've decided to do things a bit differently though. I worked out that on average we are spending £300 a month on grocery shopping and meals out. That is obviously quite a shocking amount for two people and a dog!

So the plan now is that every month I will put that £300 in a separate purse and any money that is left at the end will go to a holiday next year. Our goal is £1000 by next april (£100 saved per month) So basically, if we don't start saving money each month then we can't go on holiday - that should get us motivated!

The money should also cover all birthday/xmas presents, cleaning stuff, entertaining and meals out. It will obviously be a tight squeeze once we start fostering so might have to rethink a bit.

Spent some time today planting some herbs, peas and tomatoes so they should help with the challenge. I've got some more herbs, tomatoes and potatoes still to go out, as well as a kiwi - really looking forward to eating my own kiwi's from the back yard!

Got a bargain today. Bought from Lakeland 4 bread mixes reduced to 99p just because the box was damaged I've just made one. Also used two over-ripe bananas to make banana and choc muffins which I have just taken out of the oven and smell delicious. I've not done much baking before and adapted the recipe from this site so hopefully they will taste as good as they look.

gingernutbizkit

the banana and choc muffins were delicious. They tasted great but for some reason the bottoms were greasy and they stuck to the non-stick cases! The bread was good too

I've got plans to bake some more muffins this weekend and freeze them so they can be taken out a couple at a time.

gingernutbizkit

I made some more muffins yesterday but I'm afraid they never made it into the freezer. They were a bit heavy so I'm hoping to have another go and getting them better next time. I'm really quite a novice when it comes to cooking but i'm determined to learn.

I had some left over chicken from a whoopsee I found a couple of days ago. I made a curry last night and tonight I'm having a go at a chicken and mushroom pie. I've got a chicken soup for the saucey filling and bought some pastry as I don't think I'm quite up to the challenge of creating my own pastry just yet.

Just off to have a look at my figures to see how quickly I can clear my loans now that I have tightened my budget.

gingernutbizkit

I have calculated that my loans should be paid off my august 2009

Turtle

You're doing great. Do I understand that you're leaving your job though? How will you cope on one wage?

Will be very interested to hear about your fostering journey. My OH has brought it up a couple of times but I'm not sure (we have no children of our own.)