A stay at home mummy who wants to be a mfw - Yes I can and Yes I will!

I_want_a_baby

Glad to see you are seeing the benefit of swagbucking now savingmummy :j!

272SB earned today - just happened to be one of them days when it all goes right! Balance 1767SB. Aiming for 1999SB so I can redeem £10.

6SP - Balance 579SP.

Used reusable nappies all day.

Ipsos survey - 100points.

Cousin came round for tea and bought us all fish n chips. Really nice to catch up with him and yummy food too!

Made flapjacks for snack tin with son today.

Applied for the free tastecard today.

NSD

Big stock up shop arrived & put away. Within this months budget and now have plenty of staples such as pasta and rice and potatoes to make full use of any RTC meat or veg from the garden.
Still hoping to save some food budget money this month towards the house deposit/smaller mortgage dreams.

** Fingers crossed for some good news on the house deposit/mortgage situation in the next few weeks** I can't really go into detail just yet but I will when I can.

Stacey x

savingmummy

Your very close to your £10! I think i have kind of cracked it now managed to get 114sb today better then the 7 and 30 i`ve been getting LOL!!

Oh news........fingers crossed. It sounds exciting
Can`t wait to hear!

I_want_a_baby

I am determined to update her regularly as I don't want to stop saving!

Had a tough day yesterday. My 6 month old daughter has not slept through yet and after 4 hours sleep the previous night I was exhausted, tired, depressed, fed up and feeling like 'everything was pointless'.

Thankfully my mum decided to pop over and then took my son back to hers for tea.

The net result of this was I managed to cook tea from the meal plan instead of suggesting a takeaway.

I also used reusable nappies all day, had a NSD, Earned approx 80SB & pulled my finger out and tidied the kitchen and living room and once the kids were in bed cut the back lawn.

Todays update -
87SB earned - Balance 1868 (70 still to credit from yesterdays glitch). So close to the £10 payout of 1999.
Reusable nappies again today.
Decided on and implemented a routine for DD which I have so far stuck to, hoping in a few weeks this will help the sleeping problem.
Going to do the banks and maybe do a little transfer if I have the £'s.
Washed and lined dried all the flannellette sheets and pillowcases (3 loads!).
Drove to see friend, very economically - got approx 60mpg.
Waiting to see if any *news* tonight re previous post.
Going to hopefully do some more weeding in the garden tonight to ensure that the vegetables have the best chance.

Stacey

I_want_a_baby

Just done banks & budgets and another quick update from me...

£0.08 food underspend from money left in bank (after big top up shop).
£16.00 Difference between amount saved for breakdown cover & policy payment in full. (Quidco amount to be saved when received).
£1.06 Dregs left in the holiday account.
£4.00 Fuel underspend.
£21.14 TRF'd into ISA.

£5.00 cash purse underspend - into house sealed tin.

Total saved today - £26.14
Total saved since 3rd July 2012 - £100.67 :T

Hopefully some more saving to be done on Sunday!

Stacey x

*Jellie*

Isn't it amazing how it all adds up- well done!

I_want_a_baby

Morning all - what fabulous weather!

Quick update from me -

£5.00 put into sealed tin - cash purse underspend

£1.00 from garden acc
£9.00 from takeaway underspend (balance in t'way account now £0)
£10.00 TRF'd to ISA

Total saved today £15.00
Total saved since 3rd July 2012 £115.67

Plans for the day -
Washing & drying on the line.
Reusable nappies.
BBQ with mine & hubbys family - only spent £3.50 as rest of food from freezer/stock cupboard.
Decide whether to go the amazon or paypal route with SB. Balance now 2072SB!
Try and do a couple of surveys.
Get out in the sun!

Stacey x

linz

Personally I redeem the £5 Amazon vouchers on SB, I think they are marginally better value than Paypal but depends if you want the cash or not. I tend to stock up on Amazon vouchers to buy Christmas presents with. If you choose Amazon make sure you redeem the £5 vouchers as they work out better value than the higher denomination ones, don't know why but they do !

katsu

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for the tip on the isme sheets. I had my heart set on black ones (to match the trim on our bedding), but can't find them anywhere. I am contemplating getting the plain ones in a neutral tone to help take the edge off autumn and spring. We put fleece blankets inside our bed in winter so are toasty warm them

ian9999

Hi Stacey

I have just read your diary, and find it very inspiring, I like the idea of using cash envelopes, I wouldn't be able to budget without my MS Money program, which is my version of the cash envelopes

Following on from reading this, I have now subscribed to Netflix as per your idea and I have also started to do checkin's via Quidco, every little helps

Could good for the future, I want to keep reading your diary

Ian

I_want_a_baby

Linz - I will follow your advice and order the £5 amazon vouchers then.
Katsu - glad my post was able to help you
Ian9999 - I use excel spreadsheets to keep track of everything & I mirror it onto an app on my phone so I always know the balance of my virtual pots. I haven't managed to get the check ins to work yet but I think it is because the mobile data is normally turned off and it doesn't have time to load and get signal before I get impatient and leave the shop!

Morning all!

Quick update from me!

Firstly I have been really enjoying the sun so not much progress has been made by way of surveys or SB/SP. Quality of life is the number one goal and pretty much the only thing higher up the list than saving for a house.

Other updates -
No news yet regarding the housing situation - but no news is good news so still keeping fingers & toes crossed.
Lots of NSD's. This sun is keeping me at home and away from the shops.
Hubby has got a share dividend of £50 coming in this months pay - I did an approved food order of £30 (saving £151). Once this arrives cupboards will be groaning & I will only have to buy meat, dairy & veg for a very long time.
After almost three years as a SAHM and never really being fully content with the situation, I have decided to see if I can get an evening job to help me get the balance right and give me some time away from the house. The plus side will be the money if it works out but we will see. I think I need something other than the wife/mother role to help keep me sane. I have an interview lined up for a week Friday so we will go from there.
Cash envelopes still working brilliantly. I have £30ish in the purse to last us until payday on the 31st which I should do easily & be able to save a bit of it too!
Hoping to save a bit more too from a couple of online accounts that should have a little bit left in them at the end of the month.
Through the post - A Hipp Organic weaning pack including sachet of food, sample of porridge, spoon and MOC, two twinings tea bags, three samples of face cream.
Sticking to meal plan very well.
Been using the reusable nappies during the day every day.
All washing has been line dried.
Electric usage has been more than desirable as have been using fans during the heat to try and keep the children cool. However no gas used. Obviously my childrens wellbeing is critical so I will not compromise on this.
Can't wait for the approved food order to arrive. We will have store cupboards really full then and then I can write a list of all the food we have, do a meat order from the butchers & a HUGE meal plan.
Looking forward to payday when I can transfer the final amount into savings and see what I have achieved this month.

Surveys completed today
1 x valued opinion 25p
1 x 10 ipsos points for being DQ'd from survey
so far 28SB earned - not tried any surveys or tasks yet.
Applied for a few freebies.

To do -
I need to go through the coupons I have and work out which ones I want to use.
Make a store cupboard list of what I have now ready to add the approved food items.

Happy sunny days everyone & thank you very much for your comments.

Stacey