MFW Diary.....before moving in!!!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Good and cheap remedies - honey and lemon!

LauraWxx

morning all...feeling a bit better although working outside all day yesterday didn't really help...thank god i had seriously layered up!!

Anyway...all in all good weekend, didn't really have time to stop and relax but nice to be busy I suppose. The xmas tree is now up and looks beautiful and i even managed to buy a 'our first tree - 2012' bauble at the craft fair I worked at yesterday.

The hall is coming together, went to collect the mirror on Saturday (£12.99 but had a £10 voucher :j) so that was a cheap bargain! 2 picture frames have arrived this morning and hopefully the posters that I have ordered will come shortly.

Got my eye on a lovely double picture frame for the hall unit - got 2 cracking pics of me and the bf in fancy dress that i would like to display together. Outbid on ebay at the moment but will try to win at the last min.

Speaking of ebay news - about £30 of sales, only one paid so far so hopefully the others will come shortly. Hate it when they pay in dribs and drabs as you end up going to the post office every blooming day!!:eek::eek:

Apart from that not much else to report, food shopping on friday lunchtime at Morrisons and a few bits needed from Aldi, didnt have chance to go over the weekend so that is my task for tonight.

Once again i promised myself i would start my spending diary back up this week and once again failed to do so.

I know a lot of spending has been on bits and bobs this week so would struggle to do it retrospectively.

Need to have a lean week this week - night out on Friday which could get pricey!

hope all are well in mfw land...not long left till xmas :j:j:j:beer::beer::beer::T:T:T:T

LauraWxx

Oppps didnt mention on earlier post...I 'accidently' opened the bottle of baileys that was a present at the weekend :eek::eek:
now I need to get some more as a replaceemnt. However the good news is I have found out my nan (who the baileys was for) actually preferes the Aldi version as it is less strong so that will be a nice little saving for me!!!:j:j

I mean really, if you think about it, i have sort of done her a favour by opening it and drinking it, I would hate the thought of my nan drinking something that was too strong (alcoholic)....what a good grandaughter I am by ensuring she doesnt end up drunk!!!:beer::beer::beer:

quintwins

LauraWxx wrote: »

Oppps didnt mention on earlier post...I 'accidently' opened the bottle of baileys that was a present at the weekend :eek::eek:
now I need to get some more as a replaceemnt. However the good news is I have found out my nan (who the baileys was for) actually preferes the Aldi version as it is less strong so that will be a nice little saving for me!!!:j:j

I mean really, if you think about it, i have sort of done her a favour by opening it and drinking it, I would hate the thought of my nan drinking something that was too strong (alcoholic)....what a good grandaughter I am by ensuring she doesnt end up drunk!!!:beer::beer::beer:

:rotfl::rotfl: Poor nan, you've saved her for such and awful fate. nevere tried aldi but lidls version is nice i don't really buy people drink i have a bottle of wine for my mum i got in a lidl deal but thats about it.

LauraWxx

Thanks...I am proud of what a good grandaughter i am!!

Not much to report here, managed to negotiate xmas eve off (was meant to be working) which means I have only 8 work get ups left:j:j

Out for an xmas tee tonight so will be making the first dip into the xmas money set aside for entertainment through the festive period. Hoping to only be around £10 so not too big of a dent!

Going to start planning our shopping list now for everything left to get, think we will be doing our big shop first thing on either xmas eve or xmas eve eve!!!

Getting very excited now!!!

LauraWxx

Good morning all, cant believe how long it has been since i last updated this diary!! We had a fab xmas and new year....very gutted it is all over and back to work but also glad (sort of) to be getting back to some normality.

Lots to update with fisaly, first off the savings account has taken a 1k hit, my bf has now officially moved in with me (although still owns a house...long story). Anyway his mortgage was in 1k of arrears :eek:. As part of him moving in with me, we are going to use these two years (before we look to buy house together) to get his credit file clean and into a better financial position. I took the decision to clear his arrears and him pay me back every week rather than it sit as a black mark on his credit file every month.

We have lots of work to on his credit file and also getting him to understand the importance of it all, I imiagine there will be lots of moaning for 2013 regarding this subject!!!

I also went a little madder than expected on xmas presents...bought everyones in on budget, however I did splurge on a present for my boyfriend which has pretty much taken all of my savings for December Pay.

So already a lot of ground to make up and lot on in April / May / June with holidays, weddings, hen doo's and weekends away but will remain focused.

In good news on the savigns front - after much fighting with Persimon, they have agreed to refund the management charges that I paid upon completion in August 2012 (around £300 i think) so that will go straight into the savings, I also am due a payout from a PPI claim, not wanting to count any chickens but I have already had an offer of 1255 which I declined and hoping the final offer is nearer the 2k mark. (Obviously as I said earlier...not counting on this before it is here).

Hmm what else to report...well the diet has taken a missive hit over xmas, back to weight watchers tonight to see what damage has been done, think I might just start a new card as I fear seeing a gain so high will not motivate me much!

Been s&s's over the festive period like a good'un, up to about 18000 points but going to keep these rolling over and save for xmas next year.

Inspired by some other threads (i have been reading the email notifications with updates over festive time, just not got round to posting) I will do an aims for 2013 post next.....

LauraWxx

Aims for 2013

1, Continue doing spending diary to keep tabs on where money goes. Come February (when bf starts contributing more) we will have a joint shopping account which I will pay into monthly and he will pay into weekly. This means that my weekly spending money will need to cover only petrol and other spends.

2, Get bf organised financially. IE Bills account and separate spending account so he doesn't spend too much and not have enough money for bills (common situation currently).

3, Get bf saving a decent amount out of each weeks salary.

4, Commit to smaller savings contributions as well as all the big ones that come on Payday. Whatever can be saved out of weekly spending money will all go to helping me reach financial targets.

5, Make xmas 2013 as 'free' as possible. All T3sco points, S4insburys points, S&S vouchers, VO Vouchers, Quidco & TCB payouts to be saved and to be used to offset as much of the cost of next xmas as possible.

6, Enjoy myself and the year but remember not to get carried away with spending especially on holidays etc.

7, Get back on the WeightWatchers bandwagon and aim to loose a decent amount of weight by the time we go away in June.

8, Fiscal Targets as per signature

misscousinitt

Happy New Year Laura.

Good luck with all your targets for 2013.

MCI

LauraWxx

Thanks MCI!

Well 1st ever online shop was done last night with 4sda. That should be being delivered tonight.:j:j

Come February we will have a joint shopping budget, I will pay in £130 at the begining of the month and the bf will pay in £30 per week. This will then hopefully cover us for all food shopping and birthdays / christening /wedding presetns etc throughout the year. It averages at £60 per week, will be aiming to keep food spends under £50 per week on average.

I think I will once a month do an online order for all store cupboard and freezable items, out of this make up a load of lunches for both of us to go in the freezer. I will then also do a once a month trip to the big meat superstore near us to stock up on meat. Then once a week I can nip over to Aldi for Milk, fruit veg etc.

Doing a big online shop and meat shop will hopefully encourage me to meal plan further than a week at a time. I have planned now for a week and a half (up until the end of next week) and then will aim to plan until the end of Jan. Then the aim will be to plan for all of February and shop for the whole month :eek::eek:

I think I will need to just have the right number of meals planned rather than plan out exactly what will need to be eaten on what day!

Also in Jan will need to clear down freezer to an extent, we are using a lot of the meat and fish stored away over the next few weeks and will hopefully make some more space to ensuer Feb onwards we are nice and organised!!

Went back to ww last night....not fun but at least I am back on the bandwagon. Meal planning better should also help the diet side of things. The bf wants to loose a few lbs aswell so will be good to have him on board with the healthier eating.

Not much to report money wise...will try to think of something and update!!!

edinburgher

Happy new year Laura

Your joint shopping budget sounds sensible. Mrs E and I manage on £185/mth and there's normally a little left over (although we do buy our lunches out of our pocket money). We eat a lot of meat, fish and fresh veg, so aren't exactly scraping by on spaghetti hoops