Two Pennies Left

Fortune_Smiles

:)Thank you everyone for the support and advice. The spending is still outweighing the saving at the moment but I have at least started some the the OPing habits I want to take into 2013.

• £67.87 OP'd - £20 from earlier in the year when I had just caught the bug and couldn't wait to OP something, £34 from rounding down the mortgage balance this month, £10.05 from a Fleabay sale and an 82p a/c tidy. That will save us abut £39 in interest - brilliant! :T
• an expensive Saturday. Off to the Pantomime - the first one Mr F and I have ever seen. We'd paid for the tickets last month (£31) but we went out for dinner with the other families after and that was £80.00 as it was the full 3 courses, wine, etc. Plus we contributed to drinks at the Theatre Bar - £10.
• have clubbed together with another family for the 50th birthday on Sunday. The birthday boy is getting a Kindl£ as one of his presents and has asked for Amaz0n vouchers. We've both put in £30 and I'd have probably spent about £50 otherwise so a little saving there
• my final Fleabay item has sold so another OP of about £10 will go through before the end of the year. Blimey, it's adding up already
• I'm running out of shampoo so shopped around on-line today. I have to be quite careful with beauty products as I react to lots of them. The shampoo is Av£da so quite expensive. I do what I can to keep the costs down and rarely pay full price. This time I bought at D£b£nham$ (10% off and free delivery) plus a further 5% for clicking through £Co.

I keep having to remind myself that all the small savings I make are allowing us to live this lifestyle - and that's why I joined the Forum in the first place. It was to make good financial decisions to enable us to live our lives well and I know that we have had more money available for living as a result. Still feel guilty when I'm extravagant though but perhaps that's no bad thing

There is a raffle at Mr F's company tomorrow. Any gifts sent in by suppliers are raffled off to the employees for charity. Mr F has bought some tickets so fingers crossed!

Hope fortune smiles on you too.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Polkadot_Dress wrote: »

Hi Fortune Smiles

Been catching up with your thread and loving your organised approach to this :T Something I need to copy myself!

Well done on how far you've come this year

Polkadot Dress x

Hi there Polkadot Dress and thanks for joining me. I've found the diary really helpful for keeping focussed - only wish I'd done it years ago!

Good luck with your goals.

Fortune x

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Hi FS,

Good luck for the raffle... this year we won a pack of biros (useful) and some Revlon shampoo (sold on ebay) from OH's work raffle.

lulabelle1

Any big wins on the raffle?

Fortune_Smiles

Finished the last of the preparations today and am all ready to start Christmas. Still spending and saving:

• Mr F got paid early :j so I've done the monthly money shuffle to pay bills, etc
• £135 total now OP'd - including the final Fleabay sale, a couple of a/c tidies and our first £50 scheduled payment. Absolutely amazed how that's added up in such a short space of time. I'm hoping we'll be able to average about £100 a month at this rate
• went out to a Christmas dinner with my Step class last night. The money side was managed really well. People paired off to pay for their drinks (I was driving so just bought one diet coke all night) and everyone paid their bill individually. £22.50 spent
• Waitr0$£ delivered today - free lychees
• Mr F (extremely reluctantly) let me drive the BMW. The company pay for the fuel so it makes sense for both of us to use the car as much as possible. It hurt him to hand over the keys though :rotfl:
• bottled this year's Sloe Gin (it's a vintage year!) and made up some Damson Gin which will be ready by March
• an NSD - blimey, surprised I even remember what they look like :rotfl:

We're joining some of the local families for the traditional 'End of Term Full English' tomorrow. Then the rest of the morning will be spent baking Banana and Chocolate Muffins as I have about 6 sulky bananas to use up. If they turn out well I'll be taking them round to the neighbours as my freezer is absolutely chocker now. DSS1 should be arriving late afternoon then it's off to the pub for supper.

Hope your preparations are going well.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

What a relief to have a day at home today. This Christmas has been wonderful socially but I'm exhausted already! Plus I've never eaten or drunk so much (2lbs put on already).

Santa has visited the Fortunate household already. We've received so much food and wine I've had to cancel a Waitr0$£ delivery! I've put the money saved into the savings account as I'd like to get back to pre-Christmas levels as soon as I can.

Sneaked in a couple more OPs as well; a £10 voucher from C0n$um£r Pul$£ (my first) and a 55p a/c tidy. Pleased with that as I didn't think I'd manage any more OPs this year.

Bean & Chorizo Cassoulet with Garlic Bread from the meal plan tonight. Lovely to have something rustic and healthy after all the rich food we've been eating. Did have a small slice of Christmas Cake to follow though and a small glass of red

Don't stay up too late now or Santa won't come.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Fortune x

[Deleted User]

Merry Xmas FS
Dinner sounds yummy! I know what you mean about having something healthy! I feel like I have been eating junk for about the last 3 weeks!

Have a lovely day tomorrow :xmastree: and here's to a moneysaving 2013!

muddywhitechicken

Fortune_Smiles wrote: »

• bottled this year's Sloe Gin (it's a vintage year!)

I agree FS :beer: I've just done mine and it's very, very good

Merry Christmas,
MWC

Fortune_Smiles

I feel I am just getting to the other side of the never ending Christmas. Pounds were lost and pounds were gained and a fantastic time was had. So what next? Well, respecting the time honoured New Year traditon of looking back and looking forward:

What did we achieve:

• I started a MS diary
• we built a garage
• we cleared over £2k of credit card debt
• and saved 30% of our savings target
• we began making regular overpayments on the mortgage
• Mr F started a new job
• I went to the gym regularly
• we decorated the hallway and landing
• I developed many new MS habits
• we avoided having to build an ark (just)

So what next for 2013:

• I'd like to continue with all the good MS practice I've learnt and identify further ways to save and spend money wisely
• continue to build up our savings. I'm thinking £500 a month could be do-able
• continue to make overpayments on the mortgage. I'd like this to be £150 a month but that might be a bit of a stretch
• make further improvements to the house. We had a small roof leak last week so decorating the living room has become a higher priority. Also curtains for the landing to finish the hall off
• getting to the gym 3 times a week - that's one for me and for Mr F
• eating healthily (and losing the 7lbs I've put on over the festive season :eek:)
• There are also some things I've been wanting to do and not making the time for - watercolour painting, learning to play the piano and typing up some old family letters
• Remember what the sun looks like

I wonder what 2013 will bring? I hope it will bring us all health, wealth and happiness - because we're worth it!

Happy New Year

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

My diary has fallen by the wayside over Christmas - and I've missed it. So, as there's not time like the present, MS activity today:

• raided Mr F's change dish - about 20p for Mr Marmite. I can't tell you the exact amount as Mr F nearly caught me this time and I had to stash the cash before I had time to count it :rotfl:
• a 55p Tillytidy to the mortgage (thanks for that one GG). That will be my last payment in 2012 - £154.06 in total. Not bad as I only started half way through December
• baked Stilton & Poppyseed Sables and Cheese & Chutney Whirls to take to the New Year's Party tonight using some of the leftover cheese. I think I'll also take some of the Mince Pies or we'll still be eating them in June :rotfl:
• Bagels with left over cheese and crispy bacon for lunch
• Bacon, Cheese & Onion Puff for supper tonight with baked beans. I just can't face any more rich food (and neither can my waist line)
• looks like it's shaping up to be an NSD too

Time for a home manicure now whilst catching up on the Christmas TV. We've been out so much we haven't had a chance to watch much. Mr F is just off to the gym so I have sole control of the remote - bliss.

Have a good one

Fortune x