Claire's DFW mission

claire0788

I never thought I had anything to Ebay until the other day. Came to clearing out some stuff and put it on Ebay, sales are at £75 at the moment. Every little bit adds up Also if you have old cds/dvd/games musicmagpie, you don't get much but it is good if you are clearing out for getting a few £'s.

claireh280

So far things are on track with the new budget. But we have started to run out of things and payday isn't for a couple of weeks.

It is so tempting to 'just' go and buy the things that you need. But I am very proud to say we have resisted.

I've even just made my own cleaning spray from white vinegar, essential oils and water. It is fab!! Works brilliantly on the windows, which is just what I needed as I ran out of my old favourite Mr M. weeks ago. Definitely going to carry on making my own.

Also I was supposed to make a cake for work tomorrow, but I have no eggs so I am going to make biscuits instead. Normally I would have popped to the shop for eggs and ended up buying loads of crap we didn't really need.

I found out this week that I need glasses. I have been very frugal and opted for the cheapest pair. Luckily I actually really like them. They were not in the budget and cost £25. Luckily I have made £28 selling books on marketplace. Woohoo!!

This is the first month were we have actually stuck hard fast to our budget. I am sure showing my face occasionally here is helping. We have run out of a number of food items (pickle and noodles are the ones my husband keeps reminding me of ) But we are making do with what we have in. We are down to less than £10 in our spends jar... that could be tough to eek out. Luckily we get milk delivered and that is budgeted for, and we have plenty of pasta, cereal and flour in. Might be digging around the back of the freezer in the 'unidentifiable' section for next weeks meals soon

Think that we are going to finish this month in the black... just! Which will mean that we would have cleared our whole overdraft :j:j:j

HeadAboveWater

Wow! Sounds like it's been quite tough but hang in there Claire! You're doing really well :T

It's funny the difference when you're consciously watching the pennies you're spending. You wouldn't have thought twice about nipping out for eggs (and coming back with 2 shopping bags of stuff), but learning to 'make do' with what you've got saves a lot of money!!

I've definitely got my fingers crossed for you that you finish off this month in the black! That would be fantastic - keep us posted!!

claireh280

We have bitten the proverbial bullet and have stopped buying nappies - a saving of £30 a month. :jWe used to buy pull ups for our children to wear at night only. We have decided to stop buying them, because they are so expensive, and also I suspect they are using the pullups rather than getting out of bed. :think:

So they have been night nappy free for 3 weeks. We've had some dry nights and plenty of wet nights but they are definitely improving. :T There is a lot of washing but it won't be forever.

I just wanted to share a couple of things that have helped us. (BTW We are a very peaceful family and we would never tell them off for wetting the bed.) We saw no progress until we started telling them that they had to help clean up! So they now take the wet sheets off and put them in the machine. Also in the night they have to clean themselves up. We have changed our routine a bit so that every morning (whether wet or dry over night) they have a quick shower, so if they haven't cleaned themselves very well in the night they don't stink of wee! Changing the routine has helped them not feel shameful if they do wet. Showering is just what happens regardless.

Also the best tip I found online, that literally saved my sanity during getting up in the night is making the bed twice. So mattress, waterproof sheet, top sheet, waterproof sheet, top sheet. Then if they wet they just peel the top sheet and waterproof off and voila clean fresh bed underneath. I still get up with them if they ask me to help, but I am hoping that they will have cracked this themselves within a few nights.

It has been a challenge and its not over yet! They are learning a lot about taking responsibility and we're saving money. All good really

HeadAboveWater

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa I like that idea. Very clever of double-making the bed!

claireh280

Haven't posted for a while. Hubby and I are on annual leave this week. We have been staying at home building a built in wardrobe mostly from free wood! I have priced up the doors and they are far too expensive so we are going to just put a curtain up for now. Actually I am secretly pleased because I don't like lourve doors. They are a pain to decorate and clean.

We are hoping to salvage some interesting vintage doors one day.

We are still holding out for pay day. Just scrapped some coppers together to buy some bread as I was not on the ball with the bread maker today. We had a really good stew last night out of the back of the freezer. My mum and dad visited us the other day and bought some sugar and butter for us - they couldn't stand their tea without sugar

I am really enjoying using up food that has been hanging around for ages. Certainly making more space and the kitchen looks less cluttered

claireh280

As it stands, on Friday, I will be able to change my signature to read overdraft [STRIKE]400[/STRIKE] now 9.23!!! So excited. Hope we can hold out one more day with out spending anything from our bank account.

HeadAboveWater

Wow! That's a huge amount for your o/d in that space of time! Well done! You're almost there! We know you can manage one more day... :T

Emmala

Hi Claire, I've been browsing and found your diary. Well done you! I wanted to say that the double sheet thing IS fab and I still do it with all three of mine - the eldest is 9! - though I use the bed mats not waterproof sheets. I think it came from the Contented Baby books, but it works.....the only thing I would add is that it's also worth having a spare duvet in a cover folded under the bed. I use the 'opposite' duvet, so in the summer they each have their summer weight duvet on the bed and the winte one is made up underneath (and vice versa) so that if they manage to wet the duvet too (or nosebleed etc) you don't have to change a duvet or find one in the night!

Anyway, I shall keep an eye on your diary and wish you luck in your quest! We made a start in January, and have slipped a bit, so am gearing up for a fresh start in September. It's hard with kids, but I took my three shopping for some top ups on Monday, and we bought the value corn flakes and coco pops (31p and 78p a box!) after I'd explained we were cutting back a bit, and they went along with it and both cereals are actually as good as the branded one, I surprised myself and will definately buy them again!!

Good luck
Rae

claireh280

Thanks everyone. Made it to payday without spending anymore so overdraft if paid off. :j:j
Now just have to keep it up! It was a bit of a slog there towards the end but we did it!
Also just got approved for a new credit card that is 0% on balance transfers for 22 months - yay! We have been paying £60 a month in interest for the past couple of months since our last deal ran out. Sadly I couldn't shift the whole balance as they would not give me enough credit. But it is the majority of it.

I guess the next focus, apart from keeping our spending in check, is to pay off the credit card with the interest. So here goes...