Debtdawg says enough is enough debt diary

debtdawg

Good luck elly68! It's amazing how many 'free' or cheap activities you can find if you really have to. The good weather helps though

Thank you BC I'm really trying to be good and change the habits of a lifetime but it is strange! I got an email through from Lush and I am itching to order some relaxing bath goodies but tbh I have found that when I get items like these as presents at Christmas etc it doesn't seem like such a treat from other people when I am always buying them for myself anyway? So I am going to ask for treats like these for Christmas/birthdays so I really do appreciate them!

Had a bit of a spendy day yesterday as we went to Lidls to top up our shopping from nearly a week ago. It was mainly fruit/veg, bread, spread, milk but also a few cupboardy bits like cous cous, pasta & sauce as these are so much cheaper there. We had a salad for tea with some small baked potatoes, some meat stick things that I bought ages ago from the butchers, cheese coleslaw and hummous. It was really nice to have a variety of flavours on the plate and it not to have come from the slow cooker lol. I spent just over $25 in Lidls and that included a sneaky bottle of wine and a bottle of lemonade to make some long wine spritzers as a treat this week. We had run out of milk in the morning and had to buy some from the local shop, $1.55 for 4 pints compared to 98p at Lidls, such a massive difference in price for the same thing. Before I didn't really pay a lot of attention to the differences in price, but when the money is coming out of the cash budget that I've set I really did notice it.

We took the kids to a river, parking was free and we took drinks/sandwiches with us. Only stayed for between a hour to two as it was really hot and the baby was not enjoying the heat but the kids enjoyed themselves and it was a very MSE morning. In the afternoon they went to a shop as DS wanted to spend some of his pocket money he hadn't spent the day before. DD only had $1 to spend and I made her stick to the budget. She couldn't decide what to spend it on as her budget was so much tighter than usual and had a complete and utter meltdown in the shop, it was awful! It made me realise how spoilt she has been in the past and that I am glad we are sticking rigidly to our financial plan from now onwards. The attitude they (DD mainly) have towards money is my fault and I have to change it but it's not going to be easy!

Had a bit of a disaster as I went to Asda to pick up some disposables to use at night with the baby and I'd noticed some on offer for $6 the day before so that was all the cash I had in my purse. They didn't have them and although I could have picked up a pack of Asda's own for $5.57ish it worked out better value to go for a jumbo pack of Pampers at $9.50, so I had to use my debit card grrr.

So my total cash spent is $32.26 as I have $17.74 in my purse BUT my total spent is actually $41.76 Which doesn't leave me a great deal for this week boohoo. I do have enough night nappies to last for nearly 3 months though

Ooh and I made some extra payments off a couple of CC to round the figures owed, so an extra $25.58 paid off yesterday

DH has taken pics of the tool and I am going to list it for him now as it's free listing, fingers crossed it sells for a decent sum. Our savings pot has gone from $0 to $115 with various sales this week which is great!

Have a good weekend fellow debt busters

debtdawg

Bah, had a slip up last night and am cross with myself! Spent $10 on the National Lottery website when I signed up to earn points for my Swagbucks. Really really really (get the picture? ) annoyed with myself and going to try to sell something today to recoup the $10 and give myself a massive slap on the wrist, hmph.

We normally have a roast today, but I don't want to use a chicken from the freezer so I am thinking of doing some big yorkshire puddings and loads of veggies, potatoes and gravy for them to save on the meat that I am stocking up in the freezer. It's only me, DH and the baby and he doesn't really eat meat so I think it should be fine. Should be a NSD today as well as it's going to be a home/DIY day.

I'm getting a bit worried about the CC debt. It's all 0% at the moment and I have a card that I can move one of the CC to and get a further 6 months 0% in February which I think is the soonest that I lose 0% (if that makes any sense at all!) and hopefully then the empty card will offer a 0% deal (or very low %) so I can keep moving around but I am still going to be accruing balance transfer fees which means whole months payments for nothing. Anyway it's dawned on me that this is the cheapest that the CC situation is going to be for a few months and that I should be trying to clear as much as possible, however I don't think I can squeeze much more out of the budget for them due to everything expensive that is coming up Need to have a think about what we can do!

elly68

good luck with the budget ,nappies cost a fortune our extra money goes to football,wrestling,guides and piano lessons.so thats£16.50 a week before dinner money £20and pocket money £10 so out of my £100 a week i have 53.50.will be interserting to see if i ever make a pad lol

debtdawg

Tired today zzzzzzz

Well it's been quite a productive day - I sold some baby bits, took some dvds/games to Blockbusters and got $34ish trade in credit which I will use towards a game or two for DS for xmas, sorted out some books to list on Amazon marketplace and ordered my first two $5 Amazon vouchers from my Swagbucks account. I have enough points for another two but have to wait til tomorrow apparently.

I also baked some weetabix brownies and twinks hobnobs, but I made the hobnobs as a tray back and cut into flapjack type squares. It means DH has something nicer to go in his lunchbox (and filling, they're monstrous squares lol).

Spent $2.50 (50p for cheap choc for the brownies) at the local shop on necessities, so my cash fund is down to $15ish. I'm going to catch the bus to meet a friend tomorrow at a play centre. Luckily DS will go in for free so I will only have to pay for my drinks, so it should be a cheap meet (as long as I stay away from the goodies, which is going to be hard as I am hormonal!).

elly68, I don't think my purse will appreciate it when the school term starts. There is always something!

BlueCrayon

You're doing brilliantly, well done :beer:.

I'm nowhere near the 1st swagbucks voucher yet but have made a start. Going to spend a few mins for every hours work tomorrow doing my clicks and setting vids running in the background. I need a new pair of trainers and that's proper motivation :rotfl:.

I do feel for you with all the children costs, how can people so small need so much stuff?? The average baby makes me look like a pared down minimalist.

Get a good nights sleep and enjoy your day tomorrow.

BC xx

cazmanian_minx

Sounds like a productive day Totally agree with BC on the child expense front - people think we must be loaded to have a horse and a pony, but their monthly costs are a tiny fraction of what we'd be paying out if we had two kids instead!

debtdawg

cazmanian_minx wrote: »

Sounds like a productive day Totally agree with BC on the child expense front - people think we must be loaded to have a horse and a pony, but their monthly costs are a tiny fraction of what we'd be paying out if we had two kids instead!

See they don't eat that much as they are teeny people, but when you start adding up shoes, clothes, hobbies and after school clubs, presents for xmas and birthdays, presents for birthdays they are invited to, entertainment blahdy blahdly blah it's a small fortune!

You have cleared so much of your debt since March Cazmanian_minx, very inspirational

debtdawg

So I slightly overspent on the $50 budget this week, buuuut I did get baby DS a fab little Fisher Price garage for $3.99 which is like new ($25 is the cheapest new price I found online) in a charity shop. On top of bus fares, snacks and drinks, cheese and bread that we needed I am a few pence over my target spend. Really chuffed with that find though! I should be about $5 over for the week if I don't spend anything other than bus fares tomorrow, but I did spy a lovely moonsoon cardigan for DD in a charity shop that she could wear to an upcoming wedding for $3.95... if it's still there tomorrow I think I might pick it up as it was very pretty.

I am going to trade in some of my old books. Apparently according to Amazon they will give me $39.15 for them, but lets wait and see If they do then that will be a great amount of credit to go towards the Playmobil stuff I wanted to get my other DS for Xmas. The pirate ship is just under $50, so if I get the trade in value for my books plus the vouchers I am waiting for from Swagbucks, it means I have enough for it Yay!

I need to do an online Waitrose shop for delivery for the weekend as we've been living off the Lidl top up shop and freezer/cupboard for this week, but I am going to get it as close to $50 as possible.

I have a little business venture in mind but I am not sure if it will take off plus it means spending out a small amount to test the market. Need to think more on it but I am excited about it. Anyway, off to do my online shop!

mum2one

hope u don't mind a lurker, know the feeling about summer holidays I just have the one, but its when your out and about its the added extras.

We do try to be as mse and have started taking extra drinks, food etc. The plan is one treat a week!!

Having a baking day this afternoon, did start at 50 items, we are now down to 5 things... so all fun + games and a mess to clean up! x

debtdawg

I love lurkers Feel free to lurk all you like lol I don't mind baking with the kids but the mess and arguments it causes (I want to crack the eggs, noooo I want to crack them etc) sometimes make me question whether it's worth it Last time I baked the cakes then set out the icing and toppings for them to decorate their own, it seemed to cause a lot less friction!

Waitrose shop done, $50.55 spent, lets hope it lasts a good week. I got 2 chickens, 2 mince and a packet of meatballs so that alone will last well over a week, with just a top up of the normal bits and bobs. I had a load of the 'spend x amount get x amount off' when I started shopping with Waitrose, so I stocked up then on dog food, meat, toilet roll, big box of washing powder etc so it's all coming in handy now.

DS has been asking to go and see Brave. Our local cinema has a day when tickets are cheaper (4.50 each), so I might ask DH to babysit baby DS and take DD and DS along next week as a holiday treat (with our own sweets tucked away of course ). The kids are still away until Saturday, so it has been a cheaper less guilty week!