Staying Positive!

Adoremouse

Cake was huge success! :j So glad it's done and dusted!

Have updated budget and so many one-off expenses this month...on paper we're going to go about £60 overdrawn, and the old me would have borrowed money from a payday loan or family. However the new MSE me has tightened up our grocery shopping for the next 2 weeks and clawed it back :cool:

A financial advisor came over at the weekend, to see whether we would be able to get onto a better mortgage deal. We were with N0rthern R0ck, and are stuck with them due to negative equity.

He couldn't help us, but he did give us some great news, which is in about 5 years time, when CCCS has finished, defaults dropped off, house prices hopefully gone up a bit, bit more mortgage and loan paid off, he will have no problem getting us the mortgage we would need to get a forever home :T:T:T

We will be in our early 40s by then, and our kids still young, so that is marvelous news. Even better is that we will hopefully be debt free, and that he will be able to get us a much better interest rate. And as we are on such a high one now, even with a bigger mortgage, our monthly mortgage payments won't go up that much :):)

I know it's not very MSE to think about a larger mortgage, but we need a bigger house, this one is too small for the family that we have. And our monthly disposable income will be more than double what it is now, so we will be able to do lots of overpayments and saving :beer:
Anyway, it's a long way off yet, but it's all the more incentive to keep our heads down and paying off everything we can ASAP.

I managed to do quite a frugal shop this week, for us anyway, it came in at under £90 which included enough nappies to last a month (on offer), laundry stuff to last a few weeks, birthday present for God Daughter, birthday present for BIL, a few BOGOFs to put in freezer, and enough cat food to last until payday.

I know that there are people out there spending half of this for a household of our size, but I am getting there! I would be embarrassed to tell you what we used to spend :eek:

We are baking our own bread this week in the breadmaker, and really enjoying it. I can get 3 large loaves out of one bag of flour, and it is so much cheaper.

Have also downgraded brands to supermarket own, and some down to basics...finding out what we like and don't like!

I am stressing a bit about work, am currently on mat leave, and trying to decide whether to go back and put baby boy in childcare, or stay at home and go freelance...hubby wants me to do the latter but it's scary!!!:(

Will bury my head in the sand for a bit longer on this one I think!

Adoremouse

Haven't updated for a few days as we were without internet for a while...never realised how lost I feel without it.

This was due to switching everything over to Sky, so phone/bb/TV as I mentioned in a previous post. Were also without phones all weekend so that was annoying, after being promised a smooth transition that we wouldn't even notice! :mad:

Anyway, at least we are back online now, some MSE things that we've done over the past week or so:

- Sold some more items, will need to update signature as that goes towards my £10 a day challenge!
- Baked bread every day (or every other day as needed).
- Ate frugal meals, and have depleted food cupboard and freezer.
- Refused to buy extra treats for DD, she's only allowed treats from treat box (one a day, some are healthy and she doesn't even know it bless her :rotfl:)
- Found MUCH cheaper complete dry cat food for the moggies that I am happy to give them.
- Washed the cars ourselves rather than car wash or valet.
- Switched from T3sco to A$da, and managed a much cheaper weekly shop, due to arrive tomorrow.

I think that's it for now, I am still on a huge decluttering drive, have so much stuff to sell, the floor underneath our king size bed is packed with things that I need to put on Ebay etc. I am pulling things out bit by bit and this will keep me going for quite a while.

Am still trying to decide what to do about work, am on Mat leave, and was thinking about going freelance, keep changing my mind. Going back to work is the most MSE thing to do, but then I look at my baby boy and I feel like I just can't do it

If I handed in my notice now, I would have to pay back 6.5 days holiday that I've already taken which is a lot of money, almost £600! But if I wait it out until my mat leave ends then I don't have to pay that back, but could miss out on the freelancing opportunity I've been offered argghhh what to doooo?

Right, off to catch up with diaries and update signature...

Adoremouse

I am a Diet Coke addict, it's my fuel...well that and sugar :o:o

Need to kick both habits, but for now I've downgraded to supermarket brand Diet Cola.

Mr T's is very nice, Mr S's is foul, and surprisingly I've discovered that Mr A's is really good and the closest by far to the branded one! And at a tiny fraction of the price :T

I managed to keep food costs right down this week, but I realised tonight that everything I bought has to be made from scratch and takes a bit of time, so no convenience at all.

I don't usually mind, as I do love to cook, but when you have a 5 year old, a 6 month old and a house to run, plus a million other things that always seem to be on my to do list, it becomes a bit daunting.

I'm planning to dig out my trusty slow cooker, and batch cook! Cottage pie tomorrow as Mr A had a really good deal on minced beef. Also bought a 2.5kg bag of potatoes for 99p! Granted, they're covered in mud and small so will take ages to peel etc, but couldn't pass up such a good deal

DD has only been at school since September, and they have had so much money out of us already! Sponsor this, and donate that, table top sales for charity, filling shoe boxes with toys, toiletries etc for children in Russia and special school dinner for children in need. Don't get me wrong, all very worthy causes but it's getting a bit silly now as it's constant!

That makes me sound mean, but we have given thousands to charity over the years, and now is the time to count every penny for our kids' future.

Anyway, it's late and I can hear a little man beginning to stir for his night feed, so had better get the boobies ready :rotfl:

Adoremouse

Have lots to do today in preparation for a play date with DD's new friend and her supermum

Make cottage pie
Make baby food version of cottage pie
Hoover downstairs
Mop floors
Dust
Tidy DD's room (not too bad as blitzed at weekend)
Clean bathroom
Clear off dining table
Sort paperwork
Do surveys

Currently have sleeping baby on me, but should be able to get cracking in an hour or so

Adoremouse

Adoremouse wrote: »

Have lots to do today in preparation for a play date with DD's new friend and her supermum

[STRIKE]Make cottage pie
Make baby food version of cottage pie
Hoover downstairs[/STRIKE]
Mop floors
Dust
[STRIKE]Tidy DD's room (not too bad as blitzed at weekend)
Clean bathroom
Clear off dining table[/STRIKE]
Sort paperwork
[STRIKE]Do surveys[/STRIKE]

Currently have sleeping baby on me, but should be able to get cracking in an hour or so

That's all I've been able to do so far as DS really isn't cooperating today! Will have to be good enough and supermum will have to like it or lump it

killerpeaty

Hey, this is a lovely thread. : )

With regards to chocolates and cola, have you tried approved foods? I haven't tried them personally but I've heard good things. I'm trying to get my mum to agree to trying it out as I live with her until I get a job..

Also with the mortgage thing, I don't think it's anti-MSE. My interpretation is that the MSE way of life is to live the life you can afford, not live a life where you fear money and debt.

Adoremouse

killerpeaty wrote: »

Hey, this is a lovely thread. : )

With regards to chocolates and cola, have you tried approved foods? I haven't tried them personally but I've heard good things. I'm trying to get my mum to agree to trying it out as I live with her until I get a job..

Also with the mortgage thing, I don't think it's anti-MSE. My interpretation is that the MSE way of life is to live the life you can afford, not live a life where you fear money and debt.

Hello :wave: Thank you

I haven't heard of approved foods, I will have to look them up (not that I am supposed to be eating chocolate etc haha!).

I really like your take on the MSE way of life, I feel that way too!

Do you have a diary?

killerpeaty

Adoremouse wrote: »

Hello :wave: Thank you

I haven't heard of approved foods, I will have to look them up (not that I am supposed to be eating chocolate etc haha!).

I really like your take on the MSE way of life, I feel that way too!

Do you have a diary?

I quite like popping onto the website and browsing just to see what's on it, it's never the same ha ha.

I don't have a diary, I'm not actually in debt yet. Other than student loans, but I also don't have a job, any assets or a drivers' license. So I will do.

Hope all is well with you!

Adoremouse

Hi Killerpeaty, all is well with us thanks, how about you?

Well I have been very good and planned lots of free or low spend activities for half term. DD is really looking forward to some play dates, one at home with an old friend from nursery. Another day we will be meeting another old nursery friend and her Mummy for leaf kicking and a lovely autumnal walk

She also has a birthday party, which has reminded me that I really need to find a way to buy cheap but nice pressies for parties. She is a very popular little girl, and gets invited to so many (which is lovely) but it really does add up! I need to start visiting charity shops and browsing crafting websites to find little home made projects that we can gift.

I have found myself getting excited when a new month approaches as it means that I can update my signature! It also feels like a fresh start, and a challenge to do even better.

I really want to try the NSD challenge in November, not necessarily set an amount of NSDs, but maybe see how many I can achieve?

I didn't do as well as I'd hoped with the £10 a day challenge, I wish I'd have gone with my instinct to start off with £5 as I'd have smashed it :rotfl:Oh well, never mind.

I have tons of stuff to sell on Ebay still, and just need to find the time to do it!

Adoremouse

I've just remembered that I wanted to post about this, I am feeling great about CCCS as I can see the amount coming down nicely. We are paying around £500 per month, so every other month we will go down to the next thousand which is fab! We will be done in 4 1/2 years.

However, I am concerned about the Picture loan, we have been paying it for years and it's hardly moving as it's mostly interest. It's a secured loan and we are in negative equity because of it. I really really wish we had never ever consolidated, and I wish we had gone to CCCS at that point, but we were yet to have our LBM.

I don't like to dwell on what could have been though, so our plan is to pay off CCCS, then take the £500 and either make overpayments (if they will let us) or save alongside the Picture loan until it's gone. This is the best plan we can come up with, and I guess it's all we can do for now. I've probably said all of that already somewhere in this diary, but wanted to get it all out again, this is like therapy :rotfl: