Here I am in debt again. 2nd time lucky

StressedSteph

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE.

How sad am I? I have only just woken up but the first thing I do is check my spreadsheet and log on here. .

Childrens Tax Credit are sweet. They have paid in our monthly money today, a full week early. I guess they know people will be struggling in the first week of January.

So I had a shuffle around and have paid my first of two extra payments to Littlewoods this morning. So now I have paid off 5% of our debt :T.

Had a great time last night, was really not looking forward to it but it turned out well. It was 80's Disco themed so we dug out old fancy dress and danced to Bananarama al night :rotfl:.

We allowed ourselves £50 for our once a year blow out and we only spent £30. So not a bad night money wise either.

Moaning Myrtle - Its a struggle sometimes isn't it. Hubby saving grace is he does'nt really cost much to keep . He does smoke rollies which is about 1 packet a fortnight and goes to Skittles once a week which we budget £20. So thats about £26 per week. I know that could make a big inroad to paying off a debt (£1352 per year). But it was ME that was reckless with the money and got us into this so I am pretty sure it would cause some marital issues if I tried to cut his budget back any further. He makes his own home brewed cider from our apple trees so our alcohol budget is minimal.
I sometimes see him looking a frivilous stuff on Ebay and I have to carefully drop out that we can't afford anything extra this month..eeeeek

armchairexpert - Thanks for all the ham ideas. I really could do with going on a cooking college course. I am quite rubbish if I try to stray away from my 6 usual meals . I was going to have a go at ham & potato pasties today, but not sure how nice they will be. I might swap it to one of your dishes in stead. Was jealous when i saw you were in Australia - Hot weather, I love it.
Regards the Kindle a fantastic member on here, who will remain un-named in case it is slightly illegal , kindly showed me how to email and swap Kindle books between friends. She also sent me loads of books, so my Kindle costs are back down to zero. The joy of MSE :T:T:T:T.

Well off to swallow some paracetamol and get dressed. Got to go and collect the children from the grandparents, before they run them ragged.
Later I might take down the decorations, they are driving me mad, making the house look messy and cluttered. Thats if I can stop my head from banging.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE :beer:

StressedSteph

Just been inspired by Tiglath and I have hung out my washing on the line.
I did'nt hang any washing out all last year , but am going to add that to my 2013 resolutions list.

Make sure I only put the washing machine on when the weather is forecast dry, so I can avoid the tunble drier.

Its funny how, you think you have covered all the money saving angles you can and then you remember yet another simple thing, like hanging the washing out, that can save even more money.:T

mummytogirls

Hi Steph,

Happy New Year to you!

Im glad you had a good night last night, £30 is quite reasonable for NYE!!
Loving that you got straight up and checked your spread sheet and account :money:!!

Have a nice day xx

StressedSteph

Have just listed 6 items onto Ebay. Even is they only make £5 each it will add up.

Getting quite ruthless, wandering round the house with my phone, looking for anything of slight value that we don't need.

Hubby reckons if the kids sit still I might list them on Ebay :eek::T

StressedSteph

mummytogirls wrote: »

Hi Steph,

Happy New Year to you!

Im glad you had a good night last night, £30 is quite reasonable for NYE!!
Loving that you got straight up and checked your spread sheet and account :money:!!

Have a nice day xx

Thanks Mummytogirls

Felt abit of a :money:nerd this morning, but who cares:T

please-let-me-be-lucky

£30 on a night out when you'd allowed £50 is fab :T

And if you sell your 6 items at £5 each you've made it back anyway!

StressedSteph

Thanks PLMBL.

I am frantically traying to make enough money to pay for the £170 shortfall in paying our bills in Janury and also for the boiler repairs.

I do have a gold bracelt for sale on Ebay that is currently on £250 so that will at least pay for the shortfall. I just need to get selling to pay for the boiler repair bill which I think will be in excess of £200 :eek:.

I will keep hunting for stuff

StressedSteph

Morning Diary,

Called the plumber first thing this morning, so they are coming out today to hopefully (cheaply) get the boiler running again.

Balanced the account today, crickey the beginning of the month has ALOT of bills coming out, it was quite scary after the quiet of the Christmas holiday. Mortgage, water, kids swim lesson, TV License, car insurance all came out this morning...Yikes.

All budgeted for in my spreadsheet but busy all the same. VERY glad not to have defaulted on the mortgage this month :T.

My aim is to not default on a single bill during January & February which are my tightest months. Still got the £180 shortfall, but my Ebay sales should hopefully cover that.

Got to get cleaning the house today. I took down some of the decorations yesterday, just got to get them packed away for another year today.

Hope you are all ok. I guess some are back to work.
Take care all

StressedSteph

My hubby is AMAZING :j:j:j:j.

When we had the boiler commissioned, we got a little form that the plumber had filled out and we SHOULD have sent it to the manufacturer to validate the warranty.

Well...We were living in a caravan at the time as the house was being renovated and with two young children and all the chaos, we forgot to do it :mad::mad:.

When the boiler blew up last week I checked the warranty and it said that the commissioning report had to be sent off to them within 30 days:(. I quickly filled in the online registration form and left it at that.

I was convinced we would have to pay because companies usually use any excuse to get out of paying .

Anyway the plumber arrived, hubby tried his luck and said it should be covered with the warranty. The guy rang the manufacturer and they agreed it was covered :T:T. All I can think is they saw the online submission but did'nt see the date that we sent it :j:j.

That just saved us well over £200. Yipppeeeeee


2013 is going to be a good year, I can feel it.

armchairexpert

Hurrah Steph! So often this money saving malarkey feels like months of scrimping only to be set back by one unavoidable thing (the boiler, in your case; a death in the family that meant a lot of expensive airfares and funeral outfits in mine (yes I know I sound callous. I'm not! But it wiped out all the advances I'd made all year. If the money could have brought him back...but it didn't, you know?)) so it's lovely when you get a victory.

Also, I need to know more about this!

Regards the Kindle a fantastic member on here, who will remain un-named in case it is slightly illegal , kindly showed me how to email and swap Kindle books between friends. She also sent me loads of books, so my Kindle costs are back down to zero. The joy of MSE :T:T:T:T.

Pleeeeeeeease? This is seriously my one vice.