Chapter 1 (Vanquishing Very) - Here's to 2013 and one debt at a time.

Housework*Fairy

fallen121 wrote: »

Yes you CAN claim it if you are PAYE. See my previous post. You claim the allowance on top of your personal allowance and thus pay less tax each month, meaning you take home a couple of quid more.

More info here https://www.uniformtaxrebate.co.uk/

Hi, I don't have my uniform yet; I will get it when I have done my three months probation, and I'm definitely going to claim it

Housework*Fairy

Day 8 Spends (Friday)
£10.00 - DH went to pub
£1.00 - DS1 bus fare

Money left in bank: £55.51
Money left in purse: £40.00
Money left in change box: £5.12
Total money left: £100.63
Days til next pay period: 0

The end of my first pay period (have divided them into 8 day segments as there are 31 days between pay this month) and have saved £100 to roll into this week's £257 :-)

Just made my 2nd planned weekly payment to Very of £20.00 so balance is now £177. I heard rumblings at work yesterday that we get a £50 bonus at Christmas from work, but I wont hold my breath that I will get it, as I have only just started there. It'd be nice if I did because it would mean that I would definitely have Very paid off by the end of December.

Today I am having my nails and eyebrows done which I have been having since July, but after today I'm going to stop having the shellac done, and just carry on having HD brows.

I'm also going to go to Home Bargains and stock up on naughty-but-nice stuff for the pantry, the stuff that costs a fortune in the supermarkets.

Happy Saturday people! Enjoy your weekend

kiss_me_now9

Hope you have a nice Saturday, just popping in and subbing

Housework*Fairy

Day 9 Spends (Saturday)

Bit of a spendy day, but probably less spendy than Sunday is going to be!

£40.00 - nails and eyebrows
£5.00 - DS1 haircut
£ 6.97 - in pound shop
£10.24 - McDonalds (treat for DS1 and I as we got to football far too early)
£10.00 - cash DH

Money left in bank: £275.30
Money left in purse: £5
Money left in change box: £5.12
Total money left: £285.42
Days til next pay period: 8

DS1's game and training were both called off, so I have paid the £3 subs money to Very, so balance is now £174.

Didn't get to the supermarket and I am not sure I'll get chance to do a full weekly shop today so will have to just go and get sandwich stuff and maybe do a full shop tomorrow instead.

Booked in for just my eyebrows doing next month and not my nails so that will save me £20 a month. I said I just wanted to give my nails a rest as they are in crap condition so she then tried to sell me some stuff to put on my nails to condition them, but I held out and said no.

DH's car broke down AGAIN yesterday (we had just spent £590 fixing it three weeks ago, and that was mates rates!). He drove to the local shop and when he came out, the battery had gone flat. Our mechanic neighbour bought his battery charger thing up from his garage and got it started but it might be the start of more expensive repairs (NOT!, if I have my way). No need for two cars now I work practically on my doorstep but there's no way DH will countenance giving his car up, so it will have to die first.

Oh well, here's to another freezing cold Sunday stood in a muddy field as DS2's match is on (BOO). Hope your Sunday's are warmer than mine is going to be.

Housework*Fairy

No money stuff for today but I'll tot it all up when I can summons up the enthusiasm.

Spends yesterday:
£40.00 - Groceries
£6.00 - Pound shop

DH's car wont start again today, looks like a new battery will be needed which I'm really fed up about having spent £590 on it less than a month ago. Mechanic couldn't look at it today so it'll probably be tomorrow before we know for definite. I have written evidence - in the form of a text - that "if anything goes wrong with it after this, we'll scrap it" and I will hold him to it.

Although DS2 had a football game yesterday it was away so DH has told me he;s not collecting subs so that's £3 that I need to transfer to Very. I paid for DS2's school dinners and had paid for 2 days last month that he ended up not having them, so that'll be another £3, and I'm taking a neighbour's kid to tomorrows big game (footy) and his mum has been round to reimbuse me the £10 for it, so when I can be fagged I will transfer the £16 to my Very account which means balance will be £158 (yay me).

Housework*Fairy

Still no money post because my stupid HSBC secure code is broken. I have to go to a branch to pick one up, but due to working full time I can't get there until Saturday.

Yesterday's spends
£5.00 - gave DS1 some money to get a taxi to school with two other lads due to DH's car breaking down, and I still have not received the change from the fiver despite asking twice.

StressedSteph

Housework*Fairy wrote: »

Still no money post because my stupid HSBC secure code is broken. I have to go to a branch to pick one up, but due to working full time I can't get there until Saturday.

Yesterday's spends
£5.00 - gave DS1 some money to get a taxi to school with two other lads due to DH's car breaking down, and I still have not received the change from the fiver despite asking twice.

Hehe probably been spent on sweets .

hope all is going well, you seem to be managing to be nice and thrifty xxx

kiss_me_now9

I hate those stupid HSBC things! Must not forget to take mine with me when I leave uni for Christmas, 5 weeks without being able to access my bank account :eek:

Housework*Fairy

Back again...

I've been to pick up my secure key and been able to log onto internet banking. Got a bit of a shock as there's not as much money in there as I expected! In fact, looking at the balance today, and the balance last Saturday we have spent £341 in a week which is quite shocking given that I had a relatively low spend on groceries, and haven't had my bank card on me all week.

I've transferred over the £16 from earlier in the week (which I hadn't been able to do as I couldn't log into internet banking) and transferred over my weekly £20, so balance should now be £138.00.

While DH's car was out of action, he had to put £20 in mine, and once his was repaired our mechanic mate has told him not to let his fuel run low, so I told him to fill the tank up (which he did to the value of £60) and then make sure he tops it up weekly.

Both of us had our Christmas parties this week too. I took out £40 for mine yesterday (but it didn't cost anywhere near that) and he took out £20 cash for his. My Xmas do was a theme night held in a hotel and had cost £37 for the meal which I had paid for back in November. This is the third year my colleagues have been, and I was told to bring my own bottle of wine in a gift bag, and they'd nominate someone to be the 'birthday' girl, so if you did get challenged (which we didn't) you just said it was a birthday gift for someone! So I paid £4.48 for a bottle of Rose, £6.50 for a taxi home, and then £5 on two alco-pops when the wine ran out! £15.99 on the night - cheapest Xmas do ever. Clever eh? The staff were even taking the empty bottles from the tables without questioning why it wasn't actually wine that they sold.

Money in purse £10.00
Money in change box £18.80
Money in bank: £389.98
Grand total: £418.78
Days til next pay day: 16 (gulp)...and I haven't paid my mechanic neighbour for the new battery yet...(eek)

So spends from Last Saturday to today

Friday - £40.00 cash (me)
Friday - £9.97 Asda (DH for secret santa present)
Thursday - £60.00 petrol (DH)
Thursday - £20.00 cash (DH)
Wednesday - £20.00 cash (DH) some of this was for a fish & chip supper
Wednesday - £10.00 cash (DH)
Tuesday - £20.00 petrol (my car, DH)
Monday - £0.99 Amazon (me)
Monday - £6.00 Poundland (me, from weekend)
Monday - £10.45 interest
Sunday - £10.00 cash (DH)
Sunday - £40.00 groceries (me)
Sunday - £20.00 cash (not sure who, possibly me)
Sunday - £60.00 cash (for DS1's Xmas Present)
Saturday - £10.00 cash (DH)

So an awful lot of cash withdrawals!!!

Must try harder over next two weeks, as average weekly spend has now gone down from £257 per week to £209!

But I've been reading a lot of diaries and there is a lot of people out there worse off than me.

Housework*Fairy

Money in purse £10.00
Money in change box £22.80
Money in bank: £362.98
Grand total: £395.78
Days til next pay day: 15

Did DS1's paper round this morning earning £4 as he was off on a birthday sleep over, and his football match was called off today and there was no training on Friday so that saved me £3. Transferred £7 over to Very so balance now is £131.00. (that's £87 paid off in just over two weeks)

Spent £20 on a Chinese takeaway last night (naughty, naughty) but it was so nice.

Have to do grocery shop today (eek) and probably should get petrol...