To Freedom...

kirstypark

another month and mortgage total down to £85300 with no overpayments for the past 4 months now, but we should be in a better place next month. OH is bringing in a bit extra with his 2nd job and both kids are home to pay a bit of rent, but still very short of cash and got too much socialising to do. Next weekend is the only free weekend from now to christmas.

My trip to London was cancelled - bit disappointed but will save a bit of cash. Have sold a couple of things that were cluttering up the loft, to buy welding stuff for the campervan. We have ripped out everything from the back and are starting the rebuild which is ambitious, especially when we have no money spare!

Oh, and halfway through my first section of my dissertation....

kirstypark

finally found m diary lurking on the bottom of page 6 - there are so many others on here, it's great to see it. I've hurt my back and had to call in sick today - and lost 2 hours overtime, but can only lie or stand - cannot sit or drive! hope it gets better soon.

Went shopping and proud to say only spent £66 for over £98 of food this week, that will do 4 of us for around the next 10 days i think. Also claimed my expenses and am getting a bonus as the other team members are getting to go to London to collect an award, so I am getting the same amount they are to stay in a hotel somewhere. So am planning a christmas shopping trip to edinburgh. Was tempted by 4 days in Marrakesh which was cheaper - but the flights and reported 3 hour delay at customs put me off!

kirstypark

had a cocktail night with my girlfriends last night and slightly hungover today. My petrol expenses came through along with DD rent money and finally started christmas shopping yesterday.

And my hairdresser dyed my hair bright red :eek: I fear its a shade too bright. Came home in the pouring rain last night a bit worse for wear and woke up this morning with red hair dye all over my pillows. oops.

kirstypark

Another week gone - had another weekend dance to go to along with a meal with freinds - it was expensive, but had a great night. Looks like there might be even more overtime over the next few weeks as our manager has resigned and i can do a bit of her job so will volunteer until we get a new manager.

kirstypark

wages day and we are finally in the black after paying credit card and loan for the campervan off! There is even a spare £700 that has gone into savings - although i suspect it might be used over the month as still have xmas shopping to do. I have hated being this skint for the past 4 months, but it was worth it to get rid of the loan. Still have not overpaid the mortgage, but might find a few trickles of cash over the month and next month should be able to start in earnest again. most of our socialising for this month is already paid for - tickets for work night outs, and dance tickets, oH needs a new suit, but i can make do with my second hand - i mean vintage finds last month!

Did spend quite a bit in asd@ last night, but the cupboards were bare - we had only spent around £160 on food last month, so really needed to stock up and got a few gifts too. best buy was 3 10p bags of fresh veg which was made into soup and frozen, 10p soup - not bad! still to buy our meat next week at the farmers market and that should do us for another month, unless i end up cooking xmas dinner.

Have bought the kids tickets for a dance in Blackpool just after christmas - they wanted a trip away instead of gifts or money and it should be a laugh with all 4 of us going. Going to the tower ballroom, getting an hour and a half dance lesson then there is a band playing in the evening so we can get a spin around the ballroom. I am really looking forward to that and the tickets were only £17.50 each - we will get a cheap hotel booked up later.

skint_spice

kirstypark wrote: »

Have bought the kids tickets for a dance in Blackpool just after christmas - they wanted a trip away instead of gifts or money and it should be a laugh with all 4 of us going. Going to the tower ballroom, getting an hour and a half dance lesson then there is a band playing in the evening so we can get a spin around the ballroom. I am really looking forward to that and the tickets were only £17.50 each - we will get a cheap hotel booked up later.

This sounds fab, love that idea:)

kirstypark

Thanks skintspice. It's more about creating memories and new experiances than just giving them money which one fritters away and the other saves.

Well, I'm back overpaying this month - as well as our usual direct debit have found an extra £45 to overpay today and it feels great :T
Our total is down to £84,800 over 16k paid off in 18 months.:T

We are starting to buy bits for our campervan that i now recognise! up to now OH has been buying things like CV joints, gear selectors, etc that I don't know go where or never see them. But we have just bought a new back door to replace the very rusty door so for the first time there will be a visable improvement. Mr P has been working very hard welding and painting the interior most sundays whilst i get on with my dissertation - it's boring, but moneysaving. (well apart from buying the bits - very spendy!)

kirstypark

tidied up my accounts today and found another £22.31 to overpay, enough to cover a few days interest. Trying hard to resist all the lovely clothes in the shops - I don't really need any more dresses! just want them...

Got the chance to wear my 50s circle dress i bought for our silver wedding in vegas last year again on saturday at a charity ball - was desperate to wear it again, but it's a bit dressy for most events we go to. So was very pleased to recycle it again.

kirstypark

so, we are on holiday for a couple of days and off to Edinburgh to see the christmas market and get a bit of peace before christmas. have almost finishing christmas shopping, but looking forward to picking up a few bits to spoil the kids. I fancy a new pair of dance shoes for my birthday :A

kirstypark

oh dear, we went a bit wild in Edinburgh - and put some on the credit card too which had just been paid off - was great fun though. Finished off shopping, and toured the markets taking some photographs. Got a new pair of dance shoes and lunch at the Witchery, very romantic. A few years ago we spent the night of Mr P's 40th birthday there and would love to do that again sometime.

Our last dance lesson tonight our tutors are retiring, although we are allowed to continue using the hall for practice sessions every wednesday. It won't be the same - we have loved every minute of learning to dance and made new freinds who all want to stay in touch, so that's a bonus.

I am not sure if i mentioned i had joined our local camera club a few months ago - joined it and then realised i didn't have time to spare, but it's a cheap hobby for now - inherited all the bits from my late father in law, and trying to take some photos to work with in the future when i finish this dissertation. Right now, i am on data collection and it's stressing me out a bit.

Had our xmas dance last saturday, we were invited to join in the kitty, but as neither of us were drinking we just got our own, and only spent £5.60. Usually we would have put in about £60 into buying other folks drinks, so glad we did that. We were up dancing all night whilst a couple of folk were ordering bottles of wine and gulping them down.