Getting a Grip on 2013

Want-To-Fit-In

Hope you don't mind me joining you

Look forward too reading x

missymoo81

Good luck on your journey, I'm sure you'll do it.

Cinny91

Hell yes! The more the merrier Dinah93's threads alone show I like a good side of chatter with my debt busting!

Hope you're all well. It's nice and frosty here, bumped into a neighbour and his pooch when I was out with Ryder so had company for most of my walk which was lovely. Plus Ryder ran like a crazed giraffe with his dog so he was nice and knackered when we got home.

I think you'll like Dave Ramsey, Shrimpy! There's a religious edge to some of his stuff but it's not too over whelming. He's a more straight to the point, kinda sassy, American Martin Lewis. (who, in all honestly, seems a little fluffy and bland in comparison:shhh:)

Long monster shift last night was long and monstrous. Was home at 9:30pm as I caved and pootled to Mr.A. Our fridge was empty bar some very pathetic looking mushrooms, so I spent £12.06 (can't forget the .06!) on a top up shop. We needed milk, veggies, bread etc to spruce meals up. 2 packets of stickered bagels fell into my basket too, so that's my dinners sorted for the next couple weeks. Nothing beats a good pizza bagel so I had precisely that for my tea with a sliced apple. Possibly followed by some sweeties :A

Finally got our key reader for the electric so we're now fully set up and don't have to slog to the shops (and ultimately get dragged into impulse buys) when we need to top up. Bit of a shame I can't seem to find a cash back site that you can go through for top ups, that would have been a little bit nice! So I put the rest of our electric money on there last night.

Not really a great deal else to report. I get paid from Job No2 tomorrow, but just need to get a couple things as we go for our big Christmas shop on Saturday :rudolf: Thinking I'll put whatever is left from my wages into le shoppe jar, then what we have left over will go into the EM account. If there's any left. I hope there's some left! We'll be taking about £170 with us, and we're only buying for a gluttonous 2 weeks so there should hopefully be some change.

Finish work at 1pm today, and I owe Ryder a great walk and plenty of toothy cuddles to make up for him being crated more than I'm comfortable with yesterday

ruby_eskimo

We did our Christmas shop online via Sainsbury last week and we're having it delivered on the 22nd. Only did it there because I had a voucher for £12 off a £60 shop so took the opportunity to get a good chunk of food then. Hope your shift goes quickly!

Cinny91

That was good going, Ruby! We're going to Morrisons, going swanky Planning on filling the second freezer a bit so we'll probably buy a lot more than for just two weeks

Spent some pennies last night as I desperately need a thicker coat for walking in the morning. Ended up with this sleeping bag. Then I had a wander and some other clothes fell into the basket. I won't lie, it was quite traumatic and they just wouldn't leave so I had to buy them. Honestly. But I did get a top for work, a skirt and tee to smarten up on Christmas Day and slouchy top to hide le rolls for Boxing Day. Both, obviously, covered in skulls. Used the usual codes so only spent £20 with postage

Sadly got thwacked by custom charges on some Wrestling tees I ordered for my Mum to give OH for Christmas I ordered one too, and paid for the postage. My Mum just paid for the tees, but as some of the charges are against what she bought is it totally Scrooge of me to ask her for a little towards it? If it was something like £10 I'd pay it myself but it's edging on £20 - which would make OH's $25 top £45 :undecided I'm going to my old town today and popping to see her so I'll take the bill, see how brave I feel

It's pretty nippy this morning! Wishing my wellingtons were here already, it was a slippy death trap of -life degrees on our pootle before work. Kept him on the lead as he's silly goat and I can imagine him running and jumping about like nothings slippy underfoot and breaking something! Already heard of a few local dogs breaking bits or tearing ligaments.

Waiting for my Job No2 wages, then my favourite day of the week begins! Shopping Day!! We only need a few things to see us happily until Saturday, so I'm just going to pop to the butchers and veg stall. It's so much easier to just go too the Supermarket when you need things for the week but this is a good excuse to see how things compare.

Think I need a change in hair colour. I've had red hair for over a year now. Thankfully I have a distrust of hair dressers and everything's DIY job, so instead of it being a £50+ deal it's only a £3 bottle of hair dye. Just need to decided what!

Dinah93

Cinny91 wrote: »

Downloaded a free app yesterday that tracks your dog walks. I feel a goal coming on! Going to aim to walk Ryder 5 miles a day, unless it's bitterly cold and blatantly clear we both want to be at home.

OH was asking why we're focusing on saving an emergency fund alone and not concentrating on debts last night. So I thought I'd explain it here too! When it comes to money, while I obviously like Martin Lewis for using this forum, I'm a big believer in Dave Ramsey's "Seven Baby Steps" and Step 1 is to create an emergency fund before clearing debts to fall back on. (Step 2 is to pay off debts, Step 3 is to save 3 - 6 months of living expenses, Step 4 is to invest into retirement funds, Step 5 to save for your Children's College fund, Step 6 to pay off your home early and Step 7 is to build your wealth and start giving back) like he says "Live like no one else so that later you can live like no one else."

Does the app work? I downloaded a pedometer one and was really annoyed that after a 2+ hour walk apparently I'd taken 312 steps.... it was supposed to work out calories and altitude and everything.

I was going to ask if he's American based on the college fund. That's the one bit I'd definately switch around, I'd pay off my mortgage before saving for uni, as you can get loans to cover 100% of the course, but parental help with rent and living is always handy - but it entirely depends on what you have coming in. My brother's friend has parents who retired early (her in 40s him in the mid 50s) and who therefore only have fairly small pension earnings coming in, however they did just sell their house for 2.1million, and they built 4 houses in the grounds of that house each of which sold for over half a million, they also have two houses abroad. So not badly off. However because their income is small my brother's friend got a nice grant every term, while my brother didn't as my parents both work, despite having a HUGE mortgage and debts which aren't taken into account. Bit of a rant there, and it's a few steps down the line for you, but I know you have been toying with saving up to buy a place, and I'd certainly be focussing on that before amassing a uni fund for mini-Cinny.

Cinny91

Dinah93 wrote: »

Does the app work? I downloaded a pedometer one and was really annoyed that after a 2+ hour walk apparently I'd taken 312 steps.... it was supposed to work out calories and altitude and everything.

It does! All I'm bothered about is distance but it calculates calories, altitude and the whole shabang. It's called (very imaginatively) Dog Walk.

We won't be saving for our kids to go to Uni, I don't think. Poor Beans We will have a little nest egg for them and it's up to them if they want to either go straight into employment and use it to set up a home or use it to get by in extra education/set up a home post graduating. For us it will be a home first. We're going: Emergency Fund>Debts>Living Expenses>Buy Home>Pay off Mortgage>Retirement. Although, all that will probably take us until retirement I was just copying the steps as he has them

Cinny91

Just got back from Ryder's morning walk. So I'm taking a moment to defrost before I get on with the little cleaning that needs doing. Genuinely think I'm going to have to start putting tights on under my jeans for an extra layer as my bum feels like it's just been taken out of a deep freeze. Did have 3 pairs of socks on, two layers up top and my scarf practically strangling me though, so what more can you do?

Got mah hair did. The colour I got was half price, so only £3 all in, and my hair looks so much healthier. OH said it suits me more, but he said that when I went from the same colour to red so I'm beginning to doubt if he even has the smallest clue

Shopping was a success, spent £35 out of my wages (including £10 on petrol, £5 on Ryder's food and treats) and got enough to see us happily through until at least Monday, let alone Saturday morning Our main freezer is full now though so we can focus on the second one! Managed to put £50 into the shop savings from my wages. Was a bit hmm over it as it would have been nice to put that into the EM savings but it's comforting to know we can easily save £50 a week from that wage alone if we put our heads to it.

Should get paid from Job No 1 today, I'm working an hour less than normal at the moment so I could take on the extra shift at Job No2 on a Monday so we'll have to wait and see what magical amount my Uncle pays me!

shrimpy_80

Sounds like everything is going well Cinny! For extra warmth, I always wear my (clean!) PJs under my jeans, I can just about squeeze them under my skinnies, they add about two dress sizes to my appearance but they're super toastie when I get dragged to watch OH play football on a Sunday morning. I used to work outside so have tried every layering combination known to man, it all depends on your shame factor though!

Cinny91

I have no shame factor, Shrimpy! I do, however, have far too baggy pjs and way too skinny jeans for that plan to work. Was a bit warmer this morning so not so badly on the numb bum front.

Exchanged gifts for our anniversary this morning! We don't make a great fuss, just a nice meal for tea and little gestures. I got him an R tile scrabble mug as he's obsessed with Words with Friends and he got me my favourite and probably most tacky perfume ever invented - Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy! I love it so much it is a bit worrying, but I haven't had a bottle in years. I smell like heaven wrapped in cherries.

Our EM savings are at £170 as of this morning. Decided to put the axe to it and challenge myself to £300 by New Year. I think it's doable, with a bit of a push.

Less into savings this week then I'd have liked but I finally treat myself to Dave Ramseys main book after years of wants. Will be able to start it over the weekend and I'm overly excited.