Getting a Grip on 2013

Cinny91

Family meal sounds lovely, Zig! No plans here, I'll be working until dinnertime so I might drag someone to the cinema with me. I want to see The Croods! Because I'm 5

Bad news though, OH got his statement through for his car loan and I miscalculated Our total debt is actually £3870. Ugh! But hey, it would have been 4k+ if I hadn't been paying my drips and drabs. So there's a positive. (be it a small one..) I've updated my signature to match, makes me feel a little blue though Especially as there isn't much I can do in terms of killing it until the 29th.

It's a "4th week" wage from the family this week, so I should get a decent payday. Once the bills have gone out I'm hoping to get our savings past £1500 and maybe pay £30 off of the smallest loan which is at £380 - told OH's it's my personal mission to get this paid off!

Had a pretty lovely day today. Had Ryder out on a great walk this morning, it was muddy and I fell over (ouch!) but it was so sunny and straight up lush. Shame this afternoon it turned to snow and rain but we've been hunkered down in the living room with our duvet watching some 99p Sky Movies so didn't much notice.

Have all our laundry down, dried, and put away. I even sorted my work clothes out for Monday through Friday so I can basically grab and go - plus my clothes for walking Ryder tomorrow morning (no person should get changed as many times as I do in one day!) are folded up on top of the laundry basket. Super organised! OH went crazy with the hoover.. even hoovered Ryder :eek: so that's one less thing for me to do tomorrow

Also made a massive shepherds pie for dinner, complete with dinky yorkshire puddings. The idea was to stock pile some portions up, with 2 little YP's with each one, so we have easy meals for when I'm working late. Only problem was OH went into the kitchen for seconds, and when I came to divvy it up - there was only enough pie for 2 portions and no yorkshire puds at all. Will have to make OH aware of my plans next week

OH asked the question today though "What are you wanting to do when the debt's gone?" so now he keeps on mentioning "that house deposit you want" and after costing up a trip to California for Thanks Giving he said "I think we'd rather have that saved for a house!" What's happened to him :eek: He did, really optimistically, say he think's we'll have the debt paid off by Autumn though So I'm feeling a little less like the lone cheese!

Right. So. Challenges for this week:

Spend £35 on the food shopping.
Pay £80 into the MM challenge.
Leave work everyday with everything done. (haha, as if!)
Try and get 8 hours sleep every night, and a proper breakfast every morning!

Birdie85

Gosh how super organised are you with having all your clothes picked out for the week?! I just grab whatever's closest to hand in the wardrobe and hope it'll be OK!

I feel your pain with your OH scuppering your plans to freeze leftovers too; whenever we make a massive dinner I decide that we'll be able to freeze at least 4 portions... by the time he's had seconds, then gone back an hour later for a little bit extra we're lucky to get 2 small servings! Don't know where he puts it!

Nice that your OH's on board with the savings though! :T I do think that you shouldn't totally discount spending Thanksgiving with your sister though; it may set you back a few month's worth of savings, but once you've got a baby and a mortgage you'll struggle even more to pay to go to California. I know your mantra about living like nobody else *but* you still ought to enjoy being young and free for the little time you've got left to do so before you have a mini-Cinny!

Dinah93

So long as you don't have any debt and pay for the trip with savings I agree with Birdie. Yes it's perfectly possible to travel with a baby or small child but I have to say it's a bit unappealing. The idea of carting baby food, sterilising stuff, travel cots, buggies, them puking on the different water, not knowing if they'll leak out the local nappies, having to eat out at 5pm as they need to be home for bed (and they'll be cranky because their schedule is messed up anyway) - kids make life so much richer but at the same time I was kidding myself pre-Grace to think we could carry on as we did before, they require a HUGE logistical effort every time you just want to leave the house.

Cinny91

Had a pretty sweet idea when I was working late last night, it might have been a moment of pure hallucination after 14 hours on the job but I thought I'll give it a go. It's something along the line of the "What did you do today?" threads, but with a Ramsey twist. Because I'm brainwashed. So here we go:

Today I'll Save:

• Round accounts down - £1.09 into VCP
• Have Sunday's left overs for my dinner.
• Make a mystery pasta bake using fridge dregs (gawjus ) to save going to the shop.
• Also working an hour at Job No2 to cover the cost of my Pilate's class later on.

Spend:

• Going for a NSD!

Give:

• On tea duty at work, with biscuits! (promotes a happy work environment, right?)
• Take some clothes to charity

No crazy plans for today, with working later on I'm putting off doing "the shop" until tomorrow. Finish work around 1pm, so I'm going to take Ryder on a mini hike into the quarry, scoff (literally) some dinner while multitasking. Need to clean the bathroom and kitchen (and the oven). Make sure tea is ready for OH to just flick the oven on for. So not a great deal! As long as I get Ryder walked and the food part done then the rest can keep

OH was just being silly about not seeing my Sister.. I think. He'll miss her as much as I will, so as long as we're debt free and have cash to pay for the flights we'll be there OH did mention me going on my own if that's all we can afford, but it'll be my first time in 'murica and I want him to be there. But I'm equally overly aware that if I leave him for two weeks, I'll come back to our house looking like an episode of hoarders

Once we have little monsters we won't be travelling that kind of flight with them for at least 5 years, kids are on the back burner for us now though. Planning on just keeping our heads down for the next few months, carrying on working ourselves to the point of exhaustion, and resume life in Autumn! Just need to get this blasted 2k out of the way.

Dinah93

Saw this deal Cinny and thought of your OH

Cinny91

That's pretty good! Shame I didn't see it last week. The one OH has is pretty swanky (comes with a coffee flavoured filter which makes me want to take up electronic smoking!) But £14 would have been a way better test than £50. He seems motivated with his gadget, I'm sure it'll be worth it

Yesterday went completely to pot. My Dad came around to fit the dishwasher, so we had dinner together. Ryder just ran wild in the garden to tire himself out as I'd feel bad just leaving my Dad home alone! I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom, including the oven (took the glass off for a polish and everything!) dusted all the living room, and cleaned the bathroom. Sorted some of OH's laundry out, but still have a load of washing to place around the house when I get home today.

Also ended up at Morrisons, spent £35.25 after my voucher :beer: Actually finished my shopping with my calculator on £35, so made the rest up with easter eggs and dog treats So today will be a NSD, as long as I can keep myself from buying some of those £2 mugs that are in the weekly email..

Cleaned my bag out before work last night and found £10 :cool: Keeping it to one side for next weeks shopping for a bit of wiggle room.

For Today:

Save:
Round current account down - 75p into VCP.
Leftovers from last nights tea for dinner.
Use swanky new dishwasher to save me doing the pots.

Spend:
Aiming for a NSD. Will stay away from mugs.

Give:
Didn't get around to sorting OH's clothes out for charity so I'll do that today

Turns out I'm being stolen away on Saturday, going for a meal and shopping with my Mum for my Birthday. Apparently my Mum is speaking to my Dad about my "budget" I feel 16 again! Doesn't sit too nicely with me really, I prefer people just buying me presents if they're going too. Makes me feel like a grabby child if I'm shopping and using other peoples money. I shouldn't sound ungrateful, I'm really looking forward to it!

Taking my Argos voucher with me, we're wanting a new duvet for our bed so I thought I mareswell use that We're going to use our current duvet as a "downstairs duvet" aka: slug suit. So it's a good excuse to get a new set of duvet covers from Primark (can't be the only one who thinks they have the bedding?!)

zigmeister

Cinny91 wrote: »

Save:
Round current account down - 75p into VCP.
Leftovers from last nights tea for dinner.
Use swanky new dishwasher to save me doing the pots.

Nice link haha!

Glad you're getting a birthday treat! I know what you mean about being made to feel like a child again though. I asked for money/Amazon vouchers for my birthday because I really don't need anything right now, I'm trying to get rid of stuff as it is! It sucks though cuz I know people prefer to give presents.

Well done on the shopping and the cleaning! I hate doing the oven. Love hoovering, but hate the oven.

Downstairs duvet sounds awesome! I would love my own place! I can't believe we're back living with our families. It's so rubbish! Don't get me wrong, I love them, but I don't wanna live with them after living with OH in Aus!

So are you two actively trying for a baby or just seeing what happens? Or putting it off for the minute?

shrimpy_80

Zig, I can't remember if I've already said this but it looks as though you had an AMAZING time on your travels! Have you found it hard adjusting to being back?

I cleaned the oven last night too Cinny, must have been something in the air! I also had a good financial spring clean after being motivated by this thread, I think you should put that on your 'give' list as I feel heaps better for it

Birdie85

Hurrah for lurking tenners in bags! Love it when I find forgotten cash!

Have a lovely shopping and lunching day with your Mum on Saturday! I think that as long as we have birthdays our parents will make us feel like kids with their fussing and present buying etc. I just let my Mum get on with it, she did do all the hard work all those years ago after all! My Mum still actually calls me Baby at the grand age of 27-nearly-28! :rotfl:

Oh and I can safely say that I was not inspired to clean my oven last night! Hate that job, if I could afford it I'd just buy a new oven every year!

Cinny91

Hahah! I don't like it either Birdie but my foamy genius stuff makes it pretty easy. Almost died on the fumes though, I normally don't pay attention to instructions - I'm a "bung it on and see" type of cleaner Might need to start reading those..

I don't know how on earth I motivated you, Shrimpy. But I'll take the credit quite happily Must feel great having everything organised in your head!

My Mum still calls me her Baby too! I think it's just because they helped us so much when we were struggling, that even though it's my birthday and it's money they'd spend on me anyways, I feel like we're in a better place now and I should be repaying them somehow. Talk to me again when I'm coming home from shopping with lovely new things

OH text me asking to borrow a fiver for his dinner, saying "I get paid on Monday afterall!" I was just sat there thinking "huh?!" Can't believe March has gone so quickly! Excited now because Monday = more money to MM! :j