Getting a Grip on 2013

Cinny91

Well, that's the food shop done for another year! Going to definitely look into getting some kind of saver stamps next year. Shop came to £205, but with vouchers and coupons we paid £172 so I'm really happy. Both freezers are full, fridge and cupboards are bursting. We'll have more than enough to see us breezily into 2013 Ryder even got a bone wrapped up under the tree, and 3 special tins of dog food so he feels included. Not that I spoil him or anything.

What I didn't like so much, was getting up at 6:20am so we could beat the crowds. Apparently, according to our cashier, the shop has been going manic by 8:30am with crowds she said she normally sees on Christmas Eve :eek:

Had a lovely surprise from OH yesterday though, the sneaky chuff! Flowers and a balloon plopped on my desk at work He's never done anything like that before, think I might stick it for another 5 years at least

Not a great deal done today, just plodding on with my book. One thing stuck out about "flying turkeys." (Especially after the argument my Brother and I had about loans this week.) It went on to say just because you see a turkey flying in a tornado doesn't mean that they can fly. How just because some wide-eyed theory of borrowing money and living without any type of cash reserve works in good times doesn't mean you can survive a storm. So the next time my Brother decides to let one go about how OH and I are "stupid" for saving over getting things on loan because "as long as you can make the payments, it isn't debt" I think I might just call him a flying turkey instead of trying to argue against what in my eyes is just idiocy

Having a PJ Christmas tomorrow. Onesies, Christmas movies, lots of junk food, and exchanging presents :rudolf:

Cinny91

Feeling a bit of a rotter today. Think I might have caught whatever deathly bug is going around, so I've warned everyone to stay away from me. One person I work with took the opportunity to declare they've got "the runs" and excitedly added they've been to the toilets two times since they got into work. Lovely, that. Really lovely.

Spent yesterday wiped out on the sofa, and was so close to cancelling the Christmas night but woman'd up and had a great night. Although I did kick them out at 9 and roll straight into bed. Also got myself a sweet pair of half-ling slippers that Ryder thinks are his personal fluffy mobile chew toys.

Spoke to OH and we've agreed that by August 2014 we'll be debt free, no excuses. But to give us a challenge we're going to aim for December 31st 2013 We even high-fived on it so it's basically written in blood.

It's a bit of a pipe dream though as we have a lot of stuff we need to save hard for so we can pay them in full rather than putting them on credit cards and getting into more debt. We've got mine and OH's car insurance (May/June time) and these are things we really don't want to take monthly payments out on. OH's work are changing his payday which means we'll have to make two months on one wage. Car tax, water bills, mot.. There's always something! But if we manage to get these paid in full, I know it will get us into a good cycle of cash payments over debt rolling into more debt. But even with this, I think that being debt free will be done by August 2014. December 2013 is just going to be a lot of work, so we'll see.

Got my monster shifts today. Looking forward to my beast of a walk with Ryder, fresh air will hopefully make me feel a whole lot better before coming in for the night shift.

lurvlyloz

sorry you're feeling rubbish. hopefully you will feel better soon

great that you have a targetr and a challenge. will keep you motivated

Cinny91

Thanks Loz I feel a million times better today, think I must have just had a very mild case of whatever is going around. OH and my Mum had it yesterday, my Dad has it today. Started a little chain reaction here that I don't think I'm proud of!

Was late for work this morning. Ended up wrestling OH at the top of the stairs which wasn't our safest idea. He won, but he went for the back of my knees which is just straight up dirty tictacs.

Worked out the wages I'll get paid tomorrow, which should see us way pass the £200 mark in our EM savings, slow and steady! Just need to make sure I make it to the bank I've been given the Saturday shift this weekend too which will be a nice addition to my day-after-boxing-day wages.

Had a dangerous conversation this morning with a guy and his dog. Well, I had the conversation with him. Ryder had a conversation with his dog. He said about how he always promises his dog a kennel and the outdoor life every summer, and it got me thinking that Ryder would love that. But with his strength (he weighs 37kg as of last week, and I have to put all of my weight into pulling him off smelling/rolling in things and at size 12 I'm not exactly a small thing) we'd have to have the run part properly cemented into the ground, and with his passion for chewing wood, we'd have to get a metal run. So there's a couple thousand pounds worth of "things to do" to add to our post-debt list.

Speaking of, I'm taking Ryder to his favourite place for walks today. He gets lakes, a stretch to race trains and muddy fields all in one place! Going to try and get him in the bath this afternoon too. He normally loves baths but was a bit temperamental on his last one so we'll see how this one goes!

Cinny91

Had an odd couple days! I've been running on empty the past week or so and it just caught up with me. Stress and I are very old friends but I don't have a very high tolerance level for him. Poor bean, ehy?

But this meant I skipped work early yesterday, and bunkered up with a fluffy duvet and a hairy dog. Feel the world of betterness. I suppose one upside of having dealt with anxiety and stress issues from when I was a lamb of a thing is I know my triggers and can deal with it before I find myself on the brink of a total, shave your head go smash up cars, breakdown.

Managed to get 60% of last weeks wages from Job no2 into the bank. Our EM savings would have been £230 today if it wasn't for OH getting a chip in his windscreen and needing £25 to pay his excess. But hey, guess it goes to show the system works! Any other month and he'd have probably put it on his overdraft or something debt inducing. So today our savings are at £205

Came into work earlier for some training with the treatments. I don't know if I'm embarassed or proud that I explained one of my aches by saying "well, I was pretending to be spider-man and.." My boss also thought I was moon lighting as a wrestler as I put "wrestling moves" as part of my exercise. Then had to explain its just me grappling OH whenever he tries to act out WWE. Those "don't try this at home" adverts just encouage him. Was different though, to have your bones brutally massaged. I feel a lot better, joking aside. Which is impressive when I didn't feel bad to begin with.

Popped to Asda on my way home and magically spent £10. It's so hard to not spend near Christmas. I got OH a DVD for £4, £2 spent on bits for us to take to work for the last day before Christmas. And then put the £4 change in an animal charity pot. But it's a time for giving, even if that £4 might have looked nicer in a savings pot.

Get paid all over again tomorrow so will update the second post then

kansaskitty

Hi Cinny I'm a bit of a newbie on here and much more of a lurker than a poster, but I am loving your diary and would love to read along so I hope you don't mind that I've subscribed!

Happy belated anniversary and thank you for introducing me to DR's seven baby steps, I might sort out my own tweaked version and maybe even start a journal thread of my own on here! Just maybe!

Thanks once again for the inspiration and good luck on your savings and debt-free journey. And give a little snuggle for Ryder from me too!

Cinny91

Hi KK! Hope you're well please let me know if you do start a journal on here as I'd love to follow your progress on here too. So happy DR is help to you too, he's not so widely known in England so it's good to spread his word around a little! The 7 baby steps are great for tweaking though, I think just having a goal and knowing other people are going through the same process you are helps a lot and makes you feel less alone! Because being weird can make you feel isolated while everyone you know is busting out a new loan or credit line every two seconds

Completely forgot about my phone bill! This is what I meant about my mind slipping when it comes to bills. So from my wages I put £13 in my car, in the medium of unleaded petrol - I haven't just put a handful of change behind the drivers seat. And pulled the £40 together from what was left, I did manage to put £9.65 into the EM account by rounding my current account way down though. So I'm happy with something rather than nothing. I should still make my £300 target by NY though. Provided OH pops a little bit in from his wages

I'm pretty proud of myself though. Including the money I saved for our Christmas shop, I single handedly saved 317.65 this month. £130 of that was from selling my old phone but even taking that away we managed to save about 25% of my wages. And that's not including what I'm hoping we'll squirrel away next week

But that's enough if the droning money talk! Working until 6 tonight, grabbing my little 3 hour shift on tomorrow then I'm done until Christmas!! I'm so excited its not even remotely funny anymore. I'm also excited that hopefully this time next year we're going to be sat in a much better place for some good old fashioned St Nick giving.

Birdie85

Enjoy your last day and a half at work Cinny! Lovely to hear that you're in a better place this year, it can only get better!

Fantastic work on the savings, well done! :T

You'll be happy to hear that my OH will be getting A Most Mizerable Christmas from Santa this year... and I laughed a lot at your admission of wrestling moves on your list of exercises! :rotfl:

Dinah93

I didn't realise you were in debt, do you mind me asking how much you need to clear to achieve the challenge?

Hows the thought processes on saving to buy a house and if that's before/after mini-cinny?

Pilchard

Hi Cinny

Can I be nosey on here please and see how you get on? I have had long discussions with my OH and we are going to blitz the debt next year as we have been sitting back and letting it take over our lives recently. We have decided to sit down with all the paper work in the next couple of weeks to try and sort things out and he knows I mooch about on here so will come up with some (recycled) ideas. I'll be interested to see how you do as you always seem to be so organised.

Good luck in your quest and have a great Christmas x :xmassmile