Getting a Grip on 2013

Cinny91

New oven, base unit and extra fire proofing was delivered and fitted this morning! Hows about that for service?! :beer: Was expecting it to take forever, my Cousin has had problems with his oven too since he got it. Not so insane, but they're dragging it out. However, he's got a short temper and a taste for threats so I'm just going to put my neck out here and say that my somewhat adorable way with words and ability to joke about potential house fires has done me a solid.

Actually helped a lot, it's a different model so a tiny bit bigger which is perfecto for Christmas and the inside of our oven looked horrible no matter how much I cleaned it (as it goes, the oven was melting its lining from the inside so it was all gross but not dirty, if that makes sense?!) So getting the oven lovely was a big thing on my to do list for when we moved, but now I just need to make sure I keep this one sparkling for the next tenant which is way easier

Gave my budget for December one last check over, actually gave myself a sub-budget for London, Christmas shopping etc so if it all goes to plan I'll be going into 2014 having saved £200. Bring it!

Dropping some well wishes gifts off today. For the people who deserve more than a card, but you'd feel a bit awkward giving a full blown present to? So it's like chocolate, and you don't wrap it. Or call it a Christmas present. Ahh, the socially awkward persons guide to the Christmas season

Birdie85

Close call with the oven, glad it's all sorted so quickly!

Now that you've had a rethink about savings targets are you going to change your sig?!

I'm always so impressed by your budgeting and savings. I'm so useless with money, it just falls out of my pockets!

Love your 'well wishes' gifts! It is so awkward treating people to presents that aren't presents, isn't it?! I always want to buy my team mates something little for Christmas but as they're on a constant diet they don't want food which makes it annoying as I'd have just given them some choccies or made some biscuits... last year I just gave them a card and left it at that as I was fretting too much!

zigmeister

Ciiiiinny! I'm way behind on your awesome exciting house news! You sound like you have everything sussed out which is fab I'm also insanely jealous that you are going to have a pantry!

Nice one on the oven, I definitely think that being nice goes a long way to getting something (most of the time!).

When's your sister's wedding? Is that the trip out in the summer? I'm rubbish at remembering stuff..

Cinny91

It's this Saturday, Zig We're watching via video link, or something along those lines. Then they have a little honeymoon using the only time her OH (DH?!) could get off work, then it's all real life from then on out :eek:

My problem is I can't amp myself from being nice to being assertive when it doesn't work for me. I'm just like "Oh, okay. Well have a nice weekend and send my love to your cats"

My little gifts went down a storm, and for only a few pounds so I'm happy with that I gave them as "thanks" gifts, like to my tattoo guy for all the amazing extra work he put into my sleeve and going in on his "off" days. I just like seeing him full stop, I just want to be his BFF.

Signature is updated, Birdie!! One more month and the hard work really starts. Aghh, one time we'll actually be winning with money and not be treading water anymore. Back on my Dave Ramsey diet.

Talking to OH this morning about Boxing Day. He wants us to buy all the presents in the sales again, was hoping we could skip it this year So I'll need to make a list and get some kind of plan. Last year we just went in and bought whatever, then decided who we'd give them to. Which worked out okay, but want to see if this works better. Plan is to get a £10 gift for people for birthdays, and a £20 gift for Christmas 2014 :eek: omg why do I do these things.

Off at the house this afternoon, then have some present wrapping and ironing to do after tea tonight. Plus OH wants me to cut his hair, so we'll see what gives! He has his Christmas do tomorrow night so the ironing can wait until then I suppose

New oven is lovely, and so quiet! I was worried tea hadn't cooked Cleaned it once it had cooled down, then got carried away and cleaned all downstairs while OH was listening to football. Good job really, had a woman interested in renting a house so sent her to peak through our windows and see if it's any good for her! Was at the skirting boards with a tooth brush when Channel 4 flashed up an advert for appearing on the next season of Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners and thought "I've hit a new low" thankfully I just like having a clean house, and if something doesn't get done then it doesn't get done. No where near their clean people level! Would love to clean out one of those houses though, must be an awesome feeling when it's all done and lovely!

Birdie85

You're so very organised, getting presents sorted for the year on Boxing day! We're usually still in a food coma and incapable of going anywhere! Good idea to go with a plan/list though. In the last few years I have picked up random presents in the sales and ended up not actually giving them away as I just had no-one that they suited! It's also a bit obvious what you've done when you give someone a Boots giftset for their birthday in April! I should think about getting sorted for the birthdays at least for next year as I might be a bit busy/sleep deprived to think about buying presents once little Birdie arrives!

Our place is always just clean enough. Can't remember the last time we cleaned the skirting boards! I was putting out some Christmas bits last night and was horrified by the dust on some shelves. OH loves things to be tidy and to *look* clean... but things like dusting don't seem to come onto his radar! And I'm just useless at remembering to do it, I'll think 'Oooh I must dust. Ooooh something shiny!' and totally forget what I wanted to do! :rotfl:

Cinny91

That's what I thought with presents to be honest, "this is clearly a gift set, gift sets don't exist in June" but if you pop into a "bargain" shop I've noticed you can get gift sets any time of the year now. Just need to be careful that it isn't covered in sparkle or anything obvious and you're good. I had to swap someones birthday present with their Christmas one actually, I noticed "tis the season!" plastered across one of the bottles when I brought it out of hiding Have to admit, I don't know if it's being organised or actually being insane :cool:

I'm the opposite, our house doesn't really look clean because of clutter. But look pass the clutter and it's sparkling I think as long as you're happy, and you're not a fire hazard, what does it matter? OH hates what I picky cleaner I am, I was following him around the bathroom this morning buffing taps and mirrors after him. I know it doesn't matter, but I feel so calm when I know my house is tidy!

Got an uber bargain yesterday. £400 worth of glass paneled doors for £40 :T They don't exactly match, but we're going to stain them the same and hopefully get antique door handles for them, and push plates if I can find super pretty ones. Have some bids on proper 1930's solid wood doors too so fingers crossed! 99p start price which won't happen, but we'll see

Cinny91

Had a lovely weekend! Stayed on budget and spent £40 exactly on the food shop Mainly because OH paid for what was over but it was only by £15 and he was throwing things in that we didn't need. Although now every time I'm sneaking a bit of food he pipes up "I paid for that!" It's like when he'll clean the kitchen one time and suddenly, he brags he "always" cleans the kitchen.

My Sisters wedding was lovely! We had a bit of a glitch where we could hear the wedding but not see it, thankfully they kept the video up for 24 hours afterwards so we managed to watch it on a 10 minute delay. But we saw it, and that's the point! Was vair smushy, as they asked them not to mention God so it felt like they just replaced it with "love". Spoke to her quickly after the ceremony, but haven't really heard from her since. She's back to what's her home tomorrow, so I'm hoping I can catch up with her properly then!

But the main point of this post is to say the budget is on track, and the Dave Ramsey diet is working! I'm not sure for how long, but I really want to stay on the curve this time around. We're finally getting somewhere with money and life right now. I can't lie and say we've been humble and frugal to get here when we have debts to say otherwise, and we've only cut loose with money one Summer with my Hovis winnings (because fluck it, we'd been sensible up to and after that point!) it's just nice to see the hard work paying off.

It's just equally weird, as OH and I are seeming to get wealthier my Brother and his Girlfriend are kind of falling apart. They have more things on finance than I thought, and as his girlfriend lost most of her jobs in the Summer they are really struggling and my Brother is constantly in his overdraft. I'd do more to help and be a lovely Sister if I didn't also know they were still spending £200 a pop on things for their cars, £80 on hairdressers appointments and forever going to the cinema. They won't sell a car, because they "don't want to change their lifestyle". As they say, you can see who's skinny dipping when the tide goes out. I just don't understand how they can earn more than us, but be so worse off.

Birdie85

I think you find that people's money priorities are just so different. Like the saying about the skinny dippers and the tide going out! We don't have great finances as we are too loose with our food and other stuff budget, but it's because we can afford to be. We'd just have more money saved up if we were more sensible but we don't end up in the red each month and we've been able to buy the baby stuff we need without too much trouble. I don't agree with having 2 cars on finance or going out for meals and to the cinema all the time when you can't afford it. We've found that we're actually perfectly happy staying in with a frozen pizza and a movie instead of going to the cinema and to Pizza Express. That's a lovely treat, but it's £40 compared to £4 for the night in!

My brother did make me grumble about his tightness yesterday though. His PS3 has died so he sent me a text asking if he could 'borrow' ours (read: have) but I told him that we'd sold it last year. He's got loads of money in the bank and with the PS4 coming out there'll be loads of decent second hand, or even brand new PS3s in the shops for not a stupid amount of money, yet he comes to his little sister for a freebie, and hardly one I could afford to just give him even if I did have one spare. Tight git! He is honestly so tight I swear he squeaks when he walks. He'll only watch a Blu-Ray if someone lends it to him, if you go to his for tea he'll order take-out to save having to actually go shopping for decent food, then expects you to pay half. He brings a 4-pack of beers to my parents' house if they're doing a dinner... then drinks what they've got in the fridge and takes his beers back home with him! There's no reason to be THAT tight and we honestly can't figure out where it's come from!

So yeah, I don't know what my point in all that is... I guess it's about a happy balance?! I always wonder how you manage to get your shopping budget so low though, just our milk, orange juice, bread and sandwich stuff bill over the month adds up to more than that!

Cinny91

Birdie85 wrote: »

So yeah, I don't know what my point in all that is... I guess it's about a happy balance?! I always wonder how you manage to get your shopping budget so low though, just our milk, orange juice, bread and sandwich stuff bill over the month adds up to more than that!

Magic and also my OH sells his body for a packet of diced chicken boob

I just wish I could talk a little sense into them. When I suggested maybe just SORNing a car, because I know how attached to them they are. My Brother said "In all honesty, we need to do more than just SORN them" but I know his Girlfriend loves the looks she gets when she's known for swanning around in two different beefy cars and doesn't want to sell for that reason. It's probably why I look like a hot mess and drive a beater but I can't understand how people can pick looking good and impressing people they don't even like over sleeping soundly at night. I'm just worried my Brother will make himself sick over trying to keep everything together.

I agree though, everyone has different priorities. It's like when OH and I didn't "have" any money, we could always find money for pizza That's where our priorities are - FOOD *pats gut* :smileyhea

Had to laugh at your Brother, I'll admit I'm like that if I know someone has something I need but don't think they use Although I do offer swapsies or money. Wouldn't just take something, certainly not something like a PS3 which aren't cheap!

alioops78

Brilliant that you were able to watch the wedding if you weren't there. That was the biggest thing for me thinking that I wouldn't have my sister at my wedding but my wonderful parents paid for her to come over as a surprise.

I've joined Dave Ramsey on facebook but got to admit that I've not had an in depth look at his stuff yet. I wish I could get DH on board with things though as he's constantly borrowing to pay for things even though we share the bills, rent etc. He had to borrow money off me last week a few days before his payday as he didn't have enough to cover the last direct debit. I suggested that he take out £100 for spends and £100 for food shopping and just leave his account alone and he agreed it was a good idea but he didn't do it and said while he thinks it's a good idea he didn't agree to it, MEN lol.

Keeping up appearances is a big thing for some people and unfortunately you'll never be able to make them see sense as they have to come to the conclusion themselves. It doesn't make it easy when one person in a relationship is constantly worrying and the other seems to not care about it.

If we want anything game/movie or gadget related DH gets it from work as he can buy stuff and refund within a fortnight, that's if we don't get it by other means first