Jamiedodgers 2013 Diary

Happytogetdebtfree

Morning jammy, glad you got everything done. Today is a stay at home day catch up on house work lol. Im emptying the cupboards and getting to the end of the month with whats in stock lol heres to a frugal feb x

JAMIEDODGER

Morning:)

Happy - hope you got lots done yesterday?

Got called away first thing yesterday morning to a family emergency and was out all day and thoroughly exhausted by the time I got home, so no studying done at all:( although I am still in front in my studies, I am behind on my own targets now which means I will have to work over some of the weekend to catch up.

Have ds2 on inset today and the dentists mid morning, so going to try and get my head down to work straight after the school run.

Ended up paying for parking I wasn't expecting yesterday, but I do have parking in my budget so will be ok, usually I only have to pay for parking at the hospital and vouchers for college, I use free parking the rest of the time but not possible yesterday.

Having an unexpected day like that has totally thrown me out, so have no idea what I will do for dinner tonight yet etc. will be aiming to get myself back on track over the course of today.

Better get to it then:)

JAMIEDODGER

Morning

Just a quick note today, got caught up with study yesterday and planning another day of it today. Been to dentist and now referred to sedation clinic to have extraction. Doctors this morning, appointment with the nurse. Will be catching up on housework over the weekend:)

couldsavemore_2

morning JD

glad you are getting your tooth sorted not pleasant i know,i hate the dentist im really quite nervous of them, but toothache is worse.

sounds like you are very focused with your studying, getting ahead puts you in good position if you have unexpected days like you had the other day.

I have a busy day workwise and then a busy weekend with shopping and house work plus taking dd out for birthday surprise

hope you have a good weekend

JAMIEDODGER

Morning:)

Couldsavemore - yep getting ahead means I don't need to panic when things happen that you haven't planned for. Enjoy your birthday surprise with your daughter and have a lovely weekend x

Sunny and bright here this morning on the south coast:)

Washing on and may even get it on the line! Slow cooker on with a joint of gammon, will be ready at 5 so will slice when cold for dinner tomorrow and tubs of sandwich meat for the freezer.

Managed to get a fair bit of uni work done yesterday, planning a chilled weekend with the kids, ds1 is over for the weekend, so looking forward to spending some time with him:)

Not much else to report, nothing in or out of bank account.

Have a great weekend all xx

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi jammy, yay on getting ahead wih study No big plans for the weekend, i am working tomorrow . Spreadsheets nice and tidy and balances transferred to 0% new cc set up direct debit only has minimum payment and payment in full so will have to manually overpay when other stuff is paid off . Hope you have a good weekend x

JAMIEDODGER

Hi happy - have a great weekend:) and don't work too hard!

Been in kitchen this morning, currently marinaded chicken strips wrapped up and in fridge, gammon still in slow cooker, also made some mini chicken pies in my muffin tray from pastry, shredded chicken from a chicken breast and a spoonful of condensed chicken soup in each one. Delish, think I got the recipe from a students website:) DD is having two tonight with some mash and gravy from freezer. I have frozen the other two portions for dinner another time. The leftover soup I had for lunch and will probably have the leftover chicken with mayo in a sandwich for lunch tomorrow:)

Will probably do some twinks later:)

JAMIEDODGER

Morning:)

Nipped into town with ds3 and dd yesterday afternoon so they could spend some of their allowance. Free parking and I bought some toothpaste and some lined paper for studying.

£1.21 change in the pot today:)

Finally sorted out a special food purse for this month and have put my food money in it plus my nectar card and a voucher I'm waiting to use:) this should help with reducing my food budget as I will be able to see exactly how much I have available to spend on food alone for the month. I got the idea from Jackie O as she has some fab ideas to keep the food spends under control:T

Sliced gammon up last night once cooked and is now portioned up and sitting in freezer:) boys enjoyed their BBQ chicken for dinner and there is a little leftover so someone will be having that for lunch:)

Going to sit down later and start on a meal plan for the coming week and a shopping list, aiming on keeping the spends low, although there are quite a few bits I am running out of again. Will probably make a batch of soup this week and another curry at some point, I have some chicken thighs/drumsticks in the freezer which I might cook up for curry meat. Will also do a kebab one night.

A couple of money saving food tips I have used recently are:

1) bought some ice cream cones so that when I do ice cream for pudding, which is quite often, the kids are having one scoop in a cone instead of 3 in a bowl:D

2) I go through a lot of cheese, so I now buy one large block and spend what feels like ages, grating the entire thing and portioning up in to bags and put in freezer, always having one bag on the go in the fridge. I am sure this alone is saving me a small fortune as grated goes a lot further than sliced! Kids have it in pitas at the weekend.

3) we were going through a lot of squash in our house, so I bought three fridge jugs and now have one jug of each (blackcurrent, orange/lemon/pineapple and plain lemon) on the go in the fridge at all times, this saves the kids pouring silly amounts of concentrated juice into their beakers every time they want a drink!!

Keeping my ear to the ground for more ideas like these, especially on items I do use a lot of!

Off to have a browse now, have a great Sunday:)

JAMIEDODGER

Morning:)

Start of a new financial month for me today, so banking checked and spreadsheets updated.

Disaster over the weekend....ds2 spilt his drink all over my laptop and it is now not switching on:eek: all my uni work was on there, which is all saved to memory stick except last weeks work which I hadn't saved yet:( luckily I wasn't in the middle of an assignment! Anyway, I have ordered a new computer which will be here mid week, on buy now pay later for 12 months and set up a standing order to my account to send the 12 equal payments to my savings account, so that I can pay it off when the time comes. I will be seeing if I can find someone to fix the pc, which then when fixed will just be used by the kids for their homework etc, so that they don't go anywhere near the one that has my uni work on it!!!!

Until the new of arrives, I will be doing all non computer based work, ie reading, some note taking etc.

Studying this week will be focusing on an essay plan for next assignment (due21st) and a little gentle start on the new course, but my main focus for the next four weeks will be revision for my maths exam on 4th march. I have a separate revision schedule and know what I need to be doing everyday to get to the Friday before my exam (march1st).

Today I will be working on my essay plan this morning and exam revision this afternoon and tonight.

Got some chicken thighs from freezer yesterday so will be cooking them up today for meat for a curry. Last nights dinner was all leftovers from the fridge. Will be getting lamb mince out of freezer this morning for kebab either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Will be trying to stay away from the shops as much as possible this week and the money has to really stretch now this month.

Have a good Monday everyone xx

Happytogetdebtfree

Ah no re the laptop I will ask my oh see what he thinks, wouldn't it be cheaper to get it fixed and avoid a 12 month plan? No plans for me today well meal planning etc :-) x