Getting back on track for 2013 and beyond

kerri_dfw

Look! Signature updated!!! I've just cancelled my overdraft

Dad paid £570 into my bank account that my sister owed me from that loan from ages ago. So I've put £150 to kill off the overdraft, all cancelled and gone, gone, gone thank you very much mister banker. I've also paid £420 to the credit card, this will be topped up on the 20th (if it's still there) with the £500 I've put to one side for the very purpose of paying it OMG the debt free day is dawning closer and closer

I have asked Kat on the yomp challenge if I am allowed to get a celebratory icecream even though it's a SFD, I await her response.

kerri_dfw

We spent a shocking £71.78 in the supermarket yesterday, I know OH needed coffee at £6 for 2 bags, but everything else was less than £2 each! We also spent £7.20 on veg from the farmers market yummy.

Today we are packing up the flat, then going out for £6 thali (sp?) at the best veggie indian place in town for a friends birthday. I'm in Ipswich Mon-Weds and had contemplated driving up there. But to be honest I am falling asleep around 8pm and extremely tired so I think if I were to drive back on Wednesday I'd be putting myself in a dangerous position. Work pay expenses so they can pay the £300 for the train and I shall sleep on that Looking forward to 3 days of restaurant dinners though, nom nom nom.

brizzledfw

Ace news kerri about the overdraft etc etc. good idea about the train too, important not to put yourself in danger.

Have a good few days in Suffolk

Brizzle

kerri_dfw

Just a quickie... Cap1 have given me £1000 0% on BT until Jan 2014. They've already transferred £500 to my VC so I've updated my signature accordingly. When I get back and can get my hands on the 3 numbers on the back of the card I shall see how much more of the remaining £500 I can transfer across to VC. But I'd love to reduce it even further, how awesome would it be to have all debt on less than 6% interest

Date for picking up keys to new house is set for 31st. I need to hire a van for the 2nd so we can move. My Dad, OH's Mum and her hubby are coming up to help. His Mum will help me with the cleaning

debtfreewannabe321

great news on the debt payments :T

I'm 20 mins from Ipswich you'll have to wave as you go past enjoy all those meals out you are making me drool

kerri_dfw

I've finally gone barmy trying to guess if we're having a boy or a girl and posted our scan photos on the in-gender website for people to guess. So you can now see our photos oooooo... http://www.in-gender.com/cs/forums/t/274876.aspx

I've also booked us a private scan on the 27th, day before OH's birthday. They give you a DVD of the scan, a bear with the baby's heartbeat in, some more photos and it lasts about 20 minutes. We thought it would be lovely to show the grandparents the scan of little one, so £75 well spent I think. Also means we get to find out the gender and the anomaly scan can focus on whether babe is healthy rather than whether it's a boy or girl.

Had some bouts of almost throwing up this morning and last night. No idea what that was about, but had the watery mouth thing you get before throwing up. My stomach muscles are awesome and I'm rarely sick, but they hurt afterwards today fingers crossed I'm not poorly at the hen do I'm going to this weekend.

Moneywise, I still have £500 sat in my lloyds savings account ready to pay to VC, although might have to use some this weekend for petrol. Need to file my expenses too. Where has this week gone by the way?

kerri_dfw

ARGH was actually sick! Apple juice tastes fine both ways by the way Eugh. Have just BT'd another £388 to VC from Cap1, that gives me about £1k left to pay them and I still have that £500 in my bank. Imagine that, no VC after payday that'll be absolutely amazing.

Canucksfan

Hi there!
Booo to the vomiting. Yay to the clearing of the overdraft!
You asked about the au pair. I have always worked out of the house after having the bubbas, so have used most types of childcare. Au pairs do seem like a good option if you only need help for a few hours a day and they can be MSE, BUT there are other considerations too. Even though our au pair came through an agency, they are usually younger and not experienced in childcare and you may find yourself having to care for another person living in your home. Our au pair was quite homesick and even though we set up English lessons and drove him to his church every weekend, he was quite shy about meeting other people and spent all his time off mooching about the house. How would you and DP feel about this?

How much maternity leave are you hoping to take Kerri? Yes yes to the poster who said to try and save for mat leave now. Wish I had saved more. I live v frugally, but I would love to have some more $$$ now to do fun summer things! Loving the baby updates - keep em coming!

kerri_dfw

Hi Canucksfan I'm not 100% sure on how we'd feel about someone else living in our house tbh I guess it would be strange not having the place to ourselves. I'm going to ask for the full 9 months, but I might go back after 6 so we can save extra towards our deposit we desperately need to have a house before the baby is school age. I'm paying off the debt as quickly as possible at the moment so we can start saving the extra for mat leave, the 0% cards have reduced the interest I have to pay dramatically so that's an extra £100+ that can go towards the debt

Confession time, I went to a hen weekend in Devon over the weekend and spent £150 on 4 new maxi dresses that will do me until babe arrives. I spent £50 on fuel and another £40 on snacks, food and fruit juices. Had a lovely weekend though and don't regret the spends. It was money I'd put to one side for overpaying the VC but I think it was worth it as I looked fab and really enjoyed myself.

We have the OH's graduation to go to tomorrow so will be no doubt going out for dinner afterwards and then Friday we have to be in Gosport for his grandfathers funeral. We're going to spend the weekend at my parents so we have fuel to pay for.

OH isn't very good at managing his money and has about £50 left, the brakes failed on his bike yesterday so he had to use money from our joint account. Luckily we had money in there, but it just highlights how my budgeting works a lot better than his does. We had an extra £75 in there from an overestimation on agency fees so he used £40 of that. TBH though he should have used the £50 he has left in his pocket and not used the joint money, but that's for beer apparently...

OH has come around to my way of thinking though, I've told him from August pay packet he needs to put in £1500 each month as we'll start saving for a deposit on a house. He's agreed that we do need savings and has finally given in to my way of thinking I've told him we'll have an emergency pot of £1k that we can dip into if we need to do things like fix the car or his bike and anything over that £1k will go into ISAs that we can't touch. He's also going to write to his creditor with a F&F when we move and see what they come back to him with. We will be debt free by christmas!

No real baby update at the moment, I've got the downs syndrome test on Thursday (can't remember if I need a full bladder or not) and our private scan is booked for the 27th, so excited.

kerri_dfw

The MIL has just arrived, the house is a complete and utter mess, I haven't stripped and made the spare bed...to top it all off I was fast asleep + naked! and the OH failed to tell me she was arriving today! For some reason I thought she was coming tomorrow morning...although the ceremony is at 10am so that didn't really make sense. ARGH men!!!