Getting back on track for 2013 and beyond

kerri_dfw

brizzledfw wrote: »

Still so busy I see Kerri..great you and OH are on a roll and working as a team. maybe it's the new place!!

I think you might be right

Didn't manage as much today, Chloe now has the runs so I think the both have a bug. She's also been sick, however Leo is now perky and back to normal. Have confined them to the dining room with only water and will keep them in there for 24hrs but checking on them every few hours.

Took OH for surprise pizza dinner date this evening, was the first time in ages that going out for dinner felt like a date rather than just going for some food because we're lazy. We had a lovely walk in Clifton beforehand and really enjoyed ourselves. However it set us £50 back, but I'll take it out of our grocery budget. Was all short lived when we came back to cat spew in the kitchen & bedroom, followed by Chloe not being able to wait for OH to bring the box back down from cleaning it and going in the floor where the box should be poor little thing. I can hear them crying to be let out the dining room, but if theyre both ill I can't go near them in case I catch it.

I'll try to catch up on the Kitchen and batch cooking tomorrow, work took over today but at least it pays the bills

kerri_dfw

Morning! Both cats are confined to the dining room much to their disgust, Chloe still has a poorly tummy and Leo's bottom looks rather sore. They're on 24hr fast at the moment with only water, have checked them for signs of dehydration but they are fine. Am making sure to be extra vigilant with handwashing when I go in to make a fuss of them. Their good mince food is due to arrive today, I know it doesn't make them poorly, so they can have that this evening. I think Leo's digestion really needs a break from the runs (sorry TMI) as he really did look quite sore poor thing.

Anyway, have realised that if I get round to finishing the batch cooking this week then the last 2 weeks of the month we can eat out of the freezer as we'll have enough meals (well we should have anyway, will go and double check in a minute).
I have £60 due in from expenses, plus I have £66 in my Ll0yds account and £75 in my HS8C after the £200 for hypnobirthing has gone out. We've got £180 left in the joint account but we have £196 in the emergency fund, something I'm very proud to have as that's the car tax paid for.

Now dear friends I would like some advice...we're going to the baby show on the 27th October in London to buy our pushchair (if it's a good offer), car seat and reusable nappies. I know the nappies will be a really good offer as I've done my research and will probably be able to get the ones I want for around £200 for the whole full time set, a saving of over £80. The pushchair and car seat I shall check prices before we go and we shall buy if they are better than the online deals.
Now the big question I want to ask you is this...we're looking at around £600 for the pushchair, £200-300 for the car seat and £200 for the nappies. So that's about £550 saved each between us. However, if I want to pay off my VC with this pay cheque I have £950ish left to pay and can do that in one foul swoop. We get paid again on the 31st October, 4 days after the baby show. What do you all think about me paying off the VC with my wages this month, paying for my share of the baby items on the VC and then paying it straight off on the 31st?
Alternatively, we could use the £196 in the emergency fund, plus we should have at least £100 leftover from this month. If we do the 2w food rota we can cut our food budget in half giving us another £150, so that gives 446 which is just under half what we need. I then put £327 away from this next pay cheque to cover my share and OH does the same and whatever is left I pay towards the VC and clear it with Octobers pay packet. This way I am not spending on the VC, however we do lose all our emergency funds for 4 days.

I think I need to speak to the OH about this, but I did want to find out what you all thought.

Anyway, flylady tasks for today including the ones I missed yesterday:
Dailies
[STRIKE]Make bed[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Tablets[/STRIKE]
Clear draining board
Hang out, bring in, fold washing
[STRIKE]Open blinds & windows to air bedroom[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Have breakfast[/STRIKE]
S&S kitchen
S&S bathroom
Have lunch
Water plants
Daily inversion

15 Minutes..
Wipe out the fridge, note what needs using up or restocking
30 minutes to spare..
Sweep and mop the floor
Wash out the washing machine drawer
Got an hour...
Wipe the surfaces, removing things which don't belong here as you go
Are the spiders coming in from the cold, go on a cobweb hunt

Extra challenge:
Choose your messiest drawer and give it a good tidy, wipe out if you have the time

Tuesday - Living Room, Hall and downstairs loos
15 Minutes..
15 minutes tidying, putting away or sorting a pile in the corner
30 minutes to spare..
Hoover the floor
Got an hour...
Sort out a cupboard in one of these areas
Work on that paperwork mountain with 15 minutes shredding, filing, recyling etc

Extra challenge:
Change pet bedding, they will be spending even more time in them now the weather is turning

Extras
Transfer the rest of the money for hypnobirthing
Make bean burgers
Make courgette casserole in SC
Timesheets
Sort box in DR
Make cake to take tonight

debtfreewannabe321

I would personally lose the emergency funds for four days I've done similar with my emergency funds many times. I only take from it what I know I'm getting back in and only for things that I would be buying anyway but like you the good offers always seem to come a few days before funds are in!

I hope the cats are better soon, Duke has had a poorly tummy too and been off his food both ends on him as well poor pets! Xx

kerri_dfw

Good morning told OH last night that he needs to put £400 aside so we can buy the baby's things at the baby show. His reaction was "I'm going to be skint again!" I don't think he realises that he'll have £500 put into savings then (he already has £100 put into savings for the baby things). I'll let him keep it in his bank account until the baby show as I think that'll help him realise that having savings does not make him skint.

Money news!!! Expenses were paid in today, so I've paid 30p to BC from Ll0yds a/c and have paid £37.96 to VC from HS8C. This takes me to under £900 left to pay of VC It also means I'm just £40.36 away from making my target this month of getting under £2.5k. I was very tempted to throw caution to the wind and just get on and pay the extra, however I want to make sure I have enough money for petrol and things before I go doing that.

So after speaking to OH last night, I have decided to put my £500 aside for the baby when I get paid and then anything else will go towards the VC. I might not make it to 100% paid off on that one, but at least I won't be buying things for the baby on credit. I have a feeling my 5 months of 0% is up the beginning of November on the BC however, so I'll have to pay off as much as I can with Octobers pay to make sure I don't incur extortionate interest on that one. I am hoping to setup my little fleabay business again in the next couple of days (when I've sorted the boxes, todays task!) as the extra cash from that will go towards killing this debt and selling the items will free up space in the DR making the OH rather happy. Looking at the sums, if I'm sensible with my money (we know I fail at this every month though), I should be able to almost clear VC and save £500 with Septembers wages and then Octobers can pay off BC and some of Cap1, with Novembers killing Cap1. I have a plan!!! and as OH says I do love a plan.

Update on the cats, Leo is definitely much better and I think he's over the worst of it now. Chloe has just thrown up all her breakfast so she's in isolation. Leo doesn't like that she's in isolation very much and is trying to break into the DR. Give me strength!

Hope Duke feels better soon DFW x

Dailies
[STRIKE]Make bed[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Tablets[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Clear draining board[/STRIKE]
Hang out, bring in, fold washing
[STRIKE]Open blinds & windows to air bedroom[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Have breakfast[/STRIKE]
S&S kitchen
S&S bathroom
Have lunch
[STRIKE]Water plants[/STRIKE]
Daily inversion

15 Minutes..
Wipe out the fridge
30 minutes to spare..
Sweep and mop the floor
Got an hour...
Are the spiders coming in from the cold, go on a cobweb hunt

Extra challenge:
Done

Tuesday - Living Room, Hall and downstairs loos
15 Minutes..
15 minutes tidying, putting away or sorting a pile in the corner
30 minutes to spare..
Hoover the floor
Got an hour...
Sort out a cupboard in one of these areas
Work on that paperwork mountain with 15 minutes shredding, filing, recyling etc

Extra challenge:
Change pet bedding, they will be spending even more time in them now the weather is turning


Wednesday - In memory of our dear friend Toots
15 minutes ......
make contact with somebody you have been meaning to email/text/phone or visit
30 minutes to spare........
write your Toots list if you don't have one or if you do complete one item from it
Got an hour .........
Then it's me time, life is too short, when our final day comes we will all still have a 'to do list' so do something you enjoy for an hour

Extras
Transfer the rest of the money for hypnobirthing
Make bean burgers
Make courgette casserole in SC
Timesheets
Sort box in DR
Expenses
Put washing in TD
[STRIKE]Pay VC if expenses in[/STRIKE]
List 5 things on fleabay

kerri_dfw

OH has just dropped the bombshell on me that he's getting £50k inheritance soon, still processing this, it's a life changing amount. We're still going to save up for 3yrs before buying a house I think. Going to have to work out best strategy though, is it better to rent & save, or buy but have additional interest on mortgage. Definitely need to improve his credit rating for a year first. First thing he's doing is paying off his debts, buying the rest of the furniture for the house (love him) and taking me away for the weekend somewhere nice. He is definitely saving at least £30k towards our house deposit.

kerri_dfw

Flylady'ing seems to be going well for us at the moment, OH and I haven't argued (well other than Saturday night when he was 4 ciders in and being an idiot) since I started doing it, so I shall continue.

We celebrated the inheritance yesterday with roast from the local pub OH paid, so I bought icecream and goodies for watching a film later on. I've got about £90 to last me until the end of the month now although I really need to get my expenses and timesheets filed today, shall do that next.

Over sunday lunch we talked about what we should do with the money, we're now thinking of buying in Bristol in 3yrs time when we have a large deposit saved, then we shall continue to save whilst the little one grows up in Bristol and use this to overpay the mortgage. We'll then look to buy a second property in 10yrs time but this time in Bath and rent the Bristol one out. This means little one will be in the right catchment for a decent secondary education but that we don't have to have the expense of living there for a good 10yrs.

I also spoke to OH about little ones surname. He's told me that in 3yrs time he shall marry me but that he wants to see that we can make it work first and that we can save towards a house together. I believe him and tbh he doesn't really have any excuse as I'm as good a wife as he'll ever get. He says he knows how much it means to me. So little one will have his surname and when we get married we'll all have the same name. My sister is going to flip out at me when she finds out, but to be honest I don't think it's really any of her business.

I've just paid for the hypnobirthing and we've our first session tonight. She said to bring snacks, I have no idea what to bring oh well maybe a banana

Right, off to do something with my day.

Monday Mayhem - Living Room, Hall and Stairs
15 minutes...
Vacuum through the living room, hall and stairs
30 minutes to spare..
Dusting, even if around everything
Remove clutter making sure stairs especially are safe
Clean windows and all glass.. including the tv screen
Clear the mantel and only put back the items which are supposed to be there.. and that doesn't include letters, keys or other treasure!
Got an hour..
Wipe and water plants
Put all your hotspots in one pile and work your way through it..
Vacuum under furniture you can manage to move without hurting yourself
Extra Mission: Pick one or more of the following tasks –

• Have a bit of a tidy in the cupboard under the stairs.
• Wipe down any paintwork that needs it.
• Binbag dance.. Get a binbag.. fill it and bin it!!!
• Wash any cushions, throws or curtains that need it.. Do you need your winter curtains up yet?

Extras
[STRIKE]Pay hypnobirthing[/STRIKE]
Attend hypnobirthing
Expenses
Timesheets
Put up winter curtains
Find spare tablets

kerri_dfw

Well the cat food people sent the same batch number so I've just had to call them to say "helloooo that one makes the cats have the runs!" they're going to call me back around 10:30 - 11:30 when they've spoken to their manager grrr. Hoping they'll send me a new batch, an actual new batch this time though not a new bag of the same batch.
I'm going to go to pregnancy yoga this evening at £7.50 a session it's not overly MSE however I am hoping to make some friends along the way seeing how I don't have any here and am permanently stuck at home with only the cats to talk to until OH comes home. I must confess I did order myself a yoga mat, blocks and belt but having done yoga previously and I have an amazing yoga DVD for after baby is born it was £35 well spent.
OH has commented on the fact I haven't been doing as much flying recently I have been run off my feet with a project that went live over the weekend and is experiencing problems. I also was busy with work last week, how does he expect me to have time to do everything all at once? Anyway, must try harder. But first an episode of midwives I think
Monday Mayhem - Living Room, Hall and Stairs
15 minutes...
Done
30 minutes to spare..
Clean windows and all glass.. including the tv screen

Got an hour..
done
Extra Mission: Pick one or more of the following tasks –

• Wipe down any paintwork that needs it.
• Binbag dance.. Get a binbag.. fill it and bin it!!!

Tuesday Trauma - Kitchen and Dining Room
15 minutes...
Clear and wipe kitchen surfaces
30 minutes to spare..
Sweep and mop floors
Clean the fridge.. get rid of all those furry things growing in corners!
Got an hour to spare...
Dust any extra furniture in dining area, checking for cobwebs on way round
Wipe and replace all those small appliances.. kettle, microwave etc
Clean cupboard door fronts and fronts of appliances .. don't forget those kick boards..
Extra Mission : help yourself

• Wipe down any tiles and shine those taps.. a toothbrush is great for cleaning away the gunk!
• 31 fling boogie..

Wednesday wobbles- Bathroom and Study/Pc Area
15 minutes..
Clean floors in these rooms
30 minutes to spare...
Clean baths, toilets, don't forget the outside! and sinks.. shine the taps with a toothbrush
[STRIKE]Clear any clutter from desk [/STRIKE]
Dust PC and desk and wipe off those cup rings!!
[STRIKE]Wipe keyboard, house phone, sockets, switches and mouse etc[/STRIKE]
Got an hour..
[STRIKE]Clean those extractor fans[/STRIKE]
Wash your bathroom mats, nets, clean blind/curtains etc
Scrub down tiles in bathroom.. [STRIKE]defragment your pc while doing this.[/STRIKE]
Empty and clean out all the upstairs bins!
[STRIKE]Clean shower screen/curtain if you have one/if required[/STRIKE]
Collect all the dirty laundry
Extra mission: Take your pick!

• Wipe the skirtings, door and window frames in these rooms
• [STRIKE]Fling all those empty bottles and tubes[/STRIKE]
• replace any sponges, flannels, toiletries that need it
• [STRIKE]Make a long list of those bodies you need to purchase Christmas gifts for!!.. 98 days lol[/STRIKE] - mum (cl1nique gift set already bought), dad (whisky), sister, nephews x2, sisters OH (crate of beer), my OH, OH's mum (cl1nique gift set already bought), OH's step-dad

Extras
Expenses
Timesheets
Put up winter curtains
List 5 things on fleabay
[STRIKE]Declutter a box in the bedroom (maybe the one with wool in?)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Call cat food people[/STRIKE]
Get money out for yoga
Go to pregnancy yoga
Sort through box of tights, pants & socks throwing what you don't need
[STRIKE]Sort under stairs and put away store cupboard things in kitchen into tidy under stairs cupboard[/STRIKE][STRIKE]Order tension rods for net curtains in bedroom[/STRIKE]

debtfreewannabe321

Hold on a minute whilst I pick myself off the floor :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS :eek::eek::eek::eek::j:j:j:j:j:j
What fantastic news!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy for you both. I think it's a great idea to pay off debts and save up for a great house with a great deposit! :T

I thought my yoga was expensive but seems yours is similar :eek: I hope you enjoy it and also that you make some friends! I think we're both in the same boat all I do is flylady, then sit at home bored and lonely! I really hope I can manage to save some money in the next few years and move closer to family/friends

I'm slacking on flylady today though, have been sat here all morning I best get a move on!

kerri_dfw

Hehe yes a very large sum of money, so what does he decide...he wants to spend £12k paying off his student loan that doesn't actually cost him anything. Eugh honestly!!! I can't even convince him that's a stupid idea either, that would be solicitors fees So we'll have £30k remaining which will go towards moving fees, agency fees, solicitors fees etc. We'll have 3yrs ish to save up our deposit though

debtfreewannabe321

Oh no! Show him Martin's blog about keeping the student loan and putting it into savings! (it's around somewhere I saw it once a while back lol)

xx