Chapter 2 - Pulverising the Post Office - one debt at a time

Housework*Fairy

Grocery/Petrol Fund: Was £500 – is £163.53

Dipped into the grocery shop by nipping to Morrisons before I went to work to get something in for the tea and spent £7.30. Did also get the local newspaper at 50p but as I'm celebrating I'll allow the grocery budget to treat me rather than the everyday money budget. I did also have to buy myself lunch so spent £1 on a microwave burger and £1 on a packet of 3 chocolate bars.

Cash-in-hand situation:
Money in purse £1.00
:T:TWEMBLEY account £186.46:T:T
Money in change box (A) £4.38
Money in bank: £53.01
Grand total: £244.85
Days left til payday: 8

Reduction since yesterday £11.50

Where did the money go?
£10.00 cash DH (GRRR) he wanted some tins of lager to watch the game last night but didn't have enough cash. As I didn't want to ruin the night by whinging that he'd had some cash 2 days ago I just bit my lip and let it ride.
£1.50- DS2 went to breakfast club this morning

Signed the loan paperwork and sent it off. Had an e-mail about the credit card saying it should be with us in 5-7 days so hopefully debtbusting should be a go-go soon.

Remembered today that work need to reimburse me for the blue trousers we have to wear as part of our uniform, so I'll take in my receipts tomorrow which total £37 so I'll hopefully get that at the end of January. That's a :TWembleh:T ticket for the ankle-biter.

DH plucked up the courage / cheek to ask his boss if there was any chance of a pay-rise. Hos boss said "yeah definitely, we'll discuss it later but it wont go live until April yeah?" just like that! So we don't know how much it will be, but anything will be welcomed.

Had a squeaky bottom moment this morning when the radiators wouldn't work. They were clap cold even though the boiler was on, and the thermostat was lit up. DH didn't have time to look at them this morning but said that maybe they just needed bleeding and he'd do it this evening. However after a day of worry, when I got in from work, the boiler reset light was on, and when I turned it on, not expecting the radiators to warm up, they came on (phew). I AM NOT HAVING SOMETHING AS BORING AS RADIATORS RUINING MY :TWEMBLEY :TPARTY!

Had a quick read of the meter and according to my spreadsheet am averaging 2.7 gas units per day and 15.5 units of electricity. Total estimate so far is around £95 in fuel in 19 days (less VAT and duel fuel/direct debit discount)

pennywisepoundstupid

Morning, glad it wasn't anything serious with the radiators.

You sound really upbeat and positive at the minute and in control of your finances, well done.

StressedSteph

Morning Housework Fairy.

Glad you have decided to treat yourselves to the Wembley tickets. We all need a little pick me up during our penny pinching times.
It certainly seems to have you in good spirits :T.

thank heavens the radiators turned out ok. Thats what usually happens to me. Something always breakdown to ruin my plans.

Have a good day xx

Housework*Fairy

Grocery/Petrol Fund: Was £500 – is £152.90

£10.63 spent on groceries today which initially I thought sounded a lot (9 items) but I did get cereal, bread, milk and pop as well as 2 days worth of evening meals.

Cash-in-hand situation:
Money in purse £1.00
WEMBLEY account £191.46
Money in change box (A) £4.38
Money in bank: £48.01
Grand total: £239.85
Days left til payday: 7

Reduction since yesterday £5

Where did the money go?
All training was called off tonight. DS2 would normally go to football (£3) but if football is cancelled and athletics is on, he will go to athletics (£2) saving me a quid, add that to DS1 not going to athletics (£2), and DH possibly (£2) would have been going too, that's £5 towards Wembley.

Tonight I'll have to look at my spreadsheet and work out how much I have to put towards the bills, so no doubt my bank money will be a big fat debit balance in tomorrow's update.

It's the battle of the birds in the league cup final, the Swans Vs the Bantams. Prices haven't been officially released yet but we'll be either going for the £56 or £72 tickets dependent on availability and whether I can pass DS1 off as an under 16 or not* (£28 and £36 for Under 16's tickets). I've spoken to the supporters travel club who haven't confirmed a price but estimate it will be no more than £30 for adults and a bit less for kids so my estimate of the day costing £320 are almost spot on.

*He is 16 and his birthday was September but my argument is he's still in compulsory education and was under 16 at the start of the season. I would consider anyone over 16 in optional further education to be a student. I've e-mailed the club for an answer. He managed to get into the quarters and the away leg of the semi's on an under 16 ticket

Housework*Fairy

Grocery/Petrol Fund: Was £500 – is £146.23

£6.67 spent today on treat-food in Home Bargains. The treat box was almost bare.

Cash-in-hand situation:
Money in purse £1.00
WEMBLEY account £194.46
Money in change box (A) £4.38
Money in spends account: £-28.94
Grand total: £170.90
Days left til payday: 6

Reduction since yesterday £76.92

Where did the money go?
£17.50 - DH dental check-up yesterday. Blimey they didn't waste much time in collecting the payment!
£56.42 - To cover bills short-fall (boo hoo)
£3.00 - PAD as DS1 doesn't have footy practice tonight or a game on Sunday.

A letter came addressed to DH from MBNA and was very thin, so I thought "ey up, here we go, must be a rejection letter" but nope, it was the PIN for the credit card (which hasn't arrived yet).

Both kids and professional footy games called off this weekend so another boring sport-less weekend this week.

Need to go shopping tomorrow for a few bits. Am gunna set myself a challenge to see if I can limit my grocery/petrol spend to £400 in total and therefore that leaves me £46.93 for food and petrol. Both cars will need a bit of petrol in them (probably £25 in total) so it's probably not do-able, £21.93 for groceries - I can spend that on stuff for packed lunches alone! But I'll give it a try. Then on payday instead of putting £500 away for petrol/groceries, I can put £400 away, and put £100 towards road tax (which is £118). In fact, if I can do nearly 6 weeks on £400(ish), and next month is only 4 weeks, I'm sure I can get away with a smaller budget :-D

Housework*Fairy

Grocery/Petrol Fund: Was £500 – is £135.79

£12.14 spent in Asda but £1.70 of that was ice-cream for DS1 and I made him pay me back for it (meanie) and I also used the 86p price guarantee voucher I got last week so it's £10.70 off the groceries budget. I bought bits for DS1's lunch, and a few other bits to make up evening meals from what we have already got in. I 'may' have to buy some other few bits through the week but we'll see. I'm quietly confident that I can still have £100 unspent on pay-day.

Cash-in-hand situation:
Money in purse £1.00
WEMBLEY account £198.46
Money in change box (A) £9.50
Money in spends account: £-46.62
Grand total: £162.34
Days left til payday: 5

Reduction since yesterday £8.56

Where did the money go?
£3.18 - cigs
£1.99 - ITunes
£4.00 - PAD (no athletics this morning)

Had another boring day in the house not doing anything (apart from building a snowman with DS1 which DS2 promptly knocked over later on). Walked up to Asda with my shopping trolley which killed an hour. DH has had a face like a slapped backside because he's bored. I don't know if he deliberately tries to make me feel like it is all my fault or whether that's just how I react.

It's just been a very, very long month. Looking back at my diary he got paid early from work on Xmas Eve (Monday 24th) and although I managed not to touch the money straightaway we still broke into it on Friday 28th, so not only have we had to get through five full weekends, we've also got to get through Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week too. I wish he could see the bigger picture, we're going to have a lovely historic family day out at Wembley in four weeks time, surely he could cheer up and look forward to it.

Talking of Wembley good news is that students DO count as concessions so tickets will be £72 for DH and I, and half price for the kids so £216 in total .

Eager_Elephant

Housework*Fairy wrote: »

DH has had a face like a slapped backside because he's bored. I don't know if he deliberately tries to make me feel like it is all my fault or whether that's just how I react.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Oh Housework Fairy it must have been the day for it.

My DH also had one of them faces yesterday - but when I spoke to him about it he realise the problem was of his own making anyway - that soon snapped him out of it :rotfl:

That sounds really cruel but it was not really - my DH has mental health problems plus a neurological problem (which causes memory problems) and unfortunately is very set in his ways so he had decided on Friday (without consulting with her in charge - Moi:rotfl:) that he would do all the DIY on the house we are moving to in 2 weeks on Saturday.

I already knew (and had told him) that we had to go and get a carpet for one of the bedrooms, take relative to measure his new flat and go and buy him curtains etc. but DH had forgotten all that so hence the face!!!

He got over it and we had quite a nice day out - took 6 hours to do it all - my legs were killing by the end of it - I am not used to this shopping :A

Hope DH will be better today (I know mine will be as he is doing his DIY today :T)

StressedSteph

Morning Housework Fairy

Great news on the price of the tickets, am I right thinking you very nearly have all the money saved for that now?.

I swear men have a form of PMT sometimes. My hubby is prone to the odd unexplained mood swing. After 18 years together I have learnt to just ignore it. If I ask whats the matter I just put him in a worse mood.:mad:
Glad he snapped out of it.

Enjoy your Sunday xx

Housework*Fairy

Cash-in-hand situation:
Money in purse £1.00
WEMBLEY account £198.46
Money in change box (A) £6.20
Money in spends account: £-46.62
Grand total: £159.04
Days left til payday: 4

Reduction since yesterday £3.30

Where did the money go?
£3.30 - Cigs

Yet another boring day. I offered DH the chance to go to the pub to watch the footy but he decided he'd prefer to sit and watch the telly at home by tutting, sighing, huffing and rolling his eyes at every available opportunity....maybe it's just my imagination as each time I asked him what was wrong he replied 'nothing'.

Oh well at least we are on the home straight now. Only three full days to get through until payday. He will be getting petrol tomorrow and I reckon I will need to to.

I might have mentioned I'm going to get rid of my car in September when my policy is up for renewal. However this co-incides with DS1's 17th birthday so I decided to check and see how much it would cost to have him insured on the car as a newly qualified driver and if it was 'affordable' I might consider keeping it on......Only 5 companies would quote on the comparison, quote 1 was by far the cheapest at £8700! 2nd one was £18000. This car is worth £500 and this is with me staying as main driver with 12 years no claims. Outrageous! Safe to say, I reckon I'll still be getting rid of the car in September as planned.

welshdreamer71

Blo0dy hell ! How do these kids driving round in these sports cars afford their insurance ! That is crazy money .

So got our jacks at wembley eh lol,.I got a sulking Liverpool supporter here
Been a cracking weekend for lower league football hasnt it...

Glad to see your still smiling x