New MFW......dipping my toe in the water.......

brummiebabe

Thanks for that Stacey.....I know you're right....at the end of the day it really doesn't matter what other people can overpay, as long as we can overpay as much as we can!

Have had a quote for building work & fitting new bathroom & kitchen (but not for supplying them) - really is fuddling my brain now:rotfl:

brummiebabe

Busy day tackling the ironing mountain:eek: Was a NSD though as I haven't been out:rotfl:

Tomorrow I have 2 different companies coming to look at the kitchen, a hospital appointment for physio & a meal out with work (paid for;)) so - apart from any parking fees, it should be a low spend day:T

Am looking forward to payday so that I can put my new plan into action.......just the next 2 weeks to get through...which are going to be tight!

brummiebabe

Had to share ......and I know you'll all appreciate why.....DH has just been given a pay rise!!!! Not a huge amount but approximately £80 per month!! I get a 1% rise from April too which, along with my tax code changing, will give us a little extra to play with:j:j:j:j

brummiebabe

Had a lovely night out with work last night & it didn't cost me a penny!!:T

So yesterday's spends were:

£2.60 parking at hospital
£3.49 groceries
£3.60 (I think) for 6 stamps:eek:
£60 petrol (budgeted for & will last me until payday)

Today includes a trip to the dentist for me (have budgeted for this;)) and then I could do with getting the children out of the house - but it's wet here.....what can you do that's free in the wet weather????? Having said that, they have homework to do in time for going back to school next week.....so I need to get them doing that really,

Have a great day everyone!
Hopefully today will be a low spending day......our budget is a little tight...

brummiebabe

OK - so my plans for next month may have to change slightly.....DH's car tax is due at the end of April - this is £215 & his insurance is due in May:eek:. Last year his policy was £389 - am hoping it'll be less this year....

We will have the money for the road tax and £85 towards the insurance.....hmm....not sure where the rest of the money will come from. Maybe I need to start looking at renewal quotes from now and see what we need to budget for. I'd rather not pay it monthly, but we might have to for the next year:mad:

On a more positive note, I've been looking at what we can do on holiday in the summer. Finally got round to looking at Tesco rewards......how did I never realise how good they were???? Looks like we'll have enough, hopefully, to pay for us to go to a theme park whilst we're away...and it'll cost us nothing!!:T Also, with my Advantage Gold Account with Natwest, I get 2 family passes to a National trust property per year - and so have found one that looks good, near where we're staying....another free day out!!:money:

Am going to add my hubby as an additional cardholder on my Tesco clubcard credit card.....and we're going to start using that for our spending, immediately paying it off from our bank account, and then we'll earn clubcard points from that too!

Anyone got any other suggestions?

brummiebabe

Have had a relatively low spending weekend.....had to pay my DD's dance fees & order some bits for her show....but it was only £26. I didn't bother ordering her a show T-Shirt as she didn't really wear the last one! This saved me a further £8. Made me feel better not to just go along with what everyone else is doing but to stick with what's right for us!! I also didn't have any professional photos taken of DD this time.....this cost me a fortune last time - although they were lovely!

Managed to go out for a run yesterday so am hoping to get back into done kind of exercise routine (only things that are free or cheap of course!!:rotfl:)

Today should be another NSD....have to take DS to football & always take a flask;) to avoid any temptation to buy coffee!! Then it's back home for a cooked dinner & to try to motivate myself to do some housework! Motivation for this has been sadly lacking of late.

Just over a week until payday & things are ok. Only problem is that DH's car expenses (tax & insurance) - will have to have a think about how to fund the insurance, once the bill comes in:eek:

Miss_Money_Magnet

Hi BB, I too am going to try a similar plan of paying for stuff with tesco club card credit card to build up points. I'll follow your progess! Im a bit dubious cos had been trying not to use cc, but if I pay off as I go or swap spends to another account hopefully itll be ok. I think I read on Tillys thread that she also pays council tax on cc but Im sure our council charges you for that...but I might ring and ask. Good luck!

brummiebabe

Know what you mean Miss Money Magnet - I think the only way I could do it is if I paid the exact amount spent straight back through Internet banking.....otherwise the card might start to build up:eek:

Today was a NSD:j which is a good job as we have little money left:rotfl:. DS1 has been offered a school trip - £120!! His school does so many trips its unbelievable!! He would like to go, but not sure how we'll manage it.....:(

Have been for a run tonight.....struggled, but did it!

Back to work tomorrow which (secretly) I'm quite looking forward to. It'll be nice to get into a routine again.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Miss_Money_Magnet wrote: »

Hi BB, I too am going to try a similar plan of paying for stuff with tesco club card credit card to build up points. I'll follow your progess! Im a bit dubious cos had been trying not to use cc, but if I pay off as I go or swap spends to another account hopefully itll be ok. I think I read on Tillys thread that she also pays council tax on cc but Im sure our council charges you for that...but I might ring and ask. Good luck!

Morning Miss MM, I do pay the council tax monthly and there is no charge but do check as others definitely do levy charges. I have a calendar appointment in my work schedule and when it pings in a reminder I pay up

I also switch any money spent on a CC to a CC savings pot. That way it still offsets but I know I won't be hit with a bill without the money to pay it. It may seem a bit complicated but it has made a huge difference to us.

Best wishes Tilly

brummiebabe

I've not been around as much due to going back to work, kids' activities restarting & general busyness of life!!

Spending remains low - bought my mom some flowers for her birthday (along with giving her some cash) which were £6 and bought the kids some sweets after school for around £2.50. Have also popped to Aldi & bought fruit & milk (£7.50.)

Nothing to pay to the mortgage pot as yet.....pay day is next week, so hopefully we can pay a little bit then. We're still waiting to have our extra borrowing finalised & are still getting quotes/trying to sort out exactly what we we're going to get done.....I think it's going to be tight to do it for £19000:eek:

Hope you're all doing better than me! :rotfl: