Diary of a Secret Saver

Harri-bear

Okay, so this not having the heating on malarkey isn't working too well. Hubby confessed on Monday to having put the heating on so that he could have "hot towels after his shower". Needless to say, I was not impressed. I have pointed out that I can tell he has had the heating on because we have hot water. He tried to baffle me with science claiming the boiler had some magical way of heating the water without any gas (I think not!) and is still refusing to admit that he is wrong.

Now, Hubby often says that he 'may not always be right but is never wrong' and there's no point disputing this, as he is the most stubborn, pig headed person I know (love him dearly though ). I will just have to focus on giving disapproving looks and tutting loudly and see if this makes a difference.

I, on the other hand have been extremely saintly and virtuous :Aand have not had the heating on at all (we work very different hours so we are not always in at the same time). I am currently sat under a throw with two hot water bottles - God, I so hate being cold.

Done well with leftovers this week. Sunday lunch has made us sandwiches all week, and the girls have had a roast dinner tonight. Fantastic.

Harri-bear

Hubby has just come in from work with his newly altered wedding trousers. They are definitely no longer 'flappy' and in fact are rather 'tapered'. He now thinks they are fine and I'm not going to tell him any different .

Harri-bear

So, back from the wedding and it was glorious! The bride was stunning, the church was pretty and the weather was fantastic. Most of all my babies made wonderful bridesmaids - they behaved perfectly (always a worry) and looked beautiful.

This was no mean feat as through the course of the week they have had various bumps and scrapes, resulting in assorted bashed knees and scratched faces.

Needless to say we didn't get through the whole day without DD2 falling over a step and splitting her lip open and she also now has several green plasters on her knees from where she fell over yesterday.

I now have 8 days left till payday. I no longer have the £800 I saved last payday as have had to pay £170 for car repairs, £260 gas and £132 for electric. I also did not take into account extra petrol money to get to the wedding, a birthday present for the MIL and other bits and pieces.

This, again, has shown me that I need to sort out an emergency fund, so will get this underway when I get paid on the 15th. I also need to budget properly, as I can get to the bare bones on paper but can't carry it though to real life!

On a plus note, only bought 3 drinks at he wedding and MIL (bless her) bought us all breakfast at the hotel.

Harri-bear

Oh, and not had the heating on for 3 days! :T

Harri-bear

Forgot to say that I had a bit of a meltdown with hubby on Saturday morning.

It all started Friday when I got home form a long day at work, to find that nothing had been packed, the house I had tidied the night before was a mess again and there was a wet towel on the bathroom floor. Anyway, I huffed and puffed a bit, did the packing, re-tidied up and more of less got everything done so we could leave (albeit 3 hours later than planned). Hubby had been off that day but had not managed to get MIL a birthday present, had trashed the house and, as far as I could see, had done b***er all. Anyway, I bit my tongue and got on with it.

Unfortunately, it all came to a head on Saturday morning. MIL had shown hubby all the breakfast stuff (bacon, sausage etc.) and I took the girls for a bath. Anyway, when I came down and saw him still sitting on his bottom, I couldn't help myself and said, 'So, where's my breakfast?', to which he replied, 'I didn't know you wanted any. You didn't ask.' Well, that was it! It all came pouring out that he doesn't do enough to help, that I can't manage everything by myself, and that I feel I'm not doing anything well because I simply have too much to do. Hubby then said that I only have to ask, which made me even more mad (I'm usually very laid back). Why should I need to ask him to do things which are glaringly obvious!

The upshot is, hubby has now realised he needs to help more and I need to ask him to do more. He was a sweetie last night and tidied up without asking and he also boiled the kettle for the pots without moaning about not having the heating on. Don't know if it will last but will enjoy it while it does.

Harri-bear

Good day at work and finished reasonably early so home in time to spend some quality time in the garden with the girls.

Girls planted some seeds using compost from the compost bin and I finished painting the decking. All was right with the world until I heard Hubby demanding DD2 come into the kitchen where he confronted her with a pair of crocs which she had filled with shampoo. Conversation went like this :

Hubby : 'Did you put shampoo in your crocs.'

DD2 : 'No.'

Hubby : 'Well how did it get there?'

DD2 (shaking head) : 'I can't remember'

Hubby : 'Where did you get the shampoo from?'

DD2 : 'I can't remember that either.'

Needless to say, DD2's time in the garden was cut short and a time on the naughty step ensued!:D

Not done much (okay,anything at all!) money saving today. In fact have been rather naughty. With staying in a hotel at the weekend, and with said hotels having full length mirrors (a plague upon them!) I decided today I would start the 5:2 diet, with today being a fast day. By lunchtime I was so hungry I could have eaten my own arm and ended up buying a sandwich, crisps and a bar of chocolate.

Will try again tomorrow.

debtfreewannabe321

Hi Harri-Bear :wave:

Loving the diary! I tried the 5:2 diet and it lasted 3 weeks :rotfl:I did lose weight though so it's def worth doing if you're not a choc-o-holic like me

Your DD2 sounds like my little[STRIKE] pests[/STRIKE] darlings they have to be watched at all times otherwise disaster seems to be where ever they are :rotfl:

*subscribing*

Harri-bear

Greetings DFW 321.

Like you I have previously tried the 5:2 diet, and lost about 10 lbs. Then I seemed to get stuck and then I completely forgot about the '2' part of the diet! I lost about 2 1/2 stone with weightwatchers about 2 years ago, but I am really rubbish at maintaining. Can't seem to get motivated at the moment.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with 'challenging' children. Love them to bits but really look forward to 7pm when I can tuck them up for the night. Having said this, there are some mysterious thuds and thumps coming from upstairs, but I am choosing to ignore them in the hope that they will go away.:D

Long day at work today, but everything done ready for tomorrow. Washing in, heating off and all is right with the world Now where are those biscuits.....

catriona79

Hi Harribear
Just had a read of your diary - you sound like you really give your all to your family.
Just a thought, though. Would it be possible to bring your husband on board with this project? I can't help but feel that it's the responsibility of you both to clear you debt. I think it may be a whole lot harder to keep motivated over a long time when debt busting is about a million tiny savings, and your husband may be inadvertently undoing your good work.

Have you tried to give him a chance to be your equal in this quest? He might give you strength. I think you may need it over the longer term.

It seems to me that you are very much of a doer and amazingly self motivated, but that you have assumed 100% responsibility for the debt busting, with however only having 50% control of it.
How could you get your husband to buy into this? Could you motivate him with something? If being debt free is not motivation enough, there could be a reward at the end?
It seems to me that you are the one who is worried about the debt and he is not, maybe you need to show him how much it means to you?

Sending you all the good vibes

Harri-bear

Hi Catriona, I've been thinking a lot about what you wrote today and about whether there's a better way of doing things. I hope I don't give the impression of being a superwoman because believe me I'm far from it!

In terms of getting hubby on board I don't think this is going to happen. Sure, he'll agree it's a good thing to pay off the debts quicker but I do find that when it comes to finances he's all talk and no substance.

Also, our finances are quite complicated. I am the main breadwinner and basically earn about double what he does. We've found that the best way for us to keep on track is for him to pay the mortgage, loan 1, tv licence, his petrol and credit card from out of his wages. He also gives me £65 a week which I use towards childcare. This leaves him with about £40 -£50 a week. I pay everything else - food, childcare, gas, electric, water, loan 2, ctf, phone etc.

Ideally, I would like to have a joint account, but hubby knows he is rubbish with money and I know he is too - so really it is better to keep any money left separate and where it can't be touched. I sometimes feel guilty that he does not have a lot from our joint income and would like to rectify this once the debts are paid. It really has been childcare which has crippled us over the years, and it's only through having a tight rein on both our incomes that we have managed not to incur and further debt. Things should get easier once DD2 starts reception in September.

The thing is, this is a system we have both gotten used to and it does seem to work for us. Now we both have to focus on seeing the money saved from childcare as money we can put towards debt rather than extra money we can spend.

So, I suppose it does seem that I'm taking a lot of the responsibility for paying the debt but then, I have control of the majority of the money and what we spend it on. Not really sure who gets the best deal out of this.