Diary of a Secret Saver

Harri-bear

On a lighter note ...

The case of the missing slipper has been solved!

All week I have been missing one slipper. I have literally looked everywhere and have been wandering around the house looking like an idiot with only one slipper on (I figured it was better to have one foot warm, after all!). Anyway, said slipper was produced by DD2 tonight, to much praise and gratitude . At which point DD1 announced that she had in fact hidden it all along. Unfortunately, hopes of having a pair have been quickly dashed as the other slipper has now disappeared and no one is admitting to taking it. So basically I am back to one slipper, but with at least the other foot getting a chance to be toasty for a while!

Confession time ...

I had the heating on for 40 minutes this morning JUST so I could get a pair of DD1's leggings dry in time for school. Slapped wrist for me, methinks.

Also, couldn't work out why I couldn't fit much washing on the airer, but have since realised that I have put it up upside down, so there are loads of bars at the bottom and none at the top .

debtfreewannabe321

:rotfl: to the airer...I did exactly the same thing! I've never seen such a difficult contraption to put up before :eek: I've since left it folded and gotten two old fashioned ones that just fold out from freecycle :rotfl:

I'm also awaiting September when my youngest starts reception then I can set about earning money (no point at the mo what with child care costs) and pay off this debt quicker :T

Funny you should say about the slipper....my dd and ds2 have both been wandering around our house this evening with one slipper on each! they have both lost one slipper to their pair and we searched high and lo and couldn't find them :rotfl: perhaps they've all gone walkabouts together !!

Harri-bear

Ha ha ha!:rotfl: There must definitely be an island somewhere full of lost slippers. Probably next to the one that's full of odd socks that come out of the washer. How come two go in and yet only one ever comes out? Ahh, the mysteries of the universe ....

Have left the airer upside down. Couldn't face wrestling with it tonight.

Harri-bear

I'm feeling very restless today - like waiting for something to happen but not knowing what. I think it might be because of the weather, which is truly abysmal here, but it could just be that it's five days till payday and I haven't done as well as I would have liked this month. In fact, I haven't done very well at all.

Taking stock

On last payday I put aside £800 for savings which was not to be touched. However, this has turned out to be a very expensive month.

Replacement windscreen for car £75 (excess)
Hubby's car £170
Gas Bill £262.00
Electric Bill £132.00
New suit for Hubby for wedding £20.00 (ebay)
Shoes and trousers for wedding for me £45.00
Extra petrol for wedding £40.00

Total £744.00

So, I have out of this £800, only £50 left and will now be removing the £800 from my sig.

Trying to be positive, at least I had the money to cover these and did not end up back in my overdraft.


I will now have a bit of a think about what I hope to achieve next month and will update later.

debtfreewannabe321

It's !!!! when that happens (has happened MANY times to me) but at the end of the day I always think i'm not further into debt and you still have £50 out of it. These expenses can't be helped some months as long as you are aware of all the spends (as you are) and can see where it's all gone and not wasted then I wouldn't be too hard on yourself

Harri-bear

Oops forgot to remove the smiley face, when I removed the £800 from my sig! Will do so shortly....

Children fed. Poached egg, spaghetti hoops and muffins (the bread ones not the chocolate ones!).

I don't know why I keep attempting to make poached eggs, as by the time they come out of the pan there's not much left of them. At least they were still runny this time, as usually they're rock hard and the children gaze at me forlornly wondering where there 'dippy' eggs have gone.

Better job on tea tonight than last night, where DD2 had an extra tea as I had forgotten she had already been fed at nursery - she didn't bother to tell me, just scoffed her second tea as if it was perfectly normal.

Spent £23.50 in S****bury's today on leggings and socks for the girls. DD2 lives in leggings as we have trouble getting trousers to fit her waist (probably down to having too many extra meals - see above!). She has put her knees through all the one's she has got and although I have tried mending them they really are only fit for the bin.

Anyway, I had a £3 off a £20 spend, double nectar points and got 8p off a litre for my next petrol shop - so not too bad really. Also finally got around to posting my national savings account letter. There's £78 in the account but it hasn't been used since 1994, so with interest, hope to get about £100 back.

Was going to make a cottage pie today for the freezer but couldn't be pestered.

Oh and DD2 wants to paint the decking purple tomorrow!

Harri-bear

Oh, hi DFW321, seem to have cross posted (first time - how exciting!)

Yep, it always happens, but now I know that I need to have an emergency pot I will try to work this into my monthly budget. But first I need to work out my monthly budget...:rotfl:

Harri-bear

Okay so have decided to post my SOA. Not really because I think there's any further cutbacks I can make, but more to keep me on track with budgeting.

Bear in mind that Hubby pays the mortgage, one of the loans and TV licence. The 'other income' is what he gives to me each month from his wages.

The 'other child related expenses' are my oldest DD's theatre group which she will be stopping in July (have found a much cheaper alternative).

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1885
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 134
Other income............................ 260
Total monthly income.................... 2279
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 95
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 43
Telephone (land line)................... 23
Mobile phone............................ 2
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 27
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 400
Other child related expenses............ 109
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 17
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 25
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Child trust fund........................ 46
Student loan............................ 78
Union fees.............................. 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 1330

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 85000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 86000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 27000....(0)........0
Total secured & HP debts...... 27000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan ..........................9700......254.......9
Total unsecured debts..........9700......254.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,279
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,330
Available for debt repayments........... 949
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 254
Amount left after debt repayments....... 695
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 86,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -27,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,700
Net Assets.............................. 49,300


Right, looking at this I need to put aside £210 a month for bills etc. and this is without having an emergency fund.

I will, therefore, round this up to £250 each month.

So, the budgets been looked at and now I need to do the hard part which is sticking to it!

By the way, I really only pay about £2 a month for my phone. I put £10 credit on at Christmas and it's only just run out. Guess that must make me a bit anti-social. :rotfl:

liltdiddylilt

Hi Harri-bear. I clicked on this diary as my 1 year old DD's favourite toy - also a 'harry bear' has just literally been removed from the tiny weeny gap at the side of the washing machine. Serendipity Don't ask me how it got there. I have had the washing machine on loads today as I try to catch up with mountains of it, and she does love a good boogie in front of it when it's spinning, so maybe he managed to 'fall' into the gap that is half his size...:D

Your diary, and especially the anecdotes about your DD's really makes me laugh. You've a fabulous skill for writing. Considering you work at home 'marking' I'm going to assume you're a teacher, so that's probably why!!

Well done on the SOA. There's something about doing one that spurs me on, so hope it is the same for you. :T:T

Congratulations on staying out of your overdraft! I remember when I finally hoiked myself out of mine for the first time in well over a year. That was in September and I've only dropped back in briefly once since!

I'm also trying to save for an emergency fund, house move (rented only I'm afraid) & finally a holiday... probably in about 3 years time mind you!

Subscribing, and I will pop back in for a natter. You're very good at updating your diary, but it can be hard to continually chat to yourself and think no-one is listening! I'm all ears!!

Lilt :beer:

Harri-bear

Hey, Lilt, welcome to my ramblings!

Firstly, glad you managed to extricate your Harry bear from down the side of the washer - definitely don't want tears before bedtime . Harri-bear is actually the affectionate name we use for DD2, although she gets called many other things besides (and not all of them affectionate! :rotfl:).

You reminded me of a time when we had an 'incident' with DD1's ladybird hottie. Every night we would dutifully warm it in the microwave and she would snuggle in with him at bedtime. Anyway, one time, said ladybird was in the microwave and we could smell this awful burning smell, followed by sparks and flames. It quickly emerged that DD1 had only gone and made ladybird a lovely bracelet out of a pipecleaner, which, in turn, had set fire to both him and the microwave! Quick inspection revealed that ladybird needed to 'go on holiday' for a week, before returning in even better condition than he went in! (thank God for Am**on, is all I can say )

You deduced right Sherlock regarding what I do and I am currently (supposed to be) planning for next week. I have had to move into the bedroom as everywhere I go I seem to be followed by small children who are determined to make me taste pretend pizza, pretend ice cream and pretend fruit salad. There are only so many times you can say 'Mmmm, that's delicious'.

I really am hoping that having an SOA will keep me on track with budgeting. You seem to be doing well with your savings Lilt, and hopefully, with a less 'eventful' month I should be able to make a start.

As for updating, I have found that I really like keeping a diary, although I do tend to ramble and have an over-fondness for brackets :rotfl:. This is probably the first time I have ever written a diary and kept it going. When I was a child I would always be seduced by the pretty diary covers and would start writing with good intentions only to give up after about three days.

I can, however, offer an [STRIKE]excuse[/STRIKE] explanation for this. At uni we once did a learning styles questionnaire and I found out that I have a tendency to 'intense bursts of activity followed by long periods of inactivity.' This pretty much sums me up :rotfl::rotfl: