My 2020 Vision

XSpender

£1.15 TT today.

I have set my self a target of at least 10 NDS this month, first time I have had a NSD target in a long while. Achieved 1 so far.

Plastering getting done today so this evening will be spent putting everything back in the room ready to shift again when it's time to paint.


Diesel £130 – £30.01 spent
Food £300 – Approx £90 when the Mr T order arrives tomorrow
Pocket Money £90 - still intact though DH has had £20 for gawd knows what this morning
Hair cuts £16 – not had done yet
Cleaner £56 - as above
New windows £750 – Balance to pay next week
Christmas £100 -ordered a couple of bits for DS £18
Balance of May holiday £198 - due 31st October
Plasterer £100 – paid today
Visa £50 – will get DH to ring and check bal and min pmnt tonight

Going to try a new sausage pasta bake recipe tonight which uses up the savoy cabbage in the bottom of the fridge. I also have some YS courgettes that need using up asap.

XSpender

DS is at DMIL today and overnight and DH is on a lads night out tonight which means a big lie in for him before we pick DS up tomorrow so I am planning to get a lot of jobs done:

[STRIKE]Make last 2 Christmas cakes and feed the other 2 - fruit soaked overnight[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Buy some kitchen scales as mine broken and my friends are too small [/STRIKE]- done
Make cake and [STRIKE]flapjack[/STRIKE] for lunches
Use up 3 leeks, 3 courgettes and anything lurking in the bottom of the fridge - found a recipe to use up courgettes and will make chicken and leek pie for freezer tonight
[STRIKE]All washing[/STRIKE] - done
[STRIKE]Some of the ironing mountain (might make it base camp;)) [/STRIKE]done everything washed this weekend and a bit of the pile:)
Put the living room straight after shifting everything for the plasterer - almost there
[STRIKE]Wrap up book sold to amazon[/STRIKE] done
[STRIKE]Go through my books and see what else I can sell to amazon[/STRIKE] done found one for £5
[STRIKE]Feed the mortgage pig with all the loose change I can find[/STRIKE] - £1.71
[STRIKE]Get cash out for DH night out and barbers [/STRIKE]- done
List freezer contents
[STRIKE]Re organise big larder cupboard as I can't see what I have got[/STRIKE] done
[STRIKE] Ring mum for a chat [/STRIKE] done
[STRIKE]Find and write a card for niece[/STRIKE] - done
[STRIKE] Check meal plan for next week[/STRIKE] - done
[STRIKE]Squeeze 16 YS GF bread rolls I bought yesterday into freezer[/STRIKE] - done
[STRIKE]Account checks and check budget [/STRIKE]- done and it aint pretty:eek:
Clean car as leaking bottle of milk has made it stink - removed mat and not as bad as originally thought as not soaked though to floor carpet...phew

I am still hoping to meet the £150 op target I have set myself to pay of 1% of the 2nd mortgage. I will have to make the money from somewhere as the budget is already squeezed tight this month.

Still waiting to hear when the dishwasher is to be delivered and confirmation that the windows are being fitted 4th nov.

I am still in 1 NSD:o

XSpender

I haven't made great progress with my list above so far but did buy some scales to replace my broken ones, finish buying 3 Christmas presents and bought 3 stocking fillers. I have made a list of what I have bought for DS and what we have planned to get him and I think he will be done then. I seem really organised this year:). Tomorrow I will order the vouchers from work that I get as an incentive and these plus the books sold to Amazon should cover the majority of DS presents:D

Yesterday was a bit of a spendy day. I bought an electric toothbrush and a years worth of heads and toothpaste on offer in boots. I had a new crown last month and it is still really sensitive and I needed a new toothbrush but find it difficult to always locate compact head brushes for my little mouth:o. The brush has a pressure indicator that flashes red if you brush to hard which is ideal for me as I tend to scrub not brush.

We also spent quite a bit on a new shirt for DH to wear last night but it will also be for his Christmas party so another Christmas job ticked off my list. . I will need a new dress as the one I wore for the last 2 years got a massive pull in the front and had to be chucked. It was from new look but this year I am going to spend a little bit more and get a dress that will last me a few years. Not much more though

Plans for this morning are to drink my tea and get 2 Christmas cakes, flapjack and a coffee cake in the oven before picking DS up at 11am.

XSpender

Diesel £130 – £30.01
Food £300 – £147.92
Pocket Money £90 – all gone and DH has had another £40 but has bought beer and wine out of this twice
Hair cuts £16 – £10
Cleaner £56 - £14
New windows £750 – Balance to pay next week
Christmas £100 –now £0
Balance of May holiday £198 - due 31st October
Plasterer £100 – paid today
Visa £50 – paid £40 just over min pmnt

I really must focus on the food budget as we have spent almost half of it already with 25 days left!! I have found a pasta bake recipe to use up courgettes, mozzarella and some of the pasta mountain as well as a bit of chorizo I have lurking. I will also make the leeks into a chicken and leek gratin. I had planned to do this last night but DH was suffering after his night out and wanted a takeaway. He is out tonight at a work meal so the chicken dish will be frozen and I will make the pasta on Tuesday.

There may be some wriggle room in the diesel budget as my colleague is going to drive on one of the long trips I need to make for work so this will save a bit here.:)

I have spent my Christmas budget and what was left from last month’s Christmas savings on some 3 for 2 in b00ts and as my incentive vouchers came on email as soon as I had ordered them I bought DS’s main presents. It’s a pity Amaz0n don’t do a loyalty card/discount as I buy loads there. DS will just need stocking fillers once I have ordered these.

DH and I are going to have a day’s shopping in Edinburgh nearer the event to buy our gifts for each other. DH wants 1 gift that is nearly his entire budget so I hope he isnt expecting a lot more:eek:

My OP pot is at £61.90 and I have a book to send to Amaz0n tomorrow for £17.70 and another one for £4.95. I have another book somewhere that they will buy for a fiver but I think it is in the garage so may be damaged. I am TT any little bits in my account and DH has agreed to list a couple of items on a face book selling page so I may still get to my £150 target this month if I can scrape together a bit more.

I feel like I got a lot done at the weekend which is good as this weekend DS and I are on a play date at soft play with my friend’s 2 on Saturday and we will drive to see my DM on Sunday. This week’s tasks are:

• Finish the backlog of ironing
• Stick to the meal plan and don’t buy anything until Mr T delivers on Friday
• 3 x bin liners of DS old stuff to CS
• Get some paint cards to choose new colour for living room
• Make a coffee cake for lunches
• Meal plan for next week and keep Mr T order under £45
• Find DS other coat to sell and the other book
• Make appointment to see other potential primary school

Why are my posts always like war and peace:rotfl:

XSpender

My little OP pot stands at £65.39 after STC was added from our spendy weekend.:) The spends were from the Christmas budget.

I have checked the accounts and we are short this month. If I use my OP pot and my little bit of pocket money we are still looking at being about £30 short and that’s if we can stick to the budget! I knew it was going to be tight this month as we did overspend a bit last month which was a bit silly when we knew we had the windows to pay for.

DH gets paid tomorrow so I am hoping he will have his payslip tonight so that I can double check my figures and see exactly what we have got to play with. He often doesn’t get it until his payday so I have to go off what gets paid in the morning which is a bit frustrating when I am trying to plan my finances!;)

I have worked this month out on him getting taxed at the higher rate so anything above this would be fabulous and would get us out of the sticky stuff. I would also really like to pay £50 towards mtg #2 to round up the % paid off figures.

I have decided to count the £1000 Ops I made to mortgage #1 as payments towards mortgage #2 as I will draw down this money to pay the balance off next October. I had wanted to save/pay off at least 20% of the outstanding balance by the end of the year and I am on target to overachieve this.

I posted my book to amaz0n last night and need to wrap and post a second book tomorrow. The credits will be used for Christmas presents though so won’t help my shortfall at all.:(

Our biggest overspend is always in grocery shopping. I have decided that I am going to buy a couple of jars of sauce to keep in as sometimes when I get in I am cream crackered and cannot face cooking something from scratch even though in reality it wont take that long. I have an order coming from Mr T on Friday and I am going to go and see what I can deduct from it. I have a £5 off voucher thought so it will still need to be £40+

XSpender

Is it me or are the weeks just flying by? It’s Friday already!

DH salary was more than I had expected. :j They haven’t taxed him at the higher rate which I don’t understand as he was last month. Tax is definitely taxing for my small brain.

Things are still tight this month as the windows will need paying for next Monday and there isn’t much left in the account as the holiday has also been paid for.

I actually feel quite up for the challenge this month as we have a shopping day in Edinburgh planned for next month and any overspend this month will reduce the amount we have to spend then. Everyone’s gifts will be just about be sorted by then so this day will be when DH and I buy our presents for each other and have a nice lunch. We don’t get much during the year so this tends to be a bit of a blow out but TBH I can’t think of anything I want except a Paul Smith scarf.

DMIL has offered to have DS overnight if we want to stay over but the city centre purple hotels are over £100 night so it doesn’t seem worth it when we are only an hour and a half away.

The credit for my book traded in to amaz0n has been credited.:T Very impressed with the turn around and will be posting another one off to them tomorrow and will see what else I can flog at the weekend.

:xmassmile presents for DS, DMIL, DBIL, DSIL and friends 2 girls are sorted as well as half DM and DSD’s. I am stuck for ideas for DFIL. He likes a gift card but I don’t like doing this as it’s not very personal and I can’t get more gift for my money IYSWIM

We also need some token gifts for DH staff, something for our cleaner and a couple of stocking fillers for DS and 2 selection boxes. I also need to put together a photo calendar of DS for the grandparents and have copies of a nice photo of DS to go into cards for other relatives.

The Amaz0n credits, vouchers from work and Mr T double up vouchers have been great this year and saved us a lot of money. Next year I will focus on saving vouchers/points throughout the year for :rudolf:.

I will be back this afternoon with my plan of action for the next 3 weeks.

XSpender

Woo hoo £27.50 that I thought I would never get has been confirmed on TCB. That will go towards December’s 1% OP target if it is paid out by then.:D

I have worked out exactly how much I have against how much we need to spend to cover the basics and 2 small items ordered via a friend and there is a margin of 4p!:eek:

Here’s the plan for coming in on budget by the 21st November:

• Suggest park instead of soft play for meet up with friend as DS would be happy with either and hasn’t been to their local park before followed by tea and cake at ours
• Only buy stuff for Christmas using amaz0n credit and Mr T doubled up vouchers so no cash outlay
• Use NT membership for free days out and take flask of soup, HM bread and HM cake or eat at home beforehand as we can’t walk far with a 3.5 year old so not out all day
• We have unwatched DVDs and sky to watch, kindle books to read, a dog to walk, NT places to visit, a beautiful local park with a great play area, the coast half an hour away in one direction and the beautiful outdoors 20 minutes in the other oh and decorating etc to keep us entertained for free;)
• Cut out wine:eek: (I could do without the calories anyway)
• Reduce amount of snacks bought and make own cakes and salty popcorn and ration snacks bought this week i.e. hide from DH;)
• No takeaways – fake away curry night this week and Thai night next week:)
• Check amount of meat in freezer and meal plan weekly around this
• Use slow cooker and batch cook to avoid takeaways as busy couple of weeks coming up
• List everything that needs using up and stick it on the fridge
• Packed lunches every day
• 1 extra veggie meal a week
• At least 8 NSDS (no spending on absolutely anything)
• Keep posting on my diary and the GC on OS to keep me focused and bore everyone else;)

My biggest downfall is the food shopping so I am not going to take my purse to work so I can’t nip to the shop on the way home or buy anything to eat at work bacon shaped;) My second problem is not having something quick and easy to cook when I get in from work so resort to a takeaway or rubbish and my 3rd problem is saying no to DH or at least trying to communicate ‘save now on the boring stuff to spend later on the nice stuff’.

With this in mind I intend to spend the next 2 Saturday mornings batch cooking and baking as DH is at work. I am also off on the day the windows get fitted so will do some then too. Might even make the first mince pies of the year....mmmmm…...

I do have a small amount available on a credit card in case of dire emergency and some bits of cash including my OP pot. The bits of cash add up to £150 which just so happens to be my monthly 1% OP target, which bearing in mind how much we have had to pay out this month I am desperate to overpay. That should be a good incentive to stick to my budget.

XSpender

Fell at the first hurdle with the plan and have been in just about everyone of the big four, some twice:eek: this weekend:o Spent a few quid on some small bits of Christmas shopping, booze and on the hunt for GF beer.:cool:

Plus the weather was terrible here at the weekend so I didn't meet up with my friend as planned.

I was worried about how we were going to manage this month as DH had also found out he needed funds for a work trip so I was even considering drawing down some of the OPs we have made. DH picked up on this and suggested we cancelled the dishwasher we had ordered. It was a bit of an impulse purchase as ours does still work, not brilliantly but it does work so we cancelled it and got the refund on Sunday.

Part of th dishwasher fund will cover spends for the rest of this month but there should be enough, with the bits I already have to make a 2% OP at the end of the month as long as we don't go mad.

We do have a GF food fair to visit in 2 weeks time so I am allocating some spends for this, DH has decided he wants to go 100% GF so I really need to get a hang of this bread making malarkey as a weeks worth of bread rolls for sandwiches would cost nearly a tenner a week:eek:

It's not all doom and gloom as this weekend I have:

- used some mr t vouchers to double up and got three Christmas presents for £1.99 in total
- used an £8 off £40 spend voucher in mr t
- made 2 chicken and leek pie fillings using dodgy leeks
- made 3 cottage pies, padded out with value beans
- resisted booking a weekend in Edinburgh and have decided to have our shopping day local
- invited myself to mums for Sunday lunch at the weekend
- posted off my 2nd trade in to amaz0n
- and I am about to use 3 manky nanas to make a double chocolate banana loaf for pud. It's amazing warm from the oven with ice cream

Today has been my 3rd NSD as I had a total of 10p in my purse and it worked cos I so would have bought chocolate if I had any more:o

yukkibear

Thanks you've reminded me to hunt out my Tesco vouchers for doubling up.

BTW we're awful on groceries too

XSpender

Glad it's not just me who can't stick to a grocery budget yukkibear, those ladies on the OS board do brilliantly and I spend too much on wine and crisps:o

The money for the dish washer has been refunded and I am £100 short of being 15% paid off this month but I think it is doable.:)

Booked a hotel for DH Christmas do not cheap but not much more than taxis either way and it will be nice to get ready in our own time, retire when we have had enough and have a slap up breakfast that someone else has made. Went through TCB and earnt 12% and got nectar points too:). The points may not go on as I could hardly read the numbers on my nectar card.

I had to buy 2x teas at work today as I left my milk in the house but my friend repaid £2 she borrowed that I had forgotten about so was 80p in credit:D

I just went to get my Ugggg boots out of the wardrobe and they are covered in mould:eek: they were ok when I sorted the bottom of the wardrobe out a couple of weeks ago:eek: I am hoping DH can rescue them:(