~*~ The finishing straight for OrangeFairy :-) ~*~

OrangeFairy

Hi All!

I really need to get back into action. If I don't make a dent in October I will be gutted as nov and dec will be hard due to Xmas!

News....good and bad

We have booked our holiday with keyc@mp for 12 nights next August with SIL and BIL. This is driving in Europe for 5 nights in Austria and 5 in Italy with two single night stop overs...one in Germany and one in Switzerland. I'm very excited! Only a £99 deposit now and the rest will be due after we are debt free! (Hopefully!)

Spent a couple of evenings looking around Secondary Schools with DD1- very scary!

I have my fingers crossed that my pay rise will be in this pay packet and my boss has remembered to do it.

Hubby managed to negotiate another £25 a month for the full sky package deal which is great.

Found hubby is successfully saving his £60 a month towards car maintenance. £180 in the which is great.

Toying with the idea of buying new sofas at Xmas but realise this isn't an MSE thing to do so will carry on pondering.

Hubby needs to send invoices to a company who use him for IT stuff. If they pay that will pay for most of his next clothes.

We have a bucket load of stuff to eB@y which I should get on with.

Money;

I have only a little bit of money left this month. I need to sit down and work it out. I need to pay ballet fees of £162 so whatever I have left will go towards that. I budget £100 a month towards clubs so as long as I have about £60 left i'll be happy.

October,

My plans for October- £100 off my credit card and as much as I can off next- need a recent bill to see what hubby and DD2s birthday clothes cost me!
Hubby's plans are to pay off his holiday credit card.

If he gets paid for his IT work and we sell some stuff we may be able to get rid of next which saves £35 a month at the mo.

Costs in October:

£30 for membership
Spending money for trip to Thorpe park next week
£25 for nephews Xmas present that I want to get in advance
Boots for DD1

That's me at the mo :-)

Back in MSE mode

OF x

MrsSmith2013

Welcome back OrangeFairy!

Sounds like you have loads to do to keep you busy, and hopefully keep the money coming in. I need to do a clear out too and get things sold, wish I had a spare room I could use to leave all this stuff in that I need to sort through!

Your holiday sounds like it will be fun, thats definately something to look forward to next year, roll on this time next year, hopefully we'll both be well on the way to debt freedom!

Mrs S x

OrangeFairy

Hello Diaryland!

Mrs S- lovely to 'see' you! I currently have our stuff to sell at the bottom of our bed. So aside from wanting the money I just want it gone!

Payday on Monday!!! My purchases will include an £8 top I have been eyeing up and some work shoes.

I really need a kick the bottom in regards to the silly spending. Like taking soup to work but not fancying it so going out and buying a sandwich instead. Which is really stupid. We are not meal planning like we used to which means impulsive trips to the supermarket!

Hubby took me out from lunch today as I finish work at 1pm on Fridays. Cost us about £13 but was worth it to spend some time together.

Next week I will join the hotel health club to use the swimming pool at the moment with a view to using the gym when I build up the courage. It costs £25 to join and then pay as you go. We are going to ask MIL if she doesn't mind keeping the girls for an hour longer on a Tuesday after school so hubby and I can go for a swim together to have some us time and also to do lengths without the kids bugging us!

This weekend will consist of masses of housework and maybe list some sales and DD1 has a harvest festival thing with girl guides on Sunday. The weather is really hot here today and is meant to carry on for the weekend. I literally had to come home and change into a best top as I was over heating!

No birthdays this month so a nice chunk of money to put back towards other more expensive months.

I may get just a couple of Xmas pressies this month to have a few done and dusted. We buy for £54 people so I am eager to cross. Few off.

Just applied for my DD1s place at secondary school today- scary! She is so little I can't get my head around it!

DD2 had a great birthday on Sunday. Lots of clothes as presents meant we save in the long run!

I think that is me! X

Julie67

Hi Orange Fairy,

Thought I would pop over and say hi. Your holiday next year sounds fab. We are hoping to do something very similar with DD and DGS.
It's scary realising we are almost in October and I haven't bought a single Christmas present. I've cut down a lot on who we buy for. With four grown up children all with partners and one DGS and another dgd due any day we no longer buy for extended family other than mum and dad.
The swimming sounds great,it's something we keep saying we will do together.
Dh and I are terrible for going for lunch together. Because he is self employed and often around during the week and I'm not working its very hard to resist, but we do try.
Have a great weekend:)

debtfreewannabe321

You buy for 54 people at xmas :eek: i'd be trying to get a fair few knocked off the list altogether

Payday on Monday for me too! Can't come quick enough

OrangeFairy

Morning all,

On my way to work a little stressed as I have been rushing I hate rushing!

Got a membership to swim at a nearby hotel which has a health suite. It was a £25 payment to be a member and then pay as you go. In Jan I will use the gym.....hopefully!

Hubby and I went for a lovely swim which gave us time to talk about money and life in general! Going to see if MIL will have the girls every Tuesday and we will go every week which will be nice.

I need to sit down and work out money today. Also I go to Thorpe Park with my 2 brothers and my sister on Friday! I am very excited. Hopefully we won't spend too much!

Hubby has just enough money to pay off the £450 remaining on his holiday credit card. I may need to top up his money a little if this leaves him too short.

The big cards have dipped under the £1.7k and £3.5k marks so they look a lot better

This month is 'kill off next' month! I have overpaid £100 at the moment as a start. Also £200 to my credit card so it has dipped under £1k mark.

I will find out my next balance and concentrate on that in my posts!

OF vs Next ....the October fight!

OF x

brizzledfw

Just catching up! I like the October fight!! Brilliant idea...

Think I will use that phrase as a much needed kick up the pants this month too as after a big OP yesterday I am now having to knuckle down big time. Maybe sell the pets and the kids????:rotfl:

You have also reminded me that I need to apply for a school place for one of mine. Never ending list of things to do hey:(

Have a good day. Torrential rain here.

OrangeFairy

Morning Diary,

Hi Brizzle selling the kids may be a good idea!

Well I was slightly disappointed to find out Next was about £50 more than I expected!

It currently stands at a whopping £780!

£343 was from before, £250 for hubby's new wardrobe and the rest bits for DD2. A problem arose when I got stuff for people to give DD for her birthday from Next. Then I used the money they gave rather than paying off the account! Rookie mistake. That left £60 on the account I now need to pay!

So the fight.........

Next £780

1/10/13 Paid £100

Balance £680

Now I have my fingers crossed that hubby gets a £180 payment he has been waiting for which will take it to £500.

I need to get on and sell some things on eb@y but as I am away this weekend it will have to wait until next week.

A shortish 6.5 hour day at work today. Then home to get the kids from school and off to swimming. Home to pack to go away in the morning. Then off to play skittles at 8pm. Ill be knackered!!!!

Pleased with the fact I haven't bought any lunch or lunch accompaniments this week. I have made a packed lunch every day. My overspends were some boots for work which were £45 and necessary, a £25 present for my nephew for Xmas which I would have needed to get soon anyway and a£25 swimming membership which I will get a nice bit of use out of.

Right I've made it to work- here's to a productive day!

OF x

OrangeFairy

Morning Diary,

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. I went to Thorpe Park with my brothers and sister. We stayed in the crash pad in the park overnight and the bonus was that on the Friday night it was 'Fright Night' where they opened the park at night time to annual pass holders. As we were there we got to do it too for no cost. This was our present to brother no2 for his 21st. Riding the rollercoasters at night was so much fun.

Budget wise for the trip I took out £60 and came back with £8.25. So I was under budget but I did spent on two unnecessary things. I spent £7 on some tat for DDs (cup and keyring each) and £8 on one of the ride photos as it was a great shot of us all! So I would have only spent £36.75 without these. Never mind

Then yesterday we had DD2s birthday party at our local swimming pool. It was really good and all the kids seemed to have fun and behaved brilliantly! So thumbs up all round.

In going to go on and make a next payment today. It won't be huge but I need to feel like I'm doing something! I will also update my budget/spends sheet

I am hoping for a productive work day at work though I am feeling quite dizzy so all I really want to do is go home to bed :-(

OF x

brizzledfw

Hope you started feeling better x

Great news re Thorpe park. night time roller coaster rides does sounds fun. DD went to theme park last weekend and loved it.