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

OrangeFairy

Morning all!

Where does money go? I had enough in my wallet for certain things and now it is gone!

£9 for a school friends present, £1 for dog treats for dd1s dogs trust visit, £1.50 on the bus to get her there, £6 donation for dds school run, £4 for DD1s extra ballet. £21.50 unbudgeted money-gone!

Looking at my bank I am really worried about my money situation. I had forgotten that part of my income is £134 child benefit which I get on the 22nd. I may have to borrow £30-40 to tide me over from hubby or my mum!

Right positive things....

Was given a loaf of fresh hm bread for free from a local shop as it need using. Had it as part of our dinner last night and will make some breadcrumbs.

Made a meal plan using up the freezer. Kids have dinners until the 20th and we have them planned until the end of next week . So hopefully a frugal food month.

It is my godmothers birthday next week and to avoid spending this month I had planned to give her the Xmas pressie I have ready for my step mum. Then I decided I'll make her some cakes. She is always asking and this way it won't cost as much and ill save an Xmas present.

OF x

OrangeFairy

Morning all!

It is soooooo hot today. I feel like I'm going to faint on the bus.

We had a lovely weekend. Ballet runs, the kids had a cinema party and then a BBQ at MILs on Saturday. Then Sunday hubby picked up the beautiful green tinted stones for our garden path. We spend the early afternoon at the beach, then back to ours for a BBQ for the in laws (mil fil sil bil and nephew). Also enjoyed the tennis and formula one

The BBQ was lovely but I wasn't a fan of throwing it as they cost so much. We kind of have to keep on par with MIL which mean expensive burgers and sausages, bacon, marinated chicken, fish, pizza, quiche...etc. cost us about £36! Which does not fit in the frugal month theme!

Got sunburnt yesterday didn't really think of sun cream and then it was the hottest day we had had!

Money wise- I spent £6 giving the kids money for cinema sweets and drinks and £7 on shopping so not too bad. I need to check my account to ensure there is enough in there to cover the tennis cheque. Also need to email the tennis guy to see if they have the places I booked as I was a little late in sending it!

Today is going to be working hard, eating well, checking money, picking up fudge to go with my brothers present and an LSD :-)

Oh and need to check my loan balance. It was lovely to see my overpayment make it drop to £677. My normal payment is £215 which came out on Friday so it will be interesting to see how much came off the balance and how much was interest!

Right at work now.

Have a lovely day everyone!

OF x

OrangeFairy

Morning all.

My god it is a scorching week.

Had a lovely evening last night at the beach with the girl guides :-) the weather was so warm until about 10pm! Spent £10 on the evening which wasn't too bad.

Money is pretty dire at the moment. I literally have about £10 to last me a week and a half! :-/

But on the other hand I was ridiculously excited when I checked on my loan and it is £477 :-) looks so good! Need to update signature later. That means if my loan payment knocks off £200 I need to make an over payment of £277 on payday and then my normal August payment will wipe the rest off ill maybe set that payment up today.

MSE things today-

Meal from freezer for dinner
Work hard.
Drink lots of water from works machine
Take cupcakes I made to my cousins (in place of normally buying her flowers for her birthday)
Walk to the village rather than get bus.
Chase up tennis club regarding DDs places in holidays.
Check banking
Set up loan payment.

That's me

OF x

wannabee_in_credit

I'm skint this month too - extortionate petrol costs and my being off work. Kerching!
Well done with the loan

OrangeFairy

Morning all.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend. It is so funny how much happier everyone is when the sun is out

On Friday I had a mums of year 2 meal out. It was an unnecessary expense but it was nice to make the effort. Spent £17.50 which hubby had to give me as I had no money left! :-/

Saturday was a day at ballet for the kids, DIY for hubby and my sister who is 7 came round for a sleepover. We went to Mr T and used our £6 off voucher on our £48 spend but it was a savvy shop.

Sunday we went to Exmoor zoo with SIL, BIL and our Nephew. SIL had vouchers to cover our kids and we had a 15% off voucher for hubby and I. With ice creams we spent £25 which wasn't bad for a family day at the zoo. Then on to MILs for dinner which ended the day in an MSE way.

I have meal planned for the next couple of weeks as our freezer has a fair bit in it still!

I got confirmation that the girls have their Tennis spaces which is fab news. So now I know that £112 cheque will cash. I have £115 in my account ready.

21 days until I am loan free!!!!!!

I am ridiculously excited! I have set up my standing order of £278 for the 2nd Aug and then on the 5th Aug the normal loan payment will come out! Annoyingly though the loan may not show as finished until the 7th on my account.

Right I am about to get to work. Big week this week as we are moving offices! All very exciting as our new place is fab!!!

OF x

MrsSmith2013

Hi OrangeFairy - I just popped in to your diary because I loved your name! I'm just reading the Rainbow Magic Books with my daughter, and we've just done the Rainbow Fairys - your username reminded me of them!!

I LOVE your list of 101 things to do in 1001 days, very inspiring - I'm a list person, so may just start my own one!

Well done on your £300 overpayment too, thats fab.

I will subscribe to your lovely diary and keep up with your progress - and your list!!

Mrs S x

wannabee_in_credit

Not long now till that loan is gone OF. I'll be waiting for your celebrations...

Sounds like a fab weekend and just goes to show you can have a lovely family day out without spending an absolute fortune.

Enjoy

OrangeFairy

Hi MSE'rs

20 days till I am loan free!! (This might become an annoying count down! )

Wannabee- I am going to celebrate MSE style with some restaurant vouchers I won in a raffle

MrsSmith- lovely to 'see' you. I am pleased you like my name x my daughters also read those books. I am a huge fan of the colour Orange definitely do a 101 things list! It is so much fun. I need to get on with a few of my things as some are quick cheap things I can do. Some are work in progress so lots on the go! I love a good list too!

The joys of being a working mum. DD1 had a topic book open session where parents could go in between 2.45 and 3.15 to see their books. I work till 6 on a Tuesday so told her I couldn't go. She gave me the sad face and made out like she'd be the only one without a parent there. It made me feel guilty so I went. I had to leave work at 2 to get there and then the bus back got me back to work at 4 meaning I now have to make up 2 hours. I am slightly miffed as it was about 15 pages of a topic book, 5 of which were homework I had already seen, it took literally 10 minutes and only 8 out of 30 parents went!! Plus she is bringing the folder home on Friday! I will look on the bright side- she was chuffed to pieces that I was there and that should be all that matters! (Said with a large sigh!)

Other than that I am having a great day! It is an NSD and we have chips, bacon, egg and sausage from stores for dinner :-)

Will need to make some hm bread for lunches tomorrow. My girls are at the moment off to a fun swimming pool for an hour or so with my mum, 2 aunts and cousins. So they will be having a lovely time and I didn't have to pay as my aunt had won a load of tickets!

I have zero money and hubby has £70. Roll on Monday!

OF x

MrsSmith2013

OrangeFairy wrote: »

MrsSmith- lovely to 'see' you. I am pleased you like my name x my daughters also read those books. I am a huge fan of the colour Orange definitely do a 101 things list! It is so much fun. I need to get on with a few of my things as some are quick cheap things I can do. Some are work in progress so lots on the go! I love a good list too!

Those books are lovely, we've just read another one in one sitting tonight, she loves them.

I've started my 101 things list, but I am stuck at about 20 right now!! I will need to think of the simple things, and get them on there. I will probably pop back on to yours for some inspiration! There really is nothing like a good list tho!

Aww I know how you feel about the school thing! Our DD's primary school seem to do these end of topic parties every term, and while its lovely to see them at school and what they do, its always in work time. I'm quite lucky as I work ten minutes from the school / our house so its all in quite close proximity, but for parents who work in the city it must mean time off. I'm sure she loved the fact that her mummy was one of the 8 who went!!

Am off to look at my list while watching Princess Diana's dresses!

OrangeFairy

Morning all!

17 days until I am loan free!!! Sounds better and better!

Such a tough day yesterday. It was the hottest day we've had and we were moving office! I was so sweaty carrying office chairs and big boxes up to the second floor. I was overheating so badly I thought I was going to faint :-(

But we are all in now so today is just sorting everything out! The backs of my legs and my arms are aching!!!

Mrs S- good luck with your list. Just make sure you have a good balance of free, expensive, easy and hard things. I have looked at some lists before and they have had all really hard things and I think you need some things on there that you can do quite quickly or the motivation goes!

Not much to report- scrimping by until money comes in next week. Dinner last night was a mix of left over chilli, lasagne and garlic bread! Tonight is hm pizzas as we have all the bits we need.

We now have enough vouchers to get the Mr T stock pot for £29.99! This will be a pay day purchase. I am very excited as it means we can batch cook more portions of soup and chilli etc. This will be good for next month when I am challenging my self not to use a supermarket. We will make lots of vegetable soup I think

Looking forward to my brothers leaving assembly today. He is 11 and going up to secondary school in September

Right off to work. Only working until 1pm today so just 4.5 hours :-)

OF x