August's Almighty Advance

NinjaSavingKat

Morning all.... first things first... Well done Wannabe on your win. I agree with everyone else and your current post that you must keep it. This was won fair and square - you are not out of pocket and it's a nice little booster in this long old journey to keep your spirits up. Now get the Kindle app and all the free books you can manage...:T

I have updated my payments to the loan. They are by the penny as I like a nice rounded figure. I know have to clear £3780 with another amount being dropped off on the 8th of this month bringing me to a lovely figure of £3640

• £475.14 from me
• £297.43 by the bank itself.
• £420 collated from Mummies contributions which I was going to hang onto until the last minute but got to excited knowing I would see a 3 at the beginning of my amount leftover.. (with another £140 to come)..

I had been invited to Slovenia to see friends.
I have been invited to a 5 day break in a country cottage.
I have nights out with friends.

I have refused them all. I

would not be able to live with myself I got on my flight home and knew that "if only I hadn't done that I would be debt free as I planned" - sacrifice now. To live for tomorrow.

More updates to come....

his_missus

Hello all,

Wannabe, keep the ipad, especially if you've wanted one, it's cost you nothing.

A SFD again, ending the month a lot better than I started it!

thriftylass

I know it's abit early but what are you getting your parent or inlaws for their christmas. Done the hamper, photobook, voucher to the theater before and running low on ideas this year. They don't read, have a garden but got everything for it etc etc.......

lilian1977

thriftylass wrote: »

I know it's abit early but what are you getting your parent or inlaws for their christmas. Done the hamper, photobook, voucher to the theater before and running low on ideas this year. They don't read, have a garden but got everything for it etc etc.......

Not too early at all, exactly what I was thinking this morning!

I was thinking something like this, and a file of DS's paintings from nursery

http://www.articulategallery.co.uk/The-Articulate-Gallery/Shop/A4-Single-Gallery--181sc-1p.aspx

or this - stores 50 A4 sheets:

http://www.mylittledavinci.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=a4lildavinci

The second one is more expensive but means they can store the artworks as well.

Plus it has the added bonus of getting rid of all those pieces of "art" that he brings home! x

NinjaSavingKat

Thrifty I am glad folk are thinking about Christmas.. time to financially plan now... great ideas Lillian!

Siouxsie32

I've not only started thinking of December, I've also started planning my dad's next birthday present and that's in June! I think it's a great sign that you're thinking ahead. Leaving the gift shopping til the last minute is fatal...my experience of that is that you end up buying gifts for the sake of it, spending more than you want to and worrying about whether you'll get it all on time. Bravo MSE'rs :money:

My beloved blender broke last week - seriously, I can't function without it. It's less than a year old but for some reason the receipt's not where it should be :mad: However, slightly dishonestly, I replaced it last week with an identical model so I'm going to use the new receipt to take the old one back and get a refund on it.

Moneywise, I'm still going strong. I still have almost £20 left in my misc budget (had to break my last £20 when a friend in an emergency asked me to pick her up something from the chemist so I spent £1.50 and didn't ask her for it back ). I can't see me spending much of it between now and tomorrow - smoothie after yoga? Parking the car? Staying home and saving it? Who knows, my plans are flexible.

I quite enjoyed this months challenge, although my food budget was healthy so that I could eat well. I have reviewed this and reduced it slightly for next month but still hope to eat well. I'm ready for September - bring it on!!!

littleskintdragon

:xmastree::rudolf::xmassign::xmassmile:snow_laug :santa2: I LOVE christmas, i'm so glad we can mention it now without being shouted at :rotfl:

I've bought loads of bits already, all on offer or just very very cheap!! I have lots of people to buy for, but have managed some sale shopping for my friends kids, and my own daughter. Also (and this sounds tight!) i've realised i wont need to but dd so many pressies this year because we'll have two little ones,so under the tree will look much fuller with all the pressies for both of them. Making it look as though santa's been very generous! I'm sure baby will love his/her wrapped up pack of p4mpers, and wipes but u get what i mean. Plus all the pressies from family will be there 2.
Also last year i spent a fortune on xmas food shopping £170, which is just awful, and we wasted/didnt need loads of it. This year i shall be putting left over change in a tin and what evers in it is what xmas food will cost.
I've budgeted £300 for all of the pressies i have left to buy, which is nothing on the £1500 i spent last year (which i'm probably still paying off!!)

lilian1977

I've already bought all DS's presents for this year (his birthday is 3 weeks after Christmas and I have those too) - we're doing the same, not buying loads, especially as both sets of Granparents will be with us on Xmas day!

Found the frame cheaper if anyone likes the idea: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Childrens-Art-File-Frame-Single/dp/B00765ROUQ/ref=sr_1_6?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1377871932&sr=1-6&keywords=children%27s+art

thriftylass

lilian1977 wrote: »

Not too early at all, exactly what I was thinking this morning!

I was thinking something like this, and a file of DS's paintings from nursery

http://www.articulategallery.co.uk/The-Articulate-Gallery/Shop/A4-Single-Gallery--181sc-1p.aspx

Saw how they made one like this out of card board on Art attack the other day. Maybe DS could help and decorate it although he's only 2.5.

Found a few more ideas for my parents as they are bbq-mad (do it all year round even in snow) and going to get them a few accessories (like a beer can chicken roaster). Will shop around for deals this weekend. And they will have to fit in a suitcase

Better also get my crafting stuff out. As most of my friends kids are under 3 they'll be happy with homemade sock monkeys and HM hairclips etc. The adults are a bit more difficult as we did the HM limoncello and chilli jam 3 years in a row now. Gonna pop over to the christmas threads, I'm sure they're already really busy with ideas

lilian1977

thriftylass wrote: »

Saw how they made one like this out of card board on Art attack the other day. Maybe DS could help and decorate it although he's only 2.5.

Thank you - good idea! x