Diary of a home owner wannabe (my 6 year journey)

pennyforthepot

edinburgher wrote: »

Can I put that on my CV? :rotfl:

edinburgher - if you had all us MS'ers as references you could have any job you wanted - we'd all vouch for you :j

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Went slightly 'off list' yesterday - as I ended up in Asd@ after I dropped DD off at her friends. Spent £76 of which £65 of that was on meat which I now have to cram into my freezer somehow :eek: Lots of batch cooking to do over the next few days. I now have £130 left for the month (29 days left) to spend on food - now that is going to be a challenge.Talking of challenges - I am challenging myself to a month of no waste other than vegetable peelings.

I used my slow cooker to make chicken stock out of the left over carcass. It worked out great - I left it on low over night and it was ready this morning - beats steaming up the windows which is what normally happens when I cook it on the hob. . Also made haddock and leak rissotto whilst I was cooking the roast - that has gone into the freezer for another day.

Did my monthly accounts and shifted the money to the relevant budget accounts. I also worked out how much I could save this month and if I want to reach my £100,000 I have nothing spare to spend outside of my budgets - unless I can put it on a cc which means it won't come out till next month. With half term that could be difficult. On a positive note my FD regular saver paid out today so that's £124.56 additional savings to go towards the flat fund :j

Major money came out of my account yesterday - close to £1000. Mainly d/ds - £619, a cheque for £230 for DDs school trip to Madrid in April, £77 at Asd@ for food, £13 miscellaneous - new bowls to replace our chipped ones and glasses to replace all the ones the kids manage to break. £35 on petrol and £20 on lunch money for DSS2. Today I'm going to try for a NSD - don't think I need any bits for dinner.

Wet and windy again today. My list consists of doing the stuff I didn't do yesterday

PFTp x

edinburgher

I am challenging myself to a month of no waste other than vegetable peelings.

And if you really want to be thrifty, those can be frozen and used to make vegetable stock (assuming they're cleaned!)

pennyforthepot

edinburgher wrote: »

And if you really want to be thrifty, those can be frozen and used to make vegetable stock (assuming they're cleaned!)

:rotfl: - not even I'm that thrifty - though if I had the room in my freezer I would maybe consider it! I do give the loo rolls a good squeeze though - makes it a little bit harder for the kids to waste

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Feeling a little under the weather today - just a bit achy so having a slower day today.

Dropped boys off at Thorpe Park this morning and gave DS some money for lunch - would have ordinarily given him a packed lunch but as there are about 10 of them going I didn't want him to feel the odd one out as I suspect they will be raiding the fast food places. The sky is looking rather black - but it is meant to be brightening up this afternoon - hope he doesn't get too wet. Have ended up agreeing to drop DD and friends to Thorpe on Friday as well as pick up - It's a Fright Night there and the reduced tickets are £35, £50 if you pay on the day :eek: Although I give them a decent allowance I have agreed to pay for this as their treat for the holidays and they never ask for anything so I don't mind. May have blown my chances of reaching my £100,000 target for the end of this month

My challenge of not wasting any food didn't get off to a great start yesterday as I opened the bread bin to find 4 pieces of mouldy bread that had to be thrown away - I will carry on though and see how I do.

DD and her friend had there shopping stolen yesterday - luckily it was only £land so I agreed to give her the £9 that she'd spent so she could get the stuff again. I did tell her it was a lesson to be learnt and that I wouldn't pay her again.

Saved £3 yesterday with a coupon off at Waitrose and also managed to pick up some of my annual supplies that I was waiting to find cheaper and as they had 3 for 2 I obviously bought a year's supply :j - plus a penny from using my waitrose card. There seem to be so many offers on at the supermarkets at the moment based on spend £x to receive money off coupons in the future. I am trying hard to avoid these as it's easy to spend just because they are there without looking to see if you can find it cheaper in other shops.

TO DO LIST

• [STRIKE]GT&WI[/STRIKE]
• clean toilets
• [STRIKE]make corned beef hash for DSS2 - everyone else is out ton[/STRIKE]ight
• [STRIKE]vast quantities of taxi-ing[/STRIKE] hate the M25
• [STRIKE]submit VAT returns for business - they should have been done at the end of sep[/STRIKE]
• vacuuming

That's it for today - don't want to push myself too hard.

PFTP x

edinburgher

Hope you feel better soon PFTP - I'm also feeling the effects of the lurgy. I'm currently rocking an attractive (or ridiculous) 'Barry White if he was a walrus' sort of voice.

Being a parent sounds difficult at times, I imagine it's hard to deliver hard messages/say no, but something that has to be done?

pennyforthepot

edinburgher wrote: »

Hope you feel better soon PFTP - I'm also feeling the effects of the lurgy. I'm currently rocking an attractive (or ridiculous) 'Barry White if he was a walrus' sort of voice.

Being a parent sounds difficult at times, I imagine it's hard to deliver hard messages/say no, but something that has to be done?

Thanks edinburgher - I don't feel ill just not well

Saying no is a lot easier if you explain your reasons for saying no in the first place. I am lucky that my kids very rarely ask for things but then I have always been very honest with them and told them if I'm broke rather than playing the game and giving them what I can't afford. Regardless of that - being a parent is expensive - there is no getting round that :eek:

PFTPx

pennyforthepot

Feeling a little better today - just need to shake the aches.

Spent most of day sorting out the business accounts and making sure everything is up to date and squeeky clean. Still have some stuff to do and I need to read up on annual returns for Companies House. Also need to do a 4 month forecast and get DH out scouting for some more business before Christmas.

I popped into Mr S after I dropped the kids off at their dads - just to see if I could pick up £20 of bits to get my £4 off. I got a beef joint for roasting on Sunday 1/3 off and still £14 - hoping we may have some left over to add to another meal - though with my lot I live in hope However, I did manage to pick up a load of deals for stocking fillers for Christmas - lots of 2 for 1s etc. So all in all not a bad shop with £13 savings made and a large part of the stockings done.

I had an moment of inspiration last night with regards to pressies for the kids for xmas. I have been struggling to find a productive way of spending my Tesco boost vouchers - I've scoured the site and there is nothing there that I need or can use as xmas pressies so I have decided to use them for Merlin passes. At the moment I can get two as they are £52 worth of vouchers each and if I switch to spending on my tesco cc I can earn the additional points I need to get the third one. I think they are about £140 to buy without vouchers. Although I'm not boosting my points to the max its a great use of the vouchers especially as we are only 30 mins from Thorpe, Legoland, London and not far from Chessington and the kids are old enough to be dropped off. Very pleased with that thought process :j

I have kids to pick up and drop off again today, need to pop into town to do a Prim@rk run - for pjs and underwear that are traditional xmas gifts for the kids, pick up a couple of store click and collects and go into vod@fone to see if I can sort out mine and DD's upgrade - very complex as I'm going to give her my upgrade and I will take on a sim only from her account - I think!

Why is it that my posts are always so long - I must master the short and precise method :rotfl:

No list today - (toilets will start to smell if I don't get them cleaned:o)
spends yesterday £133 (mainly xmas pressies)
savings yesterday £13 (sainsburys vouchers and two for ones).

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Productive day yesterday in terms of xmas/bday shopping (have DD and DS bdays at xmas too - hence the desire to get things sorted early). Managed to get lots of 3 for 2 on bodyshop purchases for DD who's Bodyshop mad. Saved £40 plus they gave me a loyalty card (should have cost £5) plus free gift worth £8 and an additional 5% off :money: DD also got lots of half price gifts for her friends.
Mega bargain found by DD who is desperate to get some Uggs for xmas (nornally refuse but am fed up of the awful £10 ones she gets from a cheapo shop which are terrible for her feet). She checked the official website and managed to find the ones she wanted for half price. So as her feet have stopped growing now I agreed to get her some for xmas. All her xmas and bday pressies are now purchased.

Bargains today too. Popped into Debenhams today after dropping girls at Thorpe Park and managed to get DSS1 a new suitcase reduced from £150 to £49 - his last one died whilst we were on holiday in the summer and also got a £10 gift card thrown in :money: No more spends for me today. Really pleased with the progress I have made on the xmas/bday shopping - struggling with DS though as have no idea what to get him.

TO DO LIST:

• [STRIKE]GT&WI[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]taxi service[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]housework[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]budget accounts - need to make sure I stay within budget for pressies[/STRIKE]

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Things took a downhill turn on the MS front yesterday. I went out with a few friends in the evening for a farewell drink for one of the mum's who is relocating to Mongolia with her husbands work. As they were ordering bottles of champagne I felt obliged when it came to my round that I had to do the same so I am now £50 lighter than when I went out. Its very hard when you are under that sort of peer pressure. So now it looks like I won't be hitting my target for this month I'm going to look at doing some surveys to see if I can make amends somehow.

On the positive side the same friend did give me her Vax carpet cleaner (which I have borrowed on a number of occassions), a wheelbarrow, snow shovel and pickaxe :eek: as she could't take them with her. So I suppose that makes up for the £50 spent

I spent much of the day in the car yesterday and have used a full tank of petrol over the last 5 days so I will need to fill up again today. Hopefully I should still remain within budget for the month.

Housework and taxi-ing are the only things on my list today. Started it yesterday but still have a lot to do.

Onwards and upwards as they say

PFTPx