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

pennyforthepot

Busy morning - and regretting the coffee that I had last night whilst waiting for DS to finish his course (free from Waitrose of course) as it kept me awake most of the night. Managed to pick up a few :money: bits from Waitrose - 3 loaves of reduced bread, some chillis that I am going to attempt to pickle, and reduced curry which was already 1/3 off. Didn't manage a NSD - as you can see, also forgot that I had to pay for DS's course for this month yesterday.

Popped out for a quick coffee with a friend this morning (free with my costa card). Ran a few chores - post office, dry cleaning and Mr T to pick up an ipad mini case I ordered for DS. Saved myself £10 by buying 3 £15 Itunes vouchers for £35 instead of £45 - may go back to get some more as they make great pressies for anyone you don't know what to get. I really need to reconcile my bdays and xmas pressie budget account but that will have to wait till tomorrow.

TO DO LIST

• [STRIKE]GT & WI[/STRIKE]
• company expenses to sort out
• [STRIKE]pop to WH Smith to get some paper for DSS2 and see if I can order a book for DD. Have a £5 voucher to use[/STRIKE]£10.78 saved
• [STRIKE]do a couple of favours for my friend for a charity - try and get some sponsorship from ex's company[/STRIKE]
• write that list that I should have done yesterday and the day before
• [STRIKE]order dvds for DS for bday and xmas before he changes his mind again[/STRIKE]found an unused gift card £10 and signed up to try Prime so no delivery cost
• [STRIKE]chilli and jackets for tea[/STRIKE] in the oven

Gotta go

PFTP x

edinburgher

I miss my Prime subscription, was a wonderful way to order loads of Christmas presents and have them delivered the next day (normally a good courier, none of this HDN nonsense). But then they got wise to the fact that people only used the trials at Christmas and then became considerably less generous with handing them out. It has been years since my last free trial!

pennyforthepot

edinburgher wrote: »

I miss my Prime subscription, was a wonderful way to order loads of Christmas presents and have them delivered the next day (normally a good courier, none of this HDN nonsense). But then they got wise to the fact that people only used the trials at Christmas and then became considerably less generous with handing them out. It has been years since my last free trial!

It certainly has proven useful. I also took up the offer a couple of years ago and so I was suprised to find it offered to me again - I can only think that is because I changed my name when I got married along with my email address.

PFTPx

pennyforthepot

I didnt get round to posting yesterday as I was out with friends all afternoon and busy in the morning.

Daily food budget is down to £2.19 for the next 11 days - I only bought some milk cheese and veg. Suspect it will be down to pennies by next week :eek: Saying that my freezers are bursting at the seams so it's just milk, veg and fruit that I will need to buy (I hope).
I have banned myself from picking up any more yellow sticker stuff in the supermarkets as I can't freeze any more stuff.

No list today as I have instructed myself to concentrate on the business finances - we're running low on funds so I need to chase up a couple of unpaid invoices and get on top of the accounts which need to be prepared for end of year in the next couple of weeks. I must admit I am working through things blind as I've never had to do this before - I may have to persuade DH to use a small business accountant as it's not really something you can muddle through :eek:

Wrapped up the first lot of christmas stocking fillers yesterday and now have most birthday pressies (for DS and DD) as well as about 80% of the christmas pressies bought - struggling with DSS2 though as I think he wants clothes - will need to get DH onto that.

Right off to procrastinate before I start working on the business accounts :rotfl:

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Spent most of the day yesterday working on the business accounts. I have made the decision to find an accountant to check through it all and show me how to do the annual returns and corporation tax. Hopefully it will be a one off cost as once I'm shown I'm sure I can do it for the next time.

Hoping for another LSD today. Need to pick up a few bits for tea with my measly £2. DH made pizzas out of the tortillas last night so need to buy a pack of those but hoping to find some more chicken in the freezer - will have to dig deep :eek:

Nothing much on the MS front although, after listening to Moneybox last weekend where they were talking about opening lots of current accounts to make the most of the 3 - 5% interest rates I did try and open an additional Flexiaccount with Nationwide. After searching the small print I discovered that if you open more than one account then the interest rate will automatically be reduced to 1% - so MoneyBox got it wrong. I did manage to open a joint account though (well just waiting for confirmation) so if that goes through then I will have £5000 earning 5% and hopefully I can then open one for DH and get an additional £2500 at 5%.

Weekend of housework for me

TO DO LIST:

• [STRIKE]clean oven (hate that task)[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]vacuuming - upstairs and down[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]clean the floors[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]clean the bathrooms[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]weekend washing[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]ironing[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]dusting[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]take DD to gym[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]pop to Mr T[/STRIKE] didnt need to go as got salmon out the freezer and made a pesto couscous to go with it
• [STRIKE]update budget account[/STRIKE]s
• read and action emails

Time for a coffee then :rotfl:

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

NSD for me in the end yesterday - and I blitzed the house so everything is clean and tidy (for one day):j

Washing and ironing done today and a quick trip to Mr T for some staples £6.33 so I now have £1.83 a day for the next 9 days :eek:

Having a relaxing afternoon - wrapping some presents and reading some diaries that I haven't had a chance to catch up on for a while. Only me DH and DSS2 for tea as my two have gone to celebrate their dads bday.

Enjoy the sunshine

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Feeling very :mad::mad:with myself this morning. I updated my budget accounts yesterday - paid for a cc bill and took the relevant monies out of my relevant pots on my spreadsheet - checked my savings balance (on said spreadsheet) and I was just over the £100,00 mark. Checked again this morning and I seem to have lost £500 overnight :mad: I have wasted an hour trying to undo everything that I entered last night and still can't get back to my original total but can't see where I have made a mistake either - I will be extremely peeved if that is the correct amount and I made a mistake somewhere.Going to spend another 10 minutes on it then need to get on with other stuff

PFTP (in a hump):(
x

pennyforthepot

After staring at my budget accounts spreadsheets for far too long I still can't understand where the money has gone to. The only conclusion I can make is I didn't account for my car insurance properly which is close to £500 so I will have to accept the fact that I am £500 down on where I thought I was. No point crying over split milk, I just need to make sure I account for things as and when they occur and try hard over the following months to try and make up for it.

Fairly LSD yesterday of around £10 - had to buy ingredients for DD's cooking lesson - all budgeted for and some fruit. I need to get a couple of bits today for tea - potatoes and sausages as I don't have enough to go round.

We got an email through yesterday to tell us that the show we were going to see in Brighton has been cancelled- really disappointed as we were really looking forward to it and we also had to cancel our last trip due to our house move. we are still going down as we have a hotel booked and I do love Brighton.

Not much happening on the MS front other than not spending - hoping that our joint flexiaccount acceptance will come through soon.

I picked up some yellow sticker jalapenos the other day so I am going to attempt to pickle them and also make a small batch of apple and onion chutney from some slightly manky apples that the kids refuse to eat. I don't have all the ingredients but I'm sure I can throw something together - whether it will be edible is another matter :rotfl:

TO DO LIST

• [STRIKE]GT &WI[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]admin[/STRIKE]
• business accounts - on going
• [STRIKE]make apple and onion chutney[/STRIKE]
• pickle jalapenos forgot to get some vinegar
• [STRIKE]Mr T[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]wrap some pressies[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]take DS to programming course[/STRIKE]

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

ooh its cold today - this weather will test our heating system out:eek:

£3.75 spent at Mr T yesterday - which leaves a daily spend of £1.72 left - it will soon be down to pennies but at least I only have one week to go. Need to get some prawns today for egg fried rice - don't think I'll get those for that price.

Managed to pick up some half price xmas crackers from Mr W along with a free tea and 40p pastry whilst waiting for DS to finish his lesson.

Off to see a friend this morning to check out the paint she has chosen for her lounge and dining room which she described to me as Elephant breath :rotfl: Then I need to sort out my phone contract which can be upgraded today. I was planning to go onto a sim only contract but DD can also upgrade and she wants a white iphone but on her contract she will need to pay to get it so I am going to see if I can get one on my contract and then she can get a sim only and we will swop - mobiles are a big cost in this house but I have put a limit on what I will pay for the kids if they want anything else they have to pay for it themselves.

Off to warm up

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Managed to get some half price prawns yesterday and 40p green beans-but still went over my daily food budget as I needed some spring onions so now down to £1.49 a day for the next 6 days. Homemade fishcakes, potato wedges with tartare sauce for tea tonight - may need to get some bits for the tartare sauce - though will probably look through the cupboards and make up something that vaguely resembles it :rotfl:

On the MS front I upgraded my phone yesterday so hopefully DD will get the shiney white one she wants and I get a reduced monthly bill by £5. Also picked up a nice Jasper Conran wash bag for DS for xmas and only paid £12 instead of the £28 because of a 20% sale and £10 free gift voucher I received last time I went in. Thinking about getting DSS1 a coffee maker for his xmas. I have found one in Argos reduced to £65 plus I also get a £5 voucher for spending over £50.

I have been given the name of an IFA who left a message for me yesterday - I need to give him a call back today.

Not much else to report. Should really sort out my to do list but my brain is not in gear this morning

PFTPx