The march to financial freedom

Ali-OK

Considering a late night I was still up around 7am and have been online shopping in the sales for more Xmas gifts.

Boots - all half price gift sets - £46.50
Argos - 2 half price toys - £27.98
John Lewis - 2 L'Occitane 30% discounted sets - £28.00

Apart from immediate family (who all have/want money) and DS, I have finished my Christmas shopping . There's also 4 birthday presents among the stash too. Am collecting to avoid delivery costs but John Lewis I can pick up at Waitrose tomorrow which is between the Tidy Tip and Aldi, Argos and Boots are on the retail park which is a mile or so away.

Total spend from this and last Friday is close on £245.

Even adding on the cash for the others, it's going to come in around £400 versus £555 in 2013 versus £810 budget. :j

Back to my SOA - missing from it are the Osteopath at £40 a month and also dog grooming. The dogs cost £100 each visit (£40 for him, £60 for her due to coat type), with a minimum of twice a year, so I'll research the cost of getting a decent trimmer - pretty sure it'll have paid for itself within a year.

No progress on anything else, except too many cups of tea have been drunk :rotfl:

Lots to do this afternoon now!

Emmala

Happy New Year Ali!!!!


So glad to hear you're making progress. SOA looking good!


Keep up the hard work, it will be worth it in the end.


Molly xx

Ali-OK

Hi Molly - and a very Happy New Year to you and the family.

The new found habits are sticking well so far and writing it all here really does help.

Got a long to do list, most don't involve spends, but I still get attracted more to the ones that do - even if it's just buying those pesky stamps we need :rotfl:

I feel like I've marched up the hill and reached a milestone with the mortgage capital payments starting tomorrow and getting the SOA to work with what looks like a decent amount for debt repayments still. Next bit is the straight and narrow and staying on it

Hope 2014 soon brings good news for your DH too.

xx

Ali-OK

A late update for today, but quite a bit achieved considering I didn't get going until mid afternoon :rotfl:

- 3 kitchen drawers and 3 cupboards cleared out, cleaned and re-arranged. I'll never find anything on auto pilot, but that's half the fun :rotfl: I've thrown alot of stuff away and have actually got some space again. Only a few mugs and a wine cooler for car booting. Still got 8 cupboards and the 3 worst drawers to go :eek:

- Have made tags with lovely serated edges out of the Christmas cards and put in a box - will add the bought leftover tags to that and put in easy reach in the loft.

- Tree and decs all down, ready to be stored away. Need to hoover and re-arrange furniture tomorrow.

- Shopping list done for weekly food shop tomorrow. - only has 11 items on it, should be a cheapish week especially considering DS back to school on Monday and packed lunches to do.

Financials:

- Bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar adpoints - 4 picked up today, now at 54
- Nectar card value - up at £22.02

Meal plan for the week:

Friday - Baked pots with beans and cheese
Saturday - Chilli, rice, garlic bread
Sunday - Beef stew and dumplings
Monday - LO beef stew with mash and veg
Tuesday - Somerset pork casserole and veg
Wednesday - Turkey curry, rice and naan bread
Thursday - Chicken in breadcrumbs with chips and peas

I already have everything in for the above, though rice is on the shopping list as running low.

Tomorrow's plan:

- usual financial checks first thing
- phone mortgage company to let them know capital payment gone out :j
- Go to Tidy Tip and empty car of old hoover, empty bottles and carrier bags
- On to Waitrose and pick up Christmas sales gifts
- On to Aldi and do the food shop
- Back home via local PO and buy stamps
- Stamp letters and post
- Go and deliver the local thank you letters
- Store Xmas tree and decs
- Sort old Xmas lights and decs
- Find previous years unused Xmas cards and put together with 2013 ones for using 2014
- Hoover lounge and put furniture back
- Declutter another cupboard or drawer in the kitchen
- Work emails
- Eat at some point :rotfl:

- Phone one of my friends for catch up
- Phone Mum re: Saturday
- Phone internet/landline provider to discuss package and pay 12 months advance line rental (saves £58.50)

That should do!

ragstoricheswannabe

That's one big list!! Good luck xx

Ali-OK

What a day! I think someone put nitrous oxide in my tea this morning as I've been like that snail from Turbo on full charge :rotfl:

Ali-OK wrote: »

Tomorrow's plan:

- [STRIKE]usual financial checks first thing[/STRIKE]Done
-[STRIKE] phone mortgage company to let them know capital payment gone out[/STRIKE] :j Done - takes 7-10 days to get a confirmation letter and new interest amount.
- [STRIKE]Go to Tidy Tip and empty car of old hoover, empty bottles and carrier bags[/STRIKE] Done - the Supervisor asked if I had a good NYE with 12 empty champagne/wine/spirits bottles. Why of course, 1 Irish coffee :rotfl:
- [STRIKE]On to Waitrose and pick up Christmas sales gifts[/STRIKE] Done - really lovely gift sets, very pleased
- [STRIKE]On to Aldi and do the food shop[/STRIKE] Done - £9.58 spent
- [STRIKE]Back home via local PO and buy stamps[/STRIKE] Done - bought 12 (£6) and only 4 left already
- [STRIKE]Stamp letters and post[/STRIKE] Done
- [STRIKE]Go and deliver the local thank you letters[/STRIKE] Done and popped into beauticians en route and got eyebrows threaded. £3 spent
- [STRIKE]Store Xmas tree and decs[/STRIKE] Done - and tied the box from the ball of string I rewound. Immensely satisfying
- [STRIKE]Sort old Xmas lights and decs[/STRIKE] Done - half for binning and half for selling on
- [STRIKE]Find previous years unused Xmas cards and put together with 2013 ones for using 2014[/STRIKE] Done - probably have enough for the next 3 years, same with all the tags and found tons of bows and ribbon too:rotfl:
- [STRIKE]Hoover lounge and put furniture back[/STRIKE] Done - helped by DS
- [STRIKE]Declutter another cupboard or drawer in the kitchen[/STRIKE] Done - 1 drawer and 4 cupboards. Now have a baking cupboard. Go me!
- [STRIKE]Work emails[/STRIKE] Done - got a list of 'To Do's' from that now as well!
- [STRIKE]Eat at some point [/STRIKE]:rotfl: Just enjoying pitta breads with duck, cucumber and plum sauce in. Yum. Tea and christmas box of biscuits kept me going all day!

- Phone one of my friends for catch up To do this eve when I'm a bit more chilled out
- [STRIKE]Phone Mum re: Saturday[/STRIKE]Done - she told me to slow down!
- [STRIKE]Phone internet/landline provider to discuss package and pay 12 months advance line rental (saves £58.50)[/STRIKE]Done and sorted

[STRIKE]That should do![/STRIKE] Nope - 2 loads of washing done and hung on the line until 4ish - now on airers.

Also phoned GPs for routine appointment. Had some minor surgery in the summer so it's the next test and check. That's next Monday and fits around work meeting.

Financials:

Usual checks done
Nectar adpoints - up to 62 today
Nectar card - same as yesterday, £22.02
No Canvass surveys available for me as yet.

Definitely going for a chill out and relax evening and catching up on here!

Ooh and sig update to mortgage too!

Ali-OK

I forgot to say I had a look around Waitrose whilst I was there. Didn't buy any food, but did buy a beautiful glass candle lantern that was half price at £7.50 and some Christmas dinner candles, also half price at £1.25. That's £17.75 spent from my Christmas money, nothing else now, it's all been re-allocated to debt and the £3k fund.

They also had the really thick gauntlet type single oven mitts that I know my Mum wants, so I bought 2 of those (£15) and will be giving them to her on Saturday as a thank you for having DS whilst I'm working.

Still waiting to hear when my Boots, Argos and Matalan online orders will be ready to collect. They're on the same retail park, so hoping I can do those in one visit.

Time to put the kettle on, find my slippers and light some candles

Ali-OK

It's Friday and I'm glad I'm not attempting anything remotely as mad as my 'To Do' list yesterday!

CC2's statement has rolled over to the new month, so I've done some jiggery-pokery with the budget and set up a payment for £305 to go out on Monday. It means I'll be carrying forward just over £3k Emergency Fund and not £3,300 but Jan income looks better compared to last year and I won't dip below the £3k threshold during February.

I am working tomorrow afternoon and there's a strong possibility I will also be working Saturday 11th. A 6 day week for first week back is hardcore for me

I realise I haven't added expenses reimbursements from the business which do push up the income a little. Being home based, I get Home as Office tax allowances which I reimburse myself for once a week. So I might be able to push up debt repayments a little more some months. Other months, they'll be things like marketing costs that are high and mean a lower salary take. It's swings and roundabouts being SE.

Plans for today do include going into town to get 3 birthday cards and replacement envelopes. With parking, I should spend under £5. I definitely need to set myself a challenge to stay out of town for a number of days a month. I'll sit and work out what I think is achievable - probably 3/31 for Jan.

More kitchen decluttering, work stuff and general housework are on the agenda too.

Have a great day everyone.

Ali-OK

Back from town - it was not below the £5 I planned, though I didn't buy Christmas table cloths and napkins in Wilkos that were half price and that I could have put away for next December's big family lunch. Hmm.. wondering if that was a mistake and I should have done.

Anyhow the spends:

£1.99 in in the 99p Store - 10 round plastic containers with lids 99p - perfect for putting the dog treats into, keeping fresh and stopping bits falling out and leaving a mess in the kitchen drawer. Spares will be used for freezing food too as big enough for batch portions of chilli and spag bol. £1 on 2 x 50p festive candle stands - these have gone in the candle cupboard for next winter, glittery white ones with snowmen

£2.08 Card Factory - they're doing 10 cards for £1 so I got £1 worth and that will save me quite a bit of money over the year for birthday cards. 59p for a card with an age on it I need for this month. In the 49p sale basket an A5 ring bound hard covered lined note book. A treat I know, but going to use that as my my record for meal plans, grocery costs and things that need doing in the home that aren't immediate - like the lounge door handle spring, the kitchen top box hinge, dripping tap and bathroom sink pop up plug. I will have to get these done at some point but will wait for a month where I earn enough over average to get them done.

£3.70 in Wilkinsons. 100 Envelopes (2 sizes) cost £1.70 - one pack is for work, so that is reclaimable. And the inevitable - 2 candles :rotfl: They're medium rustic Christmas ones - perfect for the stands I got in the 99p store and £1 each so they're been put away for next winter. Not on the Wilko website either, so guess it's just what the store has left over. Was tempted to buy a couple more but didn't.

£1.10 car parking.

So a total of £8.87. Easy to see where the little spends like that add up.

I've also just transferred some business expenses online (including 85p above for 1 pack of envelopes) and added to my 'In' column in this month's budget - enough for me to up CC2 payment to £325 and keep end of month amount roughly the same, so have changed that payment in online banking as well in readiness for it going out on Monday.

My Boots half price gifts are also now ready for collection, but will wait to see if the Argos and Matalan ones come in over the next few days so they can be collected together.

Must do free things now - housework! Urgh!

Ali-OK

This is a note to self, so I don't forget to do it!

Just read Martin's email and in the Top 10 of reclaims is delayed flights.

DS and I were delayed by 24 hrs in 2011 Majorca to Luton. I'm not sure I have any other details than that, but I recall it very well - couldn't use our pre-paid return rail fare home, dogs had to be kept an extra night at the kennels, gave brother petrol to come and collect us. Had to buy toothbrushes and paste as they would not take our baggage off the plane - convinced the problem would be fixed.

In the end they had to bring in another aeroplane. We had taken off in it too @ 11am - but couldn't get over the mountains on the island due to a door seal fault (which funnily enough delayed us by 4 hrs going out) so we had to return and land and wait. Until they decided at 7pm that they would put us up in a hotel, feed us and give us a bed for the night. Can't grumble about that.

Then we had another delay by an hour to the next morning's flight as well. Complete nightmare.

I'll have a rough idea of the day of the flight and time and I know the airline too.

I really must follow this one up. Someone kick me up the rear if I've not posted that I've made any progress...pretty please