Steps towards making the dream a reality...

niftythrifty33

I'm still so chuffed about my job, a change is definitely as good as a rest :j

We're a bit overdrawn at the mo' but i really dont want to use the savings. I'm hoping that if we're careful now over December/Jan things may be ok? But we have house insurance due 4th Jan so best get shopping around!

Just a few bits and pieces left to buy for Christmas and the food but I never buy loads, just what we need and a bit extra as I've been given a bit of money from family that are coming for the day so need to have something nice to show for it (I'm so tight :rotfl:

I have joined a credit check company for myself and DH and have quite a bit of info about old cards etc. I need to work out how to go about checking if we paid PPI unnecessarily and I know we always had late payment charges so I'm wondering whether I can claim that back too? any advice would be great.

Currently have £41 in cash back account.

How does everyone else manage to keep on track this time of year? I find it very difficult!!

EchoDelta

Hi thrifty, just found your diary.

Congratulations on the new job! :beer:

I'm finding it difficult to keep on track this month too - not so much the presents (I have a specific account for that) but the extra socialising.

niftythrifty33

Echo, I know what you mean! We had Mr. Nifty's works do last night and stayed away. Got a good deal on a room and it was a lovely treat but it's all adding up!!

I needed a new dress to go out and wanted a sparkly one so I used an old comfortable black dress and stuck diamonte things all over it, it really did look nice, I will put some pics on here if I remember. I bought some shoes for £15 but they are lovely

Thanks to my new job, I managed to get some new boots for DH for half price, and a xmas present for DD2 for half price. I also managed to buy a certain quite popular tablet from Mr.T which has been sold out for weeks and with our clu*card points it cost a grand total of...£38 :money:

I'm currently making a patchwork quilt for my sis and am hoping to make a few other homemade pressies this week as money is getting very low.

Both myself and Mr N are both struggling to not give the kids as much as usual for birthdays and Christmas. So far the eldest totals £140 and there's still stuff I want to buy. Also DD totals £70 but she wants money towards a phone and a small amount of cash looks so naff these days.

niftythrifty33

-Meal plan for rest of December
-Write details of old credit and close credit checker accounts
-Look into claiming refunds
-Order food for December online
-Do more sewing and homemade gifts
-Finish Christmas shopping
-Write and post cards (already bought in Jan sale)
-Do banking

niftythrifty33

So, I've written the details of old credit cards etc from Equ*fax website, just need to close the account now before I get charged monthly. I still can't properly work out how to go about claiming despite all the info I've read!! Any idiots guide gratefully welcome.

Have nearly finished the December meal plan and shopping list. Mr N is going to do it tonight as I never got around to doing online and I hate going shopping.

Think I might have secured a swap, doing some cleaning in exchange for our hair cuts/colour which may save me around £250 per year :j

Still loving the new job but retail is terrible for making me want stuff, especially when it's in the sale. I have to say to myself "NO, you DON'T NEED it" about 10 times a day.

Mr N got a bonus for £170 which is he wants to go towards extra Christmas present :mad: I want it to go towards the mortgage...so you can see, our priorities are very different. I hope this will change as he sees the mortgage going down next year.

I'm going to do a 'frugal' tip of the day whenever I post as I love reading others ideas on how to save money, so here's my 1st one...

When kids/teens/adult men!! put clothes in wash, go through them to see what's actually dirty. Fold and put away all clean clothes. If it's a bit of mud, wipe it off with a damp cloth (especially school trousers). If I didn't do this for every wash, I'd have double the washing.

Edit: I've changed the name of my diary as it was really boring!

niftythrifty33

I've just edited the 1st page of this diary as it was lots of waffle and I know when people hover over the first page they just want basic info.

I'm so chuffed to say the initial plan, to have an emergency fund, has now been achieved and we have a very good amount which would see us through about 2 months if Mr N got laid off. This is currently sitting in a very low interest account. We have some space left in DS's ISA which has the best rate so should I move it to that?

The best thing about the above is that any extra can now go straight against the mortgage.

Other great news is that my temporary job will now be permanent :j
we are so pleased and moving from a VERY stressful job to something completely different (although half the pay) is definately worth it!! I'd recommend it to anyone :dance: Look after yourselves gals and guys, NO money is worth misery and illness (physical or mental). Oh! and when you leave, you are replaced very quickly, in every way! So if you're considering jumping ship just do it.

Fugal tip of the day: Buy value dishwasher tablets not liquid. Break them in half, on the edge of the worktop. Using half a tablet works just as well and they last for ages.

suse*

Congrats on your perm job. That must be such a relief knowing it is sorted out so you can plan a bit. I did something similar and changed jobs last year, and I couldn't think how I would manage with half the money, but there was no way I could carry on as I was. It has made me budget much better though, as before I don't know where half the money went, where now I am getting much better at choosing what I want to spend / do.

Thanks for the dishwasher tip too as I have nearly run out and hadn't even thought of looking at cheaper ones. Even though I use aldi's own clothes washing stuff I've still been using finish dishwasher tabs, yet aldi's are probably just as good and cheaper too. I'll need to investigate when I am next there.

niftythrifty33

Ok, so all budgeting has completely gone out the window. I have no idea how much we have left and I still have an aunt to buy for:mad:

But, I will get back to it straight after Christmas. We haven't touched the savings but we have house insurance to buy in beginning of Jan so I have no idea where the money will come from??? But, we have enough food for weeks (apart from milk!) so at least we will survive if we get snowed in :rotfl:

Frugal tip of the day: Freeze EVERY bit of leftovers, it will all make a family meal eventually.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve everyone Ho Ho Ho!!!

niftythrifty33

Happy belated Christmas and New Year money savers.

My son has created an amazing spreadsheet for me which does more than I could have wished for. So, I'm starting new year feeling in control of the finances for a change. We have 2 big expenses this month, Building & contents Ins. and get the car fixed.

On a plus side, we have loads of food in the cupboard and freezer. I've set a food/living budget of £400 for January (£100 p/w for 5 of us, adults & big teens). But I'm hoping to come under budget with careful meal planning. As long as we can stay away from the take-away's and as long as I/they make they effort to make packed lunches which is hard to do in January as it's so cold. I could really do with some help with this as the usual lunch box ideas are always aimed at small kids not very big ones!

Unfortunately any spare money at the end of Jan will have to be saved as we have DS 18th and DH 40th in March with nothing saved yet. But I will see whether I can squeeze anything out for overpayments.

The new job is going well but I still don't really know how much I will be earning until it settles down into regular hours.

Frugal tip of the day: Using old 2 litre squash bottles. Decant some squash into the empty bottle and make up the diluted squash to fill the bottle. Put in the fridge and hide any other squash somewhere safe. This will stop the kids/teens using loads of squash to make strong drinks, making it go further and hopefully saving their teeth.

niftythrifty33

Managed to get new Buildings & contents Insurance for £154 with L&G with 'hopefully' £52 cashback.

I'm currently on track to have quite a bit left over this month. I managed to buy the insurance outright instead of monthly, also saving on interest.

I did buy a new slow cooker today for £24 reduced from £44. I've needed a new one for months and it will really be used. My old one smashed when it fell out of the cupboard!

Job to do tomorrow: Meal plan for whole of January, then I will feel like this...:A