Last Log In 27/4/12 - Time to take back my life!

CAFCGirl

Had a very large sort out of books and dvds yesterday with DH, we've now got quite a lot of a bootfair. Anything that doesnt sell I might then chance listing on ebay/facebay as a final hurrah to see if that gets it shifted.

Feel quite a lot better for having gotten it done.

Sun is shining here today, so will spend some time in the garden and take DS to the park later on as well I think. We need to get out and about, enjoy the weather whilst its here.

I've written up a Summer Bucket List for us as a family and we're set for the first trip tomorrow

CAFCGirl

Making great inroads with the great declutter. Our spare room is full of items to bootfair.

DH has also set up an online savings account. We have set up in our budget a small amount to transfer over in the hopes of building up a little nest to use as a final payment to some debts or as part of our master plan.

Feeling quite upbeat about our new budget starting in August. Hoping we can stick to it. We'll be keeping a spending diary as well so we can see where the excess spending is happening. I'm pretty sure our downfall is going to be takeaways.

£12.64 transferred to my savings account.

CAFCGirl

Feeling pretty pants and low.

We're having issues with our rented house, but we cant afford to move anywhere else. I'm fed up of all the mess everywhere.
DS is having a 'trying' phase, whilst I love him dearly it's exhausting.

Bootfair didn't happen so all the junk is still sitting in our 3rd bedroom.

On the plus side however I have organised DH's bank account in accordance to our budget. We set him up a savings account linked to his current account so we now have a set amount for items such as car tax, MOT, etc going off into that to build up a little pot for when those bills come in as opposed to trying to pay them out of one pay packet.
I also managed to convince him to cancel his DD for the lottery and put that aside, and painted it as 'so technically each month you win £20'

He's also put his name down for some potential overtime between now and Nov. Its only 4 hours on a saturday morning, but is time + 1/2 and a saturday allowance so that would be a good boost too.

Just have to wait and see if it happens.

Not much else to really report. Feel like we're vaguely ticking over.

too_much_debt

Hi

I am feeling the same, no idea what to do with my three girls for the next few weeks, no money to go anywhere that costs anything and they get bored with the park. I feel really bad as their friends are all going on holidays abroad and their cousins are going out and about everywhere but we just can't afford to.

OH is off from 18th so will go to my Mum and Dad's in Poole for 3 or 4 days so we can go out and about down there. I love Weymouth and would love to live near there, maybe one day!

We found out a week ago that we have been paying for next doors water and they have been paying for ours. Not sure how long it's been like that but someone is coming out on Friday. The woman on the phone said it should have been picked up before now.

Basically just before we moved in we had a letter saying that a water meter would be fitted as there was not one there before. They gave us a booklet with the meter serial number on and that number has been on all our bills since 2005 when we moved in.

We got a bill for £1,770 for 6 months water so rang up and she gave us the serial number and told us to check the reading and call back which we did. A few days later when we saw the neighbour he asked why we were looking at his meter and we said it was our meter but he said no it turns his water off. After trying it what should have been our meter was turning his water off and the other meter (they are under separate covers but covers are right next to each other) turned our water off, but he said he had a meter fitted in the 90s and the old meter has a 98 number at the beginning of the serial number yet his bill has a 97 meter number on it. The one that should be ours starts with 05.

I rang up and was told that he also has the same serial number under his account as us but it is on our bills and not on his.

Not sure if it's possible for the water to have been disconnected (there has been road works in the past) and it connected back wrong or whether it has always been his meter.

Things like this I find very stressful and could do without as now we are wondering if we have not paid enough or have paid too much. Next door now has 4 adults in and we have 2 adults and 3 children (10, 9 and 6).

Doesn't help that the weather has been miserable today so the kids could not play out.

CAFCGirl

WOAH! That sounds hugely stressful hun!
So have you both been paying your own water plus the other persons? That a huge bill you had...

We've found our water bill has doubled since having a water meter fitted. The company obv knew it would as theyve put us on a gradient scale.
So for the first year we pay the same as we did before, then next year its the same plus 50% of the increase and the 3rd year it becomes full increase.

We've been trying to control our usage, mostly with baths and the cistern ('if its yellow, let it mellow') and we also now have two water butts that we use for watering the garden.

Today feels equally pants, Im being a rubbish mumma. I just have zero energy for anything....

Duck the Dog is back at the vets on thursday for surgery to remove the pins. Turns out the insurance company never received our claim form so have to do that all over again.

**purpleprincess**

Hullo hun!! How are you? So glad to see a familiar face. Wow, a 3 year old son! I too am 30 this year...

We can do this

CAFCGirl

OMG!!!! PURPS!
How are you? Look at your debt clearing this year, my goodness. Well done you!
Hes 4 now, so its even crazier LOL

Whilst I'm sad that so many I knew/know are still here part of me is secretly thankful

Pleased to report I finally did my bootfair and made over £100 but more importantly cleared a load of stuff that had just been hanging around, taking up space. I've squirrelled it away until there is something considerable that it can be used to pay for/off.

First month of really tying to follow a budget and it's been ok. I'd forgotten a few bitty payments which is annoying, but we'll know for next month.
DH has been very good and has put down for some overtime at work which would give a nice chunk. Its been offered from now until Nov, 4 hours on a saturday, earning £90 take home so he's put himself forward for it all. Its quite nice to have him fully onboard with it all. Im very lucky in that respect.

In other news, Duck the Dog now has a clean(ish) bill of health from the vet. Metal pins and fixer removed, as too were his manly bits. Hes supposedly resting for 14 days to allow it all to heal but try telling that to a 6 month old whippet/spaniel cross!

CAFCGirl

Latest update:

Not doing very well with the budget
We've spent far too much on takeaways and the food budget has been spent with still 10 days left of the month.

But we've learnt a few things if nothing else, so here's hoping September is a significant improvement.

Duck is now attending puppy classes and so far is the naughty kid in class. He is however quick to learn so hopefully as he gets used to going to class he will respond better.

DS is having a very hyperactive summer and DH is off next week so I'm hoping we can get out to some places further afield and spend some time together as a fmily (without spending much) and maybe knock a few more things off our Summer Bucket List

kindofagilr

Hey Hun, how are you getting on? Xx

CAFCGirl

Rubbish......