Janey's Journey to Becoming a MFW

ljaneyr

Afternoon everyone :wave:

My OH and I have made the not very mse decision to hold our wedding ceremony at the same venue as the reception even though it will cost quite a lot more. We were going to change it and get married at the registry office but it's a new one and not very 'weddingy' if you know what I mean! Also as we are staying in a cottage near the venue it would mean travelling on our wedding day instead of spending the whole day there.

I'm not going to increase the wedding budget but it will eat into our contingency money. I've decided to try and get into surveys and back into ebay while I'm part-time again in order to save some money towards hair and make-up or the photographer. It won't be much but it might make me feel better about the cost of the day!

In other mse news, my freezer is stuffed full of food that my mum has given us because she has got rid of an old chest freezer. There is lots of HM soup and veggie stuff so this should help keep our costs down over the next few weeks.

We had a water bill today and we're in credit so our DD has been reduced by £10.50 :T When our electricity gets changed over that DD will be £7 less so a total saving of £17.50 per month or £210 a year :j

Oh, and it's Friday :j Happy bank holiday weekend everybody :beer:

hanging_on_in_there...

Do you think that ebaying is worth it given the charges these days (even when you get a free listing day it still seems to take a chunk...then there's paypal...!?!

ljaneyr

hanging_on_in_there... wrote: »

Do you think that ebaying is worth it given the charges these days (even when you get a free listing day it still seems to take a chunk...then there's paypal...!?!

I'm really not sure. I haven't 'ebayed' seriously for a couple of years but just plan to try a few things and see how it goes. Feedback on here is very off-putting though!

ljaneyr

Hello again, thought I'd resurrect the subheadings I used to use to help structure my posts a bit and focus my ramblings! I'm ditching the diet bit now that bikinis are safely out of the question for a while! I will try to log any exercise though because it makes me feel good and I seem to have been a bit lazy over the last couple of weeks!

I'm also going to add a declutter section. I'm usually quite ruthless with the 'stuff' I keep in my house but I've taken my eye off the ball a bit over the last few months and it sure builds up fast! Helping my mum to pack for moving next week is a bit of a nightmare because of the amount of junk she has. Granted she is downsizing but most of the stuff in the house could have gone years ago, she just doesn't see it though :eek:

MFW actions:
NSD
Freezer full of free food
Water DD reduced to £42.50 :T

Exercise:
Does carrying boxes count?

To do list:
Nothing of my own today - helping mum :A

Happy thoughts
Feeling warm in the sun for the first time this week - a whopping 18 degrees according to the car temp!
Knowing that I can help mum when she needs a hand and feeling like I'm making it a less stressful time for her.
Beautiful wedding of two friends yesterday reminded me that weddings can be fun :rotfl:
The smell of OH making a batch cook curry for tea - yum yum

Habibiboo

:wave:

Spooky Janey ... Mr Hbbb is currently in the kitchen doing exactly the same thing as Mr. Janey, right down to the menu!

Don't feel bad about your grot day, there are days when that happens, especially when you have lots of emotional stuff going on, such as the wedding, your mum's move and the childhood memories.

There's also a bit of pressure when you're off school to feel like you're making the most of the time you won't have when the new term starts, when actually it can be really beneficial to just 'be' for an afternoon.

Good news about the wedding plans, making a major decision such as ceremony / reception venue combination will help to clarify some of the other details too, to pull things together.

And doggy news? Has your Jack Russell shown any preference for possible playmates yet?

Have a great evening and enjoy your curry - we've just made the decision to eat ours on laps in front of the laptop and DVD (The Wire) ... haven't done that for months! Have a restful weekend too! x

ljaneyr

Habibiboo wrote: »

Don't feel bad about your grot day, there are days when that happens, especially when you have lots of emotional stuff going on, such as the wedding, your mum's move and the childhood memories.

There's also a bit of pressure when you're off school to feel like you're making the most of the time you won't have when the new term starts, when actually it can be really beneficial to just 'be' for an afternoon.

Good news about the wedding plans, making a major decision such as ceremony / reception venue combination will help to clarify some of the other details too, to if things together.

And doggy news? Has your Jack Russell shown any preference for possible playmates yet?

You're as usual Hbbb! I always feel like that when there's a lot going on. I suppose I've got more time to dwell on it too during the holidays.

I'm still waiting to hear about the doggy. I didn't get a reply so I've sent them an e-mail as I think I may have done something wrong on the form (like not sent it maybe ??? ) and they are going to get back to me.

ljaneyr

I hope everyone managed to stay dry over the weekend :eek:

We've been really busy but managed to get out for a nice long dog walk by the sea between downpours yesterday. I'm still feeling really tired but then I've been doing a lot of packing at my mum's. It has really reinforced my love of decluttering because I cannot believe how much stuff my mum has in her house! Years of stuffing things away in cupboards and the loft and the garage and the bedrooms as we moved out have resulted in what feels like 100 trips to the tip.

My house is slowly filling up with 'stuff' again so I'm going to keep a record of decluttering on here for a while and see how it goes.

Over the weekend I managed to talk to OH about where we want to be with our savings by the time we get married. Eventually I managed to get a rough figure of £7000 for how much he would like to have in the bank before we start the main part of the build. This will involve moving out until floors/walls/roof etc are in place so we don't want to run out of money half way through! We have ten more paydays including the end of May which gives a target of saving £700 a month. Now this would be easy if I wasn't going to be part-time again when I go back but I still think it's achievable if we are careful. I plan on doing as much overtime as is available although this depends on school budgets etc.

I feel quite positive about this target and I hope it will help OH to save because it's something he really wants to do.


MFW actions:

• A low spend weekend with only budgeted spends (martial arts) and 2 ice creams
• Mr T order arriving later came in just under £50
• Lots of £2 coins into the pot over the last week
• OH is working late all of this week and next which should provide a boost to next months savings. Very proud of him as he managed to stand up for himself and his team by negotiating time and a half for all overtime until the job is finished :T

Exercise:
5 and a half hours of martial arts over the weekend - almost killed me
2.5 walked with dog yesterday

Things have been getting a bit out of hand at home while I've been helping mum so...
To do list for this evening:

• [STRIKE]Update spreadsheets[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Hang washing indoors[/STRIKE] Had to use TD instead
• [STRIKE]Clean kitchen and fridge before shopping arrives[/STRIKE]
• Wrap items for return tomorrow
• [STRIKE]Clean living room[/STRIKE]

Happy thoughts
Lovely weekend spending time with OH
This time tomorrow Mum will be in her new house (all fingers and toes crossed)
Doggy cuddles when it's cold
Managing to write a fairly positive post when I thought it was going to be a moan!

I'm really behind on all your diaries but hope to catch up this week :wave:

Habibiboo

:wave:

Hi Janey ... lovely to see all the positives!

Sounds like you're getting super-organised for all forthcoming events - including helping your mum, the wedding, the house as well as your contingency for when your hours drop. It's surprising how much actual cash you can save by having a bit of extra time instead, certainly works for us at times.

Hope your mum's move goes well (especially hope the weather improves, humping boxes around in the rain is no fun at all)!

Hope you hear from doggy dudes soon too, I'm sure you'd love to get it settled in whilst you're still on holiday. x

slowlyfading

Hope your mum's move goes well and good luck with your savings aim! Sounds like you've been busy

Goldiegirl

Glad to read you're progressing with the wedding plans.

Even if it's not 100% MSE, it's your special day, and it's so right to do it exactly the way you want.

On the decluttering front, for the last couple of years I've kept a record of things that have left the house. It's interesting to see exactly how much is going. In 2013 I decluttered around 380 things (or batches of things), this year I'm up to around 125, but I haven't been quite so active.

I'm also still quite keen on eBaying.

I've found that, as long as I describe things honestly, keep postage costs as low as possible and post things the day after payment, I can still get good feedback. The fees are higher now, but I'm happy to re home unwanted things and raise a little bit of money.

I wouldn't say eBay is easy, but it's not as bad as some of the forums suggest! It is time consuming though, so working part time is a definite plus