Debt Free & Frugal for 2014 (I hope!)

Mamma85

Jobs done today-
Curtains down, blind up.
Put up dd1s book holder (ikea spice rack!)
Put curtains up on fb selling pages. Just have to wait for someone buy them now.

Done some Christmas shopping, have £20 put aside for Christmas this month and found some bargain pjs for my friends ds and dd2, I'm paying 11.82 for 2 sets of pjs, the budget for each child is £10 so I'm very pleased, got to collect and pay girls them tomorrow (good old Argos )

Dh's step sisters, step DDs are going to have a story book and chocolate or bubble bath for Christmas, I usually budget £10 for each of them but I've halved it to £5. In my present stash I found The Singing Mermaid, (it was a duplicate gift for one if the DDs) so that's saved me some money.

Tomorrow dd2 is at a play barn party , I'm taking dd1 so I'll end up buying her some £3 chip type meal, it can come out of the food shopping budget, but I didn't have to buy a present as it came out of my stash.
But I do need to stock up on sone card factory 10 for £1 cards.


Birthdays :bdaycake:
Still to buy for -
August
Aunty - Ithink flowers and chocolates, we are going to visit her soon.

October
Stepsister SDD2, she's 5 - something from present stash.
My dad - he's 70, I've asked him to tell me what he wants, then a few other foodie bits.
MiL- small token gift from DDs
Dh- might suggest a meal out

November-
Friends dd2 - she's 3, I've asked my friend to tell me what she wants/needs for her.

Christmas :xmastree:
(Not included DDs)
My Dad - ?
My sister -£20
SiL - boots set
Aunty - boots set
Dh- ?
Friends dd1- pjs
Stepsister SDD's- bubble bath x2 and story book

Mamma85

Well, off to buy Christmas jimjams today, then a play date with the kids, (I get an adult to talk to!) then a play barn party (I hate those places ) but what can you do.
Then after that, I'm off to pick up some sandals I've bought, they are nice and only £2 and I do need some but I still lay awake last night feeling guilty about it!

Also had lovely stressful (all self induced) evening trying to book a hairdresser and I still haven't got one
I know it's a want more than a need, but I can't actually remember the last time I had a hair cut. I look like a scarecrow and dh is home soon, and if he leaves me due to said scarecrow lookedness I will be in a financial pickle :rotfl::rotfl:

I'm going to find a separate purse to use for my food money ( I'll pinch one off the DDs) as I want to take out £10 cash for little food top ups, and if it's all in one purse with my other money I'll get mightily confused!

I may have a chance with getting dh to cancel sky, he mentioned keeping the extra money in his account to save up (I think he's worried I'll spend it:eek::rotfl:) and said about saving to take the girls to Peppa pig land, also if he has to work away over Christmas we want to take the girls out for the day somewhere in November.

Mamma85

Mamma85 wrote: »

I'm also making a list of NEEDS and WANTS for this month, to prioritise what I actually need to get this month.

AUGUST
NEED -
School shoes x 2
[STRIKE]Knickers for dd2[/STRIKE] .........buying today
[STRIKE]Tights/socks x 2 girls for school[/STRIKE]..... got grey knee highs
Thermal lunchbox for dd1.............to save money on school dinners as she only likes hot meals at lunch.
School Cardigans x 2 for Dd1......need green but really hard to find in the supermarkets round here
Birthday present for DA

WANT
New water bottles for girls
[STRIKE]New duvet set and sheet for spare room[/STRIKE] .......don't need as I was given a big throw so it covers the bed completely.
New undies for me

..........:)

Right I'm going to finish my coffee, have a shower then get the DDs up and sorted and head up town, I have a voucher for a free Krispy Kreme doughnut but I don't know if I'm brave enough to use it!:o

Mamma85

Well got the pjs, didn't have time to try out my doughnut voucher:(

Collected my £2 sandals are they are even nicer than the photo, so I feel less guilty about buying them

I had £8 ish left from this months christmas money, so I bought 2 books for dd2's stocking and one for stepsisters SDD, so they just need bubble bath or poundshop selection box, so I spent £7.47 on 3 books.

Spent £4.15 at play barn birthday party and spent £5.50 in a Asda on knickers for dd2 and toilet training pads. I had pjs to return so I saved £3 (should have been £8.50)

Mamma85

Bought the DDs some new water bottles spent £2.28, and then 9.26 in Aldi on a top up shop and bits for the DDs play date tomorrow.

Mamma85

My child benefit went in earlier than usual, so got the DDs school shoes and dd1s cardigans for school, and pjs for friends dd1 for Christmas, used a 15% off £40 voucher and in effect got the pjs for free! :j

Got dd2 some new pe pumps, they were reduced and I had a discount code aswell, so £1.79 for those. :j

Put the £100 left into my savings account.

Bank account is looking quite healthy so I'm thinking of reducing the overdraft by £100, which will leave us £200 in the joint account, £70 in the savings, and dh still has his £200. Plus I still have my money left for the food shopping.

I also got a great bargain (IMO) I wanted to get dd2 a wooden dolls bed for Christmas, they had one for £16 in ikea I was going get, but found one for £1 on a fb selling page, plus it's near where the girls have kickboxing lessons, so saving on petrol too! Just got to smuggle it into the cad so she doesn't see! So a £15 saving!

I'm going to use the £5 off £40 spend at Asda from the weekly mse email:)

After everything's gone out, including my phone bill on the 9th I should have £96.21 left, I'm hoping to spend only another £40 on my next big shop, so might come in under budget for the grocery challenge!

Mamma85

Just paid £100 off the overdraft!:j

Also cancelled our overdraft ppi, at 80p a month, only noticed it last month and we never signed up for it, very odd.

Bought the DDs some school work books, £5.98 total, but we had a lovely (free) day out at the water park and a picnic.:D

Also need to pay out £20 to book a Princess for dd2s birthday next year, she'll be 6 and hasn't had a big birthday party, like her sister has, and her party was cancelled when she was 4 because of the snow, in March!
It's £50 total but she's really excited about it she wants Elsa to come to her party.:)

Mamma85

Just sold something on the fb selling pages so that's £8 in the savings mug and I've got a pic kip on Monday which is another £4,

Then my bargain dolly bed to pick up on Saturday, I need to make a start on some bedding for it, can't have cold dollys can we!

Got some more bits to put up for sale, so might do that later tonight.

Can't believe we're nearly halfway through the summer holidays!

Mamma85

Mamma85 wrote: »

AUGUST
NEED -
[STRIKE]School shoes x 2
Knickers for dd2
Tights/socks x 2 girls for school[/STRIKE]
Thermal lunchbox for dd1.............to save money on school dinners as she only likes hot meals at lunch.
[STRIKE]School Cardigans x 2 for Dd1......need green but really hard to find in the supermarkets round here [/STRIKE]
Birthday present for DA

WANT
[STRIKE]New water bottles for girls
New duvet set and sheet for spare room[/STRIKE]
New undies for me

............

Mamma85

Well my bargain dolls bed was not to be, as when I got there the stupid woman said her daughter changed her mind about selling it, but she forgot to message me :mad: good job I was in the area anyway this morning otherwise I'd have been even more annoyed. :mad: