NST;September Squirrels

mothernerd

tori.k wrote: »

Afternoon.

Just popping head round door as I would like to join you all for the October challenge,that give's me a chance to actually sort our outgoings and read the old threads, I can't seem to get on-top of our finances at the moment (keep robbing peter to pay paul) and it starting to feel like i've headed to sea in a colander,Im ashamed but admit I need something to keep me focused before messy becomes unmanageable. Think I should be called Dori (those with kids will understand) instead of Tori

Welcome Tori, feel free to travel along with us this month (you can join us if you want but no pressure), do what you are comfortable with. Maybe start with something simple like trying to get a few SFD, then add something else (trying to get everything under control at once can make your head spin).

LoveaDove wrote: »

I have had two bits of money come my way today- I received a cheque from the DVLA for a tax rebate for 2 months of tax on my old rust bucket. I also found out that my new car insurance company had credited me just over £10 into my account after I sent them proof of my No Claims discount. As there was a week and a half's overlap between old insurance on old car and new insurance on new car, I thought I had just missed out on another year's No Claims discount, but it appears the new company let me claim for it and refunded the difference.

I paid my cheque in and also dropped off 20 items to the local charity shop, so my room feels a little more liberated now!

Unexpected money is so great.:j:j:j And:T:T:T for clutter clearing .

nannygladys wrote: »

I have dgd staying the night and as I let her chose tea the majority was spent on that, mind you I did enjoy the chips and pizza!!

Off on holiday on Monday on my own and really looking forwards to it, I'm going down south to see if the weather is warmer and have a look around places that I don't get to when I have various children with me, it has been budgeted for and I'm taking most of the food with me so I'm hoping I can keep costs down - we will see.

Nannyg

Sharing food and time with children is always good. Have a lovely holiday.

I spent money today £3.50 for taxi to mum's, but free food all day, a lift home and free beetroot from mum's next door neighbour - we got 2 each but the are the size of turnips (the ones you make halloween lanterns out of).

Nothing much to say otherwise, feeling a bit strange. Workpeople in from 9 am Monday but some painting I definitely need to do and some I would like to have done but not sure if it is possible (how to tackle the job). Still lots of clearing to do and too few places to put things. Want to keep my bed until the last moment - really can't manage with the mattress on the floor. By this time next week things should be a lot more sorted but getting from here to there is a bit :eek:.

More uncertainty caused by DS2 announcing he is moving out of the little house to a house-share. I have been expecting this but he doesn't seem to have sorted out what will happen to the furniture he has accumulated and was vague about paying me the unpaid rent - will pay 'as and when'. However, will put all that to one side and concentrate on getting ready for Monday.

Today i am grateful for free food, ys bargains and charity shops.

speakingofart

Morning everyone, happy weekend! Hope the people feeling under the weather are feeling brighter today - the weather certainly isn't helping!! Spendy day for me today, off in a minute to take the car in, already been food shopping so feeling quite productive. Hoping the car costs less than I've earned on Amazon... off to a friend's housewarming/ birthday party later on, so a productive and fun weekend I hope. Whatever happens, at least there will be no studying involved!!

PheoniX

Hi gang :wave:

Im having a lazy Saturday- a spend free Saturday at that! Yesterday turned into a spendy afternoon but only £4.99 on food in Tesc..

So the whole Flat move isnt going ahead after all I met the landlord for the first time yesterday and just had a funny gut feeling about it all so decided to pull out Part of me is gutted that I have lost the holding deposit as some of that could have gone towards my other budgets for this month and the credit card payment . But the other part of me is relieved that I have realised my doubts early on and that financially I will be that much better off staying put for now and focussing on the debt..

I now have £140 to last me til pay day in 20 days time so will need to try the envelope system for the next 3 weeks.. I might fuel up first though and split the remainder 3 ways.

I am going to get out of these doldrums in a bit and go out for a lovely woodland walk with a friend of mine, followed by a cuppa :beer:

I hope you all have a great weekend whatever youre upto. hugs.

:wave:

apple_muncher

PhoeniX, shame about the flat, but at least you realised sooner rather than later.

A spendy day here, as anticipated, but 'good' buys. Hmmm, that sounds like I feel the need to justify them! Some were necessary (throat lozenges for dh, aspirin, ibuprofen), some were good (slippers for me for Cmas, a bui1dabear for dd for her bday - she always has one, but wants other things AS WELL, so i said she would have to choose, and she chose to find a bear in a ch shop! hair dye, plastic pots for lunches), some were luxuries (a scooter for £7, so I have one when dd nicks mine, sparkly white wool and pretty buttons for crafting).

The biggest spend was on coconut oil as H&B had a BOGOF on everything - I have waited nearly a year for this!

So, confession time over. Off to TT what I 'saved', then tidy up the bank account once payments have gone through. But I only used the card for the oil - cash for the rest.

apple_muncher

lilt - you can have blueberry muffins any time you like! Think we are practically neighbours as I'm only 2 miles from the Kent border! Am in the black hole where Kent meet Surrey meets the southern tip of Londinium.

I can leave them for you to collect - like they did for the plague villages!!

Fmess

Afternoon all

Thank you for your get well wishes, I think I am on the mend but today I am falling asleep every hour or so, so think my body is telling me it needs sleep to repair itself.

Today will be a spendy day as we are out of some essentials (milk, puppy food, gravy for dinner) and I have tasked OH with doing the shopping for once.

I'm still struggling to find a way to recoup the money spent on curtains for the spare room as OHs friend is staying. Funny thing is he apparently sleeps with the curtains open! Oh well, they'll be there for whenever we have another guest. However I have just had my first tutoring job confirmed I'm just waiting on then to choose how soon they'd like to start. Last year I used all my additional income to pay off my debts and it really helped, so fingers crossed I'll soon be able to do the same again

Hope you've all had a good day. Sorry about the move pheonix but you are better off out if you get that feeling. At uni we had an odd landlord and occasionally we'd come home to find him in our house unannounced.

Caeraugirl

Just time for a quick check in before I need to get ready for big night out - belated birthday meal with DH and DS's!


MagicCat & Dolly, DS was fine at new school thanks, all that worrying on my part was for nothing as he's really enjoyed his first week. Long may it continue....


Sorry to hear so many of you are feeling unwell - Tiptoes & Fmess, hope you're on the mend now, hugs for you and anybody else who needs them -did scroll quickly through everyones' posts but find there's so much news when I miss a couple of days! Will teach me to post more regularly.


Applemuncher, are you following the I Quit Sugar programme? I tried it for a few weeks but got disheartened with no weight loss and a bit bored with limited diet so have fallen spectacularly off wagon. Need to start serious diet and exercise programme, have just started reading Judith Beck's book which uses CBT techniques for weight loss so hopefully will stick to this one!


Anyway, back to the totals.


The ones that have changed are:


Food 363.17/460 - just milk and other staples
Other planned spends, inc birthdays 84.34/130
Kids School & Clubs expenses 182.40/240
SFD 3 /15 - Yay!
Exercise 1/22 - not so Yay!


Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone, will try to check in more often!

moohound

Filled My car £46.66 this will last 5 to 6 weeks. Spent £61 at Aldi, go loads - very pleased.


Survived kids party, they are getting better now they are getting older, and they just amuse themselves really. Might get my husband's birthday present out of this month's money, he wants a football shirt for £40.


Our dog decided to throw up all night and we had very little sleep, he is ancient and sleeps under the chair in out bedroom, and he gets a jippy tummy sometimes.

Fmess

Hi all


Need to use you all for advice.


Our mattress has seen better days and in the last couple of months some of the springs have started poking through. I went to turn the mattress, hoping that the underside was in better condition, but both sides have springs poking through and even rotating it doesn't improve the comfort of it, as the springs just poke you in a different place.


Should I buy a new one? or keep the old one for a few more months?


The issue is it would have to go on the credit card, and would have to stay on there for a few months. Next month we are going on holiday and I need to use all my usual extra debt payment money to pay for kennels, the cattery and transport and food whilst we are away. The month after it is car tax and MOT month.


Any suggestions appreciated.

mothernerd

Fmess I would try wrapping a thick blanket (or similar) round the mattress to see if that helps. However just after my divorce I did buy myself a good bed and mattress as I believed I had enough problems to deal with and that getting a good night's sleep was essential.

In my defense I spent most of the time I was pregnant with DS2 sleeping on a thick piece of cardboard - the bed base was this cardboard supported by 3 thin slats of wood and the one I was on was broken in the middle. I had complained of back ache but my OH was too bone idle to turn the base over to check it (I was too pregnant) and just kept saying it was because I was pregnant. During my first pregnancy he refused to go downstairs when I said I could hear voices ("Pregnant women imagine things"). Early in the morning I was awakened by someone shouting my name. Went downstairs, my father had walked past on his way to get his morning paper - OH had neglected to shut the door properly the night before, the door had been blown fully open and there was snow in the front room.

We couldn't afford to replace the bed when it broke again and I spent months sleeping on the mattress on the floor (OH was away contracting by then). In the months prior to the divorce going through I left the marital bed and slept on a board supported by an old wardrobe (turned flat on its back) on the end of the landing. I left him all the junk he kept bringing home from his contracting. A friend told me I should have made him sleep on the landing - it would have made him leave sooner (I gave him 8 weeks notice to get his stuff together and move).

So see if you can improve it. If it's seriously interfering with you sleep, replace. Remember BHF and some other charity shops (hospice shops often) have some stores which sell good condition used and new furniture (BHF do white goods as well). I bought 2 nearly new beds for £60 each from our local Age Concern - I think they get given all the Arg*s returns.