Doing it for the boy

ott09

I have decided that the time has come to start a diary on here. Think I may have started one a while back but I didn't get very far with it.

But I have a whole new reason to start again...and continue this time. We have a little boy nearly 6 months old and I'm currently on maternity leave. We have managed quite well so far on our incomes but now I'm on statutory pay it's going to be a bit tougher.

We currently rent and really are at the age that we need to get a move on in buying our own place. We rent a lovely place in the country but there are so many things that I'd love to change...but it's not ours to do that.

We've been very fortunate in that we have been given an opportunity to help us out in this situation. A close relative has given us a substantial amount of money. Initially this was for a deposit for a house but we decided together (with the relative) that it would be far better spent mostly clearing credit card debts with some of it staying in an account to be added to. The intention is that when I go back to work and start earning again, we will transfer the amount we were spending each month repaying credit cards, to the account for the house deposit.

Both myself and my husband have personal loans that were initially quite hefty but are gradually coming down. It may be that we also decide once I go back to work again, to consolidate these two into one larger loan and lower the monthly repayment.

We do not live an extravagant lifestyle at all and really enjoy the simple life-walking the dog and the occasional trip to the pub are pretty rock and roll to us these days!

I try really hard to be organised with the grocery shopping but I still think this is an area we can work on. Since I am now well into my maternity leave I want to make sure that we get into good habits now while I have the time to do it as I know it will be so much more difficult when I go back.

So I intend to keep this diary, boring as it may be for others, really for my own personal goals- by that I mean our goals as a family, to get us out of debt as soon as possible and start saving for our family home and our new life. As such I'm aware that this could be pretty dull reading and I don't really mind if no-one really follows, the intention is just to keep me on track and remember what I'm doing this for.

My to do list today includes signing up for some of the challenges on here and also starting a new habit of entering competitions and possibly signing up for surveys. Easy stuff I can do while the chap snoozes. Which it appears that he is now not doing, just noticed some movement on the monitor.

Bye for now

freckles1_2

good luck on your journey

ott09

I started a long old entry to this diary the other day while baby slept but something weird happened and it all disappeared then inevitably he got a bit lively so I gave up.


Anyway last few days haven't been too bad spendy wise. We almost went to the pub today- for lunch initially but luckily didn't have enough cash and then thought maybe we'd go later for drinks but it was bubs bedtime so wouldn't have worked. So that actually worked well for us weirdly.


I have registered on a few survey sites and completed a few surveys on ipoll. OK it's not mega bucks but it's something. At the moment there isn't much I can do to earn more money so at least it feels like I'm doing something positive while I can.


Got a plan for food for the week and will write list later- cottage pie tonight that's big enough for today and tomorrow so that's a bonus. If I were only feeding myself I would find our grocery bill sooo much cheaper because I could easily eat veggie dinner most days but hubby does physical work and loves his food so is more picky than I am. He is also more likely to go off plan with the odd fish and chips/curry here and there.


I have also signed up for 10 NSD in October. I should be able to do that- again provided I don't include what husband spends as he is more spendy than me- nothing extravagant but the odd bit here and there.


Will now try to update again tomorrow

ott09

OK so today was food shopping day. Went with a list and went over receipt just now to check how I did in keeping to the list.


Wasn't actually too bad- items that weren't on the list were bits that either we needed (baby spoons and new drinking bottle/cups to start to wean him off bottle-aaahh) or that will definitely get eaten (choc biscuits for hubby packed lunch).


Having said this, I still managed to spend £99.93 (!). Will make a note of this in diary and also staple receipt to date. We really shouldn't need to go again for a while.


On top of this I broke yet another hoover today- probably by being a bit slack cleaning the filter- back to a good old Henry again I think.


Anyone with a hairy dog know how good Henry is at tackling this? Everything in our house is covered in a blanket of white fur despite frequent hovering.


Completed a couple of surveys online and also changed energy supplier which should hopefully save us some money. In checking our account I saw we were about £360 in credit so will have to see how that works out once we go to swap.


So, tomorrow is 1st October and hopefully will be NSD 1 for me.


Post baby weight loss/ exercise wise: Managed a short walk today- need to do a longer one tomorrow and possibly some toning up exercises.

ott09

Ok, so while the little chap sleeps I need to update with my progress so far.


Supposed to have been achieving 10 NSD this month, which I thought would be easy- it appears not! Things keep happening to challenge my no spending ways.


1st Oct: friend who has been very down contacted me and I suggested meeting up as I had to take some bits back to shop. Although she paid for tea and cake, I had to pay for parking. The area we live in has very few free parking spaces- probably if I had more time I could have parked further out and walked in. So that was £4 down.


2nd Oct: All looking good in the no spending camp until we ran out of milk... 99p down.


3rd Oct: Was never going to be NSD because I went with friend to Macmillan coffee morning- £10 well spent.


4th and 5th: visiting sister in SW so although we were not being frivolous as we previously might have been, we still spent a bit on lunch out both days.


6th: Trip to IKEA to buy niece's bday present and also highchair. Did buy some other bits too as always happens in IKEA!


7th: Decided to avoid having days when I needed to pop out for bits I'd do all spending in one go and freeze milk and bread- food shop at Lidl, only few bits needed to last us a while (£18 not bad at all), baby milk/ teething gel in Boots (£19 I think). In evening I was invited to meet another friend who I hadn't seen in a while and had news- again with friend who is very down at the mo- another £18 down!


8th Not sure I can call it a NSD- I didn't spend any money but hubby did- he's working sat instead of yesterday because of weather so we went for lunch- used reward card which meant both lunches came to £8. Later on went to friends for couple of hours which messed with my meal plan and bit of money spent on quick grub.


Brings me to today... 9th Oct, hopefully all being well the first official NSD of October! Thought it would be easier. I'm having to go with days I don't spend because I have no control over what husband spends once he goes to work so in that respect I could say weekend and yesterday were NSD as he did the actual paying...don't think that counts though in my mind.


So it appears that NSD will only occur if I stay indoors/go for dog walk/be strict with husband about meals etc etc.