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Oh No Not Again! Right. This Time......
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Just made a spreadsheet for xmas spendings. Budget for presents is £290, so far I've only spent £150
. Obviously I still have a bit more to get, but I've half filled DS's stocking (tested this morning) and I'm waiting for M&S's sale day for the oldies' ones. I'm avoiding useless landfill tat as well.
Yesterday's spends were £20 on fuel and then just milk and bread.
Had a lovely day with friends popping round, getting xmas stuff down from loft, handwashing the cars (£10 saved) and rearranging pictures on walls. I was going to ebay the 6' xmas tree but when we opened the box there was a broom pole with tape round it inside and we remembered having to do a bit of a heath robinson job on it last year, so I think it will have to go to the dump. We still have a 4' tree that I got off ebay for the dining room, and it looks nice in the lounge. I absolutely refuse to decorate it yet though, far too early!0 -
Amex £1,595
Cap1 £2,640 but paid £69 into it yesterday from the MSE energy switch cashback and refund from Pru, so £2,571.
Just received Christmas present from DH's work - a small food hamperWith chocolate in it
And some other stuff.
Got our first mortgage statement after 6 months with new lender, we've paid £3,500 off the total so that was really great news (only £217k to go :rotfl:) Made some subject dividers from cardboard to create new section in bank folder ie, free.
Off to do a few hours at work, and YS pie with mash and veg tonight for tea, comfort food. I really ought to think about writing the christmas cards so that I can send them all 2nd class.
NB still no Coke. Well, apart from 1 on Saturday.
Really need to get ready to go to work but there's something wrong with the gravity over this sofa.0 -
Well I did get off the sofa in the end which was just as well as we were invaded by the in-laws.
However, they have now gone home and normality has resumed
So - I feel a quick summary is due, to record progress or lack of, considering the time of year...
Amex: £2,205.31
Cap1: £2,600.00
Just checked the joint account, I think I should be able to transfer a bit across, there's only the car loan to go out now. I'll move £50 to amex and reassess next Monday.
All the Xmas shopping is now done, including mum's birthday present for January. I've done lots online, and the in-laws took me shopping to let me choose something, which was a sewing box from CKidston which I have longed for for years, I am so pleased!
Managed to get Sky Movies for minus £12 as well, via plugging the Now TV box back in and signing up for the free 30day trial via Quidco and getting £12 cashback:money:.
Got £90 back for selling DH's iphone4 from Mazuma, so that covered DS's taekwondo first month, and the rest went to one of the cards.
Still haven't bought fuel for the car since payday, I might actually make it to the end this month.
DH saved us at least £200 this weekend by building the shelving around the boiler in the d/s loo. He was cutting wood outside in zero degrees. Nothing like a potential house move to spur on the housey jobs0 -
SIL owes £35 for going halvsies on a present for mum, which needs to go onto amex. I have to take the cap1 card out of my purse, I know it's Christmas and all, but it's very disappointing to see the balance creeping the wrong way.
Went to see mum yesterday, she has spent so much on presents, I feel guilty despite telling her how little we've spent. She has bought DH a drone type thing which was £80. (easy way to check the garage roof though)
I have bought:
mum and dad: welsh vegan chocs £12, special teatowel of dad's hometown £8. Feel like I need to get dad something else...
mum: scarf/collar thingy with brooch £30
mum -in-law: snood £35
dad-in-law: christmas themed wasijig £12, whiskey marmalades £4
gran-in-law: framed school photo of DS £0 (already had frame)
nanna: porcelaine figurine £5 (CS, just need to work out how to wrap)
neice 1: jigsaw £4, aquadoodle £15
neice 2: jigsaw £4, aquadoodle £15
newphew 1: junior monopoly £12, crayola thing £7.50
newphew 2: megabloks set £15
Dh: dartboard £30, 2 cds £22
DS: Hudl £0 tesco points, Ukulele £23, junior monopoly £12, various annuals and books £20? Teddy £15, watch £12.
DH has bought me a watch £120. Just a tad over his £30 budget.
Moved £150 to cap1 and £80 to amex this morning, car payment not gone out yet but there is enough there to cover. It feels good to trickle feed the cards.
Just managed to log into n'wide which is on 0% till Apr '15, and Lloyds which is 0% for longer. I am now going to summarise. gulp.
N'wide: £1,316
Lloyds: £3,852
Total on 0% £5,168
Amex: £2,194
Cap1: £2,754
Argos: £178.99
Next £145.98
Total £5,272.97
Grand Total: £10,440.97
That's the first time in a long while I've totalled everything up. I knew the every day spending cards were building up but add that all together and we need to do some serious paying off.0 -
In shock. Nan is giving all the grandchildren £2,000 each for Christmas. One's mind is truly boggled.0
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Sisters are suspicious that aunt has got nan to change will and that if they bank their cheques it's all they will receive from nan's estate when she goes. There is talk of seeing solicitors and contesting nan's will. Rang nan, thanked her for the cheque and asked her if she was moving out of her house, she said no. Asked her if she was happy she said yes. Feel quite upset. Sisters are not bothered about the money, they just want things done fairly. Told sisters I'm not interested in any money or who gets nan's house, but I will support them if they want to have a quite meeting with a solicitor.
Sheesh, didn't see all this coming.0 -
Does your nan appear to be of sound mind?Mortgage at 01.01.14 £119,481.83:eek: today £0 Emergency fund £5.5/5.5k & £200/200 cash.:jWeight 24/02/19 14st 7lb now 11st 12lb determined to stop defining myself by my mistakes. Progress not perfection.:T100%through my 1% mortgage challenge. 100% through my pb challenge. I’m not perfect but I’m good enough for now.0
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Thanks for all the well wishes INOD, Nikki, White Rose and CRT, it means a lot.
Bob it sounds like you've had a terrible run of bad luck with your vehicles, they're just a money pit whatever you buy _pale_
Well yesterday's party was nice, DS really enjoyed it. Apart from being stuck on the M25 hard shoulder feeling sick from eating too much junk. In the end he came in the front with me and a carrier bag, safer than sitting on the side of a busy motorway. Slow traffic is good for the mpg as I discovered on the M1!
It was a NSD yesterday, plus sold two items on ebay, so a trip to the Post Office this morning, and hopefully a smooth sale of the dining table.
Vinegar infused loaf turned out okay, and I've taken a pot of HM pasta sauce out of the freezer for tea later.
Dilemma to be concluded today - do I cancel my acupuncture appt this Thursday? It's £40, I have it for helping the depression. Speaking of which the depression decided this morning that the pins and needles in my hand is MS. A quick google suggested it could also be B12 defficiency/anxiety/stress/cold/ any temporary thing. (Stopped myself reading the more serious bits). It's very tiring arguing with the depression, it puts worse case scenario onto everything, and I'm naturally an optimistic person.
CC summary:
amex: £1,821.25
cap1: £2,318.76
total: £4,140.01
Well that's awful, sounds even worse added together.. Especially as it doesn't include the two cards we're paying off on 0%. Or the loan to the inlaws for the small economical hatchback, Okay the Megane.I will summarise the whole lot later. But for now, I'm focussing on the above cards which are not on 0%. I think the trip to visit family in Wales will need to wait.
Washing DH's dry clean work trousers on delicates, I await with baited breath...
Off to post the ebay parcel and not buy a can of coke.
Hello there :hello:
Can I just say regarding your pins and needles and depression. I have had them both... as well as dizziness, migraine and occasional joint pain. I was convinced I has MS or something similar. After reading on the internet that taking gluten out of the diet can improve migraine... I removed gluten and after four weeks all the symptoms had gone... except migraine lol. But that has improved 85%. I am not saying gluten is your problem but have a read on gluten ataxia and gluten & depression on the internet, fascinating stuff. I have been gluten free for three months now and feel so so so much better.
Good luck with the money saving... and I hope you and yours have a lovely Christmas. :xmastree: xx0 -
in_need_of_direction wrote: »Does your nan appear to be of sound mind?
Debateable, INOD. She's always been a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but more recently she has become noticably less "with it". She's 93 and still lives on her own but last time I visited she went to pour the kettle and missed the cup0 -
Bambywamby wrote: »Hello there :hello:
Can I just say regarding your pins and needles and depression. I have had them both... as well as dizziness, migraine and occasional joint pain. I was convinced I has MS or something similar. After reading on the internet that taking gluten out of the diet can improve migraine... I removed gluten and after four weeks all the symptoms had gone... except migraine lol. But that has improved 85%. I am not saying gluten is your problem but have a read on gluten ataxia and gluten & depression on the internet, fascinating stuff. I have been gluten free for three months now and feel so so so much better.
Good luck with the money saving... and I hope you and yours have a lovely Christmas. :xmastree: xx
Thanks for the suggestion, Bamby, I will look into that. It's quite intermittant so that ties in with being related to what I eat. So, just to clarify, did you feel removing gluten helped your depression symptons nas well as the pins and needles?
Hope you had a lovely Christmas too :rudolf::)0
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