The 'I'm less money-idiot more money-savvy' Diary

beanielou

Great news on PE kit :j
Boys are a challange.No doubt about it.
I would not care to go through my DS's teenage years again but we got there in the end.

ampersand

Deliberate putah-free yesterday, so - glorious to immediately see beanie's comment and click back to:
'PE kit recovered - and bless him DS even phoned the bus company himself (so did I!) I was very impressed that he had done that so he has taken on board that I can't afford to throw money away and realised he could do something about it - this is major triumph!!!:T'
-worth repeating any time, so no apology for embellished ccp here.

A Huge Well Done to that young man!!! Great stuff! If that's what goes onto the rugby pitch, tant mieux. They're lucky to have him!
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I'm also hugely pleased by your reaction to Celia Lashlie and for those of you with teenage sons, past or present, please may I exhort you to read this from her, if only to pass on to others?:

http://www.celialashlie.co.nz/celia-says/boys-work/the-importance-of-laughter
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Would & be & if not to gently tap reins? - but it's barely a touch...you'd already known that cakey quote was down to £20[ I have saved £30 on the cake for friends birthday (£20 instead of £50 - might even be less as cake friend is giving me icing #232] - so 'it came to £15.45', means £34.55 saving on that 1st quote!

That's also really worth looking at again, adding to your list of
Things I'm Realising and Loving! Washing machine and dishwasher fixes, PE kit found[=son aware+successful outcome], using mysupermarket.com pre: bulk buying, bringing its own finetuning, extra cupcakes+b'day cake[a.k.a.permanent pleasurable skill/share for judi und tochter] for under £20....in a week that kicked off with what you thought was a horror tax demand, instead magicked into rebate:-)

This is a permanent Life-change for you now, judi, feel it in my water[OK &, tmi].

This where your 'manic' side, said with big smiles, can really rock free of all restraint. You are right on your way to being a REAL savings addict, in daily life and in the Bank. I think all of us reading here can feel this sea change, regardless of any bumps en route.
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You must realise how this will all feed into Diss as well?
Couldn't be better-timed, could it?

judi24

csarina and beanie - thank you it was a great result getting the PE kit back - but an even bigger result that DS actually took responsibility for finding it!!! :j

How do I respond you your wonderful post Ampersand - Thank you so much for your wise and thoughtful comments as always. Yes I do feel like I have had a life changing experience through this journey - no doubt helped by the great people I have 'met' along the way.:D

I actually feel like I am addicted to doing more with less -I can't wait to get rid of the debt and start saving!:T

So last night was casino night! I priced a taxi and it was £18!!!! So I had a bit of a dilemma as I had already paid £7 for the minibus there and back so I decided that I would go the casino but not gamble at all as there was only an hour and a half to kill after the film before the bus - I couldn't justify £18 taxi for the sake of and hour and half of standing around the casino! anyway it was ok - I didn't gamble at all and neither did a couple of the other girls so didn't feel left out or pressured. Several of the others set a limit of £5 or £10. So I bought 1 glass of wine and watched and chatted (we even talked about money and getting debt free, menu planning and frugal shopping!!! - I think I am becoming and MSE evangelist!!!:rotfl:) we went for dinner before the film and we had some money off vouchers so I had a meal and a drink for £14 (I had steak as a treat as I never buy it for home!!!) and spend £4 on a glass of wine in the casino so less than £20 spent (plus the £15 I had paid for the ticket and the bus) - quite happy with that as it was a fun night (and no bad head this morning either!!!:p)


Today was woken but DS and DD3 making breakfast in bed for me for valentines day - toast with chocolate spread and strawberries cut into love hearts (DS had even gone to the shop on the way home from school to get the strawberries) and earl grey tea (acquired from the posh hotel from the wedding a few weeks go - DS had kept it for a special cup of tea for me!!!):j

Felt very spoiled and loved!!!!


Then had to hot foot it out of bed after some cuddles to take DS to supermarket to bag pack for the cadets and DD3 has gone to a cafe with her friends with some money she had left over from her London trip. I have done a meal plan and shopping list for a few bits I need which I will get at MrM where DS is bag packing (I have £6 off a £40 spend voucher too!)


Cake baking today for icing tomorrow! but a quick cuppa while I wait for bedding to finish in the wash so I can hang it out!


Happy Saturday!!!:beer:

kdalwayskint

Aww Judi that sounds like a fab way to start the day, so sweet of your youngest two to do that :A

Glad you had a nice evening and it wasn't overly expensive

judi24

Food shopping done - came in just over £40 so got to use the £6 off voucher! Cakes made and a batch of chocolate chip and toffee cookies made for the kids over the next few days. ( I had to sample them for quality control and they are YUM!:p)


BUT - I managed to knock the box with my precious icing letters for the cake off the counter while vacuuming and smashed the lot! - my cake making friend is out with her hubby tonight so hopping I can go to hers and get the letter moulds tomorrow in time to make the letters again!!! Not happy!!! :mad:


Not much else to report - been a busy old day and quite productive (except for the letters obviously!) need to tackle the upstairs house work tomorrow, ice the cake and may start tidying the garden a bit and think what I could grow! I watched a gardening show once (daytime tv so I must have been off work from some reason) where this red headed gardener grew all sorts all over her garden in a sort of decorative way - so not normal veggie plot rows - I would love a garden like that!!!! (but I can kill a weed without trying so I might have a bit of a challenge on my hands!!!):(


Relaxing tonight - maybe a bath and a good read! I know how to celebrate valentines in style!!!:rotfl:

judi24

Another good MSE result - DD2 has asked if, instead of going out for breakfast before the zoo on Wed, I could make bagels, cream cheese and bacon (her favourite) - much cheaper than going out!!! so £20 budget for breakfast can be halved!!!! (I know its only £10 saved but I am saving every penny from my day to day spending budget to clear that last of the boiler that is still on my CC)


Also today I got my Tes*o vouchers - just £9.50 but when I looked £7.50 could be £30 in various restaurants or 3 cinema tickets. Got me thinking about my Tes*o cc and I am wondering whether to use this CC as my spending card and pay it off in full each month, building points for treats and days out. Have I learned enough yet to be able to manage this properly? or will I revert to seeing CC as not real money? - Food for thought!!!

Cwtchie

Sounds like a lovely day, precious time with your kids x

vasseur

Aww your kids sound lovely doing that for you on Valentines Day

Kantankrus_Mare

judi24 wrote: »

Another good MSE result - DD2 has asked if, instead of going out for breakfast before the zoo on Wed, I could make bagels, cream cheese and bacon (her favourite) - much cheaper than going out!!! so £20 budget for breakfast can be halved!!!! (I know its only £10 saved but I am saving every penny from my day to day spending budget to clear that last of the boiler that is still on my CC)


Also today I got my Tes*o vouchers - just £9.50 but when I looked £7.50 could be £30 in various restaurants or 3 cinema tickets. Got me thinking about my Tes*o cc and I am wondering whether to use this CC as my spending card and pay it off in full each month, building points for treats and days out. Have I learned enough yet to be able to manage this properly? or will I revert to seeing CC as not real money? - Food for thought!!![/QUOTE

I would say you are now disciplined enough to using the tesco cc to up your points.

We used to do this and have had allsorts of treats from weekemds away and meals in restaurants to magazine subscriptions.

I am quite disciplined but OH isnt. He just spent willy nilly on the card and we never had a bill less than a thousand pound :eek:

We never had spare money so now we use cash and shop around. Lidl gets more of my cash these days and also like sainsburys when they send me vouchers.

We now have £130 cash in a seperate shopping purse and it has really reined him in!

Some weeks we will spend the whole amount but more ofyen than not we have some left over which gets put towards the holiday fund.

However.....your situatiion and cc bill size is completely under your control so I would say go for it.

judi24

Thanks Kantankrus Mare - I am thinking that I can track spending the same as I do with my smile current account using YNAB but against the Tescocc then pay it off from the smile account each month so I can still use the same budget categories and amounts so there will be no surprises (except the surprises I will get when I redeem the Tesco points of course!:D)


Well I have made the cake for my friend - was great apart from the letter disaster yesterday, which was resolved today when cake making friends hubby kindly delivered the letter moulds! Birthday meal was nice - total cost £20 - which again was slightly less than expected! Budgeted £30 as the place was quite expensive but I passed on starter and desert (had cake!!!:)) and only had soft drinks. Was a pleasant evening and the birthday boy loved his cake! :T


Not much else to report - still not had another NSD so 5 this month so far (must do better) - but this week again is a spendy week with half term!!! - all activities budgeted and paid for and have drinks and snacks to take with us places though. But Now need to shop again for DD2 birthday breakfast but will work out cheaper than going out so I don't mind!