DFB35 Diary

DFB35

I have finally lost some weight! It's been about 2 weeks of watching what I eat and I've been very serious this past week, I have lost about 3lb... The thing is my scales are very bad and have a dial so it hard to say exactly what the weight is, but all I know is now closer to 10 and a half stone than nearly 11st I was few weeks ago!

A few things I've noticed: that my clothes are fitting better! I've been a bit down and felt frumpy at work and thought that I need a whole new wardrobe but having lost that little bit of weight I am looking less frumpy in my existing clothes!

Another thing is that I rely on food/treats to make me feel better after a hard day at work or a little treat to get me through the day, so when I was feeling sad about looking frumpy (thinking it was the clothes) I would eat more thus making the problem worse!

But it's been very hard and I've been feeling very hungry... Even though I have 3 meals a day, I really limit my evening meal and even for lunch just have a soup or something light. It's not been easy but it's good to see some results!

The plan is continue to watch what I'm eating (maybe buy better scales?) get to 10st and see how I feel. If good then I will maintain it, or try for 9 and a half stone (but no less that that!). Then I will start my running again to tone up a bit for the summer..

That's the good news..... Now some confessions

I've been thinking about it for awhile, since my nan passed away that I really want to go back there and take the kids (she lived most of her life and died in another country). We have a tradition to go and visit the graves and have another wake at one year anniversary so it was without a question that I must go, but I was deliberating about the kids as it would mean an extra expense. Well I've finally taken the plunge and booked tickets for myself and the kids!! We will go for a week and make a holiday out of it

The reason for the and the confession is that this month I have spend a lot on the Christmas presents and maybe it wasn't the best time to spend another £350 (that's how much tickets for 3 of us cost). And I have put it on the credit card. But..... And here is my reasoning for it, the ticket prices were actually quite cheap and will only go up if I wait and I know I will be able to pay it off next month. We also still have £500 in emergency fund.

So I'm not feeling too bad about it and will make sure to pay it off as soon as I am paid.

stepuptothepl8

I think you're right to do exactly as you have done - the trip is for an excellent reason, to honour the memory of your nan, and you've done it in a way that it doesn't blow your budget. :T :T You are doing brilliantly! And congratulations on the weight loss!! x

DFB35

Expensive day yesterday... Had to buy DD new school shoes as the ones she had literally fell apart, she keeps trawling through the parks with friends after school which I'm sure doesn't help! (Don't get me wrong I'm glad she is active but rather she went home first to change into wellies?

Then had a look at DSs school shoes and they on its way out so got him a pair too.

Then had to buy two birthday presents for DSs friends, managed to keep them under £10 each.

So all in all about 50ish quid gone..

Did a weekly shop (-56) and paid childcare for the week (-68) and now have about 200ish until pay day argh.....Hopefully I will get my money back today from the relative who owes me!

In other not so good news, some roof tiles flew from our roof!!! Due to all this windy weather! Omg...most landed on the garage but one landed on the neighbours roof which they weren't pleased about (but how is it our fault exactly?!). We called up the roofers but they couldn't come out due to the weather....erm... What if there are more lose tiles though?! We've been parking our car well away, but neighbours cars etc.... Hopefully they can come out today!

Not sure how much this will cost and luckily we have an emergency fund, but also hubby has a little money put by so I think we'll be OK money wise. Don't want to claim on insurance unless we really have to!

Also got some digital scales from Aldi (£8) and my confirmed weight is 10st 6lb, however it differes by a few lbs depending on where abouts in my house I weigh myself! I settled on the median and will weigh myself in the same spot in the kitchen!

DFB35

I got the money owed to me woo! So happy that they didn't le me down.. Now I need to make sure I don't lend so much as it is a bit nerve raking getting it back.

Now re roof situation... We've been quoted £500 :eek: hubby has been talking to some of his friends though and hopefully can get it done cheaper, in fact one of his friends offered to fix it for nothing but material cost! But we would never accept that! And also need scaffolding but think it's reasonable to pay £100 for scaffolding and £200 to his friend? So that's £300, which hubby has in his account.

Hopefully it will be as simple as that and no more further damage while the roof is waiting to be fixed.

DFB35

The roof is still not fixed and the weather has been absolutely dire.... I've been in a mood and feel like there's so many things wrong with this house :mad:

Firstly we have damp in the bathroom, toilet and the third bedroom (my sons room). I clean it with bleach, air the rooms as much as poss and we have a condenser in sons bedroom but it still comes back every winter and goes away for the summer.

Secondly the kitchen is crap, it's still as it was when we moved in 3 years ago, as after we decorated everywhere else we left bathroom and kitchen as we're hoping to do an extension.

Thirdly the blasted boiler keeps going, we must have spend in excess of £500 over the years getting it fixed and had monthly boiler insurance etc... But what it is the pressure goes and no matter how many times we called them out they put pressure up and say there might be a leak under the floorboards but can't fix it (charging £99 for the pleasure)?! Boiler is only 9 years old but we have been having issues since we moved in when it was 6 years old. What we do now is hubby learned how to put the pressure up himself which we do whenever it goes ie at least once every 2-3 months!

And now the roof....

This is on top of the other things that bothered me in the house, I dont like the windows and the bathroom has no bath only a shower (big walk in shower but still I used to love a bath).

If we got an extension done we could fix all of those things as the damp is only on the outside walls and extension would go all around and we would put in damproofing, then do the kitchen (having a look and fixing the boiler trouble) and do the bathroom how we want it. But like I said in some of my previous posts an extension would mean a huge remortgage and £500 a month on top of our mortgage assuming the interest rates stay the same. And a lot more years of the rat race as I would need to continue to bring in a big salary.

I'm sorry for the woe is me post but really wanted to vent! If I moan to hubby about it he gets upset as he loves the house and then feels guilty as he doesn't earn more

Now I will go do my house work and de clutter, we are staying in today and I've got a major tidying up bug. Will get the house clutter free for Christmas.


Oh almost forgot haha.. Sorry to add to the woe is me! Son has dropped a plate full of ketchup on the cream living room carpet and the cat had an accident on it all in the same week... So we are having the carpet steam cleaned next week (-£65)

And breathe

DFB35

I think moaning about the house on Saturday has jinxed me and the house hated me back

The boiler gone on Sunday on one of the coldest days of the year so far... And no matter what hubby did the pressure would drop after an hour or so. We managed to keep the pressure enough for us all to have a hot shower but as soon as we turned the heating on the boiler would go :mad:

But I'm so F off with British Gas that there's no way I'd be paying them another 100 quid for the call out! I put an add on the rated people and have someone coming today to have a look at it. I'm so cautious and annoyed and really don't want to be "had" by a tradesman! Really wish I knew someone who deals with boilers/plumbing / electricals that I could trust!

And the roof is still not fixed, someone was working on it yesterday but it's not quite finished. Hopefully by the end of the week (they are doing it as a favour alongside their normal job so that's why taking awhile). Still not sure how much it will cost in the end as hubby sorting it out.

On the plus side it's payday tomorrow!

DFB35

Ok I will stop moaning now, looks like the boiler is fixed. Fingers crossed it will last, this engineer tried a bunch of different things and has a few more ideas if the pressure starts to play up again. But it's been on all day and not lost pressure so the initial signs are good.

Roof still not fixed but should be soon. The carpets will be getting cleaned on the weekend. I think little by little things will be sorted.

But the good fantastic news is that payday is tomorrow and I can update my totals! I don't know if I will be able to overpay or save anything this upcoming month. Just the to Christmas and while we recover from the unexpected expenses.. But we will see I just want a pressure free month

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut the best amazing news is I had my salary and bonus consultation today and we 100% will be able to pay off the CC from Decembers pay!! And also hubby will be getting a bonus so we will be back on track!

So the plan is - pressure free November and pay the CC December then onto the loan in 2016. Let's do it :money:

stepuptothepl8

oh that's fab news DFB :T :T well done!! and it won't be long before the loan will be history too that must feel brilliant!! xx

DFB35

Ok made all the payments and updated the signature my loan is in 8xxx :j :j :j

I have paid of the holiday/visiting nans grave, the usual CC payment, money for the boiler fixing and still need to take out 65 for steaming the carpets. So I don't think I will be adding to my savings or making overpayments this month but I'm ok with that. Also with it being Christmas I'm sure some other things will creep up!

But I'm so looking forward to next months bonus pay already so I can pay off CC for good and close the account! I'm so close now! Also I got a small pay rise which will make things better for the new year

DFB35

Just over two and a half weeks until I can pay off CC and close the account! :beer: :j :money:

We might even be able to add to our emergency fund, however i am being realistic so wont count on it as we do have a little thing called Christmas this month haha :rotfl:

Now the big plan for 2016!

I have been thinking about it and would like to start overpaying my mortgage. I had a very low couple of weeks at work and thinking how nice would it be if we didnt have a mortgage to worry about (obviously haha).

But we also have an 8XXX thousand loan to kill off.. which is on 4.6apr compared to the mortgage, which is on 2.5apr or thereabouts..

However there is no reason why we cant overpay both :money:

So Im going to make a commitment to over pay mortgage by a £100 and the loan by £100 a month MINIMUM. In the past we paid of as much as £600 a month to the debts so this is a VERY modest target.. but hear me out I am prone to periods of depression and get very stressed and obsessed about payments/ overpayments and money in general, so I feel setting a small targets I know I can easily meet works better for me.

We are still being very MSE so I will continue with that into the 2016 and any remaining left over money in the month will be split in two - half towards more debt overpayment and half to build up our savings. The half of the debt payment will go towards the loan so hopefully in theory I will be overpaying by loads more than a £100 a month

And by making a £100 a month overpayment to our mortgage we will reduce it by over 3 years saving 7 odd thousand interest (assuming everything remains equal of course). Then once the loan goes we can look at increasing the overpayments in the future.

So these are the initial thoughts at the moment :cool: