Debt free before 35

MrsSave

Bedtime again! Days are flying by!!

We've had a nice, inexpensive Saturday night. We ate the cakes from the food festival, drank the bubbly that was given to us as a gift and then made a curry for dinner. All the curry ingredients were bought with this month's food shop, and the beer was left over from going away. With that we watched 'Gone Girl' on Now TV. I read the book recently and really enjoyed it, pleased to say that the film was good too!

I decided a little while ago that I wanted to get another booster seat for my ds for sitting at the food table. The one he has is fabric and an absolute nightmare to get clean. It always looks filthy. I decided that I wanted to get a plastic one which would be more hygienic. Hadn't done any more than just 'think' about it, then this evening I saw a friend advertise hers on Facebook for £5. I craft a little and am in the middle of making something for her so I will just receive £5 less than what she would've paid me. Fab!! I've got a few other crafting orders to work through at the moment so there will be a few more pounds coming in from there.

Shopping list has been done. I've also noted all the Tesco prices down. I will then start at Aldi's and if things are cheaper I will pick them up there, if not I'll get them in Tesco because of clubcard points. I'm determined to stick to my £20 budget, though!

Dh was just talking about taking our ds to the beach tomorrow morning for a run around, so that won't cost anything, and it's pretty much on the way to the supermarket. All in all, tomorrow will be an inexpensive day.

MrsSave

Good morning. I'm starting back with lists:

1. [STRIKE]Food shopping (maximum budget £20, which I have in cash)[/STRIKE], spent less than £19.
2. [STRIKE]Cook a nice, big roast dinner[/STRIKE],
3. [STRIKE]List 5 things on eBay[/STRIKE], 9 things listed
4. [STRIKE]Sort and tidy my son's new toys from his birthday[/STRIKE],
5. Sort thank you cards for my son's birthday (homemade possibly? Will look at ideas on Pinterest and see if that's an easy and cheap option for making quite a few). Decided on design, will complete this week.

crazy_cat_lady

Morning.
I've just read through your diary - very inspiring.
I am a teacher too, although in permanent contract luckily enough... I will be following your diary for motivation and inspiration every day. Good luck with everything.

MrsSave

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

Morning.
I've just read through your diary - very inspiring.
I am a teacher too, although in permanent contract luckily enough... I will be following your diary for motivation and inspiration every day. Good luck with everything.

Thank you It is difficult to get a full time teaching job, but to be honest I haven't applied for one since way before my son was born! I'm not 100% sure it's for me, and the work load when you're full time can be horrendous. Supply has been keeping me going, but thinking it's about time I used my skills elsewhere. We'll see where I'll be in 6 months time.

I've been to Aldi and a Tesco. The budget was £20 and I spent £18.72 so I'm chuffed with that That also included a few nice things in the trolley. We had strawberries and raspeberries, loads of salad bits, potatoes, cling film, parsnips, 8 pints of milk, eggs, cheese (there is a nice Brie for £1.00 in Tesco at the moment - even cheaper than Tesco value), yoghurts plus quite a few other bits and bobs. I worked out (yes, because I'm that sad :rotfl:) that if I'd have bought everything in Tesco it would have cost £23.41 so a saving today of £4.69. Not bad for a small top up shop!

The change is being put back into the grocery envelope, and if we happen to run out of something during the week (shouldn't do) there will be a little change in the envelope.

I found a nice, simple card on Pinterest to follow as a thank you card for my son. All he need to do is leave a few handprints, and the rest is simply gluing and writing! He's having a nap at the moment, may make some with him after he's woken.

I've had an email from truprint about their birthday offers of 100 prints for £1. I haven't printed pictures of my son since Christmas 2013 (seriously :eek:) so will sort out what needs printing and get them done before the offer runs out. I've already got albums waiting!

MrsSave

I've managed to tick all but one thing off my (small) list. I've listed 9 things on eBay tonight so fingers crossed we make a few pennies there. I will admit, though, it was dh who cooked the roast dinner and not me! I'm usually the one who cooks here, but it is very nice to have a meal cooked from time to time.

I'm still chuffed with today's food shop. I'm amazed how much I got for the money. Aldi is great!

Will have to phone sky tomorrow to cancel. Now TV isn't too bad. There are certain aspects of sky I've missed, but you get used to what you have, and until we're debt free there are some things that are more important that sky.

I have done a little shopping online tonight. I have ordered 2 items from Tesco clothing for a new baby born in the family, they have totalled £3. I've then had a look at the Debenhams sale and have ordered 2 scarves and a necklace as Christmas gifts for grandmothers. The total was £12.60 for them and we budget £5 per grandparent. It was all budgeted for in YNAB, but the accounts are starting to empty. I have already bought loads of Christmas gifts and the majority (if not all actually) of this year's birthday gifts have been bought. The rest will be either the vouchers we got from talk talk or Tesco vouchers from our Christmas saver.

MrsSave

Monday morning once again. Good morning :hello:

Today's to-do list:
1. [STRIKE]Paint 3 different craft pieces[/STRIKE],
2. [STRIKE]Cancel sky[/STRIKE],
3. [STRIKE]Phone HMRC about tax rebate I'm sure I should be receiving[/STRIKE],
4. Print this month's meal plan off,
5. Sort textbooks for selling,
6. Start file of pictures to be developed (is it still called developed if it's all done digitally??),
7. [STRIKE]Read a little of current book[/STRIKE],
8. [STRIKE]Check YNAB and bank accounts[/STRIKE],
9. [STRIKE]Join 2 survey sites.[/STRIKE]
10. [STRIKE]Sort out tax return[/STRIKE].

There's no housework on here today, but the usual bits and pieces will get done (kitchen gets wiped down every day).

MrsSave

OMG it's so hot tonight! I hate the warmer weather, I'm definitely an Autumn/Winter kinda gal:rotfl:

Well, I haven't finished everything on my list today, but pleased with what I have done!

I didn't quite cancel sky. I got it reduced by almost 50%, and I was only paying £21.50 to start. The Now TV box has now been moved to our bedroom, where our TV wasn't working (well, we couldn't pick up freeview at all). I'm happy with that.

Apparently I should get almost £300 in my tax rebate within around 2 weeks. Fingers crossed

I have painted 2 out of the 3 crafts (the third isn't needed unti the end of the month so no major rush!!). I have also completed the tax return for my little crafting work that I do from home. That's definitely a record for the earliest I've ever done it!!

Decided to give potty training a go this afternoon as we were home. We're taking a relaxed approach to it as he is still young and I don't want to out too much pressure on him. Within an hour we had 3 wees on the floor even with around 20 visits to the toilet! :rotfl: Maybe he's not ready yet.

Started looking at what jobs are available, though I won't start applying until my current job is coming to an end at the end of October. Typically, though, I have seen one job which I'd love! Chances are there will be more at some point, and who says I'd even have got it?!

Tomorrow is our last family day before dh goes back to work after his time off. We're going out for a picnic, so will be low cost. I already have the food in the house, but will take a few pounds for an ice cream as a treat. We were originally going to be eating out tomorrow, which I'd budgeted £30 for, £10 went last weekend so have £20 left. Won't spend even £10 of that, so will have some money left at the end

MrsSave

I've just remember that I needed to change my sky bill in my YNAB. I was told on the phone that my August bill would only be £6.98, so have transferred the difference £14.52 to my emergency fund. I've currently got that at £784.72 :j

MrsSave

Good morning:hello:

I'm spending most of today out and about, so won't be doing many jobs, but will try and complete the following.

1. [STRIKE]Make a picnic for our lunch out[/STRIKE].
2. [STRIKE]Make homemade burgers for our dinner tonight (one of my favourites......yum!)[/STRIKE].
3. Work on 2 of the craft orders I have (finish painting/decorating them and gluing what needs to be glued). Finished the painting, will glue this evening
4. [STRIKE]Check YNAB and bank accounts[/STRIKE].
5. Price up textbooks for selling.
6. [STRIKE]Activate 2 new bank cards[/STRIKE].

First things first, though.....breakfast and then a trip to the opticians for us all! I haven't been for years, and dh hasn't been since he was a child! Fingers crossed no glasses are needed, because if so they're coming out of the emergency fund!

MrsSave

What a lovely day

No one in the family needed glasses at the opticians, so only had to pay the £70 fee for the 2 of us. We then went and had a picnic in a lovely spot. There was a lovely grassy area to sit with our picnic blanket, we had the beach within metres to one side and a park within metres on the other side of us. Ds and dh had fun in the park when I had book reading time

We did have an ice cream, but looking at money when we got home I was chuffed. At the start of the month I'd taken money out of the bank for the nights outs/meals out we had planned this month (August is an expensive month you know??!!). Initially we had 3 'events' planned, but this then turned into 4. I didn't take any extra money out, decided to stretch what we had. After coming home today I have checked the pennies and we have £7.77 left. I'm thinking of keeping that now until September and it will be a chippy supper for the 3 of us Weve got nothing else planned this month!

We did have to stop on the way home for more nappies from Aldi, and I bought a bar of their 30p chocolate as well. Will be making corn flake cakes with ds tomorrow with the chocolate using our Tesco value cornflakes.

I have been thinking about NSDs today. I don't think they exist in my life. I think I'm going to start by introducing them slowly! I'm going to have 2 by the end of the week. That's my plan anyway!!

Had lovely dinner tonight. Homemade burgers, homemade 'healthy' chips and a salad. It's one of my favourite meals, and my ds who eats almost anything except salad munched his way through his pepper sticks this evening :j He didn't touch the cucumber, tomatoes or lettuce, but 1/4 is better than nothing :j

Potty training hasn't happened today as we've been out all day. Though, I'm not sure he's ready. I don't want to go on and on at him where he then refuses. I'm sure it'll be clearer when he's ready.