NST: Standing Firm in November

Calling14

Sneaking in. sorry didn't post yesterday.

Apple hope your DH is recovering from his eye op. Such delicate things.

Dolly glad you got your refund and boo hiss to nasty job news.

Mothernerd - hope you get all the help you need to be bouncy soon.

Not a lot to report

Did my tip run yesterday cleared lots from garage and old chest of drawers. Friend having my old wardrobe, don't like to charge her anything as she is struggling at the moment. Still need to get wardrobe upstairs, taken doors off they were so heavy should be lighter to lift now. Maybe this weekend it may get moved?

Did the double up nectar points yesterday in sainsbobs. so confusing what they count as seasonal - apparently xmas pot pourri one isn't ! So caused a long queue arguing/ swoping stuff. Spent ages in there but got nice new bath mat and towels, new handbag(, zip gone on my work one) and christmas cards, wrapping paper, crackers. Happy bunny did a small food shop as well.

Seems to be seasonal stress time in work, mine is caused by extra workload of boss going off on a cruise for most of December. Would kill to lye in the sun for a day.

Welsh Kitty - good luck with the xmas market, one of my friends just abandoned looking around there and ended up going for a pub lunch as it was so cold. Wrap up warm and stand on cardboard.

I need to do xmas pressie hunt for paw patrol stuff which is out of stock everywhere. Not losing any sleep over it yet!!!!!!!!

Nothing planned this weekend except for a bubbly bath(sorry Fmess) and some wine tonight. Visit to garden centre see xmas display with gs tomorrow and no painting my eyes are still bright red.

Have a lovely weekend, stay warm and forget diets too cold x

thriftylass

Oh finally found a present for my parents back in Germany. I guess most have the same problem, parents are hard to buy for/give to. Plus I need to consider postage. We'll be making last use of our yearly zoological society membership tomorrow (wedding present) and go to Edinburgh zoo. That got me the idea. We don't have a national trust but sth similar so they can visit all castles, parks etc for a year in their federal state. Plus atm they have a 2-4-1 offer (40 Euros for the two of them!). Result. I'll buy that next month from the christmas budget.

dolly84

thriftylass wrote: »

Oh finally found a present for my parents back in Germany. I guess most have the same problem, parents are hard to buy for/give to. Plus I need to consider postage. We'll be making last use of our yearly zoological society membership tomorrow (wedding present) and go to Edinburgh zoo. That got me the idea. We don't have a national trust but sth similar so they can visit all castles, parks etc for a year in their federal state. Plus atm they have a 2-4-1 offer (40 Euros for the two of them!). Result. I'll buy that next month from the christmas budget.

That sounds like a good gift. You're right parents are very hard to buy for, mine don't want things for the house or clothes so it's usually food related or for the garden.

The pizza dough is doing it's thing so tea will be pepperoni pizza and a ham and mushroom one. Tea last night was hm leek and potato soup with croutons and it was yummy, I finished it off today for lunch.

Today I'm thankful for you guys saying kind words about my job hunting woes, the heater in my car and my exercise dvd which meant I didn't have to exercise outside in icy rain.

GSRcat

That sounds like an awesome gift Thifty!
Calling, nothing like a good clear out is there!
Dolly84, funnily enough it was the same place I had my bad volunteer experience, beginning to think I have some conspiracy against me!
Still I'm pleased today as I'm on track, I've spent what I said I would, my phone got posted today and I've been active.
Today I'm grateful for
My in laws taking me out for lunch
The lovely, lovely people on here
The blue sky and winter sun

Synonymous

Just catching up on four pages of the thread! I've been away in Germany for a week but did a bit of reading in the quiet moments.

Apple, hope your DH is recovering well. Bob hope BabyBob is well and you are getting some sleep. Calling you are well ahead of me getting your bathmat etc, but now I'm going to look at Sains as I have nectar points I can double up too, haha. Mothernerd, keep looking after yourself, not long until you will be debt-free and have some room to breathe. Stewby keep your chin up, you're nearly there ( I get impatient before every payday though, and a bit bored in between, if I could get paid immediately everyday I'd be happier!) Big hugs to all the teachers feeling stressed out and to anyone else who needs them, and big high fives too as despite the challenges everyone seems to be doing well!

Think someone asked about FIRE - yep it's Financial Independence/Retire Early. Hoping to retire before I'm 45.

littleskintdragon wrote: »

Oh i forgot to ask!!

I'm getting some money £4000, its a big amount (to me!)

I need to make a plan for it and want your opinions -

i currently owe -
Loan (family) £400 - i pay £100 a month so would have been paid soon anyway.
Loan £2300 - i pay £114 a month
Cc 1 - £5800
Cc 2 - £2100 (interest free 35 months)

Also as you know, im having a baby next month and have no savings and will be going on statutory mat pay £139 a week, so things will be tight.

What would you do??

My thoughts are pay off the two loans and keep just over 1k as an emergency fund just incase?
Then carry on with the two c/c's.

Any other better suggestions from you clever lot? I dont really want to ask family, as i dont want them knowing my mess!!

This kind of question is music to my ears (and perfect procrastination!) I love these kinds of mathematical budgeting questions, but it depends on lots of things. What are the interest rates on the other debts and do you have any early repayment penalties on the loan? You say your wage will drop in mat leave, but how big a drop is it for you and your family budget? How much are your essential monthly outgoings (rent, food, bills, etc)? All those things would change what I would do with the money in your situation. Feel free to PM me, I geek out on this stuff!

Got home from Germany on Wednesday night eventually after trespassers on the lines grinding everything to a halt in rush hour, then couldn't get my bike unlocked on Thursday morning so missed my train to the last day of my course. Finally got there but fallen trees meant it took ages to get home again, but choir practice cheered me up as always. Been teaching all day today and have such a busy few days! No idea on exact spending, but it's all ok. I flew via Paris just before the attacks and then was in Germany when the bomb scare happened so my family is very happy I'm home.

littleskintdragon

Synonymous wrote: »

,
This kind of question is music to my ears (and perfect procrastination!) I love these kinds of mathematical budgeting questions, but it depends on lots of things. What are the interest rates on the other debts and do you have any early repayment penalties on the loan? You say your wage will drop in mat leave, but how big a drop is it for you and your family budget? How much are your essential monthly outgoings (rent, food, bills, etc)? All those things would change what I would do with the money in your situation. Feel free to PM me, I geek out on this stuff!
.

Great thanks
I will prepare a reply and pm you!


Had a nsd today. Defrosted a homemade lasagne so that was tea. Havent had mine yet as i ate lunch late in work. There'll also be rnough left for lunch tomorrow.

Hoping to go for a walk around the xmas festival tomorrow.

Three things im grateful for today -
1. A colleague buying me lunch as a leaving work gift
2. Previously made food from my freezer
3. A nsd

stewby

My understanding is that my "company" have set days each year that they class as public holidays and it is not necessarily the actual holidays.
As a result, we are getting paid enhanced weekend rates on boxing day and the second (or unsociable hours if on nightshift) but nothing extra on the actual weekdays despite them being the actual holiday.
This is how my colleague explained it to me. She is quite upset about it as she is working Xmas and hoped there would be a financial incentive to do so.
We don't get double time or anything like that. It's something like an extra £2 an hour for nightshift, a bit less for Saturday dayshift and a bit more for Sunday dayshift.
I hope I have made a bit more sense in explaining it this way.

To be honest, I have thought about it for most of the day and I am not really that bothered. I get a decent wage for what I do and really enjoy it (well, parts of it).


Think we are developing a ten year plan so feeling pretty good again. This financial thing is a complete roller coaster.

Will give you a wee giggle though... I am not as useless when it comes to money as I thought. Sitting last night with my OH looking through our joint account. He made an excel spreadsheet then turned it into a piechart.
"wow... do you know our biggest expense is loans!!" OH exclaimed.
Now considering we put £2000 into our account each month and £1200 gets paid towards loans, I am not sure how he needed a pie chart to figure this out.
:doh:

Hugs to everyone who wants them.

Fmess

Evening all,


Sorry for my lack of posting and commenting on everyone's posts, my brain is a little muddled at the moment. I'm going to blame it on the stress at work, by about 8pm my brain just doesn't produce much coherently.


syn - are you a teacher too? (wondering if I already knew this!)


So many of you are nearly debt free! Well done all


Today has been another SFD This week has been pretty nice and quiet and I'm just plodding along, waiting until payday next week.


Today I am grateful for:
1.) Having a job
2.) Having lots of dogs to act as hot water bottles at night
3.) Free apples to make lots of apple crumble with

misstara

Well today ended up being a NSD, I had planned to go christmas shopping after meeting my gran but it started snowing so decided just to go back to the flat instead.

Today I'm grateful for
- an unexpected NSD
- watching it snow while being warm and cosy
- yummy cauliflower cheese for tea

mothernerd

Thanks for the good wishes. I think the pills are helping (multivits and minerals are making me feel perkier) but today has made me realise I have to give my body a chance to recover.

I have ticked a few things off my to do list today but feel that I have not achieved much. Spent money as I went to mum's but then ran out of steam, abandoned some of my intended tasks and had a nap.

Weather is a bit fierce today and although I still don't have the heating on, I have had my panda hat (and scarf, it's an all-in-one) on today. I took it off whilst I was writing an envelope to send things back to the solicitor and got soaked through on the trip to the post Office.

Stewby not sure if it will make you feel better, but I've had lots of jobs where I didn't get holidays for the first twelve months/ didn't get paid holidays at all (before the law changed so that you were allowed bank holidays). Worked Christmas day/ Boxing Day for no extra money.

I've worked in the snow on New Year's Day for no money (so the people who ran the newsagents where DS1 and DS2 were paperboys could celebrate their son's 21st in Birmingham where most of their family were). I was even a Churchwarden for several years (voluntary) and had to cover both Midnight Mass and Christmas day services (2 of the 4 wardens had arranged holidays/ family visits before we could set up a rota, even though one of them should have been on duty). Did this with flu - went home and lived on turkey stew for three days. That was after Town carol service/ school services/ and other extra services (my most frequent partner warden suggested putting a bed in there as we never seemed to go home one week).

Today I am grateful for seeing mum and getting fed (though not diet friendly at all), for a wonderful sleep last night and for tuna and sweet potato mash from the freezer - have taken lots of bits out to thaw including one portion of cauli cheese and the last box of pieces of carrot cake. Bananas are great too, definitely hitting the spot.