My Debt Busting Diary 2016

ScattySkewbald

Ooooh nice bonus, just checked my quidco account and I've got £10.31 payable - I've withdrawn and this can go towards the Highchair too!

ScattySkewbald

Arrgh what a day yesterday! Can't believe the amount of rain we had. Ponies had a duvet day as field was pretty trashed - much to the big mans disgust, who made a break for freedom when I went up to do the evening feed and muck outs. He did a runner when I was popping him back in the stable, did a couple of laps of the yard and then realised it wasn't much fun out there :rotfl:

A couple of the eBay buyers have paid up from Monday (still waiting on one :mad: ) so need to do a post office run later. I've had 2 bids on my other items, again I'll be leaving it all in my account to cover the cost of the Highchair.

Weigh in night was another 2.5lb off taking me to 24lb / 31lb. Another half a stone to go, although may up my target to 38lb as I still don't feel much difference- we'll see how I'm feeling when I get there.

House is in need of a lot of TLC! Hopefully get a few little bits sorted today during nap times fingers crossed......

Right best get those woofs walked and ponies fed X

ScattySkewbald

Nice quiet day yesterday, managed to get LO's room sorted and wash all the bedding but that was about it as he's very grizzly at the moment with his teeth

Posted the eBay items (still waiting on the one buyer tho :mad: ) and have had another bid on items ending at the weekend. Have got a huge bag of stuff to list, so need to get onto that at some point.

Went and reclaimed my fencing from the old field and the good news is I have more than enough to sort the new one, so no spends there just need the time to do it. Keeping fingers crossed for a nice dry day and then LO can come up with me.

Need to get back into the habit of swagging as I'm missing the Amazon GC - even if I could just get enough to cover the dog food it'd be great. Just find it so time consuming and frustrating and I won't be stuck to the iPad whilst little ones awake.

Jobs for toady.......
1. Washing
2. Get tea out freezer for tonight (as per meal plan )
3. Pop to see friend to drop her birthday pressie off.
4. Put laundry away
5. Wrap FIL birthday pressies as there cluttering up my dining room!
6. Quick Fly in living room / dining room
7. Make a start on the fencing

Have a good day X

smallholdingsister

Great weightloss. Well done!

ScattySkewbald

Thanks Smallholdingsister - looks like you're doing really well on your weight loss journey too :beer:

So got a few of yesterday's jobs done - washing done and put away, tea from freezer and delivered pressie. My dining room is slightly clearer although I won't cross it off my list just yet :rotfl:

A conversation with my friend has made me have another look at my mat pay. I may have a few more weeks at SMP left than I first thought. If I stick to our current budget, worse case scenario is that I have £338.54 excess when I go back, best case £1261.97. I'm going to continue working to the worse case and anything else is a bonus! Work have been pants at explaining my whole mat pay and my HR rep is based 100s of miles away and has been no use whatsoever in answering my questions.

Had a brief attempt at $wagging again and still getting screened out of all the surveys. So frustrating. I think going forward I'm going to limit myself to 30mins a day and anything I do get us a plus. Just haven't got the time to hit target each day. If I can get £5 a month that's £45 by year end.

Right, I'm off to pop a load of washing in before the little man wakes up.

Happy weekend everyone x

ScattySkewbald

Monday again!

We had a relatively chilled weekend - in other words not a great deal got done :rotfl:

eBay items finished last night - £59 sold, so that's the Highchair covered I now face the task of packaging and posting. Not my favourite job but worth it.

Pot of soup made in slow cooker yesterday to use up some veggies - will do for lunches for the next 3-4 days. We have 11 days left until payday and I'm looking to spend as little as possible. Have plenty of stock in the freezer, just need to move it from the chest freezer in the garage to the one in the house.

Having my hair done tomorrow. Am booked in for a colour and cut. I think however the colouring is going to have to stop and I need to be brave and give it a go myself. The £50 vs £12 cut + £5 colour saving is too much to ignore. I'm sure there must be a YouTube video somewhere to help me :cool:

Right today's tasks........
1. Washing (as per usual - how much extra washing can one little person create!)
2. eBay packing & post
3. FIL birthday pressies STILL need wrapping
4. Hang curtains
5. Go "shopping" in the chest freezer
6. Hoover

Have a good day X

ScattySkewbald

Quite a productive day yesterday! 4 loads of washing done, curtains sorted, eBay posted, freezer meals moved and downstairs hoovered - so for once my to do list was almost done!

Also took advantage of the sunny afternoon and managed to get the pony's field sorted. That's now nice and secure for them so hopefully they can graze it down a bit before the spring grass really starts coming through.

Had another £21 in eBay sales last night - have used this to put in the account to cover the short fall for the month mainly due to OH car insurance. Need another £25 - could take it out of my mat leave savings, however it would be nice to raise the funds via eBay / fb sales.

Took money out for hairdressers later - have definitely decided it'll be the last time it's coloured there for the moment and will give it a go myself. What's the worse that could happen :rotfl: it'll wash out eventually lol!

Fingers crossed the big lad will be on 24/7 turnout by the end of the month, can't wait - one less smelly stable to muck out and one less bale of hay to buy every month. This will save me £30 a month which will go to the o/d. Would love to see this gone by year end. My current calculation show I'll be about £200 short, so ideally could do with chucking an extra £20ish per month at it...........

Had my car insurance renewal through yesterday - £150 more than last year :eek: I know it's a newer car but even so that seems steep. A quick check from the meerkats showed I could get it for £110 less, so I think nap time today will be used to do some shopping about. Also need to find the best price for the big lads meds as he only has 2 weeks supply left. Fingers crossed he has a decent sleep!

Weigh in later - hoping for a loss. After this week I've got 1 week left on my pre paid groups that I used Xmas money for. Once I reach my target weight I no longer have to pay. I'm currently 7lb above target, not quite doable within 2 weeks but hopefully if I'm really good I'll only have to pay for a couple of sessions, otherwise it's £4.95 a week. Double incentive to be extra good I think!

Tasks for today.......
1. Wrap FIL present
2. Post eBay
3. Car insurance quotes
4. Shop around for horsey meds
5. Meal plan for next couple of weeks

ScattySkewbald

Morning!

Little ones fast asleep on me so I'm stuck to the sofa for half hour or so, so thought I may aswell post a quick update.

Managed to sort my car insurance sorted for £160 cheaper than renewal plus just over £60 in cashback - not too shabby! I've also realised that I have a year more ncb than I put in the quote so need to ring them later to get that sorted. Hopefully it'll bring the price down a wee bit more.

Weigh in last night was another pound off so 25lb / 31lb lost

Meal plan is sorted for next 4 weeks, hopefully with minimal needed to buy in. Need to get a bit of batch cooking done, so will try and load the slow cooker up in the morning.

I received an email with my loyalty voucher (£3.50) for local feed store so I've ordered a bag of horse feed on click and collect. It's saved me approx a third off normal price . Will also need to order some feed for my lami pony in the next week or so but once I've got this in should have enough to see them through the next 3 months. Still need to do a bit of shopping about for the meds.

ScattySkewbald

4 days until payday!!!! It can't come quick enough :T

I'm sure OH thinks I have a money tree planted at the bottom of the garden - really need to get him on board with all of this :mad:

Not a lot to report really, just counting down the days until payday lol!

Will pop to Aldi later and grab the fresh bits needed for the week - shouldn't be a lot really.

Going to be a spendy month in terms of the ponies as I've got a vet visit booked this week. Very rarely get any change out of £100, so the aim for April is to make £100 to cover this. Still have a lot of stuff to eBay (got some ending tonight but only 99p so far :mad:)

One thing I have notice being a new mum is everyone is chucking coupons at me! Some I wouldn't use but others have been great. At the minute they're randomly lying around the house so need to organise them somehow so that I can stick them in my handbag and always have them when needed. My boots points are also adding up quite nicely - should be able to get a Christmas pressie or 2 out of them later in the year.

Right better get the woofs walked and ponies fed

ani*fan

Hi there ScattySkewbald :wave:

I've just found your diary and read it cover to cover. I am so impressed with everything you're doing. A new baby, maternity leave pay, a horse to take care of and an OH who maybe doesn't quite get it yet...:) Well done. You're really doing brilliantly.

I'm subscribing and will follow your progress with interest.