Getting back on the MFW Wagon

Needhelpsaving

Hi!

Nothing major to report here today, I just want to keep my motivation up by posting regularly.

- The item I sold over the weekend was collected and paid for - I have found 4 others to be listed tomorrow. £6 in the wedding fund.

- I have got the xmas decs put up (even if DD2 is slowly taking them back down again :rotfl:).

- We are also looking at remortgaging to a fixed deal, as we want some stability given the uncertainty that looks to be coming with Brexit.

- I am currently pondering 2019 goals (got the cogs whirling ).

Right, time for a brew.

Needhelpsaving

Evening all x

I hope everyone is keeping warm as the weather turns that bit chillier.

I have to confess that I had well and truly fallen off the budget wagon this month - I went to M&S Food to grab a potted plant for OH Nan for xmas and ended up with yellow sticker meat too - I couldn't help myself. The freezer is now fit to burst.

Today we had quite a busy day - Breakfast with Father Christmas this morning (it was shocking! The kids liked it, but to be honest I was half expecting Brian Potter from Phoenix Nights to come out) :rotfl::rotfl:

Despite this, we have had a great day with friends and family and have delivered most of the Christmas presents to boot :T

I sold an item on shpock the other night this was collected same day, which was handy.

If I don't manage to get back online before xmas, I hope everyone has an enjoyable time, whatever you are up tp.

Needhelpsaving

Hi,

This week has been quite productive in terms of money - £25 worth of bits sold online, both collected and paid for :T

Have claimed £7.99 in cashback - allocated to wedding fund.

We have remortgaged to a new deal - 2.09% for 5 years. There were lower rates on the market, but this deal was the one that suited our needs best, combined with a lower rate than we're on now :money:

OH has had a tax rebate and new tax code as he was over charged last year. This will go towards wedding fund initially to ensure we stay on budget/fully cash flowed.

I have been trying to do something daily to earn money - this is more for building the habit of doing it, as I seem to have become a bit distracted of late.

We have everything we need food wise for the xmas period (and well into January), so the overspends for this months food budget will be covered by underspends on next months. The food budget is something I will need to continue working on in 2019 - I need to be more consistent with the spending.

ETA - Bank accounts balanced and ready to be left until the new year. No spends apart from bread/milk top ups are required.

Needhelpsaving

:xmassign: Merry Christmas!

The day has come and gone and we had a lovely time entertaining some family members for lunch (I was ready to cry when one of them said 'it's lovely to speak to someone on Christmas day' )

I think it just brings it home that we can get so wrapped up in the day to day stuff that we can forget how important that contact is for other people.

Both DD's have been spoiled with new clothes, some toys and money for savings.

I think we have finalised our 2019 goals. We are finishing 2018 with 3 goals uncompleted - repaint hall/stairs/landing, replace dining table and get blinds for the kitchen.

The 2019 goals have some items to be repaired/updated in the house, our wedding to cashflow and have set a huge OP target for the mortgage. It seems unrealistic, but we thought our 2018 goals were unrealistic, but we were lucky enough to met/exceeded the financial goals, so we're going to aim high and push ourselves as much as we can.

The remortage we applied for a week or so ago has been accepted and the new rate starts 01 Jan 2019 :T So, it's full steam ahead!!

Moneyfordreams

Looking at your November summary you have done extremely well... You comment about your relatives isolation prompted me to contact an old uncle so thank you. I wrote a letter last month and he replied says text me
Thank you

Needhelpsaving

The new year is fast approaching and we'll very soon be in 2019!!!

The spending over xmas has been very low, but could have been better;

- MIL loves shopping, so I made a note of things we needed for the girls in coming months/next winter and asked her to keep an eye out for some deals. We now have winter coats for both DD's for 2019 and DD2 needed some baby gro's and vests in the next 2 sizes, all noow in storage until needed. All items were purchased for a total of £55.50 in the sales. This was covered by Dec's child benefit :money:

- I have spent £1.59 on some bread and £6.48 on weekly milk delivery (all in food budget).

- A money fail was OH taking DD1 to cinema, but instead of using the voucher we have for a local cinema, he decided to go to the out of town 'posh' one. He has paid for this from his personal spends (cinema snob! :rotfl:).

- Mom gave me about 8 small yankee candles (voltives/small jar) as she was gifted a scentsi? wax melt for xmas.

- We went for a walk in one of the local(ish) parks yesterday and grabbed coffee/hot chocs on way out to warm up - note to self, don't buy them again, as none of us enjoyed them and they were £2.50 each! Lesson learned

Needhelpsaving

Happy NYE to those celebrating.

Just popping in to keep myself up to date. I braved the shops today (groceries needed), £39.34 spent, which was under budget. I have £7.94 cash in my purse to last me until Monday 07/01 when I will withdraw the next sum in cash.

£3 Amazon voucher received from swagbucks and added to the account (current total £31.59).

£1.60 requested from Quidco.

I have decided to set myself some monthly challenges to find different ways of making money from home (don't judge the corny titles :rotfl::o- January will be 'Just Hustle January'). The aim is that each month I will try to be more creative in my ways of making/saving money so that we can move towards our goals.

Any money saved/earned will initially go into my savings for birthdays/xmas/car repairs and then wedding and home repairs depending on the goal we are working towards at that point in time.

I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2019 :beer:

Needhelpsaving

Evening all,

So, January is off to a decent start for us.

We have managed to put money aside for two small repair/replacement jobs within the house (bathroom light fitting and bathroom cabinet), just need to get the pieces bought and fitted now.

I have stayed within budget on food and we have enough food until payday :money:

We have sold £28.18 worth of stuff (after fees and postage costs), which has helped clear out the house a bit and we still have some stuff for sale that will end early next week. Plus, I have four more pieces to list over the weekend.

I have earned $40.85 Amazon Vouchers, we have £31.59 vouchers sitting in the Amazon UK account and I have some typing work due to be paid on Monday.

We also earned £100 cashback for the mortgage deal we moved to, that was received in our current account on Wednesday and sent straight back to the mortgage as an OP :j

Picked up 2 female birthday presents half price and child's xmas 2019 present half price

It's all ticking along here and hopefully things will continue to pick up as we head towards the back end of the month.

Needhelpsaving

Hi

I didn't realise it had been nearly two weeks since I last posted!

I have just been concentrating on RL. I have been continuing to try to earn more money from home, but perhaps had delusions of grandeur. I have managed to earn/save £244.98 and $40.85 in vouchers (I have put 1/4 of the money I earned aside for tax).

I do have some typing work outstanding - which I think I will be paid for? (i'm in dispute with them as the transcription has been marked incomplete - but it matches the audio, so I have no idea what the checker was listening to). I'll be pretty miffed if they don't pay, as it's £35 of work in that one transcript.

In other news Jan's payday has come and gone, money has been allocated to various pots. Nothing major planned for this month from main budget. We will need to pay a couple of deposits from the wedding fund.

Needhelpsaving

Good Evening.

I hope you're staying warm wherever you are.

We have had some spends this weekend, chippy tea last night (£11 from the takeaway budget) - an indulgence, but it means we have a small amount of flexibility for treats.

We took both DD's to a local soft play today (£10 for entry and a drink each), it meant that they could have a change of scenery with the weather being cold (and run/crawl off some energy )

We were £12.40 under budget on the bills account, so I sent this to the mortgage as an OP.

In other news, the work I disputed has been reviewed and they have increased the mark on it from 1/1 to 3/5 - I agree there were some words I misheard to due to heavy accents, but it certainly wasn't unusable or incomplete. So I will be paid after all :money:

Meal plan for the week has been done and we have everything we need for the week ahead.