Debt free me!

Perryface

Argggh...... Just checked my bank account.

I bought a chest freezer and some Xmas 2017 presents at the end of Dec costing me £162 in total.

Today I am £113 overdrawn.
£200 holiday payment is due out today making me £313 overdrawn
£25 Tv license and car tax due out tomorrow making me £338 overdrawn
£10 at morrisons due out since Dec 28th still not gone out! £348 o/d

£130 payment in on 5/1 fingers crossed making me £218 o/d
£218 payment in on 6/1 making my balance £0.

Problem then is we need food and petrol for the month @ £220 putting me back in my o/d by £220 argggggh! At least I knocked off £80 of my o/d during December!

So, if I hadn't bought the freezer and sale items I would still be £58 overdrawn. Ahhh never mind.... I should be In the black by Feb 6th!

Little_Miss_Winner

Hi

Have you nothing that you can ebay / sell on gumtree. I am sure you must have something(s) you dont wear / use / watch /like etc...

Even little items all add up

Perryface

Carp carp carp!

Well, this year is getting off to a great start!

I just called the garage to check when mot was due And it should have been done in December 2016! !!!!!! it is booked in for tomorrow.

AND my accountant emailed me (long story, but had a small business that closed in sept 2015 that I apparently still haven't done my taxes for - I won't have any tax to pay cos I didn't earn anything!) so I got my paperwork together yesterday and popped that into his office. (@ £100 to do the tax return).

Sooooo, let's look on the bright side..... I can now start properly budgeting for next years mot and I won't have any surprises from the tax man.

I used to be so organised but since I started taking all this medication my brain/memory is shot!

I will be buying a diary this year and will write down all important dates and any spending I do.

Someone, please slap me...

It looks like my o/d will not be sorted by Feb now! God damn it!

Tomorrow is my self imposed 'pay day' so will see what my bank account looks like then and re-project spending for this month (seems I am doing that every other day at the moment).

I feel so out of control at the moment, my sister just lost her job, her partner is self-employed and is claiming jsa at moment, my mum just had a hip replacement privately so her money is dwindling yet my sister keeps asking to borrow money from her. My Fil is poorly, my health is poo, hubby cut his hours to care for me but is now doing overtime to help with debt (defeats the object really) and he has a recurring back problem (double bulging discs) and is waiting for physio.

On a positive note: we have a lovely home, enough food till payday, holiday savings, Sidney the springer loves us unconditionally.

Right, I am going to find some stuff to put on eBay/Facebook (anyone know when there will be free posting of stuff as I can't even afford the pennies to post items!)

Perryface

Woohoo! Just checked my bank and my o/d is only £27.83!

Jan in comings and outgoings

OUTGOINGS
Groceries/petrol £220
DD/savings £250
MOT £35
Accountant @ £100 (will update once I get the invoice)
Overdraft £27.83

TOTAL £632.83

INCOMING
12/1 £218
26/1 £218
3/2 £220

TOTAL £656

Looks like I could be out of my o/d by Feb payday after all, and be in credit by £23.17

I just have to keep a tight rein on myself and not get jiggy with it!

Ahhh, that feels better after my wobble yesterday! Phew

Perryface

Going to do my first monthly shopping trip today and finally use my new chest freezer!

Quite excited! Just hope I have enough bags to carry the stuff home. I am going to be estimating how much, bread, milk, butter etc I will need but should have money left to get emergency essentials if I guess wrong!

Anyone know if you can freeze sliced meats for hubby's packed lunches or does it go all slimy when you defrost it? Would it be cheaper to buy a ham joint and cook it myself? Trial and error I guess....

I will need 30 meals for 2 people till next payday:

4 chickens (8 meals)
32 sausages (6 meals)
1.5kg mince (6 meals)
8 haddock (4 meals)
3pkts belly pork (3 meals)
2pkts liver (3 meals)

And all the accompaniments eg, pasta, rice, potatoes, gravy, mixed veg, sauces.

Will update how well/bad I did lol

Bobarella

How exciting! Ham freezes fine in my experience.

EssexHebridean

Sandwich type fillings freeze brilliantly - we regularly freeze ham, beef, haslet, occasionally pork, and pates of all descriptions. I'm wary of freezing tongue - especially if it is yellow-stickered, we've had a couple lots come out smelling a bit dubious so don't go there any more. Corned beef goes a bit mushy though - be warned!

Have a look for the theads on here about "rubber" chicken. You can definitely get a third meal out of each bird for the two of you - generally speaking I go roast for meal 1 (which will be the breast meat off one side for me and a leg inc thigh for MrEH). Something along the lines of curry or similar for meal 2 using the other leg, and half of the remaining breast, and the final half the breast and all the pickings off the carcass (plus the wing meat) will make at least 1 if not two risottos for both of us. (When you pick the carcass remember to flip it over and get the bits off the bottom - there's some tasty stuff down there!). If you're making risotto is also pays to use the carcass for a bit of stock. There are great ways to stretch sausages too - they make fab "meatballs" if you squeeze them out of the skins and fry as little "blobs", and sausage casserole is also a good way of making them go further - grab each one, twist firmly in the middle to make 2 chipolata length ones, and then snip them apart...the extra number of bits disguises that you've used less. When I do them now MrEH and I get 2 each - I pile his plate up with a bit of extra mash & veg and he never complains!

Silly question, but do you actually need an accountant to do your tax return? A lot depends on how complicated the paperwork is - but as a self employed sole trader (for 6 years) I always did it myself, and it never took me much over an hour, even allowing for the last thorough check-through before submitting it. I always kept a spreadsheet with all income and outgoings on it, updated as I went along through the year, and did the return immediately the system updated in April while everything was fresh in my mind.

Perryface

Good tips re sausages and chicken, thanks EH, next month I will buy sliced meat and freeze, I bought a gammon joint and cut it into quarters for this month (£10 though, so was a dear do!)

Because I closed my business in sept 2015 I feel I need to have the account 'properly' finished off and also, I did try to do them myself in the first year of business and got myself in a proper tis! I am happy for the accountant to do it. The £100 is the most he will charge, he thinks it will be less though due to there only being 5 months of paperwork to work on.

Oh and my chest freezer is full, my kitchen freezer is full, my cupboards are full and I only spent £83 out of the £100 budget! I do need potatoes (I am going to get a sack from the farm shop and keep them in the garage only taking out what I need for the week).

I made a deconstructed shepherds pie for tonight (basically stew and mash haha!) I slow cooked it all day and it was lovely!

Sausage balls with spicy tomato pasta sauce and sweet corn sounds yummy, might have that tomorrow! Thanks EH!

EssexHebridean

Glad to have helped! And yes, if things are tricky then £100 is a small price to pay for having peace of mind.

I've got non deconstructed shepherd's pie tomorrow! :rotfl:

Perryface

Hi diary,

We bought 25kg of potatoes today for £8.50 - I think that's a bargain, but having never bought that many before I have no clue if we will eat all of them, how long they will last or how much potato soup hubby would be willing to eat if I have to use up loads! The sack is currently in the garage keeping cool and dark, I am hoping this will stop them going to mush but tis a learning curve!

Things I plan to make and freeze:
Bubble and squeak
Mashed potato
Potato cakes
Potato soup

Anyone have anymore ideas?

I bathed the dog yesterday and he smelt lovely after, however, I took him for a walk on the field this morning where he decided to roll in the first puddle he could find... So showered him again! Lil git

I have had to tell my mum off today too.... She rang to tell me she was thinking of 'writing off' my sisters debt (£2100) and that if she did that then her and dad have decided they would have to give me the same. I was astonished she would even think like that... My mum is retired and has a steady private pension along with her state pension, however, my dad is self employed, and although he earns good money, he has no pension or investments to fall back on once he is retired, so they are going to need every penny they have (I expect them to live for at least another 30 years!)

Mum also mentioned that dad brought up buying my sister a new hip (£10,000) cos she is too young to get one under nhs apparently. I was effin gobsmacked! And told mum that 46 years ago you had made my sister two hips and she didn't need to be paying for another one fgs! She laughed but I hope she doesn't do it. Also, it would mean they would feel guilty that they hadn't given me the same Argggh.

I am not saying my mum and dad are poor, on the contrary, they live a comfortable lifestyle, but once dads wage stops they will have a finite amount of money to play with and should enjoy their retirement. Alas my sis will just take, take, take.

And....it was fil's birthday today (84) so we went round to give him is card (present was given earlier). Macmillan are now coming and massaging his leg where the lymph nodes are blocked but he feels like poo. My hubby is executor to their wills and we both have power of attorney for both of them, should they lose their marbles, so the visit was taken over by them telling us what jewellery they wanting going to whom, where the address book is to contact all family and friends and where the money stash is etc.... That was heavy going, but at least we have our orders now and they can stop worrying. I think mil thinks she won't survive long after Fil has gone. Very upsetting.

What a day!