£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Treadingonplaymobil

Woop, audiobook success! Can play them on my and DC1's devices. Will spend some time ensuring my Audible library is 100% downloaded and cancel the account. Thank you so much to whoever it was who suggested this - I can't find the original post!

System

TOPM , I have mine set up now as well and discovered the library again. I can't remember either who suggested it !

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 36: Day 1

I have assigned today 'batch cooking day'. I need to take DC3 to birthday party for a couple of hours, but apart from that I'm going to be cooking up a storm, with a view to reducing the workload during the week a little. I have scheduled in a batch cooking day once a month-ish for the next few months as a bit of an experiment. Today I'm going to cook some or all of the following....
1. red pepper tart for packed lunches (from an old recipe book, can take a photo if anyone wants it, but basically slow fried red peppers and tomatoes in a quiche base).
2. pizza whirls for packed lunches.
3. vegetarian nuggets, possibly for lunch boxes (have never made these before, they may be beyond revolting).
4. onion and mozarella puff pastry tarts for packed lunches/easy dinner on swimming nights.
5. raw brownies (DC1 loves these as a treat every now and again, but they're quite expensive to make).
6. some kind of ginger loaf cake.
7. carrot and apple muffins for lunch boxes.
8. flapjacks
9. stew the remaining apples from my mother and freeze in portions (DC2 has this every day with breakfast, the pounds and pounds from my mum's trees have made it miles cheaper for a few weeks)
10. pizza dough for homemade pizzas for dinner tonight.
11, salmon pasty filling (with tinned salmon. Haven't figured out a recipe, but involving leeks, white sauce and maybe some potatoes).
12. parsnip and apple soup
13. cook a ham for ham, egg and chips on Thursday.
14. vegetarian sausage rolls for car journey dinner on Friday.
15. black bean chilli (I make this a lot)

That's an insane list, I probably won't get through it all, but even getting the lunch things out of the way will make a huge difference. I'm a pretty efficient chef though, I reckon I can nail a good portion of that. DH is on child-management duty so I can crack on. I do also have to plan the hyacinth bulbs though!

Moving on, debt totals this week....

Totals as at 8th October
Barclaycard £13,381.21
MBNA £485.63
Partnership card (the one I used Aug/Sept when the budgets didn't balance) £1,028.97
Tesco loan £20,292.35
Parental loan £20,000
Total £55,188.16

Totals as at 15th October
Barclaycard £13,381.21
MBNA £460.63
Partnership card (the one I used Aug/Sept when the budgets didn't balance) £1,281.01
Tesco loan £20,292.35
Parental loan £20,000
Total £55,415.20

So the debt total has increased £227.04. This is totally unsurprising, as I've been putting things like food and Christmas shopping on the CC, knowing that there isn't enough in the account to cover the month's expenses this month. I'm pleased that at halfway through the month the increase is under £250 - my aim is to keep the increase under £500 for the month.

In non-MSE news, I am feeling so much less stressed for sticking more definitely to my work hours, and not trying to achieve such insane quantities of stuff when I am working. My lists are still crazy, but I am being stricter about realistically rescheduling anything that doesn't get completed one day, rather than letting the list build to epic proportions (most of the time. There was one crazy day last week!).

To do today
1. Some or all of that cooking up there.
2. plant hyacinth bulbs.
3. continue downloading Audible ebooks onto itunes.
4. cancel Audible account.
5. plan next week's work.
6. paint nails for seeing client tomorrow (I know I keep mentioning this, but still so pleased I invested in the LED lamp and gel polishes. Has meant that my manicure is completely dry instantly rather than tacky for an hour or two, and it lasts far longer so brilliant for weeks when I have a few days work, as I do this week).

To do this week
1. Continue to plan Christmas gifts.
2. Plant hyacinth bulbs.
3. Charity shop trawl for stocking fillers and hyacinth planters. Done.
4. Library ebooks. Done. workds on DC1's mp3 player and my phone, hurrah!

To do this month
1. keep the total spend for the month below £3,500. Currently budgeted at £3,439.
2. work a sensible number of hours, even if it means slower progress on the work and debt front. September was rubbish. This is going well so far.
3. make any homemade Christmas gifts.

enthusiasticsaver

Wow sounds like you going to be busy today. Hope the cooking session goes well.

I have put the LED lamp and gel polishes on my Xmas wish list as it frustrates me having to careful after doing my nails. Almost always end up damaging them slightly as I can't sit for ages waiting for them to dry.

lionheartedgirl

afternoon TOPM,

a quick note to say hello and offer a little more support. I'm in it for the long haul too and I spend money on things and in ways that others might perceive as irresponsible/undesirable/not the best way to pursue the long term goal.

I've tried to keep my focus on reducing my financial vulnerability and living some kind of life and not turning down too many wonderful opportunities to do cool things with cool people as and when they come along. I have made a lot of changes to my life and my finances and while I still have a long way to go, I am happy that I have pretty much got the balance right and won't be returning to my old ways.

Ultimately it's you that has to go through all this so you can only do what you think is best for you and yours. Keep going, we'll get there!

armchairexpert

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Woop, audiobook success! Can play them on my and DC1's devices. Will spend some time ensuring my Audible library is 100% downloaded and cancel the account. Thank you so much to whoever it was who suggested this - I can't find the original post!

TOPM, what device does DC1 have? This is exactly what Big Girl (turning 9) wants for her birthday: a digital music player that will also play audiobooks. I'm struggling, because the iPod Nano isn't made any more, the Touch is an insane amount of money ($450!) and has a lot of functionality she doesn't need and I can't find another solution. I'm hoping you're going to tell me about a wonderful device that only plays music and audiobooks and doesn't also have a browser and is also very cheap?

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 36: Day 2

Wow, busy cooking afternoon yesterday! A couple of things came up (notably the party overrunning) so I didn't get quite as much time as expected, but still managed to make:
- a couple of dozen pizza whirls
- red pepper quiche (8 slices)
- vegetarian nuggets (probably 8 children's portions)
- raw brownies (around 16)
- carrot and apple muffins (24 mini muffins for lunch boxes)
- stewed apples (about 1lkg)
- pizza dough and homemade pizza

Not totally disappointing!

enthusiasticsaver the lack of smudged nails is exactly the reason I love mine!

lionheartedgirl thank you for the support. I know our way isn't the lowest risk option, but it's better than the alternative (for us) of doing the boom and bust thing and ending up further in debt every time we 'break the rules' and overspend.

armchairexpert we got this for DC1 about 18 months ago and it's still going strong. It's not remotely high tech, and it doesn't look terribly exciting, but it plays music and audiobooks and hasn't broken down yet! I have a vague recollection that it had to be set up for the first time on a PC, not a Mac, but I might be imagining it. I can certainly drag files onto it from my Mac now.

My laptop battery is about to go flat and my charger is in the room with the DCs, so i'll pop back later with lists etc!

Treadingonplaymobil

Woop, anther £100 profit from some work this morning. Up to £180/535 for next month's expenses and salary. The remainder is just covered by my contract work, so at least I know I've covered November now. Hoping for another couple of little bits of income in to boost that and tip some funds over into December.

db2016

i can atest to that mp3 player TOPM mentioned, i bought two a few years ago (there appears to be an updated one but they are super simple and just do the basics, but do it well!).

i bought two, one for me and one for an ex (who used the clip for gym etc and rated it). 8gb is plenty for audiobooks, but can also upgrade with a microSD card (i bought a 32gb for mine).

Treadingonplaymobil

AND I have cancelled the Audible membership, having downloaded my entire library. £7.99 extra in my pocket each month