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

enthusiasticsaver

Progress Well done on keeping under budget this month and closing MBNA. One debt is gone !!!!

groovychick69

I don't really feel I should comment as I'm juggling just as much as you are however -
Well done! I love reading your diary- you are keeping me on track too. I love clearing credit cards - it's 1 less payment/interest to factor in every month and you may even get a BT offer through the door in the new year to move the partnership card to (incase you do any extra xmas spending). Have you tried selling any unwanted/unused toys? Shpock app is very good it's free, takes seconds to list stuff and buyers are usually local so no extra pressure of packaging up for post office etc. Just an idea if you have a few spare minutes which I'm fairly sure you don't but would make room for any new xmas items and may even pay towards them too. Keep up the good work x x

Verbatim

Fantastic post. Wonderful to see how positive you are and the results of your very hard work. Congratulations.

mrsonions

Fab update! Well done!

jemreading

Popping out of my lurking days to say well done TOPM! it’s always nice to see the numbers go down! x

XSpender

Well done TOPM, what a great update!

Treadingonplaymobil

Thanks for all the lovely comments today. It's nice to feel (probably temporarily) on top of things. Gives me hope!

db2016 thanks for the images comment, interesting. Will have a more thorough look over what you say at some stage - my dad has a huge photographic archive (he was a prominent - in his field - sports journalist for 50 years and always laments that he doesn't do anything with his archive and that he's too old now).

hellsbell I'm aiming for <£1,000 for Christmas. Haven't really started shopping beyond getting the hyacinths and planting them, so no idea how we'll do. We spent around £1,200 last year I think (I'm sure I've mentioned it here before).

Did some work today which exactly covered December's expenses, so nice to be ahead on that - still the salary to earn, but it's been about six months since I've been ahead on the following month at the start of the month.

Ooh, must remember to pay partnership card tomorrow - it's not on a direct debit, needs to be paid before 11th.

To do today
1. info to mortgage broker - must do this before 9am. Done, and valuation booked for next week. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed please.
2. stew the apples that i didn't get round to yesterday. Still not done.
3. order proving baskets (I also didn't get round to this). Added to amazon basket, but will check out when I do some Christmas shopping.
4. anything else from my slight list of doom that I have time for! Progress made!

To do this week
1. declutter and tidy DCs' bedroom.
2. declutter and tidy our bedroom. made a start
3. Plan November's budget. Done.
4. Plan November working time/business goals etc. Done.

To do this month
1. Keep the total spend at the budgeted level - it's high on YNAB this month (£3,842) as it includes the £470 paid off the MBNA card and all our savings pots are actually budgeted.
2. Keep a tight record of Christmas spends so I can ensure it sticks to budget as far as possible.
3. Keep beavering away at my business goals.
4. Make some candles - we've run out! And I know one person really wants another one for Christmas, so will add it to her hyacinth.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 38: day 5

Morning! I've got clients again today, school is thankfully open again, which eliminates the childcare crisis. Going to be a mad morning - I've only seen clients at the house once or twice without DH or my mum helping with childcare - it's quite stressful getting the DCs off to school and keeping the house pristine all by myself! I need to be able to do it though, if I'm going to see as many clients as possible, as there's only so many weekend days in a month.

Nothing else terribly exciting going on - I've kept my to do list deliberately very short today because so much of the day will be eaten up with seeing clients - don't want to have a massive list to tackle this evening!

To do today
1. pay partnership CC minimum payment.
2. stew apples.
3. make homemade hobnobs - I have a friend coming for a playdate tomorrow morning (DC3's non-preschool day).
4. knitting.

To do this week
1. declutter and tidy DCs' bedroom.
2. declutter and tidy our bedroom. made a start
3. Plan November's budget. Done.
4. Plan November working time/business goals etc. Done.

To do this month
1. Keep the total spend at the budgeted level - it's high on YNAB this month (£3,842) as it includes the £470 paid off the MBNA card and all our savings pots are actually budgeted.
2. Keep a tight record of Christmas spends so I can ensure it sticks to budget as far as possible.
3. Keep beavering away at my business goals.
4. Make some candles - we've run out! And I know one person really wants another one for Christmas, so will add it to her hyacinth.

helsbell

TOPM, I'm sure you had mentioned it, I just couldn't remember :rotfl:

BettyBoof

I'm really enjoying your diary TOPM, congratulations on making such great headway so far.

If you don't mind, could you share how you make your candles please? It's something I'd love to do.