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

armchairexpert

My Christmas budget was $1300 which has the spending power of about £500, including food, but I'm going to go over, so probably about £650 here as well. This is because, although I am in charge of the budget, Mr Expert is in charge of Christmas and he loooooooves Christmas and also we're hosting his Mum and sister this year. So I'm like "let's get a turkey, practical and a high chance of leftovers" and he's like "Or, hear me out, how about a ham, a goose, also a whole baked fish and several dozen oysters! By the way I'd like to buy an entire new set of real silverware, I just think it'll look more festive".

So there's that.

I am in charge of stockings, though, because those little bits-and-bobs presents are my favourite to buy. Mine are getting a bag of chocolate coins, a snow globe, a small game (like, travel Snakes and Ladders/Uno sorts of games, not electronics), a pack of slightly-more-upscale-than-usual knickers and socks each, and a book. That'll make the stockings look bulging, hopefully give them something to do before the after lunch present opening, and is about $20/£8 each.

Cherryfudge

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

The gingerbread house is actually the cheapest way of doing it - I've done it from scratch before and by the time I've bought a few varieties of sweets and made the stupid house (which never stands up as well when it's homemade) it ends up costing a lot more than Lidl's £4.99.

I have overspent a bit, but you're right, almost all of it is genuinely useful as long as I don't get wasteful/overindulgent, and actually use it up rather than leaving it in the cupboard. <obviously I never do this >

Oh me neither. Absolutely not. The very thought. :rotfl:

Wish I had a Lidl round here.

Treadingonplaymobil

Yesterday's lists, before I start today....

to do today
1. food shopping - try to keep under the £110 budget! Well that went well.
2. get contract work done. Not done.
3. Christmas knitting. Tiny bit done.
4. phone and say happy birthday to the person I sent the present to. Done.
5. I know there is more, I have forgotten what it is though... Well I didn't remember...

To do this week
1. finish Christmas shopping.
2. finish DH Christmas knitting.
3. get ahead on contract work.
4. buy Christmas cards.

To do in December
1. finish Christmas shopping!
2. buy DH's birthday present while I'm doing the Christmas shopping.
3. make some more candles.
4. don't try to do too much! I already have a few client bookings and lots of work I want to do, alongside the Christmas stuff. I need to make sure I don't get overwhelmed again.
5. update debt totals at the end of the month, to ensure we know where we are as we start 2018.[/QUOTE]

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 43: Day 4

Well I think perhaps I could stop spending money for a couple of days now. My poor wallet! As well as the food shop from hell yesterday, we took the DC to the town's Christmas market as their advent activity for the day. Most of the activities have been fairly cheap/free (e.g. decorate pine cones, write Christmas cards), but we managed to blow something in the region of £40 on dinner and snacks for us - a fiver each for five hot dogs, two cups of mulled wine at an insane £4 each, and a bag of candy floss for each of the DCs at £2.50 each. I'm never sure if the DC love it that much at the market, even though they ask to go every year. Maybe next year I could wrap homemade hot dogs in foil to take and we could just have the candy floss. I definitely didn't feel we got £40 worth of fun out of the experience.

It's funny - every week seems to bring a new MSE lesson, even after almost 10 months. I'm hoping I'll have some good tools to put into use next year once we're repeating some of the things we've done (and done wrong) this year.

Have actually got a full day at home today too - no ill advised coffees, no food shopping, just actual time at home to work and tidy today and tomorrow. I'm quite looking forward to it! Trying (and failing) not to give myself too much to do so I don't go into the weekend knackered and feeling like I haven't done everything. I've got Saturday earmarked for batch cooking then it's my birthday on Sunday and we're getting the tree (my favourite activity) so I don't want to be playing catch up with work.

Menu plan this week is pretty MSE, not that you'd know it from yesterday's shopping (all made from scratch):
Wednesday - butternut squash soup
Thursday - veggie burgers and chips from the bottom of the freezer
Friday - leftovers/general fridge and freezer scavenge (I know we have lots of single portions of various things that need using up)
Saturday - black bean chilli
Sunday - mackerel puttanesca
Batch cooking - macaroni cheese (one massive, one divvied into single servings for lunches)
columbian black bean stew (I like black beans! Good source of iron too)
tuscan bean soup
flapjacks (might need to make these today, as I think we're running out)
ginger cake
‘chicken’ bites (chickpea nuggets)
falafel balls from packet (I bought a packet of mix reduced a few weeks ago)
leek and potato soup (my mum brought leeks from the garden)

Armchairexpert and Silver Queen thank you for sharing Christmas budgets - even though mine is miles bigger it makes me feel slightly less awful. We have 14 adults (all our parents are divorced and remarried, plus siblings, and one set of close friends), our three DC and five other children to buy for (writing that down it seems a lot of people - I never think that it is compared to some people, but actually...). Wow. Actually that is a lot of people. Hmmm. Suddenly all those 'agree not to buy with other adults in your family' tips don't seem so irrelevant. Another lesson for next year.

to do today
1. CONTRACT WORK. Need to get this at least 50% cleared today, and the rest tomorrow.
2. Christmas knitting.
3. Help DC2 practice lines for nativity - he has the main part (weirdly, this is neither Mary or Joseph) and is pretty good already, but needs practise and confidence.
4. Tidy the sitting room - one room a day should be manageable?!
5. Make soup for dinner.
6. Make flapjacks.
7. Check mortgage paperwork - I'm sure we're supposed to get a text or something when they receive the latest bit of paperwork, and nothing yet (I posted it on Monday).

To do this week
1. finish Christmas shopping.
2. finish DH Christmas knitting.
3. get ahead on contract work.
4. buy Christmas cards.

To do in December
1. finish Christmas shopping!
2. buy DH's birthday present while I'm doing the Christmas shopping.
3. make some more candles.
4. don't try to do too much! I already have a few client bookings and lots of work I want to do, alongside the Christmas stuff. I need to make sure I don't get overwhelmed again.
5. update debt totals at the end of the month, to ensure we know where we are as we start 2018.

Chrystal

At the rate those lightbulbs are flashing you'll be able to use yourself as a Christmas ornament!:rotfl::rotfl:

Lovely to hear you sounding so positive. X

Treadingonplaymobil

Chrystal wrote: »

At the rate those lightbulbs are flashing you'll be able to use yourself as a Christmas ornament!:rotfl::rotfl:

Lovely to hear you sounding so positive. X

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Treadingonplaymobil

Woohoo, have managed to avoid spending money today. And got quite a lot done too. Maybe the two are related.

I actually was feeling really unmotivated this morning, but I decided to do everything in 10 minute chunks, figuring I could work on one thing for 10 minutes without losing the will to live. So I alternated my contract work, cleaning, knitting and a few other little jobs, spending only 10 minutes on each at a time. It worked surprisingly well, kept me motivated all day!

to do today
1. CONTRACT WORK. Need to get this at least 50% cleared today, and the rest tomorrow. Did a little over half, hurrah.
2. Christmas knitting. Did some, making good progress on DH's hat.
3. Help DC2 practice lines for nativity - he has the main part (weirdly, this is neither Mary or Joseph) and is pretty good already, but needs practise and confidence. Done.
4. Tidy the sitting room - one room a day should be manageable?! Done. And half the dining room.
5. Make soup for dinner. Done. Yum.
6. Make flapjacks. Done. And granola and sourdough, which weren't on the list but needed doing.
7. Check mortgage paperwork - I'm sure we're supposed to get a text or something when they receive the latest bit of paperwork, and nothing yet (I posted it on Monday). Not done.

To do this week
1. finish Christmas shopping.
2. finish DH Christmas knitting.
3. get ahead on contract work.
4. buy Christmas cards.

To do in December
1. finish Christmas shopping!
2. buy DH's birthday present while I'm doing the Christmas shopping.
3. make some more candles.
4. don't try to do too much! I already have a few client bookings and lots of work I want to do, alongside the Christmas stuff. I need to make sure I don't get overwhelmed again.
5. update debt totals at the end of the month, to ensure we know where we are as we start 2018.

baglady1

Hi TOPM, I haven't posted on your thread before but would just like to say it's one of the first Diaries I read each day. Well done on tackling your debt your way. I can see your mindset changing throughout the Diary. Lots of thougthful & helpful posts (well mostly) to give us all ideas to take into our Debtbusting/Frugal journey.
All the best for Christmas from Downunder. Cheers BL1

armchairexpert

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Armchairexpert and Silver Queen thank you for sharing Christmas budgets - even though mine is miles bigger it makes me feel slightly less awful. We have 14 adults (all our parents are divorced and remarried, plus siblings, and one set of close friends), our three DC and five other children to buy for (writing that down it seems a lot of people - I never think that it is compared to some people, but actually...). Wow. Actually that is a lot of people. Hmmm. Suddenly all those 'agree not to buy with other adults in your family' tips don't seem so irrelevant. Another lesson for next year.

That is a huge number of people! We both buy for our mothers (one Dad is deceased, the other is sporadically absent from our lives so I just send a card now), plus a childless sibling each (because they buy for our kids), each other, nieces and our kids. Plus teacher gifts and a thing for under the school Wishing Tree. So 6 children and 7 adults not counting teachers etc.

It did used to be more until I implemented a Secret Santa thing with the adults in Mr E's family, because there are a lot of them and it was getting ridiculous especially since we live in a different part of the country and the postage fees were killing us.

As for still learning MSE ways, I'm reminded of the Anne of Green Gables quote.

"Marilla, isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"
"I'll warrant you'll make plenty in it," said Marilla. "I never saw your beat for making mistakes, Anne."
"Yes, and well I know it," admitted Anne mournfully. "But have you ever noticed one encouraging thing about me, Marilla? I never make the same mistake twice."
"I don't know as that's much benefit when you're always making new ones."
"Oh, don't you see, Marilla? There must be a limit to the mistakes one person can make, and when I get to the end of them, then I'll be through with them. That's a very comforting thought."

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 43: Day 5

I made bread yesterday - and therefore ate rather a lot, since it's been a couple of weeks since I've had lovely oven fresh bread - and I swear I have expanded overnight. My weight is ridiculous at the moment - it's been the thing that has taken the hit through all the recent work/time/money stress. If I don't shed some instead of doing the usual Christmas pig out I'm going to be the size of a whale in the new year!

Going to go for another day of achievement today - 10 minute chunks all day! It really worked to help me plough through some of my bigger jobs without sitting down and going 'right, I'm going to get the whole of that thing done now' then messing around online for an hour without actually doing anything.

Had another stress at DH last night about how busy we all are, and that I think actually this is just our lives and it's never going to ease up. I may have been being a tiny bit over dramatic, but actually a lot of the things we do (DCs clubs, although that will reduce slightly in January, my work) just are as they are, and I need to start accepting them and figuring out life with them in it rather than being in firefighting mode constantly. Once the remortgage is through and I am a little clearer on our finances it will be easier - I actually think my income aims at the moment are a little ambitious, and that's causing the vast vast majority of the stress, but I can't really see how I can reduce them more than perhaps £50 a month without seriously affecting our lives. Need to take a long hard look at the numbers at some stage over Christmas.

All Christmas spending has come to a dead halt as I have run out of 'real' money and my new CC has not arrived so I can't do the last bit on there. Gosh, such healthy spending habits going on round here.

armchairexpert that quote is perfect! I eagerly anticipate the day I have finished making mistakes.

baglady1 thank you for your lovely comment! Good to have you along, although mostly it's just to witness a total absence of MSE right now.

to do today
1. Finish remaining 40% or so of contract work.
2. More Christmas knitting.
3. Continue to practise nativity lines with DC2.
4. Tidy our bedroom - such a dumping ground!
5. Finish tidying the dining room.
6. Make something for pudding (preferably involving tinned pears, since I have a tin in the cupboard)
7. Check mortgage paperwork - I'm sure we're supposed to get a text or something when they receive the latest bit of paperwork, and nothing yet (I posted it on Monday).
8. Defeat the ironing basket before it expands to become an ironing mountain.

To do this week
1. finish Christmas shopping.
2. finish DH Christmas knitting.
3. get ahead on contract work.
4. buy Christmas cards. Done.

To do in December
1. finish Christmas shopping!
2. buy DH's birthday present while I'm doing the Christmas shopping.
3. make some more candles.
4. don't try to do too much! I already have a few client bookings and lots of work I want to do, alongside the Christmas stuff. I need to make sure I don't get overwhelmed again. Yeah, this is going abysmally, as always.
5. update debt totals at the end of the month, to ensure we know where we are as we start 2018.