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

System

I had three in one bedroom and had to utilise the hall for storage. Pine shelves housed books, games, dvds and paints.

Treadingonplaymobil

No hallway space upstairs, but downstairs is used for board games and the utility room and dining room have all the crafty stuff. They don't have clearly defined areas in their room at the moment apart from for clothes - the layout makes it really tricky without buying new storage, which I'm not going to do at this stage. Hopefully we are on the countdown to that problem going away with the extension starting.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 77: Day 6

No big update today, just wanted to stop by and say that the barclaycard has been paid for this month now and the balance stands at £9,979.41. That's UNDER £10k people. Exciting times here at TOPM HQ.

To do this week
1. Finish tidying and sorting the DCs' room (the only room that didn't get fully blitzed over the weekend). Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
2. DH phone the first handful of builders on the shortlist. He has managed to get through to one who is coming next week for a chat, and a couple more who want to see drawings.
3. Clear all the laundry and ironing. This is actually almost done.
4. Pitch the tent so it can dry out.
5. DH drop off my Kenwood Chef for its service (I found an authorised service place quite locally - who knew there were still repair places around?!).
6. Order DCs' school uniform. We are driving past Clarks village on Saturday so will look there for school shoes for those who need them (definitely DC3, not sure about the others) and new wellies for DC2.
7. DH research new 0% deal for the one expiring in September. We may need to close the MBNA zero balance card if Barclaycard/Virgin (current CC providers) can't help, as I imagine we are unlikely to be accepted for any new cards with an available credit limit of £35k+ across the various cards.
8. Plan online food shops/rough menu plan for August.
9. Have a look at ebaying the excess of lego - I reduced the DCs' lego by about 80% and hid it about six months ago and it hasn't even been noticed/mentioned, so I'm going to see if I can eBay it by the kg or something.
10. Plan how to make September's income during August. This is going to require me to have more than 0.73 second of peace.

August money goals:
- £4.86/31 August rounding down pot.
- £3,228.01/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £510/£932 extension pre-build costs.
- £48/864 income needed for September :eek: :eek: :eek: .

Honeysucklelou2

Well done TOPM!

Verbatim

That's great. Looks like success to me.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 78: Day 1

Arghhhhh have overslept totally (by which I mean I woke up at 6:45am instead of 4:15am. Not exactly an oversleep by most standards). I hate doing that. I need to check in here though, so hoping the DCs stay asleep long enough to allow me an update .

Weekend spends
We had a really frugal weekend on the family entertainment kitty front, then got totally stuck in stationary traffic on the way home and ended up with a revolting service station dinner instead of eggs/cheese on toast type one at home. Cost £20. Boo. At least we didn't spend any entertainment money all weekend apart from that.

We did buy shoes for DC3 though - the other two had their feet measured and have had weirdly non-growing feet for about six months, so their school shoes from the start of the year still fit. I feel sure we are going to be punished for this by them growing three sizes in three months soon. DC3 needed school shoes and trainers (OMG school shoes for girls. Why do boys get practical tree-climbing shoes and girls get basically ballet pumps with ankle straps? I will not be returning to Clarks ever again for school shoes, and will be writing a letter to explain why) as well as a pair of weekend shoes, so ended up spending the best part of £70 on shoes just for her. Luckily with the new realistic DCs clothing budget and minimal spend I still have almost £100 left for uniform top ups.

Work
Waiting for payment for last month's contract work, so income for September is still looking pathetic. I did make a tiny sale from my smaller business over the weekend, which added a couple of quid, and I did get confirmation of 50% of the well paid work I have booked for this month (the other 50% will come later in the month), which will go a long way towards September's salary when it gets paid at the end of the month.

We are going to MIL's today, and she is going to look after the DCs for the next three mornings for three hours each day so I can get some work done. It's not a lot, but it should enable me to stay on top of everything that I absolutely need to. Then doing the same at my mum's next week. The other wonderful thing about this is it saves me a fortune in food shopping :rotfl: .

Extension
We are keeping fingers tightly crossed about the builder we have coming for a chat this Thursday. He comes enormously well recommended and is able to start next spring. Keeping everything crossed that he (a) is willing and able to quote, and (b) gives a realistic quote. We have a couple of others looking at drawings and DH is phoning more this week, so hopefully we'll be able to get a handful of quotes to compare. This all makes it feel very real!

To do this week
1. DH to phone next handful of builders on the shortlist.
2. Create full list of all the 'extra' jobs that we want done alongside the extension before the first builder visits on Thursday.
3. Check in with the people servicing my Kenwood Chef whether it's ready/needs open heart surgery.
4. Order DCs' uniform. I will actually do this one day instead of just moving it onto the next week's list .
5. DH research new 0% deal for the one expiring in September
I am going to edit this to add more shortly - need to go and unpack my bullet journal!

August money goals:
- £4.86/31 August rounding down pot.
- £3,228.01/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £510/£932 extension pre-build costs.
- £51/864 income needed for September :eek: :eek: :eek: .

Verbatim

Would it not be better to order the uniform later in the holiday in case the dc grow in the 6 weeks off?!

Treadingonplaymobil

Verbatim wrote: »

Would it not be better to order the uniform later in the holiday in case the dc grow in the 6 weeks off?!

It's only four weeks now, and I'm worried about not having a chance to exchange anything as we're away from the 13th and not back until the end of the hols. I always buy way too big anyway .

I'm lucky that I got given a load of summer uniform for DC3 which she will wear in September (and which is easier to get on and off for PE in the early weeks), so only cardigans and socks needed for her for a few weeks, and the older two only need a couple of pairs of trousers and polo shirts apiece. Should be well under £100 for what they all need just now.

Treadingonplaymobil

Adding to my list for the week:

To do this week
1. DH to phone next handful of builders on the shortlist.
2. Create full list of all the 'extra' jobs that we want done alongside the extension before the first builder visits on Thursday.
3. Check in with the people servicing my Kenwood Chef whether it's ready/needs open heart surgery.
4. Order DCs' uniform. I will actually do this one day instead of just moving it onto the next week's list .
5. DH research new 0% deal for the one expiring in September.
6. Invite the other guest to DC1's party so we can book the campsite.
7. Make a start on tax return.
8. Menu plan for coming weekend/next week and update shopping delivery.
9. Get a stock of social media posts ready for when we're away over the rest of the summer.
10. Get some website content up.

WelshKitty85

Hi TOPM,

I've just read your diary from start to finish (on maternity leave and distracting myself from the mountain of ironing). I just wanted to pop in and say well done. You're doing so well and it's great to see the positive changes you've made since the start of your diary.