Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

XSpender

Crazy few days at work involving almost 24 hours of driving over 3 days and lots of deadlines looming. I have to leave for a 2 day work event at 2pm which ruins my Sunday and gets us all down in the dumps



1) [STRIKE]Strip wallpaper off the landing (where I can reach with the step ladder) [/STRIKE]- DONE
2) [STRIKE]Strip paint off more of the banister (attempt to do up to the first return)[/STRIKE] - DONE but not as much as planned
3) Grain free every day 6/7
4) Complete week 1 of the no sugar plan 6/7
5) Batch cook 2 meals and snacks to keep us on track this week and prep for next week - potato skins, egg muffins, cheese biscuits - DONE but ran out towards end of week
6) Run everyday 1/7
7) Do some ironing
8) Spray our bedroom with the dust mite spray - I made the bed with clean sheets so will do when remake it
9) [STRIKE]Hang other curtain in our room[/STRIKE] - done
10) Change sheets in 2 rooms - 1 done
11) Nag DH until he gets the number of next doors cleaner and contacts her about cleaning for us

Not got far with the list but Wednesday to Friday were overtaken by work.

Sugar free is going well and I have lost 3 lbs without trying :j I only ate grain (pizza base and popcorn) and sugar (1 of DS's chewy sweets and 'sweet' popcorn) last night. I haven't found either too difficult. I am going to do another reduced sugar week before I go cold turkey as per the plan. DH has found that cutting out sugar this week has helped his eczema and is keen to continue.

DS has been selected to attend an activity day with 3 other kids from his class this week with school. We are super proud of him.

The budget this month is tighter than a tight thing. We have had to invest £48 in a heat gun to remove the paint from the woodwork as the acid stuff we bought from a recommendation is useless (and we've used it all). We borrowed a heat gun of DFIL but it conked out yesterday.

DH has said he will remove the last bits of wallpaper that I can't reach while I am away and remove more paint. We have had a quote from a plasterer friend to skim all the walls and cover the aertex ceilings and it is a very good price so we need to find the money for that this month.

DH ripped all the carpet up from the hall and stairs and discovered 1930s lino and a boarded up mat well which we plan to restore and have tiled. Luckily DH BF is a tiler so can help us source and lay the right tiles.

Plans for today:

1) Pack for trip
2) Find something smart casual to wear for an outdoor evening event and an indoor evening event (2 separate nights) from my limited wardrobe:eek:
3) Long walk with the dog
4) Vaccum our room and living room
5)Clean kitchen and mop floor
6) Food shop
7) Prep some grain and sugar free food for tonight and make some flax seed rolls for freezer
8) Pack DS bag as staying at DMIL/DFIL for a couple of nights
9) 2 loads of washing (already have 2 done to go on line)
10) Fill up car

All this by 2pm and I am still in my jarmas! :eek:

apple_muncher

Life seems to be zooming along rather fast for you at the mo. But you seem to be coping with it extremely well. I'm very impressed with the number of sugar-free and grain-free days you have managed. Go you!

XSpender

Crazy week at work last week and have hopefully caught up with my sleep. I didn't get up until 9am today which is unheard of for me I haven't achieved a single grain or sugar free day this last week either.

DS has had a good end of year report and done well in his SATs. There are no places available at the schools we were wanting to transfer him to which is what we expected. I was having a wobble about moving him, I felt quite sad that he wouldn't be going there any more. I am going to see if I can get him involved in some activities so that he can widen his circle of friends, as we don't live in the immediate area around his school he never sees or plays with his classmates out of school. I have asked him if he would like to join cubs and he said he would like to give it a go. His rugby will start again in September too.

We are hoping to hear some good news about DH work situation in the next few weeks. If it comes off it will greatly improve our financial situation but I am not getting my hopes up as we have been here before.

Work in the hall, landing and staircase is on-going. We have had a weekend off from it this weekend and have sorted the garage out, moved a piece of furniture out of the living room and been on a lovely, if strenuous, bike ride. I have the scrapes, bruises and nettle stings to prove it:eek:

Our spending has been pretty restrained so far this month, although we have spent a bit more on food than I would have liked (story of my life ). We know this month is going to be tight and are being careful.

apple_muncher

Your bike ride sounds like you were tagging along on the Tour!

XSpender

apple_muncher wrote: »

Your bike ride sounds like you were tagging along on the Tour!

The closest I get to the tour is when it goes through my Dad's village on Tuesday :rotfl:

2 very busy days working from home to start this week, then 2 away and Friday back at home. One of my days away includes lunch at an award winning pub. Not good for my waistline.

This week I need to finalise DS childcare for the holidays and book our camping and leg0land trip for when we are off in August. We have decided to only do 1 day in leg0land to keep costs down. The 2 nights in the hotel will be covered with 'free nights' I have accumulated through nights away with work.

This week's to do list:

1) Book accommodation for leg0land
2) Book tickets for leg0land
3) Decide where we are going camping in August
4) Book camp site for August
5) Contact local scout group (on line contact form wouldn't work last night, may have to email) so DS can go in September
6) Book DS into sports camp for 2 days, first week of summer break
7) Put away all clean laundry that does not need ironing
8) Deep clean bedroom, apply mite spray, change sheets
9) Buy birthday gift and deliver to friend's daughter as they will be away for her birthday
10) Do some surveys
11) Meal plan, check in budget via my supermarket
12) Make grain free bread and sugar free treats

XSpender

This week's to do list:

1) Book accommodation for leg0lanDDONE AND SAVED £272
2) Book tickets for leg0land DONE AND SAVED£117
3) Decide where we are going camping in August
4) Book camp site for August
5) Contact local scout group (on line contact form wouldn't work last night, may have to email) so DS can go in September
6) Book DS into sports camp for 2 days, first week of summer break
7) Put away all clean laundry that does not need ironing
8) Deep clean bedroom, apply mite spray, change sheets
9) Buy birthday gift and deliver to friend's daughter as they will be away for her birthday
10) Do some surveys
11) Meal plan, check in budget via my supermarket
12) Make grain free bread and sugar free treats

Quick update

apple_muncher

Phenomenal savings! Well done.

XSpender

No progress on to do list today but have had a good day at work and achieved lots with an old roll of lining paper and a pad of post-its. Don't ask!

Some small spends by DH today on 2 prescriptions for him, some bread rolls, baked beans on offer and a can of energy drink. He is much better than me in the shop and (apart from the drink) bought only what we agreed we needed.

All ironing done for tomorrow and DS party clothes sorted out for his end of year disco. He will be at DPIL for 2 nights while I'm away. Must remember to pack my cossie in case I get chance for a swim.

Arranged to see my BF on Friday following her cancer op. last week. Will need to think of a nice treat to take her.

I have been jiggling the pots around and have chopped a bit off the food budget (only £10) and the booze budget to cover most of the cost of the land of lego and need another £35 or so. We also have the deposit for camping to pay for too, about £50.

XSpender

DH has been playing on the PS4 so I have managed a couple of tasks after all:

This week's to do list:

1) Book accommodation for leg0land DONE AND SAVED £272
2) Book tickets for leg0land DONE AND SAVED£117
3) Decide where we are going camping in AugustSCOTLAND
4) Book camp site for August DONE
5) Contact local scout group (on line contact form wouldn't work last night, may have to email) so DS can go in September EMAILED
6) Book DS into sports camp for 2 days, first week of summer break
7) Put away all clean laundry that does not need ironing
8) Deep clean bedroom, apply mite spray, change sheets
9) Buy birthday gift and deliver to friend's daughter as they will be away for her birthday
10) Do some surveys
11) Meal plan, check in budget via my supermarket
12) Make grain free bread and sugar free treats

XSpender

My meeting for tomorrow was cancelled so I was unexpectedly home last night. The fridge was looking bare so DH and I nipped to the shop and left £22 lighter :eek: This did include 2 glass goblets as we are very short of glasses and some beer for DH. We actually had toasted sandwiches for tea!

As I will be working from home today I will sort out DS holiday sports camp and the clean laundry. DH also needs some work shirts washing and I have a BT to 0% to do before the 25th.

At some point today I will try on my walking trousers to see if they still fit as we will be doing a lot of walking in Scotland and I am about a stone heavier than when I bought them 10 years ago.:o DH is very unlikely to be able to get in his

I wont pay off as much as planned on the debt over the next 2 months although the balance will be going down overall. DS needs a waterproof coat (seen a Bear Grylls one for £22 in the sale and he loves Bear Grylls), trainers and some sports sandles (sports direct) for our holiday, DH needs work trousers and possibly walking trousers and we need a light, a washing up bowl (don't use one at home), a frying pan, a chopping board and some cheap utensils (B&M) and some camping gas for our camping trip. We need a water carrier too but will buy a 5 litre water bottle instead and re use that as the cheapest ones get terrible reviews. We also need some long ladders to carry out several jobs at home both inside and out. We only have a stepladder at the moment and a long ladder will mean we can do a lot more work ourselves rather than getting a professional in. I can also get the rest of the wallpaper of the stairs which it is impossible to reach currently.

I will still need to be mindful of our spending as earlier in the year I took my eye off the ball and we ran the debt back up that we had paid off in the first 4 months of the year and I am not doing that again. That was why I started this new diary and we have paid off over £2000 since 4th May.

Right, one last cup of tea and then I best crack on with some work.