Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

Cherryfudge

That's a fair old amount achieved already, and some constructive-looking planning too.

Opening another bank account each! Why ever didn't I think of that? I have been focussing on DH opening another as he earns more than I do... while I talk him into it, I might as well be looking at one for me, too.

I hope the bonus comes through in good time.

XSpender

The Christmas budget allowed for DH and I to buy each other a gift and something small from DS. DS wants to make us something and DH and I don't really need anything, except for the outfits I have already budgeted for, so we have decided not to buy each other anything so that has knocked a good bit off the budget allowed for Christmas.

I could have been much better at earning vouchers this year and covered a lot more of DS presents this way so this will be goal for next year. Could we have a cost neutral Christmas in 2018?

If I get my bonus (it will either be in my pay on Tuesday or not) I should be able to cover some of the clothes or carpet from salary rather than put all on the CC.

I am getting a little concerned about when we will find the time to shop for the clothes as I am at SW one night and away 2 nights next week and I don't really want to drag DS around the shops at the weekend. The first events are next Saturday for me and Sunday for us all! We may have to ask DPIL if they could have DS for a couple of hours on Sunday as Saturday we are at the Halloween event.

I will need to buy some passata to make DS favourite enchiladas for tea tonight as I used up 3 cartons trying to take the heat out of the spice mix I made with about 3 times too much chilli last time. I still have 2 portions of that sauce in the freezer which will have to be diluted again to be edible by the adults :eek: I will attempt to make the spice mix again with the right amount of chilli this time

DH has asked for some beer as he is off tomorrow but has said he will pay for it :eek:

Cherryfudge

'Oh dear' - about the chilli! That's so easy to do.

I googled and as well as thinning the sauce and serving it with bland things such as rice, it suggests adding dairy which does something to block the taste buds that are affected (I saw a programme about chilli eaters once where they drink milk to get through competitions). Other possibilities are adding an acid or sweetener, or stirring in a nut butter.

I've ruined a fruit butter before by mixing up the amount of spice and ended up keeping it for ages so as not to waste it, then throwing it out a lot later as inedible!

XSpender

I didn't think of adding yogurt Cherry.

I made the spice mix again last night and it was lovely but too spicy for DS still who really did try to eat it as it is his 2nd favourite meal. It may not be the chilli but the mix of chilli, paprika and cayenne that is too much for him I will have a look for a recipe for a milder version to which DH can add extra chillies for himself.

DH has been paid, about £60 more than I estimated :j The extra £900 month this month, and approx. £1700/month going forward when his bonus kicks in, is going to make such a huge difference to our debt pay down and financial security. I definitely feel a lot lighter this morning

My BT has also gone through I will pay the balance on the A card this morning and close it.

On top of the clothes for DH and me I am going to have to buy DS a pair of smarter shoes for the christening, Christmas eve and his school party. His grandparents have just bought him a lovely pair of sporty trainers but they are too casual for the above events. Luckily they had his feet measured so I know what size to get him as he wont be coming shopping with us on Sunday.

I will redo our SOA after DH has been paid in November and we know what take home pay will be with his monthly bonus. I have done an estimated one on my spreadsheet but it may change when we know the actually sum coming in.

This month we have the stair carpet, BNPL, Christmas presents and clothes to buy. I will have to wait until I get paid on Tuesday to work out what will have to go on the card this month and what can be covered by salary. There should be no reason I don't get my bonus but I am being cautious and don't want to spend money until I know exactly what I have. The BNPL is the priority to pay first as it is due before 21st December and will be paid this month/next month from salary, it won't be getting put on a card!

I have re calculated our Christmas budget and after using vouchers I only need £200 cash for everything else This will come out of this month's salary.

The clothes and carpet will go on the card this weekend and on Tuesday I will clear as much as I can from my salary/bonus. The carpet company offer 6 months 0% but I do not think we will spend enough to use this and I don't want to open another account as it will be cleared next month if I cant cover it all this month.

Today's to do list:

1) Haircut for DS
2) More glossing and sanding by DH
3) Laundry by me
4) Cinema - using 2 free tickets
5) D0min03s (DS choice) for dinner - using a 50% voucher
6) Dog walk
7) Carpet estimator

Cherryfudge

XSpender wrote: »

DH has been paid, about £60 more than I estimated :j The extra £900 month this month, and approx. £1700/month going forward when his bonus kicks in, is going to make such a huge difference to our debt pay down and financial security. I definitely feel a lot lighter this morning

My BT has also gone through I will pay the balance on the A card this morning and close it.

That's wonderful! :j:j:j A huge step forwards

Lots of good plans in there - how frustrating to have to wait to finalise the figures, but that gives thinking time which is always useful.

I thought it was a sunny day up here but now I realise it's the happy vibes you're sending out. Have a great day.

XSpender

DH salary took a bashing yesterday as we had a cinema treat with DS for half term

£5.69 on a cinema ticket for DS (2xadult ones for free)
£6.29 on a combo box and drink for DS and DH (I took water and sweets from home)
£21 on d0m1n03s pizza (£21 with a 50% off voucher)
£13 in Icy land on SW sausages, SW burgers and normal burgers (6 packs of frozen rice free)
£15 in pound land on shampoo, conditioner, Halloween chocs and decorations, paper plates etc. and a lace tablecloth
£129.60 in Tesc0 on weekly shop, food for mini Halloween party tonight, 1 Christmas gift, 2 glasses, a woolly hat for me (my spends), a beer glass for DH (DH spends), a Halloween balloon and some sweets (DS spends) and the turkey joint for Christmas dinner
£8.00 DS haircut

We invited our friends (who we are going to a Halloween event later this evening) around for some food before we leave. Only hot dogs and creepy cakes but DD and I wanted to dress the table and dining room for Halloween I am also going to attempt to make a green slime cheesecake :eek:

The parking regulations in the town where we went to the cinema have changed and we are now going to have to wait to see if we get a £70 ticket through the post :eek: A genuine mistake and I would normally contest it but it will come via DH new employer so we will try a quick appeal and then pay it if they refuse.

We both got so confused yesterday morning with having a Friday off we thought it was Saturday and were waiting in the morning, expecting the carpet estimator until we realised he wasn't coming until today!:o

Plans for today:

1) Carpet estimator
2) Make slime pie
3) Look for old Halloween decorations in loft
4) Clean up
5) Tip run
6) Dog walk
7) Buy more sanding stuff for DH
8) DH to sand and paint

Suffolk_lass

Cherryfudge wrote: »

I thought it was a sunny day up here but now I realise it's the happy vibes you're sending out. Have a great day.

:):):) I love that

Mags35

What a great diary, ���� How annoying if you do get parking ticket

XSpender

We had a lovely Halloween party and event with our friends yesterday and the slime tart worked a treat DS was a bit frightened for the first 10 minutes but fine after that. He did end up in our bed last night after a bad dream based on the event we went to.:(

I feel hung over this morning but since I am still going strong on Go Sober for October I can only but it down to a poor nights sleep with DS in the bed and feeling sinusy and stuffy from our room still. I don't think it helps having no flooring on the hall, landing and stairs as this must generate a lot of dust. We found some 1973 newspaper stuffed in the cracks between the floorboards when DH took the landing carpet up on Saturday.

Yesterday's list:

1) Carpet estimator :eek:
2) Make slime pie
3) Look for old Halloween decorations in loft (ran out of time)
4) Clean up
5) Tip run
6) Dog walk
7) Buy more sanding stuff for DH
8) DH to sand and paint (but he did fit 2 light switches instead)

The carpet estimator came and gave us a price for the stairs/landing and the measurements for our bedroom carpet. I nearly fell over at the price of the stair carpet as it is nearly 3 times what I had in my head :eek: I have only bought a stair carpet once before and this was as part of an open plan living room and stair case so not much waste. Our current stair case has a left and right return at the top and a bigger landing and the hall is wooden floor so there is a lot of waste. It isn't a cheap carpet per metre but is the only one we liked and agreed upon although we have opted for the darker shade than we originally chose. Our 2nd choice is less than £5/metre less so not much saving. The 17m of bedroom carpet and underlay is a third less!

We have applied for the 0% finance with 6 months before payments start but I am not certain it will go through. My bonus would cover the bedroom carpet or most of the stair carpet. If it goes through we will pay the amount we were putting towards the carpet to the interest bearing CC when I get paid on Tuesday.

We are really pleased with the light switches/sockets we found in B&Q which are just what we wanted and much less than expected. We only bought what we needed for the hall and will buy enough for the landing, living room and dining room next month. In our new budget I have an amount set aside for home improvements/work. It's not massive but will cover items like this.

More spending planned for today :eek: I am going to need to lie down in a darkened room after this weekend :eek:

Today's List

1) Take DS training and wear my new wooly hat
2) Take DS to DPIL
3) Get cash out for floor fitter (hall floor going down tomorrow :j)
4) Purchase clothes for the 3 of us as per list, 4 new pillows and a box of tissues
5) Buy a new lippy with my personal spends
6) Washing (I seem to have got behind with this )
7) Make sure all DS uniform etc. and DH shirts ready for next week
8) Stay on plan (SW) as the last 2 days have been rubbish
9) Walk the dog
10) Look for DS trick or treat bag and if can't find it buy another one (£1 budget!)
11) DH to do more sanding and painting in the hall
12) Decide what to have for our family dinner, cook it and finish off the last of the slime pie for desert

Hiddenidenity

Hope you've had a lovely day x