Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

XSpender

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

About the card, if your DH really cannot find it, I would have him declare it to the CC company that it's lost so they will then reissue a new card to him. After he receives it, you can then make the payment and get it off your plate once and for all.

Overall, great job @XSpender! :T You've been doing so well and reading your diary has been inspiring me to finally start addressing my financial quagmires once again later this month.

Thanks JingsMyBucket. I will get DH to ring the CC company tomorrow. If they can't reset his on line access so I could do it that way it will be a new card like you say.

I am shattered this week, probably because I have had a lot more client facing days than usual. Thankfully next week is quieter.

I have TT from all my YNAB pots and my Carpet Settlement Pot is now at £75.94. At this rate I will be paying it off in the summer instead of Christmas

DH have a Saturday booked in the calendar for Christmas shopping in early December but I need to start thinking about what to get DS. I am usually so much further along than I am now with the planning and buying:eek: DH has brought an Argos catalogue home for some inspiration for DS list and to remind him of some things he has been interested in earlier in the year. He doesn't ask for much but has asked for 2 items this Christmas which would come to £700!!! He's too young for one of them and will get a different version of the other at a lot cheaper price. I need some ideas to pass on to rellies too.

I have bought 1 stocking filler for my Mum and DS advent calendar today.

I'm planning a little housework tomorrow and DH and I are going to sort out the front bedroom. It still has stuff dumped in it from when we decorated the guest room. There are 6 big drawers where we keep all our walking and sports gear but they are a mess with more stuff outside them then in them so these will get sorted out too. We will also sort the DVDs and CDs to sell/trade in.

DS has training and we are also planning a walk at our favourite NT site before it closes for winter. It has a great play area and we may follow this with a hot chocolate picnic. Don't know what DH will eat as he is on his plan but he may not be able to resist soup and cheese scones in the caf!. Will make a decision before I make the picnic what we are actually going to do. There is some money in the family fun pot if the temptation is too much.

Fed up with my employer again. They appear to be finding ways to wriggle out of paying our annual bonuses and think offering a salary sacrifice option compensates for never giving anyone a pay rise. :mad:

brizzlegirl

Forget the £700!!!! And definitely get relatives to club in on some bigger items. Has worked for us over the years and our kids love it.

Employers hey...can be a real pita. Hope the bonuses come through..

Have a good weekend x

Suffolk_lass

Here is an idea for you as a family - you often talk of doing things as a family and this is great. A complete blast from the past but fantastic for getting the family active together.

XSpender

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Here is an idea for you as a family - you often talk of doing things as a family and this is great. A complete blast from the past but fantastic for getting the family active together.

What a great idea! I don't know who would like it the most DS or DH!

XSpender

DH went to the gym this morning and we then wet to the NT place for a walk with the dog. Beautiful day in one of my favourite places. It is quite a strenuous walk and poor DH has been wrecked all day. I think he did a bit much after the gym at 6.45am this morning. He has been very grumpy the last couple of evenings; I think the low calorie diet, high level of activity and no booze is getting to him a bit.

We decided to have lunch out but the main caf! was closed so it was tea/juice and cake for me and DS and DH had the last sandwich at the smaller caf!.

No housework or room sorting has been done today. Or anything else actually. I really must crack on with this tomorrow. DH also wants to take some games to the shopping centre to trade in. We are desperate for light bulbs which are going to cost a small fortune as I need 3 for the living room and 5 for the dining room.:eek:

We had a letter from the new mortgage company today to advise that the interest for November would be taken on 16th Nov. I haven't had the overpayment back from the old mortgage company yet (it can take 2 weeks) so have had to transfer money from the Christmas pot and emergency savings pot to cover this. The good news is the payment is £150 less than I was expecting it to be

Verbatim

Great that you had savings to transfer. Things are on the up!

XSpender

More problems with the heating as last week's work has caused a leak which has come through the ceiling, enough to wet the carpet and crack and stain the ceiling. DS had complained he could hear someone banging on his toys when he was trying to get to sleep and we didn't think anything of it but it must have been the dripping as it comes and goes.

Statement from the carpet finance received and I am slightly out on my figures so 36p reduction in my favour. I have 23 payments left with one to go out later in the month. I would really like to settle this by the end of June next year which would mean finding £719.55 by then of which I have £76.76 so far.

I am going to ask DH to order a replacement V1rg1n CC tonight. This way I can reset his online account to pay most of it off and will be able to make additional payments and check the balance etc as there will still be a balance outstanding.

We have decided what we are buying DS for Christmas and I have begun ordering some items. DH and I are going to buy his main present on Wednesday evening as DH has the day off and is not at the gym. Christmassy coffee may also be consumed

My Dad and Stepmum are coming for a visit on Saturday as they are in the country unexpectedly due to a bereavement. I am going to have to give the downstairs and bathroom a good clean and think of something to feed them. I may cook a chicken pie and have the makings of an apple and berry crumble in the freezer. Because DH is on his plan and won't eat any I can get away with making a crumble with ground almonds.

I had a little chicken yesterday but the rest of the week I have eaten veggie! I have also lost 1.4lb by not eating so much rubbish and only having 1.5 beers which I didn't really enjoy. DH gets weighed tomorrow.

I sorted all the gym and walking clothes in the drawers yesterday and have cleared the bedroom of doom a fair bit. There are lots of DVDs and CDs that we need to send to mu51c Magp13 over the next week or 2. A big bag of rubbish has gone in the bin and I found my favourite woolly hat that I thought was lost

brizzlegirl

to finding the hat. All sounds good with all things money as well as domestic.

Suffolk_lass

Sorry to hear about the heating leak. I had a good piece of advice from my builder friend. If you paint the ceiling with old-based undercoat before emulsion, it will stop any residual "bleed-staining" coming through.

By the way, I hope you are earmarking that mortgage lump to either DH's card or your carpets fund after this month so they reduce more quickly!? My double glazing final 0% finance payment finally went this month so I am going to be allocating all of the £397 per month to mortgage over-payments between now and retiring in February - Christmas can take over spending at this time of year and suddenly that level becomes the new norm and there it is gone! You sound so focussed and your totals in your sig are so much better than when you started this diary but both of us have seen you get to point B before and then get deflected and the debt can increase so quickly. I hope you don't mind the reminder

XSpender

Thanks for the tip for the ceiling Suffolk lass. It is a long, thin brown line rather than a patch so I am hoping it won't take much to hide it.

The refund from the mortgage company was already earmarked to complete the small emergency fund, make up the rest of the Christmas budget and pay the interest for November which is the best part of £600. I was a bit out on the balance on DH CC not having access to the statement so the balance is not as low as I wanted it to be but still all at 0% and will be tackled after the carpets account.

Spendy day yesterday as DH and I completed DS Christmas shopping yesterday and I only have PJs, a few small stocking fillers and a one item to buy for him. I haven't bought the last item yet as I am waiting for some Arg05 vouchers from work in December to go with those from Shop n Scan which will cover the cost.

We have bought DS less this year but it has cost more as he has had a high cost main present but not much else. We have also included things in his 'Christmas budget' which we would have bought him anyway like some kit and new boots for rugby which he needed as he has grown out of his old ones. I have also passed on ideas of what to buy him to relatives rather than buying these things myself and then wracking my brains for what else they could get him.

We still have DH parents to buy for and my friends 2 girls and for once I am completely stuck for ideas. I have a voucher to cover the friends gift. I have also decided to do stockings for my Mum and Stepdad who will be with us for Christmas. We don't exchange presents except a token box of chocs/wine at their request but as they are coming to us this year and I wanted to have a bit of fun with DS. B&M/P0undland here we come

I am amazed by how much our grocery bill has dropped with DH doing his diet plan and not drinking and us subsequently not nipping to the shop for some beers and spending £25 on stuff we don't need at the co-op. We are under £190 and would usually be nearer £300-350 at this point in the month. I have also cut back and have been eating out of the freezer and having cheaper meals like a jacket potato for tea which has helped.

I have to confess to 1 unbudgeted purchase which was a lamp shade and table lamp for the dining room in L/Ashley that perfectly match the lights in our living room which were bought elsewhere (2 rooms divided by an arch). The lamp shade was half price and the lamp 30% off but with an extra discount they were offering they ended up both at 50% off.

Shuffled some bits into the carpet overpayment pot which now stands at £84.03. Another £12 and I will have knocked 2 payments off the balance