Oops I did it again, I played with my cards!

emmie26

M2G - I didn't advertise the fact I was going away too much, I felt like a debt free diary was not the place to talk about an all inclusive holiday (oops) in my defense it was booked in January and I was firmly in debt denial at that point with a tax rebate burning a hole in my pocket. it was lovely though and I doubt we will be able to do it for a couple of years now so we made the most of it.


TOPM - It has been a shocker trying to get back into the swing of things but at the same time I do love the start of the school term I feel like we are all starting with really good intentions, the kids do their homework and practice their instruments without being nagged (much), I get up early and make sure the house is spotless before work and DH makes lovely lunches for everybody.


Cherryfudge - It has been a bit of a shock to the system but I am just glad I got to go on holiday so feel very grateful. You are right about the gas and elec though, if I didn't increase it you would bet it would be a freezing cold winter wouldn't it.
I am being careful with using the tumble drier though.


Tomorrow I have my speed awareness course at 8am and I am supposed to be going out with some fellow school mums for a few drinks tonight. I really need to be restrained I cannot turn up to the course with a raging hangover lol.
I think I may drive so that I can scoot off early and don't spend too much.
Tomorrow night I am babysitting for a friend while she and her hubby take my DH out, I was supposed to go as well but I have to go to church Sunday morning (long story) and I cant hack two nights in a row out.


Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

mummytogirls

Glad you enjoyed your holiday Emmie, we all need this every now and then and you enjoyed it which is the main thing.

Hope you keep sensible tonight :rotfl: xx

emmie26

Good Evening, hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I have had some money saving successes and some unavoidable expenditure.
Friday night was a great, I decided to drive, I think the stars aligned to make this happen. I was running late because I have been trying not to use my tumble drier as much so had put my jeans on the clothes airer two days before. When I came to put them on just as I was going out I realised they were still soaking wet!! I had to text my friends to say I would be running late and throw them in the drier. By the time I left the house I thought if I walked I would be massively late so decided to drive, thinking I may leave my car, but after a couple of mocktails I was having a great time so decided who needs alcohol! I spent a grand total of £4 all night and had a real laugh.
Saturdays speed awareness course was a hoot!! It was nothing like I was expecting and actually has made me change how I drive, I am very consciously trying to drive more slowly (we’ll see how long that lasts). After the course though I had to go and get a couple of bits for school which ended up costing an arm and a leg. My DS needed some new school trousers, he goes to a grammar school where they have to have specific trousers, that are not cheap and I thought he could wear some that a friend had given to him which are the right length, but he is just too thin. He also had rugby Saturday morning for school and his rugby boots were so tight they had given him blisters, his gum shield wouldn’t fit properly as he has had some teeth through, so by the end of the afternoon I was £80 lighter but it was all necessary so can’t worry about it too much.
Saturday night I babysat for my friend’s children which was fine, they play really well with my children and have known each other forever so its fab and what’s more I spent no money as they played together and watched a movie.
Today I have had a day pottering round and doing a bit of housework, I have had to do a food shop this afternoon and spent £50, but I’m hoping it’s enough to last the week.
I just realised I never did a summary at the end of August, but because I get paid in 16 days I think I will wait until then. Although I am still focused on the debt busting, all my debt are on 0% now so I am going to try and increase my savings as I’ve realised that although I am saving £608 a month for things such as Christmas, car maintenance, holidays, etc a lot of these have had to be paid over the last couple of months which has meant that I have had to use money from other pots and I have 4 pots that are in minus figures theoretically, if possible I would love it if I could get all pots out of the red by the end of the year, giving me a fresh start in January.
Right I am off to bed now, night night.

Treadingonplaymobil

Savings pots are tricky to build up, aren't they? I guess it's fine once they've actually built a little, but I find that I need to, say, pay for the car MOT before the MOT pot has had a chance to build, so I need to tap another pot, and so on and so on. I'm not really succeeding in getting out of that cycle, but hopefully one day!

Expensive days like that are tiresome, but there are some things that just need buying regardless of how you feel about spending.

emmie26

That's exactly it TOPM. Our car maintenance budget is £500 a year and in 3 months I've spent about £450, but I'm hoping that will be it for the year as servicing and MOT has all been completed now. It just means the actual saving pot had less in it than I should have available for things like christmas. I'm going to try and save a little extra here and there to get all the pots in positive figures by the new year but I think this may be optimistic as I don't really have a lot of 'spare' money.

mummytogirls

Sounds like you had a lovely busy but nice weekend Emmie.

I hope this week is good to you! xx

mummytogirls

Hope all ok with you Emmie xx

Hiddenidenity

Me too Emmie we miss you x

emmie26

Thank you guys. Sorry I have been rubbishy at posting I have had a really stressful few weeks and literally couldn't fit in posting, a couple of times I have started to, but then ran out of time so deserted it half way through. I also am struggling to keep up with everyone else's diaries, I go to check them out and have no idea what's going on.

Some of the stress has slightly lifted, my daughter had to sit the 11+ to go to the same high school as my son and it is just a horrible time, so much stress for the children even when you really try not to make it a big deal, my daughter really wanted to go to the same school as her brother and it is also our closest school and the only one she would be able to walk to that isn't private (which we obviously can't afford :rotfl:). Anyway we found out yesterday that she passed, so that is a huge relief!

I have had to start training for my new job and start my law masters this week, which is very frightening and running the cub group has been a bit of a nightmare, we have had two camps to organise and attend and I just feel like I am living my life on pure adrenaline at the moment.

This morning is the first time in ages that I have been able to have a lie in and I feel so much better for it, I really need to look after myself a bit more and try not to over commit I think.

In money news, I think we have been good, we are just plodding along. I will try and do a summary later today to update where we are at, I must say though our savings pots are doing crap. I was organising a quite expensive camp for cubs and paid on my credit card for some protection. I have had all the money from parents but it came in dries and drabs so I put the odd £20 in my purse and then didn't know what was mine and what was for the trip, anyway this month I am left with £218 which I have received, but don't have, so must have spent doh! This means what should have been a good month for some overpayments into the saving pots is now a bad month of just about scraping even.

I'm sorry it's been a hit of a negative post, I'm hoping I'll feel a bit more positive after a chilled out weekend.

wishingthemortgaheaway

It does sound like you've had a lot on.
Enjoy the chilled out weekend and look after yourself.
(Try and delegate a bit more to other cub leaders - especially while You are doing your course.)

Also.. It's not fair (or right) that you've spent out for cub camp and parents have paid you backdirectly. There is no audit trail. Even if you had to pay it out (which I don't agree with, your group scout treasurer should arrange payment from the group or section account) you should be able to put the receipt in and get all your money back in one go.
My dad has been treasurer for many youth organisations, he has been a scout dc and is now a district chairman, he would flip if he found out you were in his district. (Not at you, he'd flip on your behalf)

Have a lovely weekend.