Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

AdventureWanted

Hi,

Have had a good day today and yesterday. Yesterday we went to the beach fossil hunting and rock pooling. Weather ended up being ok, so we had a nice walk from my parents house to the beach. The DCs had an ice cream each and DH & I shared a drink, so that was £7.30 spent.

Today we popped to our nearest city, as I'd seen that an outdoor clothing shop was closing down and was hoping to find some cheap waterproofs for the DC (next size up than they're in at the moment). Wish I hadn't bothered, as the sale prices were still extortionate! Ended up being a spendy trip, which I'm really annoyed about. Really need to try harder and make sure I bring snacks/thermos of coffee with us. We needed shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash and nail clippers which set us back £14.99 (shampoo & conditioner were in offer so got 2 shampoos & 1 conditioner). Spent £15.65 on coffees & cake :mad: - this is the spend I'm annoyed about. What a waste of money. Really need to get my act together. It's just too easy to pay by card and think later about the ridiculous price. That being said we can afford to pay for days out, but just wish it didn't happen so often or cost so much. I really don't want the DC to get used to always having cake & a drink when out. For too long DH & I have had it as a treat when we've been out together for a day, but now the DC are home educated we can be together quite a lot! Anyway, this is definitely a must try harder point. Annoyingly this wasn't all the spends. Had to grab bread on way home and whilst I got DC1 some new tops in the next size up (£14.50), DH did the shopping - £19.99 :eek: We only went in for bread!. The DC tried a new home Ed group this pm. All 3 absolutely loved it and so did me & DH. Spent 2 hrs outside (in the pouring rain!) playing with mud kitchens, painting and watching the DC play on rope swings. Was very good for the soul being in nature. Massive plus was all the waterproofs they were wearing kept them dry!

Rounded down the bank account today sending £8 to CC3 and 41p to debt savings. Got a busy day at groups tomorrow, then all having our haircut when home. Other than haircuts will hopefully be a NSD. Might have to start leaving my card at home when I go out!

AdventureWanted

Morning,

Have finished checking my bank account and updating ynab. £130 has been paid to CC4 today and £78.59 has come out of the joint account for DHs Cc.

DC2 has got a wobbly tooth at the moment, which means she's really worried about eating. Going to see if we've got any soup I can take for her lunch today (we have one of those thermos food containers which are perfect for soup), so hopefully if I bring a straw she'll eat something. Wish she didn't get so terrified whenever she has a wobbly tooth, as it's awful seeing her so scared .

jwil

I worry little jwil will be the same when he starts getting wobbly teeth

Starmummy

SC just does group lessons at the local council run pool. They cost £23 a month, including free public swimming. It's a really nice social thing too as she makes friends with people not at her school and older children.

Poor DC2 and her tooth, SC has her last wobbly tooth at the moment and is the total opposite, weird child that she is :rotfl:

AdventureWanted

Morning,

DC2s tooth finally fell out yesterday morning :j - was hanging there for days, but glad it's gone at last! I've had the lurgy for a few days, so haven't been online much. Thankfully none of the Dc or DH got the stomach bug.

Have paid £22 to CC3 today, which rounds that balance down to £1300. Getting really close to the end of this card now .

DH had work cancelled on Saturday, as they were too quiet. That means he's 3 days down this month. Not loads, but still frustrating. The work over the summer at his current place is drying up too, so they've offered him guaranteed reduced hours, but I don't think it's going to be anywhere near enough . So that means he now has to find a new contract. This in theory shouldn't be too hard, but will almost certainly result in a lower hourly rate and DH working away. DH is keen to progress his career, which I completely understand, but with our debt levels I do think that getting work at the best pay rate is better at this precise moment than going for the work which seems like a step forward in his career and would cost more each week in travel & accommodation. Who knows what will happen with the work. Hopefully he'll get a contract sorted soon, as it's stressful not knowing whether he'll have work / how much he'll get paid and therefore if it'll affect our budget / where in the world DH will be working / what shift DH will be working. Fingers crossed it'll work out soon.

Today I really need to get round to sorting out my car insurance. I've been meaning to do it for about a week now, but just keep getting distracted.

Hope everyone has a good day .

jwil

Hope you are feeling better now. Hope DH manages to sort something out as well x

AdventureWanted

Thanks Jwil .

We've just got back in from forest school. It's such an amazing place. The DC all adore it and it's so peaceful. I'm loving the tranquility of being in the forest and the weather was glorious which helps. DC2 spent time weaving willow, which she was really good at. Might have a look online later for ideas of things that can be made for the garden and see how much willow is to buy online. Would make a lovely project. DC1 has been doing woodwork most of the afternoon. I'm so impressed with them both, as I didn't realise they were able to do the things they were doing. I obviously don't give them enough credit at times. Going to get DH to have a look through the garage to see if he's got a hammer, wood and nails for DC1 to build with.

Next week is DC1s birthday. Need to get organised this week and look at birthday cake designs, then do a shop Friday ready to make the cake at the weekend. Need to think of gift ideas for some of the family to get DC1. I did think about a football goal for the garden, but not sure as they're quite big and not sure how good a quality it'll be.

Rounded down the bank account today and sent £17 to CC3 and 83p to debt savings. Managed to do my car insurance this morning. DH is surprised my car insurance is still a few hundred quid, but think it's because of the size of car I drive. Going to re-look at how much I'm putting in my car account from now on, as the new tyres I had to get last year have made the account short . Luckily I can borrow it from another account, but still irritating!

Have cashed out £13 from prolific, but just waiting for it to hit my account. Need to try and go on there more to build the account up again.

Hope everyone's enjoying the glorious weather. I've just put another load of washing on the line, which always makes me happy - this is a clear sign I'm getting old :rotfl:

AdventureWanted

Have paid £83 to CC3 today. Spent ages last night going through the CCs and trying to work out what order to pay them and when I can expect each card to be closed. Not sure really why I often feel the need to do this, but it is satisfying to have a plan. Once CC3 is gone (which I'm hoping will be next month) I'll move on to tackling one of DHs CC which currently stands at £1,568.75 and 0% ends in March 2020. After this the next card of DHs ends in May 2020, so will make sure this goes in time. The downside to this is that our huge CC4 will take longer to reduce and I'll end the year with the balance still being massive. I need to try and see the bigger picture though and think of reducing balance transfer fees by getting rid of those cards ending soonest. To make me feel like I'm still achieving something I'm going to include DHs CCs in my monthly round up.

It's glorious weather again here, so I hope everyone has a great day .

jwil

Forest school sounds fab!

I'm loving the weather, and like to see all the washing on the line too so I'm old as well

AdventureWanted

Have had a busy weekend. Lots of family visiting to see DC1 before his birthday tomorrow. I've just finished his birthday cake and have everything set up for the morning. Really excited to see his face when he opens his presents.

Money wise it's been a quiet weekend. I've been waiting for my money from prolific to hit my bank account for a few days and realised Friday afternoon that I have to request a cash out from the circle account too!! Luckily I realised this and the money hit my account within an hour of requesting. DH is doing extra hours at work today to make up for some of those lost in previous weeks, so this will help my budget nicely. No news yet on temporary work whilst his current place has a lull next month. Hoping DH will start chasing people on Tuesday. It's amazing how many recruitment type agencies don't return calls or emails even when they promise they will! We'll keep plodding on whilst we wait for news. If there's no work for a couple of weeks it won't be ideal. Luckily we do have a bit of a buffer in the business account, but I'd rather not use it.

Most probably won't get on here until tomorrow night, as I imagine DC1 will be awake super early tomorrow! Hope everyone's had a good weekend and has a great day tomorrow .