Hugglemonster's homemade happiness diary

pennywisepoundstupid

Hope DS feels better soon.

Great news regarding your daughter's open evening,hope you manage to find a club for her.We have 6th form open evening for DD next week,don;t know where the years have gone:eek:.

hugglemonster

Oh the next two years are going to fly by, I can't believe ds will be at High School in September!

So I have withdrawn cash for groceries and to put in the savings pots for insurances etc, nothing in the Xmas pot though

I've also reduced the overdraft by £200 so now sits at £2200, I need to just not get too excited and keep to the budgets until next month and any extra money can just sit in the account for now. I need to pay credit card but will wait until Tuesday to do this.

Yay to being organised, long may it continue!

H x

hugglemonster

Feeling pretty pleased with myself, have had a good day volunteering from 0730 until 11am then home to finish menu and do shopping list. I have a budget of £80 for the week (small steps) which includes toiletries, cleaning products and cat food, I spent £48 in Lidl after using a £5 voucher but had to pop to Mr T for a few bits including cat food as she won't eat anything else, and finally milk from Iceland as they still only charge £1 for 4 pints. I have £18 left for any things that may crop up but hopefully shouldn't need any thing.

Back home and dd and I made two meals to go in the freezer for next week as I'm not going to be home much, we made shepherds pie and a polish sausage and cabbage casserole which we did in the slow cooker. Tomorrow dh is making a chicken curry and I'm making a chicken casserole from the same pack of chicken. I do have a bit of time on Thursday so will do roasted veg and couscous.

This evening a £4 survey popped up and i managed to complete it and was pleased when I logged in the website I was up to payment threshold so £50 to wing it's way to me! I haven't done any other surveys today though so will find some time to do a few tomorrow.

Haven't made it out into the garden yet, the weather was bad this afternoon.

Tomorrow will consist of volunteering first thing (weather dependent), then cooking, washing and ironing as well as preparing some paperwork for a competition I'm running on Wednesday and Friday.

H x

hugglemonster

Up early this morning to go and check the course for volunteering event but winds too bad to go ahead so have cancelled, hence why I'm on the computer early as have to log in several places to let people know. We struggled to stand up on the sea front so a definite no to letting kids run there!

Just having a coffee before a nice cooked breakfast and then will start with the jobs for day and hopefully get done early enough to relax this evening before a very busy week.

H x

pennywisepoundstupid

Weather Pants up in Lancashire to, wet, windy and generally yuck.

Hope you manage to get some time to relax later xx

hugglemonster

An unexpected day off as had to cancel competition as schools couldn't get to the venue due to snow and ice. I've been catching up on work and housework instead plus paid in some money to business account.

I have lots of bits and pieces to sort and prepare, all only taking a few minutes but I need to actually get things finished!

Finances are all up to date, we are still within our food budget for the week, we just needed bread and milk.

Hubby's pay day on Friday so will pay credit card and get ds Euros for his trip.

All ticking along, H x

hugglemonster

End of a busy week and we stayed within the food budget, need to do a menu and shopping tomorrow after volunteering. Volunteering cancelled today but I still woke up at 0645!

Have been busy doing the washing, vacuuming and tidying - although house is full of sports equipment for more competitions so generally everywhere is a mess.

DH payday yesterday and I have paid credit card and school lunch money today. On 1st January outstanding debt was £13,111.79 it's now £12,832.01 so that's 2.13% paid off. Slow going but after kids things are paid we can attack a bit more. £50 survey payment on it's way, I'm going to split it between savings pots and the other £25 survey money will go into Xmas pot. I've also submitted expenses of over £300 so will leave this in the account and hopefully work out if I can reduce overdraft by more than £200 when I get paid this month.

Relaxing now watching the rugby, with 3 in the house supporting Wales it's my lone voice supporting England!

H x

hugglemonster

Good morning, enjoying a day at home but have a trip for work tomorrow to meet one of my bosses for a 1:1 - he comes up from Cardiff so we meet half way so it's still about 2 1/2 hour drive. I need to put fuel in the car and check my tyre pressures today. Also need to do a menu until Friday so I can do a small food shop.

Yesterday was quite spendy as I got ds Euros for his trip next week, dd phone needed a new battery, some medicines needed as dd full of cold and also paid for some trophies and certificates for my competitions but I will get this paid back.

Definitely the right decision to pay off overdraft first, charges to be added this month are over £80 whereas credit card is about £25!!! I need to catch up on surveys today to top up the account.

Business is OK, might have a new kid tonight which is great and I've done a flyer for a special offer for the March block of sessions. Have a slight problem with one of the kids at the other session, he is basically a little s... and his Mum also let's his younger brother run around whilst I'm doing the session. Spoke to one of the other Mum's and she agreed that I need to say something and actually had to ask her to move the littlest kid as he was on the mat whilst the kids were jumping. I would rather lose one kid who disrupts everyone rather than the others get put off. I tried to catch her before she left but she went quickly, so will try next week.

I almost have enough to pay myself back the last payment from set up costs and then can start earning a wage, not sure whether to backdate payment as this would be about £190 which would set me back again or just start from March so I can build up the pot and also need to pay for the halls.

Right need to update ynab and get some surveys done.

H x

hugglemonster

Well I waved off ds at 0030 this morning for his trip to France, he just got straight on the coach without a hug, but he was too engrossed chatting to his friend then saying bye to me!

Nothing much happening financially, next loan payment goes out on Monday and everything else after next pay day, received my cheque for £50 for surveys but cursed myself as it has my shortened name on it which the bank won't accept so I've emailed the site and very politely asked if I can get a reissue and updated my full name on my details. Doh! so annoyed with myself.

I did also receive another voucher towards the roof bars, steadily building up.

Really looking forward to a week off during half term, so much to do around the house and spend time with the kids.

All a bit boring the next couple of weeks, but that's good sometimes.

H x

hugglemonster

Blimey where does the time go? DS had a great time in France, he was shattered the next day so he didn't do much over the weekend. The kids have half term next week, we've planned a day trip to a science centre on Tuesday and the other days will be sorting out the garden, a trip to the mountains and we'll see what else.

I haven't done any surveys for a few days, sometimes it's just really mind numbing but must think of the benefits. The survey company are reissuing the cheque with my full name, I just had to email a copy of some ID, I will split this between savings.

Payday is on Monday and edging closer to overdraft limit so need to be careful over the weekend, loan payment gone out but annoyingly it only take a fraction off the balance as interest is added. I will do a monthly round up next week.

Lots to pay for next week, dh train tickets to London and spending money, installment to dd trip, payment to dad and credit card payment. Not sure if I'll be able to reduce overdraft by much but I'll have a go.

I'm off next week and then because I need to use up my annual leave I have 2 more weeks off in March, looking forward to having time to do lots of running!

Right off to try and plan expenses in ynab.

H x