Hugglemonster's homemade happiness diary

hugglemonster

A very productive day, cleaned and tidied all of down stairs, finally potted the fuchsias that ds gave me for mother's day they are looking nice down the garden. Two loads of washing down and hung outside plus lots put away. Popped out to the shop to get a couple of bits needed for tea and stuck to the list. Kids got some money from grandparents in the post and ds treated us to an ice dream from the ice cream van!

When dh got home he cut the grass in the back garden and then I cut the front whilst he made the dough for the pizzas, we each topped our own and they were delicious.

Been out to run club and that's the day done, as well as bits of work in between.

Some survey money went into the account but I'm going to leave it for now, loan is now down to just a smidge over £2400. Total debt is £12,250.67 with 6.57% paid off so far this year, since we're near the end of April it's going to take a miracle to pay off all the debt by Xmas. next week I'm going to work out if I can reduce the overdraft by £200.

I'm hoping May will now be a quiet month since dh is not going away (no chance of selling ticket as friend is not responding to any messages) and no birthdays, we have 2 next week - mine and m-i-l but they will be low cost except fuel to get down to in-laws.

H x

hugglemonster

Afternoon another lovely sunny day, started the morning by starting to strip the wallpaper in my bedroom but after a few minutes the steamer stopper working. I changed the fuse but still nothing. I will have to wait until next week now to get a new one but I carried on stripping the top layer off so that it's easier to do.

DH phoned this morning to let me know that ex friend has said not to pay the money, great result, and also sent another barrage of horrible texts. All completely unnecessary and untrue.

Just getting BBQ ready and chill out in the garden.

Pop back later.

H x

beanielou

At least good news on not having to pay the money.

abba1772

I hope so called friend has a long look in the mirror and realise what a horrible person they are xx

Great news about not having to pay for flights shame your hubby has to miss out........is it something he can do next year without said friend??

hugglemonster

Howdy all, another bank holiday passes in a flash we had a really lovely few days not doing much specifically apart from volunteering both days, eating and relaxing. My lovely Dad has lent me his wallpaper steamer so yesterday and today I took all the paper off in our bedroom, the people who used to own our house were cheapskates and every time we decorate we find a shoddy job e.g. a door only varnished on one side, lights in the attic not the correct ones, electrics in the kitchen not done properly, a double socket on a single hosting to name a few. On stripping the wallpaper I have seen how they just papered over many holes, they papered straight on to the boarding used to make the unfinished built in cupboard that was a nightmare to get off. Luckily most of the boarding will be removed to take out the cupboard and make the room bigger again. I just need to strip the paper on the stairs that lead to the attic as this will be finished at the same time as our room but I need to remove the radiator first.

As much as it's annoying I do like it that we are slowly rectifying the problems to turn our house into a nice home, just missed out on a nice second hand bed today it's was only £40 on FB.

Unless I get really lucky and am paid a day early my birthday meal and presents will be deferred until Thursday, I don't mind really and there is definitely nothing in the pots to move around.

Pay day will see another glut of progress - £200 to pay the last bit of dd trip, £100 to Dad to pay off that debt and then wait until DH is paid to reduce overdraft and start saving for the next month.

I haven't done any surveys for a few days so will catch up with some tomorrow.

H x

hugglemonster

Ooh don't you love pay day for getting things moving, had a cheap birthday yesterday got some money from in-laws so treated everyone to a chippy tea. Had a busy morning so far as needed to get some cat food for whilst we're away and fill the car with fuel. I also dropped off the volunteering equipment to the person who will be in charge instead of me on Saturday.

I have paid off the balance of dd trip and also paid my Dad so that's another debt down, I have been crunching some numbers and our debt balance today is now £12,150.67 with 7.33% paid this year, tomorrow the car payment goes out and will take us under the £12k mark at £11.959.30 and 8.79% paid. Next week I will pay £200 off the overdraft leaving us a balance of £11.759.03 and hitting the 10.31% paid! Need to keep it going and start saving the next amount to go off the overdraft.

We are sorting out our clothes for the weekend, I really wanted something nice for the party but couldn't find anything in the shops I liked so will just resort to the old faithfuls, any recommendations for a shop that sells nice, fitted ladies clothes not the trash that seems to be around at the moment?

We're out for tea later but it's at the local cafe/bar and is very reasonably priced, I've also got a voucher from my sister to spend.

The main thing this month is to make sure we have money at the end of it and not spend it all up front!

H x

beanielou

Debt figures looking good

[Deleted User]

Hi Huggle,

Hope you're okay?

Pmo2
xx

hugglemonster

Hi P - yes good thanks had a break from posting as I was boring myself!! Hope you're good too x

It's been a busy couple of months since I posted mostly everything is ticking along with a few changes which I'll explain below, I have a concern about the weekend away we're going on with my brother due to his views about many things and just general hard work being with him (again more later).

Update time financially then:
* We have been a bit naughty in the last couple of weeks where we have replaced the overdraft with a loan, it was getting me down not seeing any progress and constantly being in the red so I did my homework and saw the best option I could. The plan now is to save up enough to pay loan 1 off in full, this will obviously take a few months but at least it will still be going down in the meantime. We will then do the same with loan 2 and then the car payments. Snowballing the payments will help to build up each pot. There is £5.55 towards it so far, but we only started yesterday :rotfl:
* YNAB is up to date and I have a list of what we need to get over the next couple of months, dd goes away on Thursday so I need to get her Euros today and a packed lunch for the trip. DS will need a full new uniform for his new school.
* We have 3 savings pots, not much in them at present but will build and these are included in the monthly budget - Annual expenses i.e. insurances £90, Emergency fund £50, Loan repayment savings £5.55.
* Debt paid 2019 12.65% starting debt 13,111.79 current debt £11.453.82

Other good things:
* DH brought a bed from a work colleague, a king size divan hardly used, for £50 - we haven't had a bed for over 5 years so it's luxury! Work let him use the big van to collect it for nothing.
* DH has a tax rebate of over £750 on it's way, he is being amazingly smart and we're not going to touch it as we are planning to go away at Xmas with his family. I'm still waiting for my mileage repayment!!!
* Business is going ok, I'm paying myself and the move to the new venue has brought in a few new kids to the sessions.

So on to the concern, we are due to go to a festival in a couple of weeks with my brother and his wife. He brought the tickets for us all instead of getting birthday presents, it's extremely generous and I'm thankful. The problem is that he has become more and more obsessed with trying to change people and community e.g. talking to each other, challenging views challenging companies etc which all sounds like a great thing to do but the way he is going about it is overbearing, preaching and so far removed from the realities of day to day life that it is now got to the point where I don't want to be near him and I don't want my kids to listen to him.

I know it sounds odd but he thinks his views are right and it's ok for us to have an opinion but he is still right, he realised the other week that I had changed my phone from an iphone to an android saying 'oh but I want you to be on iphone', he thinks that I have deeprooted emotional problems from when my parents split up over 25 years ago and I might just change my mind and want to speak to my real Dad (I don't) and how do I really know my feelings (I'm 43, I think I'm fine), I showed both my brothers this weekend a message giving me praise about some voluteering I have done for the last 10 months - I said they were being soppy (joking), now it's that I can't handle praise!!!

He thinks that the UK is on the brink of civil war and he fears for my children.

At the festival he wants us to do everything together but doesn't realise that my kids won't stay up until 2am and want to get up late in the morning.

I'm ranting now but I need to phone him about it because at the moment DH does not want to go at all. There is no just having a normal conversation about life in general with him, there's more to the story but that's enough.

Jobs for today:
* Get Euros for dd and a couple of other little bits for her trip
* Second load of washing on the line
* Session this evening with little ones

H x

[Deleted User]

Hi H,

Sounds like you've been very busy.

You're doing well with the debt reduction and I think the loan for OD is a good move, I can't persuade DH to even consider that option.

Your brother sounds a bit of a nightmare, no wonder your DH doesn't want to go. Hope you manage to talk some sense in to him and he realises that he can't treat people like that.

Good luck to DD on her trip.

Your pots are building up nicely too xx