AimeeMum's Debt-free challenge

aimeemum

Had yet another Council tax bill come through yesterday and all the support that was included on the last bill, has been taken off.....I have no idea what has changed, but it means that it's gone up by £16 a month. That might not sound like a lot but it means I have to re-jig my entire budget as I have everything sorted to the nearest £5! Oh well. I have done a quick benefits check and it says that we're not entitled to any help too, so I guess the bill is correct.

Waiting for the water bill to come through - I got a text on the 1st as normal but still no paper bill :question:

Payday tomorrow...seriously excited. :T

Have a poorly middle-born home with me today. He's full of cold and had a temp this morning so he's dosed up and watching cartoons. Hoping that a day on the sofa will help...poor thing is so snuffly. Youngest had it over the weekend but obviously it was the weekend so he didn't have to have any time off school....he was miffed this morning!

aimeemum

Payday and I've taken £45 off my debts today - also paid the remaining bills and sent the money over to hubby that he needed. Off into town in a bit to pick up some food and to see the Dr/pick up my prescriptions. Going to cost me £4 in bus fare but I haven't been in in forever! Also going to nip into the library and check my cards as I'm pretty sure I have some outstanding fines on them hoping they're not too bad. I do think it's a bit off that the kids can get fined for overdue library books. In Norfolk kids were exempt from fines as long as you returned the book within 3 months!

aimeemum

Back from town - saw the Dr and been referred up to the hospital...but it's unlikely I will be approved or the op as apparently I've 'not exhausted all other options'. Well, I feel like my opinion matters right now don't I! Anyway, Dr said I should hear back in 6-10 weeks so probably by August.

Picked up my prescription - but only got half of it. It must have been packed in 2 bags and I only got given one and I only noticed half of it was missing when I got home! Never mind - I have the car tomorrow so I will pop in and get them.

Went to Lidl...spent £19 but have lots of stuff for the next couple of days, plus a few packed lunch things, but forgot to pick up breakfast things for the kids. I still have a bit of cereal and now I have bread they can have toast.....they'll survive!

Checked my library cards - £22 over the 4 cards!! I'm thinking I'll pay the kids ones off next time I go in (£7 total for them) so they can use their cards over the summer hols etc and get some new reading material. Mine had £15 on it and I am always disappointed by my local library so I'll just pop a couple of £s on each time I go in with the kids and it'll soon be gone but I'm not worried about borrowing.

I'm utterly shattered now....thinking I will have lunch and then pop a movie on and maybe do some writing if my brain can wake up.

I'm also considering finding myself a little volunteer job. There's plenty of museums, schools and things around here that take on volunteers and I think it would give me a way back in....but it feels like a big step. Last year I worked 2 lunchtimes a week as an MSA and it just wasn't worth the energy as the money got swallowed and because I had to get a bus/drive in it took 2 hours out of the middle of my day for no gain. Consequently I'm a bit gun-shy of taking anything on if I think it's not going to be worth it. However, there's something in me that says it's time to get back out there, and working 1 day a fortnight as a volunteer isn't going to be too taxing! lol Also the school haven't got back to me about me helping....and I don't want to push too hard as I think I may end up stepping on some toes if I walk in saying 'hi, I have an MA in history, do you need my help?!'.....my eldest's teacher did ask if I would volunteer up there, but again, I am not sure how much use they would have for me. I'm not sure what to do for the best. For now though, I think I'll spend some time writing up a new CV and try to make the fact that I've barely worked in 7.5 years seem like a good thing! :eek:

aimeemum

Just spent the last hour getting all the car boot stuff down out of the loft. I've also re-tidied the loft as it'd gone a bit haywire again...I have about 4 more boxes to sort through that are just 'random' stuff that had been thrown into bags just to get it out of the way (they've been up there since we moved!) and about 8 boxes to put in the bin/take to the tip and we're decluttered up there. Whatever doesn't sell I'll take to the charity shop on Monday There's a lot....more than I thought we had actually and there's a few bits like kids clothes, shoes, toys and a good few household type things I think will go quite quickly. Happy we have a good chance of making at least £50...that would be a nice chunk towards the spends to take on holiday.

In other money news, my water bill arrived and it's £50 lower than I thought it was. I only owe £116 (that's before I paid £20 yesterday!) when I thought it was over £150! I've adjusted my numbers....just need to change my signature.

Other good news, I got a letter from Lowell who have my old BT debt, offering me a 75% discount!! If I pay £19 by next Friday they'll write the debt off.....I think I'll take them up on that offer! :j Will post up when I have done it! I also had an email from hubby's niggly debt (an old Cash-plus CC from about 6 years ago) he's been offered £30 off the £120 balance....tempted to hold out/request more now as that's being run by Lowell too!! Either way, that would be one (two) less bills to worry about.

aimeemum

Weather wasn't great yesterday so bugged out on the car boot - today however is glorious so hoping that it will entice more people out of their houses and to spend some of their cash on our things Here's hoping. Hubby has a few things he wants to see on ebay too so he will not be asking for more cash if they sell

I will update later on how much I do end up making. Hoping for £45 but I think even that will be a bit optimistic.....I would like enough to cover 1 day out while we're on holiday (£30), or £15 of pocket money for the kids, but both would be marvellous and really take the pressure off for the holiday too.

Anyway, best get off and re-load the car. I got it all loaded yesterday and then the heaven's opened, then hubby needed the car in the evening so everything was taken out of the car and stacked onto the kitchen table. I will need to re-configure the car back to 'van mode' and then re-load it all. Will take a flask of tea with me as it's thirty work car-booting!

Did nip to the supermarket yesterday - spent £54 on fuel and re-stocking the cupboards for the rest of the week. Bit of a trashy week food-wise but it was cheap! We're now spent up for the week so best hope nothing else comes up.. I have £9 in my purse for milk and such and that's it!! One good thing though - middle DS has said he would like to go on hot dinners for the summer term. He's in yr2 so still gets them free. I've told him that that will be it until the summer and not going back - will save me about £3.50 a week, which isn't a lot, but when you consider that with 2 of them eating for free, it's only costing me £3.50 a week for lunches compared to £10.50!

aimeemum

Back from the car boot..made £19 profit which isn't great but I made my lowest target of £15 for the kids pocket money and put the £7 fee in to the pot so now there's a total of £26 in the holiday spends pot - enough for the kids to have a nice £5 note each plus money for an ice cream/cake while we're out and about one of the days too. I also managed to make £35 for hubby off his stuff so now he doesn't need to ebay them. :money:

aimeemum

Tuesday and everyone is back to school and work. Yesterday was a bit of a blur - took all the stuff that didn't sell to the charity shop so the house feels a lot lighter than it did. Didn't manage to do any housework as it was sports day at the infants so we were up there all afternoon cheering the boys on. Lots of fun

Anyway, today I'm distracting myself with gardening and then an afternoon off. I need to cut my grass and set a couple of loads of washing going...and I desperately need to tidy the front garden so that is first on the agenda.

Really looking forward to Thursday - not just because it's payday (although obviously that's a big deal!) but the getting rid of another debt is a major hurdle and hubby will be at work for 7 days before he has nearly 2 whole weeks off work!! I can get a lot done with him out of the house, and then we can have 2 weeks off together over the half term break....and of course camping. I think Tuesdays are my least favourite day - they always feel like they're miles away from payday and also usually I'm the busiest on a Tuesday too.....would love to put my feet up in the garden and do a crossword but can't do that until the grass is cut so I'd best go and do it really! :eek:

aimeemum

£58 paid off debts today - £19.22 of that to pay off the Lowell (BT) niggly debt so that's gone!!!! :j:j That is the one that has been doing a lot of damage to my credit file so hopefully next month (although it may take 2 months) I'll start to see an improvement!

Off into town today - I may take myself up to the Castle to enjoy the sunshine but before I do any of that I have to go and get ready for the day and get the boys off to school. They're so excited that they only have 1 more week at school.

Hubby and I fitted our roof bars yesterday...they worked well and the box is flippin' huge! :eek: Should make our trip a bit more pleasant as we won't be as cramped.

aimeemum

Blimey I'm shattered.....Got the kids off to school, did a few jobs (washing out on the line, dishes, quick tidy up) and then popped into town. Had a wander up the high street and bought eldest a new reading book from the CS - Pongwiffy. I used to read the Pongwiffy books when I was his age and loved them! Hoping he feels the same way

Went to Lidl....spent £17 on packed lunch stuff, general supplies and some lunch for me. I've just done my Tesco order to reflect that and I've spent £49 (incl delivery) on there so a total of £66 for the week's food. I do get some more money through (CB) on Tuesday so I'm not too worried about running out of food, as on Wednesday I have to have the car to pick eldest up from his trip.

Home now though, and now I just need to get myself back up for the afternoon.

aimeemum

Tesco order has already arrived so I now have the rest of the day to do my own thing. Oh the possibilities! No washing today as the airers are full and I don't have a full load of anything else anyway. I should really clean the bathrooms but I have the whole weekend at home with the boys so I may do it while they are playing tomorrow. Writing is calling to me this afternoon....but so is the TV! lol

Money wise we have paid everything, bought food, filled the car, paid off the debts and even had a 'box'o'curry' from the supermarket for tea last night, and we've still got a little cash left over. CB coming in Tuesday so as long as we can make it to then, we're happy. I have to give middle DS one of the £5 notes I've put aside as he reached his reading target we set earlier in the year and his reward is £5 and a trip to Smyths! lol :rotfl:

Right, I'm off to have an early lunch I think....not had breakfast yet as been too busy.