AimeeMum's Debt-free challenge

aimeemum

Saw the Dr and I have been referred to the ENT again. Dr said they couldn't see a perfortation (which is kind of good news as that will mean that it's potentially possible for me to have another grommet if it's deemed the right thing to do) and that there's no inflammation. Usually at least 8 weeks wait for appointments so I'm expecting it to be after christmas.

aimeemum

Lovely day so far. Got my morning chores done while hubby took the car up for it's MOT. Then went for a walk around the zoo after breakfast (treated ourselves to a coffee as it was so cold!) and came home to a letter from HMRC with a tax rebate of £56! That will be a nice boost for the coffers and effectively pay for eldest's birthday presents! Pleased with that.

Feeling very good today - a little tired after a busy weekend. Yesterday we went to the seaside and called in for chippy tea on the way home....need to be good today with the calories today though otherwise I'll undo what I've done this past week.

Ordered 2 of eldest's birthday presents - a DS game and a book he's been after. Have a couple of new things to get for him but I know he'll be happy. He's also going go-karting with his friends a couple of days before his birthday so he's going to be very excited by that

Started to kick my Christmas plans into action too....looking at Advent calendars today to order this week. Want a 'special' one as last year we had a playmobil one and the kids loved it.

aimeemum

Woohoo! It's Thursday!

Tesco delivery is on it's way and I can't actually remember what I've ordered....it's a little bit exciting lol (how sad is my life?! :rotfl:) I know I've ordered some bits for halloween and Christmas so we'll have to see what the delivery man brings

My rebate came in this morning and payday as well so I've made all my payments, hubby has filled the car up and I've ordered a couple of eldest's birthday presents. The car passed it's MOT with flying colours so that was a bonus....no extra payments to be made for repairs. Hubby has planned in the service and a cam belt for early December as he has a week off work so can do some of it himself to save us some cash. Car insurance came out too so we're all up to date. Not used to there being money in the accounts at all.....it's a bizarre feeling. I just need to convince hubby not to see the bank balance as a 'must spend it' amount any more. It's a hard habit to break but I know we can get there.

ETA: I had ordered some nibbles for Christmas and a few bits for the Halloween party the boys are having....not intending on feeding them a particularly healthy buffet lol......judging by the current stash of sweets and crisps lol. :rotfl:

aimeemum

Weigh in Friday - down another 2lb!!!! :j:j:j considering the chippy tea on Sunday, and the less-than-healthy dinner on Wednesday aswell....I'm happy with that.
I now weigh 10st 10lb and I am planning on just doing 1 more week - eldest's birthday will mean lots of cake and I don't want to miss out! lol - so will have a final weigh in on Friday 25th.....hoping for 10st 7lb.

aimeemum

Ok, so today has been expensive already.

Hubby saw that Joe Bonamassa is touring next year and I agreed to get him tickets as a birthday/Christmas present - it was £230 for 2 tickets!!! :eek: I had a £50 budget for Christmas and £100 for his birthday.....I still intend on getting him a little something for under the tree/to unwrap so will take £120 out of those combined budgets to cover his ticket and then I just need to pay the remainder out of our weekly 'entertainment' budget over the next few weeks. I hope to have the CC empty by the end of Feb to allow us to move house using it (van hire, fuel deposit, that kind of thing is what a CC is designed for) so I have worked it out accordingly. He is the most expensive person sometimes but it promises to be a once-in-a-blue-moon type of concert so I'm sure it will be worth it. May also book us a travelodge if we can convince someone to come and babysit overnight for us......here's hoping.

In exchange he's agreed that with my £50 Christmas budget I'm to book Crufts tickets........so excited!!!!!!! :j :j :j

Paid an extra £9.07 off the Vanquis though - that was what I'd rounded off the accounts in the last 10 or so days. Decided to just go for it......it will be below £600 by the end of the month!! :T

Happy weekend folks......lots of little bits of housework to do but currently eldest is sat catching up on Strictly as he missed last weeks, ready for tonight. We do love a bit of Strictly

aimeemum

Weighed myself this morning and I was showing as 10st 9lb...that's my half stone! Only 2 more lbs and I'll be at my target. I'm feeling really well on it too....and my clothes fit me properly again! Determined to get there. I have a bit of an issue around weight loss - my Mum always struggled and tried everything to lose weight but never really succeeded. I kind of always thought I'd never be able to do it, but I'm hoping to prove myself wrong this month!

In other news, for the first time in the 6 years since my eldest started school I have budgeted and paid for school pictures as they were taken. No bounced payments, no failed deliveries, no panicked purchasing a week before Christmas and paying over the odds for delivery! My older 2 have their pictures tomorrow so I need to keep some more money back for theirs, but 1 set down, 1 to go!

Done my Tesco order for this coming Thursday. We're going to take the kids to McD's for tea on Friday - it's half term and it's eldest's birthday so he's happy and so is everyone else. I had planned pizza but instead we're having homemade pizzas with MIL and SIL who are coming over on Sunday. I'm happy with that and the price is right too.

aimeemum

Wednesday and it's the last day of the month. Tomorrow is payday and then Friday is UC day so it's the start of 'November'....which is odd when there's nearly a week left lol.

Not lost any more weight - hardly surprising as hubby came home with pizza and mozzarella sticks on Monday - I really enjoyed that!

Planning a shopping trip for Friday to get a couple more bit for eldest. He deserves it. I have about £60 to spend, and Smyths have a voucher at the moment for £6 off £50 so may take advantage of that. He wants a new NERF gun and ammo, some books and he needs new PJs. I've already got him 2 DS games and the newest Diary of a Wimpy kid book. He's also got cash from a few relatives, plus my Mum and MIL are both bringing gifts at some point (Mum tomorrow, MIL on Sunday) so he's going to be a spoiled boy! Add to that his trip to McD's on Friday and a trip to F'land to watch the fireworks too, I think that's a good birthday

aimeemum

Ok, this new budget is takig some getting used to. I'm finding it takes a lot less effort (both physical and mental) to stick to, and I'm seeing progress in debt repayments and in savings being added to, and I'm not getting stressed about money any more. It's un-nerving. I feel like I've perpetually forgotten something really really important, but all the bills are going out in full and on time, I'm not playing catch up, and I'm not sat here worrying......which is making me worry!! I think to help me, next week when it's the31st and I've made all my October payments to savings/debts I'll add everything up and figure out what our situation is, same as I used to with the bigger debts .....I'm hoping this will help me to accept I'm doing ok, and maybe inspire me to do more to add to it, rather than always worrying about it being taken away.

Anyway, plan for today - I've sorted the finances (seriously it takes all of 15 minutes compared to the 45-60 I used to spend deciding on the destination of every £!), and I'm expecting the tesco delivery anytime now. After that I need to give the house a bit of a spruce up as Mum and Dad will be here anytime from 2pm.

aimeemum

Sorry I've been AWOL for the past couple of weeks. With half term and everything else going on it's been so busy and I've not been very well either - terrible mood swings, feeling awfil generally. I hope I've gotten over the worse of it now as I'm feeling a lot better and cracking on with getting the house back on track after the school holidays. The kids had a great time - lots of fun at their halloween party, we went to the fireworks at Flamingoland and then trick-or-treating on the actual night. We then spent the day on Friday re-arranging the LR to fit the guinea pigs in. It looks so much better and I took the opportunity to clean under/behind all the furniture so it's all lovely and clean and ready for the tree!

The weekend was crazy as we were at a party so the kids went for a sleepover at great-grandma's house. This lady is an inspiration as she's 80 years old and still so lively! She ended up with 4 kids 10-and-under sleeping at her house on Saturday! Went to go and get them Sunday morning (had to rely on coffee to see my through I was so tired!) and then crashed out at home for the afternoon/evening! Watched Black Panther which was surprisingly good.

Yesterday the kids went back to school and I decided I needed to hit the ground running....I did a full sweep of the house, cleaned all the bathrooms, re-booted at the washing, vacuumed and tidied all of upstairs and gave the front room a spruce up. Cleaned the GPs out thoroughly and generally made sure everything was all clean and tidy - feels good. Today I'm all about planning, but I have already put the dishwasher on, set hubby's coat to wash, vac'd the stairs and the LR and tidied up the bedrooms/made the beds. Today's goal is to get my meal plans written for the rest of the month (and maybe get my Tesco orders done for the next 3-4 weeks if I can get that far), plus I need/want to get my kitchen cupboards cleared out before I do that so I can use up what I have.

Money wise - I have stuck t budget (just) for the past couple of weeks but it's been a very expensive week with it being half term. I have also had to buy eldest a new coat and he also needs new school shoes (to be fair, he didn't have new ones in the summer so I can't really complain lol) Getting a little but upset at the lack of progress on the savings but I must remember that I've managed to pay for eldest's birthday and half term in CASH with no additional debt. The Barclaycard has had to take a hit with the car and the tickets so i'm really unhappy that we're adding to the debt, but in the grand scheme, I need to be happy with how far we've come. This coming month I've joined the challenge on here for November and trying to have 15 NSDs and declutter 60 items....it's keeping me motivated and I'm hoping to sell some stuff to add to my savings for Christmas shopping. The NSDs are helping me to stop the spending for Christmas....I seem to have a bit of an ebay addiction!!

Anyway, I'm off to go and sort my kitchen so I can do all my meal plans......going to take some doing but I'm determined!

[Deleted User]

Well done on the weight loss, that is a fantastic achievement.

My two also went back to school this week.

I really need to sort out my meal plan too xx