Our MFW Adventure!

Needhelpsaving

Good Morning!

A few days away from posting, enjoying the last few days of summer holidays with DD's.

£90.94 spent this week (mainly stocking up on bits while offers were on) - I did a shop of staple bits and pieces with a £5 off voucher at Lidl, got OH some face stuff on the No7 £10 off a £20 spend voucher, combined with a 3 for 2 offer Also got DD2 a pair of sandals from A$da - £2.50 down from £10 :money:


Money in has included;
- £11 reward vouchers from M&S CC [Wedding spends being put on there and paid straight off for points and extra security thingy that you can get with spends over £100].

- £1 from Shopmium

- £5.03 from COS

- £10.73 from 2 ebay sales [after fees]

- £6 code from a shop after giving feedback on their store [I made the complaint for improvements to be made ... it was filthy ... and no other expectations, so this was a nice gesture ].


Plan for the week ahead;
- Hair trims for DD1 and I
- Meal plan and do a small shop
- See if I can find any more Mystery Shop Opportunities
- Get back to typing work once DD1 is back at school (can get some work done during nap times without the constant chorus of 'I'm Hungry' ... despite having had 3 square meals and a gazillion snacks!) :rotfl:

Needhelpsaving

I've enjoyed spending time with DD's and OH this summer, but after 6 weeks I am ready to get back into a routine.

The last two days have been NSD's (i'm discounting the ebay postage, as it was paid for by the buyers). I have been tracking all spends and at the moment, with the additional income from ebay/vouchers etc, I am now only have a shortfall of £66.56 for September. I will continue to try and reduce this (which should be easier once DD1 is back at school as I can tighten up the grocery spends a bit more).

Things to do this afternoon;

1. Continue with the meal plan.
2. List 5 more items online to sell.
3. Order DD1 school meals.
4. Check out free activities for DD2 to go to.
5. Get bags/PE kit ready to take with us tomorrow morning.

Needhelpsaving

Good Morning!

Well, I'm only at the start of September and the budget deficit is now starting to bite a little, as although I've earned an additional £55.98 in vouchers and by selling unused items on ebay, the cash in the bank is getting low and I need to buy nappies etc.

I know this is a first world problem and that I'm very fortunate to have the opportunities I do, but it just feels really uncomfortable to be in this situation.

On a positive note;

1. I listed 1 item for sale on Monday and it has sold (it is due to be collected tonight), so that's £5 in the pot.

2. I have done a mystery shop over the last couple of days. I am due to be reimbursed the costs and a small fee, so I'm hoping that will be sorted quickly.

3. I have heard back from two companies that I chased payment from. One said it would be processed at the end of Aug (a bit annoying considering they quoted 6 weeks and we're now heading for 13!) and the survey company have raised my query with their client to look into (fingers crossed, as it' £13!).

amydoll83

Hi Needhelpsaving ��

I would have phoned my OH if I'd won free bowling tickets too, and, like your OH, mine would have been unimpressed at the phone call �� I also tx him if I have a particularly profitable day matched betting or trading.

Enjoyed reading your diary, fingers crossed you hit your target.

Needhelpsaving

Hi AmyDoll - thanks for dropping in!

I think OH thought I was wasting my time to begin with, he was of the mindset that we never win anything ... We've had 3 family wins this year (2 for us and 1 for DD1). Whilst that pales into comparison for some compers, I'm really happy with them.

In other money news, I have;

- Had my first M/S of the month signed off - it won't be paid until later in the month though, so i'll have to roll that into next months budget.

-Had the item I sold online collected last night - £5 in the pot.

- Had an email to say that some online work I had done has been signed off, and I am due to be paid by the end of the week, so I'll keep an eye out for that.

- Listed 4 more items for sale online yesterday. Of the 12 items I have listed, 5 have watchers ... I just need them to become buyers!

- Not far from a £3 Amazon Voucher cash out on SB.

savingholmes

Great moneymaking progress. Love the competition wins.

Needhelpsaving

Crikey, I have no idea where time is going at the moment! I thought I had posted 3-4 days ago ... it was actually 6! Whoops.

In the meantime, I have been chugging along with money items. I am currently £51.88 in the red but am plugging away at it slowly. I need to get a balance between paying it off and not throwing everything of it only to be back here next month due to needing to buy groceries

I have a £6 refund pending, £8.50 still outstanding from a mystery shop done 15 weeks ago (:mad:) which will go towards the overdraft.

We have enough food to keep us going into next week and aside from a spend needed tomorrow, there will be no more movement in the bank account until next week when we need a top up shop.

Positive Money Moves today;

- Returned a wedding related item that was not suitable for what I was after - £29.99 refund pending.

- Returned a pair of faulty shoes for DD2 - £6 due to be refunded.

- Found 2p outside the post office - Wombled!

- Won a limited edition ceramic plate from a pack of fish fingers

- Ebay sale to be sent out tomorrow (99p item heading to a new home).

Needhelpsaving

Good Morning!

So this week is going quite well, we've had some small money wins/frugal wins that are keeping us on track.

Frugal Wins;

1. All food has been eaten at home from store cupboard/freezer. I have enough to get to Monday, but will need to do a meal plan and grocery shop then to get us through to payday.

2. Took DD's to a free swim session (I think this may become a weekly event going forward).

3. We're hopefully going to visit one of the free entry English Heritage sites this weekend, I just need to double check opening times.


Money Wins

1. Had another ebay sale yesterday, so from the two sales I made this week, I was able to throw another £5.14 to overdraft. They are lower value items, but selling them has created space in my house and they have gone to a new owner

2. Had another mystery shop this week, have submitted the report, just waiting for sign off. It will form part of next months budget, but it's all additional income


I think we're more determined to get more financially stable after DD1 asked if we could move house - she said she doesn't like living round here any more as people don't look after it

While we won't be able to make much of a dent this year with paying the wedding off, we will be looking to make bigger inroads to the mortgage in 2020 :money:

Needhelpsaving

Good Morning,

The weekend is almost over and I feel we have been quite productive. I had both DD's clear out their toys and books yesterday as there are items they have outgrown/no longer play with (I cleaned out DD2's ).

So their rooms are looking more organised, DD2 has gained a couple of new toys from DD1 and DD1 has found stuff that was buried at the bottom of the toy box, so they 'feel' new :money:.

The items to go have either been binned (a couple of broken items), put in the charity bag (Items that would be hard to shift and not be worth much by selling) and I have already listed 5 bundles online for sale. Other bits and pieces are drying out after being given a pre-sale clean.

The money from any sales will go into respective DD's savings account and then they can see the benefit of having a clear out by taking their spoils to the bank (We're trying to teach them about finances from an early age) :money:

OH has also followed suit and has given me three of his clothing items to sell, plus I have one to go. I just need to come up with some creative Christmas ideas to enable to girls to have some things they will enjoy, but without us loosing the house to plastic as seems to be the current cycle.

I did also take the opportunity to talk to DD1 about her room (it hasn't been decorated since she was 2, and she's heading for 7), so we have agreed that it will be redecorated in lieu of a birthday present next year, as the materials/new bed will soon add up.

The plan for today is to visit an English Heritage site (one of the freebies on Martin's weekly email :money:) and get ready for the week ahead (Homework/ironing etc).

I hope you have a great Sunday x

savingholmes

Congrats on the declutter, sounds like you are going great guns. Kids love it when they unearth old/new treasures too...