“Debt is normal. Be weird.”

browneyed_girl

Feeling a bit of a buzz today . Found out something utterly wonderful yesterday...

I know it’s a bit early to have done it, but DH and I opened our ‘sealed pot’ yesterday (for those in the know, this is supposed to be done October 31st). However, with booking and paying for the holiday, we wanted to know whether the amount we’d saved would cover it or whether we needed to budget a sum towards it. As it turns out, the holiday is costing us £550 and the amount we had saved in change was £621.28!!! :j:j:j:j:j:j

Have taken out what we need, put the rest back in the pot and will be continuing to add to it - this will be counted in April and will then be our spending money! :T. Unbelievably happy that this plan has actually come together!

Otherwise a fairly quiet day. Only spend was fuel for DH to get to work tonight. Experimented with a ‘green’ macaroni cheese (blending garlic, leeks and broccoli into the cheese sauce) for dinner in an attempt to get more veg into DD3. She is an extraordinarily fussy eater (don’t understand it because the other three eat anything!). Initial success and then I think she sensed something was awry because she only ate half of it. Still, with that little bit of veg and a multivitamin, I’m hoping she won’t be descending into a state of malnutrition too soon. The only other ways I’ve managed to get anything good into her is through smoothies and hiding veg in a tomato pasta sauce. I think it’s more a texture thing, rather than taste because the smoothies are her absolute favourite!

Since DH is at work this evening, I’m on a survey mission to add to the emergency fund. £5.05 made and cashed out already, which I’ve put straight in the fund and updated the total on my signature. Would love to be at £1000 by the end of the year, but realistically I’m aiming for April 1st instead

Hope everyone is having a lovely start to their weekends! :beer:

savingholmes

Great news on the holiday fund! I've never been that good at blind saving but pleased it's worked so well for you.

beanielou

Fantastic news for you

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Well done, never done the sealed pot thing, might have to give it a go!

browneyed_girl

Thank you all! If you don’t do it already, I’d definitely recommend the sealed pot challenge on the DFW challenges board. Starts again 1st November. DH and I tried this on our own before and never managed to save a bean, but setting a target and having to report the total at the end of the year seems to have done the job! We would just add any change we had (no notes) and so it never really felt like we were going short in order to save. It helped to take cash out and put into jars for each budget category every week (food, fuel, entertainment etc) and then any leftover went into the sealed pot. Extra motivation to be under budget each week! :A

Another early start this morning with the kids (where did my Saturday morning lie-ins go?!) who are currently sat down with breakfast. Seems as though the only peace and quiet I get these days is when they’re eating and are physically unable to talk/argue/shout/cry! Not sure what MSE activities I’ll be fitting in today, but I’ve already done a load of laundry and resisted the tumble dryer, instead hanging it around the house to dry. Sent a meter reading yesterday and approximate monthly use was £55 :T (we pay £82 via dd). Expecting it to go up with heating soon (electric radiators are sooo expensive to run ) but not for a while - it’s blankets, hot water bottles, open fires and hot chocolates until we can’t bear it any longer! I’ve marked in my diary that we first used the radiators on November 19th last year and, given how competitive I am with my past self, I’m aiming for at least the 20th this year!

jwil

That's a great result on the sealed pot :T :T

darrannah

Great news on the sealed pot, I’m going to give it a read and try it good luck on the heating front, we’re not quite at the point of putting it on yet either and are still sat some days with the window open

browneyed_girl

VICTORY!!! DS has put himself down for a nap . This doesn’t usually happen with me because I’m a big softie and can’t bear to hear him crying (DH is much better at ignoring him), but he seems to be learning and I only had to put up with heart-breaking, anguished cries for about 3 minutes (mostly mine!) :rotfl:

This leaves me with a bit of time free to get the house in order, come up with a meal plan for next week and complete some surveys. Oh, and put my feet up with a cup of tea of course .

browneyed_girl

Morning all :wave:

Currently battling with the urge to go and buy my body weight in chocolate (didn’t sleep at all last night and I’m craving sooo much sugar). My sleep-deprived brain is insisting it’s a very reasonable and necessary request - but as well as any cost, I’m also trying to lose a bit of weight to get back into pre-maternity clothes (finding it harder with each baby that comes along:( ). Having instead to make do with cups of tea and feeling very unsatisfied with the whole experience!

DH and I caved yesterday and lit a fire after all - kids were complaining about being cold and I had laundry to dry, so figured it was worth it. No cost to us though, as we’ve had quite a lot of wood sitting in the garage from last winter. We’ve also replaced a rotten garden bench and old, unusable bunk beds over the summer, so had lots of fun chopping those up to add to our fire .

Need to get the main food shop done today. Might send DH once he wakes up as I don’t want to be tempted by the chocolate aisle! Other than that, no planned spends today. I did, however, suddenly become very aware that it’s October and I’ve done very little buying for Xmas. This time last year I was practically done (one benefit of maternity leave!) and I’m feeling uneasy about leaving it all too late. At least this year we’ve agreed to do a Secret Santa for siblings and partners (there are a lot of us!), which saves us at least a bit of money. I’m also going to be very practical with present requests this year as I could do with replacing a few household items. Would much rather this than novelty gifts I feel obligated to keep but have absolutely no use for!

browneyed_girl

Update on spends today...

Found a few bits in the freezer that I’d forgotten about that can be used for lunchboxes, so managing to delay the big food shop by a day DH will be off to Ald! tomorrow instead.

DH has taken DD2 off to a coffee shop for a special treat - I expect it’s hot chocolate and cake and imagining a less than £10 spend, but won’t know until they get back.

I’ve made a dent in some Xmas shopping and spent £31.27 on some gifts for the children from Santa and a gift for my Secret Santa. Managed to save around £2 by buying a book “used - like new” rather than new, and another 50p by opting for a seller that was different to the initially recommended one. May not seem like much, but I really think these little bits add up, particularly when our budget on Xmas presents this year is in the region of (and by that I mean exactly) £680!! :eek: This is just buying for close family and one friend (who is essentially family), even with a Secret Santa and budgeting sensibly