Now or never

Its_time

Right today went well.
Free things were half an iceberg lettuce from DDIL and also 2 packs of 6 apples that Asda had sent to her by mistake she had ordered 2 packs and they had sent 4.  Also she made dinner today so brought with her ham and lettuce rolls for everyone.  Brilliant.  My mum did have corn beef and brought it over this morning and did not want paying she wanted a piece of pie in exchange - result!
A few more things I have been in denial about are:
Our shower does not work and needs a plumber, has been this way for at least 4 months.
Our roof is leaking so needs fixing has been leaking for about 5years.
I need wormer for the horses in September
They need new rugs in October
DH needs new trainers and socks.  (He is going to pay for the trainers, he does not care about the socks lol!)
Oh and the muck heap needs removing.  Last time it was £600.  
The more I do this I realise I really need to write things down fast, I am pushing so much to the corners of my mind and trying to deny it even exists.  
This morning I felt much better, I was calm and content and for the first time pretty much ever I felt like this might actually work.
I have found a book and am writing down all things for the next few months that I can think off and then when others pop into my mind from the dark recesses I am writing that down too. 
I don't work much on the weekends so I am going to try and give myself a list of things to do so I can get on top of my jobs.
Oh another free thing today, well actually I have been paying £5.50 a month for the last 6 years for a repair plan on my washing machine.  They came out today and repaired it for free, it is working now which is great, I had ignored it leaking, not washing properly etc. for about a year, anyway its working now.  Silly really to let it go on so long but I didn't really want anyone coming to the house.

joedenise

@Its_time - yes mixers are things like lemonade and coke.  Sometimes people like to have a non alcoholic drink to reduce the amount they drink!

Glad you've got your washing machine sorted after it not washing properly for quite some time.

Its_time

@joedenise Thank you 😊  I'll definitely do that, so drinks sorted.
I've got a couple of expensive months ahead and have decided to put everything left over from my shopping budget towards the muck heap removal and aim to have it taken around October.   
I need to pop to the shops this evening after work but have a very strict list to stick to.  I have looked in the freezer and have quite a few good meals in there and I am going to stretch it as far as I can..
If I can really cut back on shopping spending I can use the money for things that would normally go on my credit card or overdraft.
I need to check my ms money (I know very old) to see if I can use any of the money due in hopefully next week from my latest work or whether it's already allocated.  I have been so unorganised.   There is so much to do.

Its_time

I've checked the bank and once this current jobs payment comes in I will have enough in the bank to pay for the muck heap without going overdrawn.  I am setting a total budget of £600, so if it is any more then he has to leave some.  I am hoping that there isn't as much as last time so the price will be less.  Even though it is expensive and an unwelcome bill it has to be done and I feel better for tackling it, thinking it through and finding the money for it.
The shower repair I will tackle next month unless I can squeeze it out of the shopping budget.  
The roof I have mentioned to DH so he might agree to help towards it, sometimes we pay for things half each if we don't want to take the money from the bank, he earns more than me though but he buys the cars so it works out fair. We have both agreed it needs to be done before the winter.
I went to Home Bargains tonight and bought Lenor which I like and cheesie nibble biscuits for DH, his only treat this week, the bill was £4.94, the lenor was huge.  I went to Lidl then and saw half the size bottle of Lidls own softener for £1.68, I was very tempted to buy it and try it but reasoned with myself that I don't need it, I had just bought lenor, next time I run out I will ...maybe...try it, but I do love Lenor.  I stuck completely to the list, they didn't have any mushrooms which I wanted for our meal tonight, not even frozen ones, so instead of calling in Tesco or Iceland I decided we would go without and have an egg instead.  DH was happy so was I.  The only thing I did buy was a set of stainless steel saucepans, 3 for £19.99.  I have a table top induction hob for the summer months but only one of my frying pans works on it, so I have to use the frying pan for cooking everything, even boiled eggs   Total spend tonight £38.13.
I have taken a budget of £100 for our mini break, £50 for my DDIL's party, both of which I am hoping to keep lower and £30 for one hay payment and am left with £31.38.  We wont need the next hay for at least 10 days so I am hoping by then we might not need one until September but I don't know, it depends on the weather.  So based on that I actually have £1.38 left with everything paid for this month.  I can not tell you how smug and content I feel, it's a wonderful feeling having tackled the bills in advance and know that everything so far is budgeted and paid for.  It's very exciting   Each Wednesday I get another £70 so that will mean I only have to make the £1.38 last until next Wednesday and am going to spend the absolute minimum on food each week thereafter.  I really don't think we need anything so £1.38 should be more than doable.......
Both credit cards are being over paid one by about £65 a month and the other by about £300 a month.  I am hoping to keep on doing this and pay off more as well as we go along.  At the moment our credit card debt free date is July 2022.  Then we will tackle the loan.  Once that's done then it's the mortgage.  It is a dream only I can make a reality.

Its_time

Well I thought hard about this and decided I couldn't ignore the deal.
I need 4 horse rugs by November/December,  heavyweights.  I priced them and the cheapest basic rug I could find was in the region of £50 plus postage.  I had another look last night and found a flash clearance that had 4 in our sizes in stock for £36 a rug including post.  I saved £102 off their retail value and £66 off the price I thought I had to pay.  I was going to buy one this month, 2 next month and one the month after but this seemed a better option.   Now where is the money coming from....so as of today it is on the overdraft which I hate but next Friday I am paid back for items I have bought for someone I care for which is over £136 so that will cover it and a little bit besides which has come from my shopping budget, next time they are giving me money upfront so I don't go out of pocket.  Alls well.
I did think of taking some money from some premium bonds we have to cover it, we havnt got many and it felt awful to do that, so I will just sit it out for the week. There are bound to be stumbling blocks along the way but I think this had to be done.

vampirotoothus

Hi for a party we always ask our friends to bring what they want to drink and provide tea / coffee if they want it. It is accepted in our large group and we all do this.
For food we cook lots of jacket potatoes cut them in half and then keep them warm in a slow cooker. We cook a large chicken curry (tasty, not spicy), a bolognese or a chilli again kept hot in a slow cooker (borrow some if you need to). Salad and french bread / butter. They help themselves when they are hungry. It's cost effective and you are not serving people all day.

Its_time

@ vampirotoothus Hi, I feel much better about asking people to bring their own drinks now and offer tea and coffee, i've suggested it to a few and they were absolutely fine with it, I will also offer coke and lemonade as an alternative or mixer as @joedenise suggested but at least I don't have to worry about any alcohol.  Food wise I think we are settled on a buffet, i've suggested curry and jacket potato and whilst we love it DH really enjoys a buffet so I have added it all up and will do the following:
Sandwiches, tuna, egg and ham £11
Sausages chopped up into 3's with cocktail sticks £2
Homemade corn beef pie, I think I can get about 20 pieces out of my pie tray £3.50
Crisps £2
Sausage rolls £2
Cheesie nibbles £1
Homemade fairy cakes £4.00 for about 36
Pizza x 2 Homemade £4 
Mini quiches ham and cheese £3 for about 24
A cake, homemade £5 
Total is approx £37.50 ish
I think I can do it cheaper but I am over estimating (I hope) as I don't want to be caught out.  I am definitely going to try, I am going to shop in Lidl, it's a late afternoon party so I have all day to cook and then DH and I are going away the next day so I can have  rest and hopefully have some left overs to take with us for our picnic.
So far there are 15 confirmed and a possible maybe 7 more max (I think)

Its_time

A productive day today. Took my Mum to home bargains but stayed in the car in case I saw something that I absolutely needed immediately.   
A completely NSD today.  Felt a bit flat so decided to clean thoroughly,  i thought it is a bit money saving as if its clean and looked after then it might last longer.  So cleaned the toaster and sorted out a cupboard, hoovered through, washed and dried 3 loads, did some paperwork, put washing away and sat this evening enjoying some crochet and watched the farm series with Matt the TV presenter.  
Been looking after DS's two dogs for the weekend who are absolutely adorable,  they go home tomorrow.  
DH thinks the roof repair might cost under £500 so I've asked a builder to come and give a quote, he hasn't replied yet though but it is a Saturday, if that's how much it is then we will take the money from the premium bonds.
It's been a very wet day here today here's hoping for some better weather tomorrow. 

Its_time

Another rainy morning hopefully it will clear as the day goes on.    Trying not to be disappointed that my lottery ticket didn't win, it's a pre bought bunch of tickets that I can't decide whether to stop when the last one runs out or whether the chances of winning are worth it...hmmmm
Really nice to get up this morning and see how clean and clutter free the house is, must make more effort in future, although the toaster doesn't like being clean and empty it didn't want to work this morning but after a few hard rams of the down button it gave in and agreed.
Bed change day today but DH is having a very unusual lie in,  thats lovely for him so I will do it when he gets up.
I am going to clean bathrooms, do some more washing and generally tidy up some more, I might also sow some lettuce in the greenhouse if the rain eases.
Planning another NSD today.

Its_time

Have sat with DH lunchtime and asked him what he thinks we should budget for this next 6 months.  We need the house painted 
I've organised a list of accounts on my ms money and transferred set amounts over each month.  Horses, garden and fields, house repairs, grand children and christmas/birthday fund.  I need to do one for car insurance just thought of that.  House painting is another one.  I've had to lower my higher overpayment to compensate, the overpayments are still as previously stated but whereas there were quite a few higher ones, they are all now at the lower overpayment rate, but still overpaying. I also have my smaller wages to take into account but am using these as a buffer that I pretend I don't have.  DH also has his own money still.
It feels good to be discussing these things with DH and getting organised in advance instead of us both just going day to day without any thought for anything in the future.
Am just waiting for DS to call and pick up his doggies and then I will finish cleaning for the day.
Chicken roast dinner tonight (chicken cooked yesterday) and homemade cheesecake all from the cupboards and freezer.