Tea's 'Where has it gone' diary

[Deleted User]

Me again :hello:

Just got back from shopping in time as the heavens have just opened and the road looks like a river from here and it has been thundering, not good as I nearly crawled under the table, but think that DD would have looked at me funny.

Anyway, shopping cost me £55.14 this week and that includes beer. I don't think that is too bad as normally it costs anything up to £70 a week normally and I bought a fish and chip frozen ready meal (one of theirs) for lunch for 99p I know, I know that it is a bit extravagant and I do feel bad that I bought it so I think that I may have to be good tomorrow and have a sandwich or something.

Biggest purchase apart from the beer this week was half a leg of lamb for lamb hotpot on Sunday/Monday that cost £6.38 but will feed the four of us and DH can take some for lunch during the week.

If it stops raining I need to go to Boots this afternoon, once I picked up terror #1 as DD needs some nappies.

P.s - DS got a magazine as a treat so that is £1.99 to come off the total for the shopping as that needs to come out of the kids treat money, so that brings the shopping total down a bit.

[Deleted User]

Only me,

I have just come back from picking DS up from pre-school and we went and bought some nappies, I could have used my points but I am trying to save them up in case of an emergency and Christmas.

Whilst we were at the shops, we had a look in the charity shop and bought DD a t-shirt and DS a motorbike and spent £1.25, okay it's not a lot but :mad: why did I do it??? So that's even more out of the kids treat money for the week.

Think that I am going to have to think tactics for next week!

Things are getting better I feel and DH gets paid on the 15th May, so if for once we don't exceed the OD it will be a step closer.

[Deleted User]

Morning all,

Yippeeee it's a bank holiday weekend :j :T

Today I am going to be more positive and in control, well that's the plan anyway.

DS is at pre-school this morning and DD and I are at playgroup; only £1 will get spent there.

DH has the dentist this morning too as the filling fell out of one of his back teeth, so we are going to be about £28 lighter there me thinks.

Over the weekend DH is flying again so we can go up to the flying club and see the aeroplanes and I get him out from under my feet again for a while and if the weather's nice we will go to the airfield and let the kids run riot for a while.

Tonight some friends who have kids have invited us to the pub to catch up as we've not seen them for ages, we will have to spend some money there but hopefully not alot.

Have a good day everyone

bobbadog

Have a lovely weekend, tea! I think you're doing briliantly! There's loads of pub vouchers around at the moment, depending on where you're going - some JD Wetherspoons and Slug & Lettuce ones online - make the money stretch further. When i'm really skint and want to go to the pub to chill out a bit, I always drink lime and soda - and never be embarassed just to order iced water - especially if you're in a group. It's summer and you need to stay hydrated!! x

[Deleted User]

Afternoon one and all,

Have just gone through the bank statement that came through the door this morning...big shock :eek: as we have really really overspent between the last time DH got paid and when he's due to be paid this month (15th).

So, major rethink needed I fear for this coming month...I have predicted that in May, we will still be over the OD but if we can keep most costs down and also try and make some money, we won't exceed the OD; have also got my other BIL's wedding at the end of the month and it's our wedding anniversary this month too.

Here's my plan:

• Allow £20-£25 per week for treats and shopping needed during weeks instead of £30
• List, list, list stuff on e-bay - must pull my finger out on this one as being way too lazy on this score recently
• Do not under any circumstances spend just for the sake of it...if I'm bored then I need to do something around the house or with the kids
• Keep making sure DH takes lunch where appropriate
• Keep ordering food shopping online and keep eyes out for any deals
• Daily clicks & competitions
• Ensure DH is signed up to all survey sites etc...
• Go through freezer and sort out what we can have to eat for dinner

Okay a fairly long list but hopefully a do-able one.

[Deleted User]

Morning all,

Another busy day ahead today. DH is flying today and the kids and I are going up there so the kids can see the areoplanes and there is also housework to be done today

I need to nip to Tesco's this morning too as the kids are running out of fruit juice, I only buy the cheap stuff and water it down as it sends them hyper otherwise because of the natural sugar in it.

Last night was a good night and it was great to catch up, we didn't spend much about £10 or so and I did get three £2 coins from DH too so they went straight into my terramundi.

Just done a quick count up and I have £7.75 left out of the £30 I drew out and as long as I don't go mad this weekend I shall no doubt have some left by Sunday.

Have a good day everyone.

moanymoany

If you posted your soa it would be easier to advise you.

If you are in debt through overspending you have to make two lots of cut backs. The first is to live on what you earn and the second is to cut back again to live on less than you earn so that cash is freed up to pay back your debts.

There is no easy way.

My niece bought herself a fancy car that put her a further £8,000 in debt. The car she had was ok and I asked why she had bought the new one. She looked at me in amazement and said - but it's my dream car! Six months later she was moaning about how hard it was for first time buyers - overlooking her huge debts, that she spent every penny on luxuries. Her debt would have given her a deposit on a flat and her overspend on rubbish would have paid the mortgage.

What is not essential is a luxury. When you went to Boots to buy nappies so you got points, any benefit was outweighed by your spending in the charity shop. If you got your shopping on line, you would not have spent the £1.99 on a magazine and you could have bought the nappies. The codes from the forum would have saved you money.

When my children were young we had a policy of when it's gone it's gone. If the cereal ran out they had toast. When the juice ran out they had water. I did my weekly shop and that was it. I bought enough for our basics and meals. Everlasting 'popping' out to the shops runs away with the money.

Is your husband a pilot?

[Deleted User]

moanymoany wrote: »

Is your husband a pilot?

He is a PPL holder, which means that he flies light aircraft. A friend of ours is currently training to be an airline pilot and the two of them go flying together every other weekend as our friend needs a certain amount of hours before he can move on to the next stage of his training.

[Deleted User]

Morning all,

Hopefully a nice and sunny day here today.

From the list the other day I have gone through the freezer and there wasn’t as much in there as first thought; I have also tided it up, might need to work on filling that up so that we aren’t stuck for meal ideas and will also save us some money on running it.

DH has now signed up to Pigsback and Valued Opinions, I tried to get him signed up to Lightspeed but can’t find a referral link so will leave that one for now.

Yesterday afternoon I went through all the kids’ clothes and ended up with a bin liner full, so my job this week is to get them photographed and up on e-bay.

Going through my purse last night I came across three Boots gift cards; two I know for sure haven’t been spent but not too sure about the other one, so I am going to use two of them for nappies etc and the other one I am going to put towards Christmas.

We got a letter through from More Than with regards to Home Insurance, they are offering us a mega discount and depending on what the terms of the policy are we are going to take it up as it will cost us a lot less than what we are paying now.

I have also gone through the finances and this month we shouldn’t go too far into the overdraft like we have been, I have £50 from Paypal that needs to be paid in and I am also going to count the money that is in the demi-john and pay that in the bank too. This will then go as an overpayment on the Capital One card...will have a look and see what credit cards there are around that are offering 0% and get DH to sign up and transfer the balance as the current deal runs out at the end of this month.

I am also setting myself a no spend challenge two days a week starting from this week, these days will be Tuesday and Thursday.

chocaholic110

Good luck with the no spend challenge. I used to be a "pop to the shopper" as well and I would always spend when i didn't need to. Would pop out for milk and a couple of magazines, few sweets and a pre-prepared sandwich later I would be £10 down. What I do now, is only take the money for what I need then even if I'm tempted by something I can't buy it. I also gave my credit and debit card to DS to look after (Well, I originally gave them to OH but he lost them and I had to get new ones. He still can't remember where he out them!!). When I do need to use them DS interrogates me like only a 13 year old can about what I want to use them for

Good luck with the ebaying too. I listed a few things the other night but need to do more. I hate listing and parcelling but love decluttering and receiving the money so it's a necessary evil really!!