2018 New year, new focus and new mission

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  • Choccygirl123
    Choccygirl123 Posts: 1,033
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    Woke up feeling groggy and the text from First direct with our bank balance didn't help my mood!

    £367.39 in credit and it's only the 4th of the month. It's not great, but the good news is that all the direct debits and mortgage etc have gone apart from our 2 x phone bills which leave around 24th. The realisation we're skint has definitely sunk in, but that's why i'm here. Need to stay focussed and It's given me a kick up the bum today and i've spent 2hours sorting out admin things.

    - checked all banking
    - emailed union for discount on membership as wouldn't do on phone
    - chased vet after statement after pooch's op and found we're £106-45 in credit (requested it back)
    - going to get hubby to close halifax cc account as no longer needed and get the £3.60 credit back
    -chased ebay seller for refund of faulty item, kept item and discount refund of £10 (will withdraw tonight when it clears)
    -complained to currys about tv we bought in sale with hubby & mine christmas cash. Is scratched on stand...it's ok but not happy. Would take discount or new stand, but want to keep tv.
    -email co-op to see how much i've in share account (never get vouchers) and will withdraw to add to EM
    -printed off an old tesco voucher worth £3.00 which was sat on my account. Added it to the £15 one I received after making a complaint and start a voucher stash. - Planning on using at the end of month to save cash in the food wallet
    - No Spend day number 2 this month
    -posted overtime claim form for random 2nd job - 8h 15 mins which should be paid end of Feb


    Baby steps I know, but still keeping on track.
    Finally Debt Free 24/4/2023 
  • Choccygirl123
    Choccygirl123 Posts: 1,033
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    Well another bonus tonight - hubbys monile bill jumped up couple of months ago abd I couldn’t understand why. Have given them a call abd it was because his Apple Music free 6months trial ended. Orange were fab and have given me a £20 credit on the next bill. Really pleased as its £20 less to find when direct debits go on.
    Finally Debt Free 24/4/2023 
  • Choccygirl123
    Choccygirl123 Posts: 1,033
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    It’s friday!!!! Normally a takeaway treat night but not tonight. We’re eating the randomness left over in the fridge from Christmas. Posh breaded cheeses with cranberry sauce and bake your own breadsticks for starts, homemade celery and potato soup with bake your own bread bun and shop bought pancakes with ice-cream! Hubby was gobsmacked with the menu, but told him it’s warming and filling and all I’ve made!

    Tomorrow is our food shop day and my balance of £0.29 will be added to next weeks £75. I’ve got a few meals already planned using store cupboard abd freezer stocks do really hoping to keep our spend low.

    I’ve got loads of satsumas left over do think I’m going to make jam tomorrow. Should do it tonight but still feeling a poorly girl, so embracing the blanket on the sofa today!

    No spend today number 3 this month:j
    Finally Debt Free 24/4/2023 
  • Choccygirl123
    Choccygirl123 Posts: 1,033
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    Oh bu88er! Vets sent me a copy of my account abd they don’t owe be £106.45.....just £14 something. Their account department made a mistake. I’m still not convinced this amount is right so will chase them up on Monday. Talk about one step forward and two back!
    Finally Debt Free 24/4/2023 
  • Choccygirl123
    Choccygirl123 Posts: 1,033
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    edited 6 January 2018 at 8:54PM
    Had a lovely lazy day catching up with my best friend and a weekly shop.

    Withdrew £75 and spent £65.23 in Aldi and £5.50 in Tesco. Was hoping it’d be a low spend, but had to buy kitchen towel, bleach, toiletries for 3/4 members of our family, loo rolls and cleaning stuff. Totalling all those bits up it was £20, but they’ll last until at least pay day.

    Food wise I’ve bought some staples for lunches for kids to avoid school meals -soup, cereals and stacks of fruit. With the weather so cold I’ve also stacked up 12pints of milk....just in case of snow.

    Balance from today and remaining last week means I’ve got a whopping £4.56 in the food wallet until next Saturday!
    Finally Debt Free 24/4/2023 
  • I love Sundays for Choccy Towers, it's a family day of chilling out and spending time together. The kids are back to school tomorrow, so we're going to make the most of our day. We've had a luxurious brekkie of bake your own choc-a-paaaaains (according to child2) smoothies made with half a bag of frozen fruit, some left over home grown straws, a banana blended with apple juice. The kids feel like they've won the lottery as smoothies are a treat. In reality I need the space in the freezer, but i'm not going to tell them that.

    We're off to a local village for a walk and to take some pictures. I've scrabbled around in the car and found enough change for a paper, so going to pick one up when we're out. I love a Sunday paper, but cut back last year so for me this a real treat! It;ll come in handy once hubby ready for the sports bit, as I need to clean the kids shoes. There's a last couple of bits of homework to do and I've got to nag and make sure school uniform is ready and school bags packed. Getting them up and ready out the house for 8:10 is going to be a challenge.

    Hope everyone having a good sunday x
    Finally Debt Free 24/4/2023 
  • Choccygirl123
    Choccygirl123 Posts: 1,033
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    Enjoyed a lovely day of walking out with kids, making a huge roast and some marmalade with my leftover Christmas oranges.

    Spent a total of £1.80 on a newspaper, which was a real treat.

    My eBay items finished and I’ve sold one thing for £29 which is being collected next weekend. I’ve also managed to sell a bit of furniture on a local gumtree for £30. Chuffed to bits and after costs on eBay will put £50 in my E fund and oddmebts in the joint account.

    I have been thinking about the E fund and thinking about buying premium bonds. The interest on our savings isn’t worth having and physiologically if money tied up, will mean less likely to break into it for trival things.
    Finally Debt Free 24/4/2023 
  • Choccygirl123
    Choccygirl123 Posts: 1,033
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    Day 8 of 2018 and it’s nsd number 4.

    Kids back to school today, so all is back to normal in the house.

    I need to keep a to do list or I lose my motivation. This is my January list
    - do my tax return before deadline
    - counting to declarer the house
    - keep listing the clutter on eBay and other selling sites
    - blitz the house abd catch up post Christmas cleaning & ironing
    - tidy the spare room and put crap in loft or sell it!
    Finally Debt Free 24/4/2023 
  • Lazy morning before work this afternoon catching up on some recipe ideas for next week. Another nsd today number 5 for Jan....could be fact we have no money to spend!

    Need to be inventive next week with meal planning and cut right back if I can. We’re all on health kick and finding fruit and veg very expensive and huge part of shop. I’ve got 6kgs frozen chicken breasts in the feeezer, some proper butcher sausages, some blitzed roast beef so going for a no meat shop on Saturday. It’ll be just fresh healthy stuff, milk and bread. The kids like cereal bars so going to have a look at recipes to make my own.

    I’m determined to keep on track and not hit that overdraft thi month, but it’s going to be hard! Looking at expenses coming up it’s going to be impossible, so I’m going to minimise the damage. I’ll use the £30 cash I made on selling site and £29 from eBay when stuff collected for food next week.

    Fed up feeling skint all the time. That’s why the diary is helping so much. It’s keeping me focussed and on track. Have £211 in joint account. Roll on pay day is all I can say.
    Finally Debt Free 24/4/2023 
  • Storm89
    Storm89 Posts: 592 Forumite
    Hi choccygirl just caught up with your diary. We usually eat crap on Fridays same as you and watch a film but this week we just had our usual planned meal and baked some cakes . Good luck with your plans for the month - our kids went back really early compared to others it seems. Day after new years day my son went back
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