December debt destroying *blows the budgeteering bugle*

[claretandamberforever]

Okay, so probably not much debt will be getting destroyed this month, but hopefully we won't add too much to it.

Here's the thread you want if you need to keep a spending diary somewhere, confess money sins, ask for help or have a general whinge at the cost of living.

Welcome to any newbies

Just had a little xmas party for toddler n his friends 4 little ones n 3 adults one brought sandwiches n the other crackers n juice n i did lots little bits n had part baked baguetres for adults n did prawns or gruyere cheese (35p reduction grated n frozen no one noticed).

Lovely time had by all n glad we had planned it in as crap weather here n don't fancy the shops.

That sounds lovely eastmidlands. My DS will wake from his nap soon and I've no idea what we'll do this afternoon.

This morning I spent £8.75 on wee pressies for my admin at work. However, I used an m&s giftcard from my birthday. £3.50 on carpet cleaner from Wilkinsons.

I'm testing knorr pots for mn and my 'hamper' arrived today. It has 20 pots in it and various recipe cards. Im well chuffed!

Been doing some research

The B&Q debt is on 0% until feb 2015, and the nationwide card is 0% until September 2015, so there is plenty of time to be dealing with those.

At the moment, I'm paying £50/month to the nationwide, which won't clear it before it goes to 15.8% so am going to need to find more money to throw at that one.

The B&Q one is paid by direct debit, £160/ month and that will be cleared at the point the 0% runs out - was our new kitchen.

I don't think I would get another 0% card, I only got the nationwide one as I am an existing customer...

But I reckon that January statement will be somewhere around £750, so I'm aiming to pay this and make the same again over the next 12 months so no Christmas hangover on the cards next year!

All the twitch gifts have been handed out, but I was given £50 love to shop vouchers by work last week, so I will be able to get some new clothes for myself, which are urgently needed, without making the credit card balance any worse.

I might be able to sell some stuff, I have an old sewing machine, but most stuff in our house gets used until it's fit for junk. However, my youngest baby is now 1, so I can start selling off her clothes and baby toys, which even if I only get £50 it's a start!

Just got my last minute bits £70-ish. Incluyes lot's of expensive ice-cream, chocolate, little stocking fillers and a replacement naice vino.

Shouldn't need anything else úntil after the weekend.

Claret hope all goes Well Tomorrow with your DH.

Can't see now who has the naice linguine and prawns, but my fav is a light tomatoe Sauce with fresh toms and the prawns on top. Or, like a cabonara but prawns and Lemon zest with Lemon juice poured over.

Damn! Forgot lemons this morning.

Picnmix we have had a do not alot afternoon xmas films n rubbishy junk food deffo beats going out in this weather.

Afternoon! We are back home and preparing for family to descend.

Have just made macaroni cheese for those coming tonight and what I thought would make enough for tonight and some leftovers is actually enough for tonight and two full meals in the freezer, so I'm calling that a win .

Have also discovered I have no lunch guests tomorrow, when I thought I had three, so am also saving on what I had planned for that. At this rate we're going to have enough leftovers for half of January!

Woodburner it sounds like you at least know what you owe and to who, which is a really positive start. Sit down and do a real genuine budget (using previous bank statements, not what you think you 'ought' to be spending) and see how much you can throw at the highest interest debt first. Minimum payments on all else until the highest interest one is gone. Don't apply for another 0% until you really have to and your credit might be good enough to get one (DH and I went through about six in succession when we paid off a big debt a few years back).

Oh, and ideas to use up around 40 eggs? Have been given loads by my mum's friend and had already stocked up...

You can freeze eggs. Separate and whisk, then freeze as yolks and whites. If you can't find anything else to do with them, but make sure you know how many you are freezing - I usually do 3 or 4 whites together and 3 or 4 yolks together and label them, then you can defrost the right amount.

I would freeze the eggs, seperated as suggested, in the amounts you are likely To use. So, x egg whites for a pavlova, x yokes for a carbonara, x To use as omlettes etc. Make it part of a meal plan for January.

£15 on a mini manicure and pedicure. Thank goodness the salon's just round the corner, as it's been lashing rain all day long here. Still, perfect excuse for curling up all afternoon .

We do something called mash potato thing with obviously mash potato boiled eggs bacon onions mushrooms n shredded cabbage all cooked mix together in casserole dish with grated cheese on top bung under grill to melt the cheese we prob use 1.5-2kg potato 5-6 eggs 200gm bacon 1/4 savoy cabbage 2 med onions n 250gm mushrooms n enough cheese to cover. Its delish n i now want some

beware uses lots pans to get down to one casserole dish but then the meal was created by a man!!

claret will be thinking of you and your dh tomorrow.

eastmidlands my ds is 18 months so not really interested in the tv. Today would have been great for a film but went to softplay instead. I've never been outside of school hours and never will again. £2 spent.

Thanks for the ideas, will definitely freeze some. Liking the sound of mash potato thing!

Thanks for the thoughts for tomorrow peeps, I'm feeling calm about it (in that I have now stopped imagining he has cancer and is going to die) but I'm so scared about the pain he is going to be in while the biopsy site heals.

Anyway - back to business. Went to buy DS2's main Xmas pressie this evening which is a bike and they'd built it for us (for free). I had paid a £10 deposit on Friday and today paid the £120 remaining. As DH was wheeling it out of the store, he walked past the exact same bike on display priced at £99! I did a double take and said “is that the same bike?” and we both looked at it and agreed it was. I went back upstairs and said “excuse me, you have charged me £129 for that bike, but it's advertised downstairs at £99”. The assistant checked on his computer and said “nope, it is coming up at £129” but came downstairs and saw the £99 advertised price. He then said “Ohh I know what's happened, we start the Xmas sale tomorrow so they'll have been going round the store putting the new prices on all the sale stuff, come back upstairs and I'll give you a refund” and promptly put the £30 difference back on my card. KERCHING.

Heating has been on all day today as the kids were in the house all day while I was at work. My blood is running cold thinking of how much extra it will cost - what a change from last year when it was on 24/7 for weeks on end.

Got my wage slip today and my £50 bonus is £34 after tax (BAH). There should be a law that any bonus under £100 should be tax free.

Apart from the bike, twas a NSD for me but DH put some petrol in.

Hope it goes as well as it can tomorrow, claret. Thinking of you and your DH.

Good luck claret and positive thoughts for Mr. Claret. Amazing deal on the bike! Just think, that money saved can cover your extra heating!

I feel really bemused as I continue to track our gas and electricity use and we've been away all weekend the meters weren't as low as I'd expected. We leave a few lights on or on timer for security and heating comes on very low. When we're away later on this week I'll trial only one light and switch heating to the anti frost setting.

Well our remaining food budget was gobbled up in a mammoth tesco run yesterday. We did bung in a few remaining presents and lots of booze but how can we have spent £120 and one shelf of the very small fridge is still empty?! Hopefully there will be no need to spend anything more before January so grocery budget will not go over spent.

Blummin heck hasn't the weather been awful? Our (admittedly shockingly DIY and very flimsy) fence/trellis/screen combo was blown down. We've tried to repair it before but I think this time we're just going to completely get shot and rethink come the summer. We do have a low boundary wall so it's more for privacy reasons. A few doors up have had lovely smart fence panels put in will be way out of our price range.

Good luck today claret and mr claret!

I am lazing around before getting started on some of the right million dishes I'd like to get started this morning so I'm not stressed tomorrow.

Good luck claret, fingers crossed for you.

Checked my online credit card statement and it looks like the damage is £720.56

Ouch.
This year, from next payday at the end of this month, I need to be finding an extra £200 per month, to increase the nationwide card to £150 per month so it is paid off before the 0% finishes, and £100 to pay off last Christmas and save for next Christmas.

£100 is easy, I spend at least that on food at lunchtime at work, so I am going to transfer £5 to my credit card for every day I make a packup.

Not sure about the other £100, we do have quite a few takeaways though, I think those will have to go.

Am a bit scared to do a proper budget as I'm certain I won't like what it tells me. Neither DH or I are particularly badly paid, and we are definitely good with the good budget - I just don't know where it all goes sometimes.

I know I need to find out but scary stuff! Will be mortified I'm sure when I realise what waste there has been...

WoodBurnerBabe - do a spending diary for a couple of months before you do a proper budget as you need to see where your money is going xx

Just waiting to set off to the hospital. Am trying to be calm.

Did my internet banking and spends since last confession are:
£10.00 in my friend's son's birthday card (ANOTHER DECEMBER BIRTHDAY!)
£7.94 on books in the Amazon kindle sale
£30.00 - DH petrol

Budget with 8 days left til payday looks like this
Everything else: £120.24
Food: £17.10
Petrol: £65.96
Kids: £60.15

I will possibly need some petrol but not much...will try and see if I can eke it out. I might even walk to work next week. Kids don't have any activities next week so I shouldn't have to do any extra driving.

DH's bonus after tax is £680.20 after tax.

PS - need to start thinking about a January title! Can't think of anything money related that begins with a J.

Also looked at the sales today to think about starting to buy for next year but everything good had already gone in Boot!

Judicious - exercising good judgment!

Thanks for that Stiffstink, and OhHelp We love gammon but I can't bear to have to leave the house again today!

Today's spends
£11.00 - pub lunch with DH (he paid for the drinks)

Unfortunately (or fortunately) DH ended up not having his biopsy because he had a cold sore still in the virulent stages and told him they would recall him at a later date. However the nurse has made him feel better as she assured him that they had only referred because they couldn't just tell from looking at a white patch whether it was pre-cancerous cells, or just a white patch, and that it wasn't urgent and if it was he would have been fast tracked. So we've still got the wait and both have wasted a day's annual leave for nothing, so we went to the pub and had a nice meal together instead as we hardly ever go out.

He did have the ultrasound scan for the lump in his neck though and surprisingly the sonographer told him it was just a gland and nothing to worry about (I didn't think they gave you results at the time).

Anyway, to those of you who don't get on here tomorrow - hope you have a lovely, relaxing day.

Well that sounds on the right track anyway, claret. Pleased for you both .

£25.30 on a pub Christmas lunch for me and DS (£12.95 for two courses each and two glasses of Prosecco for me and two lemonades for him) and £2.70 on the church collection at the Christmas vigil Mass we went to afterwards. So £28 total.

Merry Christmas, everyone!