One of the things on my Swagbucks wish list is a 5GBP Paypal reward. Today they emailed to say that I had enough SBs to redeem it. I thought, ok I'll give it a try. It worked! I'm so pleased. I'd completely given up on it.

I'm waiting on My Survey rewards crediting Paypal too. It should be soon. I had enough points to redeem 6GBP paypal rewards so I did that. It'll be ten working days for that.

I spoke to DH about giving me some child-free time as a birthday present. I suggested taking them to the local library and cafe to let me have some time to relax.He's agreed.

It's our anniversary today. Twelve years together. We never got each other cards or gifts. I've got chilli con carne in the slow cooker for dinner. Dh bought something yesterday as a surprise for today. I'm pretty sure it's something for desert.

I typed in the title of my blog post, and it's of no surprise that it came up as I typed, so I've used it before. Apart from April when I'm back to work, February is my least favourite month, at least for this year. I turn thirty and I'm not looking forward to it. If I could skip it, I would.

DH is not on board with not getting me a present and not acknowledging this birthday. In fact, it ended up in an argument last night. I'm to blame for it. I said I didn't want a cheesecake like we spoke about because it costs too much. Then I decided I didn't want anything and I told him not to bother. We eventually agreed just to get a couple of slices each instead of buying a whole cheesecake. Yes, we argued over a cheesecake. But the real issue is money. I don't want to throw it away.

I've joined a few more survey sites. One of them makes me wait until 20GBP before I can redeem it. I'm at 3.xx so I might lose interest in that one.

I redeemed 3GBP PP from My Survey. It was the lowest Paypal amount. It takes 5-10 days.

I feel like all I do is surveys. But the rewards are worth it though.

J is seven months now - well, on the 19th he was. SG is almost three. Time just flies in.

I had to change my meal plan because it's Burns Night on Sunday and DH wants haggis. He picked some up. I'll have something different.

Three out of four of us here are ill, although J is nearly over his I think. DH had a lucky escape, so far, and is the only one who is well. He was up until the early hours this morning with SG.

I've checked my credit card statement online two days in a row. I'm waiting for it to update. I want to see what I'm starting the year off at. The statement says: next statement 19/1, which is today. I suppose they have to process it. I noticed that my last snowflake isn't on that statement so it might have overlapped with the statement update. Whenever I pay extra I do it through my online banking so I'm not always looking at the balance. I think it's quicker too.

SG has fallen asleep beside me here. I've been doing minimal tasks this morning since I'm the only one that's awake right now. One of us was meant to go to Aldi today, but I can't see that happening. Maybe tomorrow. It's just to get a few things but it can wait.

I'm going to catch up on the blogs before someone wakes up.

It's been nine years since I started this blog. Back when I was only twenty years old and naive enough to think that I could save up two thousand pounds. Other than the wedding, it hasn't happened yet.

You would think after nine years - with a little gap in between - that I would have a pretty hefty emergency fund. Oh well, I'm working on it.

Yesterday a 5GBP survey reward was credited to my account. I split it up 70/30 to cc#2 and EF.

My last two posts have been short and sweet; and only about numbers. This one will be the opposite.

I'm still in the process of organising and decluttering. I'm getting there very slowly but it is a constant process. I've still got a ton of paperwork to shred but I'm feeling optimistic about that. One of the areas that desperately needed attention was SG's room, I started to deal with that yesterday. It's the one area that I've been avoiding because it was too overwhelming to deal with. Well, as of yesterday, it is slowly looking better. One thing was perfectly clear yesterday: we have a lot of stuff.

Speaking of stuff, it's been confirmed that MIL is actually having a clearout. We thought that anyway based on the kids' Christmas presents. She text me yesterday asking if I needed any of these items as she going to sell them at a baby and kids market: travel cot, high chair and two activity tables. Normally, I would have considered the activity table because I remember SG used it a few times when we were at MIL's. However, I am trying to get rid of stuff, not bring more in. J has a walker that has toys to keep him amused, plus a lot of other toys. I told her that we didn't need any of it.

Later on Facebook,I noticed that she had added pics of everything and was asking her friends for help on how to sort it all. I didn't get involved, despite thinking maybe she should join a group about getting organised.

DH and MIL still not talking. He is still paying off the PS4.

DH was out for his friend's 30th last night. When I say out, he was away for the night with his friends. He's the only parent there and he told me he was bored. I'll find out how the rest of the night went when he's home later.

It's my 30th next month. I've took my birthday off Facebook because I don't want MIL to use that as an excuse to get in touch. DH thinks she knows when my birthdaut ordering one then.y is though. I don't think her memory's that good. I've requested a cheesecake from DH from our favourite cheesecake place. I'm going there with my mum during the week so I'll see about ordering one.

I'm tempted to get a takeaway for my birthday but I keep thinking that the money would be better off elsewhere (credit card #2, emergency fund)

My bank refund was credited today. It was for 15.00. I transferred it to my mum. I'm also going to pay for her Christmas savings this year (100) although she doesn't know it yet. I just want to make up for borrowing in the past.
I received an email from mums survey asking for my bank details so I can receive the reward. Of course I replied ASAP.
I think that's all for now.

I keep on counting down the days until payday. I think it's because I know I can start paying extra to my credit card again. I'm desperate to make my first credit card payment of 2015. I feel bad that I've been wishing my life away to get to payday.

Luckily, I have things to do to keep my mind off - like decluttering. It keeps me busy while also hopefully creates a calmer living space, eventually - well as calm as it can be with a baby and a toddler. I shredded some things today and I found a coupon I can use (a future snowflake) It's only for £1 off but snowflakes add up.

Not much to report really but I thought I would update anyway.

DH went shopping today, armed with my list. He added some extras to the list while he was there. He gave me the used list when he came home, with notes and everything. I wrote down the price and weight of the items I wanted him to get (he likes specifics) For his extra items he wrote the price and added it up so he roughly knew the total at the checkout. He also told me that he let two people in front of him while he organised his trolley.

I was charged an unpaid direct debit fee before Christmas. When I checked my statement I seen that I had plenty of money available. I messaged the bank to complain. They said that I was overdrawn, it just didn't appear on the statement. I asked for a refund and they're giving it to me. As much as I would like to put it towards debt and savings, I'm going to give it to my mum because she helped me out a lot when we were struggling.

I forgot to mention that DH doesn't really know about our EF. Not that it's a secret, just that it's linked to my bank and I set up the transfers. I think that whenever he knows he just wants to use it. I might be wrong. The last time I told him the balance was last year after I wiped it out. I know we haven't got much right now but it's something. I know that if we have enough saved and have a real emergency that we'll have to use it, but that's the point, isn't it? To have it there, in case.

I phoned Paypal this morning. They were really helpful. The customer service rep that I spoke to said that my account was fine to receive the reward. I attempted to redeem the reward after the phone call, but no luck. I'll just have to get Amazon gift cards.

I checked this month's budget. My catalogue payment is higher than normal because I ordered stuff before Christmas. I can still pay extra to the credit card, but probably not 160. It will prob be around 130-140. Usually I pay 90 so it's still a big jump from normal. I will hopefully get some snowflakes too.

I'm aiming to spend as little as possible on groceries from this pay. This should hopefully help to pay extra to debt.

For a response from Paypal. I think I might just give up on the paypal idea for a while and try to get extra cash elsewhere. I completed another mums survey this morning so that money should be deposited soon. I like to try and do these surveys as soon I check my email and notice it. I think I've only got six months left of getting these surveys because it seems to be aimed at mums of children under a year old, and J will be one in June. Also, when I go back to work I'll miss a lot of survey opportunities.

I was really hoping to start the year off on a high note by claiming my first snowflake of a 5GBP Paypal deposit. However, swagbucks couldn't verify my paypal. I've confirmed email address, bank account etc so I don't know what the problem is. I emailed Paypal customer service so I am waiting on an actual proper response, not the automated one that they sent.

For now I will continue to get SBs while also trying to find other possible snowflake sources.

Happy New Year everyone!

Today has been low-key. I did some tidying earlier and found a few things to get rid of. I'm making a steak pie for dinner using the reduced beef and pastry that I froze a while ago. I found a recipe online so I will be trying that. It's my first attempt.

Last night we had an over the counter pizza and a little buffet of chinese and indian snacks that I bought frozen. For lunch we had leftover pizza.

I'm quite close to redeeming five pounds paypal from Swagbucks, about 30SBs away. I'm desperate to redeem something as it will be my first proper snowflake of 2015. (I'm debating whether I should actually include the 5GBP survey reward from last month)

I've just been trying to catch up on washing and general tidying since Christmas. We still have three toys in our room that we forgot to give SG on Christmas Day, but I think we will delay it a bit because she got so many toys and I only just managed to sort them out.

I checked my email and Love Money emailed me. I read their article which said that 30% of families have less than £500 in savings and 53% have less than 5k. Unfortunately, we're one of those families. Mind you, it did also say that family credit card debt had increased but ours hasn't.

https://www.lovemoney.com/news/42367/family-debt-more-than-doubles-in-last-six-months?source=1000557&utm_source=lunch_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LM%20lunch%20newsletter

I haven't been near a shop but will need to go tomorrow to get some fruit, veg and milk.

ETA: I've got a huge tub of double cream to use up. I just found a recipe online so will be making that, minus parmesan with cheddar instead because I haven't got any.

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/29220/pasta-with-tomato-and-cream-sauce.aspx?o_is=SR

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! It's 4.30pm here, will be winding the kids down soon.

This is how my credit card debt is looking at the end of this year. I've updated my sidebar so this entry is for my records really.

At the beginning of the year I had 5652.81 of credit card debt. I'm ending the year with 5132.01. I've only managed to clear 520.80 worth of debt. That was helped by shifting my highest interest card, Capital One, to an interest free card in September.

I could have done a lot better but it also could have been worse. I have to remind myself that I was off sick for the first five months of the year, then I went back for all of seven or eight shifts then it was time for maternity leave. When we were at our worst and borrowing money, I was only managing to make the minimum payments.

So, to summarize, here's how things are looking now:

CC Debt 2014:
CC1: 1273.01
CC2: 4379.80
Total: 5652.81

CC Debt update (12/14)
CC1: 830.09
CC2: 4301.92
Total: 5132.01

Here's to knocking more off debt next year!!

I've been awake for the last half hour and I don't know why. I'm not stressing about Christmas - I posted all the gifts and cards I had to yesterday, which is the most organised I've been. I've still got some gifts to wrap but not enough to lose sleep over.
today we've got a hospital appointment in Edinburgh for sg which wasn't budgeted for but it's nothing major. I will be making a packed lunch to take with us so apart from hot drinks #no thermos) spending will be minimal.

CCF asked about how I shop online for groceries so I thought I would dedicate a post to it. I'm no expert but I will do my best to explain.

Okay so here in the UK we can shop online for most of the major supermarkets: ASDA, Tesco and Sainsburys. I'm sure there are a few others but I'm only really aware of those three, but I've only used two of them: Tesco and Asda (Walmart) As far as I know this started a few years, maybe more, and there are Home Shopping departments in most stores I think. Customers have the option of either choosing a home delivery slot or a click and collect slot. The click and collect slot is something I've never used because we haven't got a car. Basically, to click and collect, you would place your order then choose a time to collect. You drive to the store car park where there is a colleague sitting in a van waiting for you. They unload your shopping into your car for you. I'd assume that they would tell you if there were any substitutions (if they don't have your item they upgrade a brand, but you only pay for what you've chosen so therefore don't pay more) I always go for the cheapest home delivery slot - usually £1.

When I am shopping online, I log in and choose my items. I have the option of choosing a delivery slot which they hold for two hours. Today I am going to choose my items then save my list because payday isn't until tomorrow. I've never done this before, I usually just do it on the day, so I'm hoping it works out okay. DH suggested that I use my credit card to pay it then pay it off tomorrow but I'm not going down that route. Once I've picked my slot, confirmed order etc I have until 23.59 the night before my delivery slot to amend my order. This is really handy and something I've used a few times when I've forgotten to add something.

We started shopping online more when I was recovering from surgery, and then when J was born because I find it so much easier. I have a Tesco clubcard so I will get points from shopping there. They send me a quarterly statement with a money off voucher. I try to compare prices and I've found that since so many supermarkets are in competition these days, a lot of their prices are similar, if not the same, especially on items like fruit (68p/kg bananas in Tesco and Asda)

Any other questions? I thought this would have started in the states before here to be honest. Aldi and Lidl have become major competition for the supermarkets and shopping online is something that they can't do.

Not the money kind though. It's snowing here.

I started an online shop today. I had my list next to me, with what food I still need to buy for Christmas. I'll start it today and confirm it tomorrow so that should save some time. Aldi have got parsnips, clementines, potatoes in their super six so I'll get fresh stuff from there.

Tomorrow is payday.

The credit card company sent me a letter because I've only been paying the minimum, or just over for a while. I was focusing on CC1. They definetly won't be sending me one next year.

** Warning: not financial-related at all ***

So, I was on FB earlier and I noticed that I had a new friend request and a private message. That's probably not strange, but I never usually have both. I checked out the message first and it was from my half-brother. Friend request? Him too. It was just a basic message, how's the family etc. He deleted me off FB well over a year ago, maybe more, also with a message explaining why - FB's stupid or something like that was his reason. I responded to the message then the friend request with a few short sentences.

Does anyone else think this is strange? Maybe he's going to ask for something soon (he hasn't in the past but you never know) Or am I too cynical?

Backstory: same dad, never grew up together. He found out about me about 8/9 years ago. We attempted to hang out. Then it just became we spoke if we seen each other. He's also got two other sisters.

I love NSD's. I wrapped a Christmas present this morning, and did some decluttering when DH came home. I found a packet of Christmas cards that I'd bought on sale last year.

Still haven't baked with SG yet, and it's three weeks till Christmas. I might just aim to bake one easy thing like banana bread. We've already made Christmas cards together, I was just debating about adding on the extras e.g. glitter.

I love being able to shop online. Other times, it's my downfall. Take last night for example. I went on to my catalogue website to look at jackets for DH. He desperately needs a new one. I found that, then I ordered a few jumpers and dresses for SG. Then I found some novelty Christmas jumpers and outfits. £200 later. I can't complain because it's my fault. I made it a Buy Now Pay Later purchase - which I hate - because I realised I'd ordered too much. Sg really needs some new jumpers and I don't have spare money at the moment.

I will pay this off although I knew the money would be better off elsewhere (credit cards, EF) I am going to stop ordering from my catalogue unless it's up to the value of my rewards which I get every month.

I just wanted to update in the interest of full disclosure and to hold myself accountable.

I didn't focus on housework or decluttering today. Instead, I went for a quick top up shop in the morning, spent 23.xx. When I came home, I got ready and a had a quick lunch then took J to baby group for the first time. He was one of the younger babies there and the other mums commented how good he was on his tummy compared to their babies at the same age. He fell asleep while we were there. I think I will take him back next week, maybe take SG too since the other mums didn't have a problem with an older toddler coming. If I do, DH can come with me. I used to take SG to this group all the time when she was a baby so it will be nice for J to meet other babies.

My alarm went off this morning to wake DH up so he can walk to work (he starts before the buses are running) I woke him up, he wanted ten more mins so I hit snooze. Well ages later DH is hurrying out to work because he went back to sleep, and so did I. He was an hour late this morning.

My motivation has been at an all time low today. I've got a few things done but not much.

Had a bit of interest in my FB selling page so I'm going to add more pics.

I listed some of SG's clothes on FB. No-one's responded but at least it's out there now. I will add more photos soon.

In our block of flats we all use the one skip for recycling. Well that got emptied today, a few days later than it was meant to. Normally we think of the other people who live in the block of flats and don't put too much out at once. Well we're being selfish this time and getting rid of everything we can. Usually the reason that it doesn't get emptied is because other people ignore the rules and put normal rubbish into it. I took out two loads of recycling today, DH did the same. There's a big box waiting to go out tomorrow, which DH will do when he comes home.

I managed to get a good 10-15 mins of shredding done today. I'm hoping to do the same tomorrow.

I've gotten sidetracked lately with getting rid of our paper clutter, rubbish etc that I haven't dealt with SG's clothes. Today I am going to list a few items on FB. I set up a selling page but I'm not sure if I can only add photos using my camera, so I'll check that out later.

As the title says, I went Christmas shopping with my mum yesterday. Actually, it ended up being her doing all of the shopping because I only went fpr a couple of things. I came home feeling disheartened because I felt like my mum was spending way more on the kids than we have. I think she has. Practically everything she bought was for my kids. I shouldn't complain but I felt like I should have been buying the same. When I got home DH reminded me that we've already spent a lot of our money on the kids.

I was tempted to buy SG a dolls house for her xmas because she really enjoyed playing with one last week. After discussing it with DH we decided that it can wait till March for her birthday.

I thought I was being organised, decluttering etc in the run up to Christmas. DH doesn't think the flat will be decluttered by then. All of the clutter won't be gone but there will be less than there is now. I didn't do anything yesterday because I was out with my mum so I feel as though I've fallen behind today.

Today was a NSD. I haven't had one in a while.

Yesterday I posted MIL's birthday card. It was a homemade one from SG, which hubby helped her to make. We also included copies of professional pics of the kids - J's newborn photo shoot. These have been sitting gathering dust for months and technically aren't really a present since she was meant to get them ages ago. Hubby still isn't talking to her. I missed the last post so the card will be late, but hubby's was late from her. I wanted to make it at the start of the week but it was SG that needed persuading. In the end we gave her the new crayons and pencils that were meant for Christmas to use.

http://www.flylady.net/d/flyladys-kitchen/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-menu-mailer-part-1/

Turkey Talk:

Menu and Grocery Lists:

http://www.flylady.net/d/flyladys-kitchen/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-menu-mailer-part-2/

Gravy Train:

http://www.flylady.net/d/flyladys-kitchen/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-menu-mailer-part-3/

Recipe Roundup:

http://www.flylady.net/d/flyladys-kitchen/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-menu-mailer-part-4/

Thanksgiving Timeline:

http://www.flylady.net/d/flyladys-kitchen/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-menu-mailer-part-5/

I've been subscribing to FLYLady to try to get the flat organised. I get emails everyday. This one was about Thanksgiving. I've tried to copy it in case it will be of help to someone.

Here it is (hopefully):

Six Tips for Stress-Free Cooking


Do you need help with Thanksgiving Dinner? Is this your first year to prepare Thanksgiving Dinner. We can help you put this meal together and be stress-free. Leanne and I have a cute video for you. Get your Free Thanksgiving Menu Mailer by going to Leanne's Website.

Thanksgiving Tips with Leanne Ely and Marla Cilley

Spend a few minutes and get Leanne's Thanksgiving Menu Mailer.

I have used her Thanksgiving Menu Mailer since 2002! She helps me get rid of the stress. Print it out and place it in your Holiday Control Journal. I keep mine in a red office in a bag.

FlyLady

Dear Friends,

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holiday meals to prepare. We always have a pot luck meal and this saves me from trying to kill myself. I will do the turkey and the ham, mashed potatoes, corn and rolls. The rest of the family will bring their favorite things to cook; angel eggs, broccoli salad, cranberry salad, stuffing and gravy. Oh and I almost forgot the desserts. They are in my freezer right now. We will have enough food for an army and everyone will go home with the leftovers. I have a secret. When we put all the food up, we bag it into Ziplock bags and everyone takes them with them so I don't have all those leftovers go to waste in our refrigerator.

If you have never cooked a big holiday dinner then we are here to help you. Leanne has put together a Menu Mailer that is up on our website. If you don't won't turkey then substitute ham. It has the grocery list and the timeline. All you have to do is read over it WELL, before you go to the grocery store. All the information is there for you in the timeline if you will not panic. So go print out the 5 parts of her Menu Mailer. You will be the hostess with the mostest! Here are all the link in case you have issues with this email and its links.

Part 1 Menu and Grocery List
Part 2 Turkey Talk
Part 3 Gravy Train
Part 4 Recipe Round Up
Part 5 Thanksgiving Timeline

Angel Eggs This is my way of doing eggs. Test a few first.

Leanne and I joke that I help you get the kitchen clean and she helps you put dinner on the table. There are a few little tips I want to toss out to you before you start cooking your head off.

1. Put hot soapy water in your shiny sink before you start to prepare anything. Get out clean dish cloths and towels.

2. Make sure the dishwasher is empty before you start. Hand wash as much as you can and run the dishwasher and empty it before you sit down to eat. This way you will have an empty dishwasher to put the dinner dishes in. Oh and you can run the good china in the dishwasher if you don't put any dishwasher detergent in it. You can wash your good silver in there too. Just not the hollow handle knives.

3. Now this is a hard one for us, since we love to pretend to multi-task. The truth is we don't really do it well. You know what happens in your kitchen when you try to do several things at once. Your kitchen looks like a bomb went off in it. Only prepare ONE recipe at a time and when you have put it together; CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF.

This means getting things ready to cook not necessary putting them on the stove or in the oven. You can do things a head of time and put them in the refrigerator to wait till its scheduled time to pop in the oven or put on the stove. Leanne's timeline will help you a lot. I actually make appointments for my oven.

4. And this is the most important tip. Put on good supportive shoes with laces. Don't try to stand up all day and cook in cutesy shoes. Your legs deserve better than this.

5. After you put together each recipe and you have cleaned up after yourself! I want you to sit down at your table, drink a cup of tea and check things off your list. This is not a request; this is an order to help keep you from looking frazzled for your guests. You need to take breaks and drink your water!

6. Set your table the day before and cover it with a clean sheet, if you have a cat. This way you can have fun with the pretty things.

You can have fun preparing a holiday dinner; if you will just pace yourself and take breaks. It is really just a piece of cake if you will take those babysteps.

Are you ready to FLY through a stress free holiday?

FlyLady


Links to follow because they didn't work.