2015

A question about : 2015

Good Morning

I like to start a new diary each year - why, I don't know. So here I am. 2016 will be my LAST year in debt. No matter what. That means that now I can say next year I will be debt free

So in brief, I am a wife and mother of 2 young children, I work full time and have 2 jobs thanks to a LOVELY lady on here - she knows who she is - I don't want to get her bombarded with newcomers all wanting a 2nd job. I have horses, a dog, chickens and a lovely home. My dream is to have my animals at home and in order to do that, I need to be debt free and move to a place that will allow this. What more inspiration do I need?

So, 2015 is the year of the HUGE over payments. I already pay a fortune a month, but this year I am the most focussed I have ever been. This has come from being on MSE for so long and learning new ways, habits and realising what it is and isn't important. I have been getting organised and paying debts over the last few years, with the main thrust being the last 8 months of 2014.

I love to cook and bake, be outdoors and enjoy life.

A few initial thoughts from me:

New clothes, shoes and fancy things are not on the list of things needed in 2015, nor were they in 2014.
There will be no takeaways (unless family occasion maybe once every 4 months) inc none for the kids (McD's)
No haircuts (I don't need them and nor does DD as our hair is very long, once a year is enough) and DS goes with DH and I don't pay and generally nothing shall be bought that we really don't need.
Following on from above - all meals homemade and menu planned.
Cards will be homemade where possible and so will gifts (some people do no appreciate homemade so that will be money).
We will have a holiday, we need time together to relax but it will be saved and paid for.
No credit will be used and as soon as any debts are cleared, the card will be closed.
In October 2015 my student loan will finally be paid off.
I'm hoping to get a decent pay rise in April due to my achievements from 2014 and I'm going to do as much on the 2nd job as is physically possible.
I shall use the slow cooker as much as possible (several times a week) and bake my own bread where I can (bread maker).
Once all of the Xmas chocs have gone, I will home bake cakes and biscuits and just buy a small pack if required.
All shopping will be done in Aldi and to my budget.
I will knit as much as I can - great sense of satisfaction and I'm only half way through cable scarf!
I can't wait - I know 2015 is going to be a cracking year.

I've started by getting my routine organised. I need to be on top of things as my life is so hectic that if I don't, it all goes wrong and that knocks me (I am not a control freak, ish).

So the school run was organised this morning and lunches made last night. Dog walked (horses are PM only as they are fed on morning for us by another livery member - they are a 10 minute drive away). I have my new notepads for work and will start a brainstorm of what I want to achieve and how I will - that's this week's task along with catching up on everything that's come in over time off.

Right - I am off to get January's starting figures. I have a spreadsheet that I would be lost without!

Best answers:

• OK signature updated.
  The good news is I haven't used credit for 2 Christmas' in a row (nor during the year). The bad news is, I am skint as expected. So I have a few payments to make and not enough money (yet) for them. This means that I am going to have to conjour some up from somewhere. Once they are settled, then we have a fresh start from January's pay on 23rd.
• Ok I have just had an idea hit me. To keep it neat, if the second job, surveys and any sales (few and far between) can pay for the horses, then all of the money I earn from the day job can go to debt. That keeps me focussed on job 2 as it means I pay my horses with it and I get the same amount from job 1 every month so I know what I can pay to debt from that.
• Happy new diary!
• Found you, Found you!!.
  Good to have you back and with a shiny new diary .
  Good luck with debt busting this year.
• Hi penny
  Thank you - I intend to enjoy every minute and debt bust as much as I can !
  Good luck to you too xx
• Found you!
  Onwards and upwards!!
• Found you!! Happy New Diary!!
  Subscribed!
  Crunchy xx
• Good luck on your journey to your dream - will be subscribing x
• Hi All,
  Lovely to see people popping by
  Well this morning I managed to get up - not quite as quickly as yesterday but still within time so that's good. Everything got done that needed to and I got the slow cooker on for tea. However, I have decided if I am doing a one pot meal which is what I wanted to do, I will have to prep the veg the night before as I didn't have time this morning so ended up just meat and gravy and will have to do veg later (when it's my late night and everyone is starving when I get in).
  At work 8:20 - 5 today, own bread for breakfast and home made quiche (made last night) for lunch with grapes and an apple (apple provided free from work ), finish then home to complete the tea, kids homework, showered, hoover through whilst they are showering and then family time. I am working 8-10 for the day job and doubt I will get any 2nd job work in yet as they are still quiet therefore I plan on catching up a bit with my knitting and seeing DH.
  No spending at all this week except Ј3.50 for the clear round on Wednesday which I will be jumping to see how the big girl is - we've not jumped much over the festive period so we may be clearing it by miles!
  The pony was a swine last night - winter pony syndrome! They are in from the fields now and by G0d we are feeling it. I lunged him pre DD riding and he was ok - he saved it til she got on. So I lunged him again and he got most of it out of his system but it's going to be a long winter. He is on pony nuts (just fibre) with a couple of carrots (plus hay of course) and I'm thinking of stopping them even though they are non heating. Just in case. He can still have a carrot to make him believe he is getting a feed bucket though.
  Accounts are quiet and need to be as there's nothing left in the pot
• Hi Debtfree2012 - just read your diary, you sound incredibly motivated so I am going to subscribe and hopefully some of your motivation will rub off on me!
  I'm hoping to be debt free this year, which will be a tall order, but it it definately do-able if I put my mind to it!
  Looking forward to your journey!
  Mrs S x
• I remember well the woes of exercising hot horses stuck in over winter, fun fun fun! Luckily we had a huge indoor that we were allowed to turn out in so while we mucked out the horses let off steam in there. Like you I had to lunge my very sharp WB before riding but the trouble with that was the more I did it the fitter he got and the more he needed lunging! Catch 22!
  Spring is not so far round the corner though... hang in there!
  You have reminded me I need to put my bread maker on- making a ciabatta loaf to have with some homemade soup tonight
• Hi Mrs Smith - thanks for dropping in. I do feel motivated, or is it impatient lol. Nice to have you along!
  Pink - tell me about it, I was looking at the pony last night (whilst he was doing battle on the lunge) and he looked the picture of health. Catch 22 as you say. He could have gone on all night!
  For the ciabatta, do you do so much in BM and then hand roll and bake or does it do it all, very nice either way!
  My quiche is also bland I am wondering if the indulgences over Christmas have changed my taste buds! I think a few spicy soups are required for a while. The quiche is nice enough all the same. Maybe a stronger cheese is required.
  All the must do jobs are done for work now so I can get back to planning and prepping which I enjoy doing in January
• Good Morning
  Well this morning I couldn't drag myself out of bed but I maanged, all be it a bit later than I should. We left on time with everything that HAD to be done, done. So I will do the things that didn't get done when I get home (empty DW for example).
  However last night I managed to get some tidying and hoovering done so I'm really pleased as normally would find an excuse not to. Tea was nice but as I said yesterday, I must prepare the veg the night before as everyone was so hungry by the time it was done, I actually felt sick.
  Tonight is easy tea night, I will try some of that soup that didn't turn out well. I will give everyone else a small bowl before their tea too (they won't want much as it's yuk lol, so can't give as main meal but I am not wasting it).
  Then I will head over to the yard and get organised. I'm jumping tonight, first time in a long time and still the big clear. I'll do the 80 shortly but it's more of a timing issue than anything else as it starts so late. We regularly jump 90 so it shouldn't be an issue - depends how hot she is.
  Work is ticking over nicely, busy enough but not stupidly busy like year end. With jumping tonight I will be later so not on shift for job 2 but I think it'll still be quiet there anyway today.
  Today's task is to get logged into swags again as I forgot my password and it's resent it but I can't log into the resent account either for some reason. So annoying.
• I was going to do the ciabatta in the bread maker from start to finish (because I am lazy ) but ran out of time so just made the dough in the BM and cooked it in the oven. It wasn't the prettiest loaf I have ever seen (the dough was really sloppy!) but the bread turned out to be the tastiest I have ever made- didn't last long! It was just a bread mix from Lidl so will definitely be buying it again!
  Good luck with the clear round tonight!
• Morning all!
  What a fabulous day though my poor DD is not 100%, so I am sending her well wishing vibes to school to make her feel better.
  So the clear round last night was amazing and the big girl is rather fit now and found it all a bit too easy. I've been told to take her in bigger classes which I will but in my own time. I had some great compliments on how well she is looking so I felt as proud as punch by the end of the night. Ј3.50 very well spent.
  This weekend for the horses I will:
  clean 2 lots of tack
  scrub water and feed buckets
  wash indoor rugs and saddle cloths
  Last night was treat night (!!!! food night for the kids) so they had shop bough pizza and fish fingers, typically they both don't like the same) and I had some of the soup I made and it was nice after all of that moaning. DH had some too and we should finish it off tonight all being well.
  No work on last night other than an hour for the day job but that was expected however I need to start getting some now as work is money and money is DFD and DFD is a farm!
  Tonight I may get something in but if not I shall knit again. I'm toying with the idea of making shorts or something for the kids for summer but will chew that over some more. I am working for the day job as well tonight but can fit it in between job 2 if anything comes in.
  This weekend I will make:
  flapjacks (so hungry mid morning and ran out of fruit that I like)
  bread
  soup
  quiche for next week's lunches - something new as needs to have more flavour.
  No spending today or tomorrow. Ald1 at the weekend and that's it. I do need to get the dog into the vets though as his steroids don't seem to be having as much of an effect any more.
• Oh and 2lb gone from the 7 I put on over Xmas
• Morning, caught up with your new diary and have subscribed
  You seem to be very organised and wow to weight loss, thats something else I need to do but am trying the not eat so much crap during the day lark, only 4 days in but seems to be working so hopefully will help.
  I would definitely cut down the nuts for the little pony, if their weight is fine and no problems I dont think they need it, I think we can overfeed, worry too much about them. Where I am there is hardly any grass but she is still well covered, she has good quality hay in the evening and not that much hard feed but seems to be thriving on it. You will know what works for your little one.
• Hi Debtfree2012,
  Just reading your diary and you seem really motivated - all the best for you and your debt free diary in 2015.
  I've just started my own as I am pretty new to the forum and it's nice to see your positivity.
  I like the idea of the flapjacks....we are on a healthy eating plan and I am feeling a little hungry mid morning and don't want to get into the habit of getting some crisps for convenience (plus to save money). What do you put in yours?
• Hi BB - lovely to have you along for the ride again. I think it's more me feeling like I want to give the pony the nuts but he really doesn't need it as you say. He is a hardy little thing and probably could do with a bit of a diet lol. I will maybe just do an apple a day or something for a bit of succulence (yes, again for me!). You are right, we do worry, overfeed, over-rug in some cases and general interfere where we don't need to haha. I am cutting out the crap on January too, then readjusting in Feb to maybe cut bread or replace it or something. Not doing it all at once as it just won't work for me.
  Hi bears2014 - nice to have you along too. I love making our own things (even if they don't always turn out well!). For the flapjacks it's oats, honey, apples/raisins/other fruit that might work and bake in the oven. I always just google a recipe on here, I think the best one for me was one posted by Grey Queen but I may be wrong.
  I'm going to do some loaded with more dried fruit when we have some in.
  Oh and I forgot to say - I'm growing my own again this year. What, is yet to be decided but definitely doing potatoes so they will be purchased on Saturday (earlies) for chitting for a few weeks. I love doing the whole grow your own thing, even if I am rubbish at it.
  Lunch was delish - will do that mix again and I am nicely full. back to it then off to get the kids.