When buying an older car is a mistake.....

As you know hubby bought a car. Well that car has gone now. It turned out to be a bit of a lemon. In total it was in & out the garage 8 times in total.  We have lost money on it.
Anyway Mr No Spend was really cheesed of. So much so that he was talking about getting a new car(not a new new as in brand new).  I was relunctant as I knew what was coming next. We have had to get a loan over 4 years of £5000 (monthly pay back £150.00). This car has done 19,000 miles. As we did not want to borrow any more than £5,000 pounds. We used some of the savings as well as the car traded in. We lost about £1200 pounds on the car & more.  In this case it did not pay us trying to be frugal. Its nice having a car that is newer. But also we have that side that doesnt like to spend money, especially in the form of a loan. Also we do not like things that take us out of our comfort Zone.  This is one instance that I did think ooh it would be nice to win the lottery. To be able to buy one outright. 

Weight Loss   
Mr No Spend has lost something like 1 stone 7 lb
Master No Spend has lost 1 stone( he does not need to lose anymore as he is very trim now, I am amazed with his determination)
Mrs No Spend(moi!) I have lost 9lbs in total( I find it harder but literally I have done it by smaller portions, eating a lot lot less bread & no treats. I fix my sweet tooth with a yoghurt with a wee sprinkle of granola on top.
Mr No Spend has given up smoking & alchol completely. Over 6 weeks ago. It was part of his new fitness regime. Much needed to I might add.  I am very happy he is looking after himself better. I always do my best to look after him! but ultimaetely he has to want to, which he does. 

Finances
We are concentrating on getting the food bill down. Also now hubby is on board we are keeping a joint spending diary. I am popping things on ebay. Emergency fund is down to £1000.00. I need to raise the funds for Ds school holiday to Germany.I have had lots of ironing work!. This has been hard as have had a bad back have had  to lots of  ibroprofen & heat packs.
First goal is to raise the funds for German school trip for DS & then to get that Emergency fund up again. As well as factoring in some fun !    
        

Car booty

On sunday I went to a car boot sale. I picked up this lovely little lamp. I took a picture of it in the daylight & one in the evening. The light shines through the roses. You touch it and it switches on & off. I paid £5.00 for it was never used.

I popped my other car boot buys on top to show you!. The little dog toy was 50p it reminded me of cath kidstons stanley!.  I bought my sister a suduko book for christmas for 50p it has a velvet flock cover. The rose bracelets were 50p for 3.  The heart drink coasters were 99p.  I bought hubby some Hackett aftershave for 99p. A Homedics massager for £4.00. I bought 2 small flower fairy tins 50 p each which contain a puzzle. I bought these for my elderly neighbour who is in her eighties but loves puzzles,her birthday is soon. They make a lovely little gift. Three rubber stamps christmas ones for £1.00.  A lovely giant Somerset company soap in a tin for £1,00. Cucumber face masque for 25p!.  I bought hubby 2 pairs of shoes £1.50 a pair. He has worn them to work today like new.

A skirt for moi for £2.00. A top for Ds £1.00. A mens M&S lightweight jacket for hubby for £2.00.  Money goes a lot further at a car boot sale. I have a gift basket filled with small gifts that have been bought at car boot sales. 

As I have bought a few things at the boot sale. Ihave decluttered

1. 4 books
2. A box of pencils
3. Thrown a broken tape measure out.

More decluttering coming!

Car Boot sale

Today I did a car boot sale with hubby. A few days ago I started doing some sorting out.  In total we made £163.00. We went with a car full & came back with an Ikea bag full & a box full. I took some drinks with us, bananas & a few oranges as snacks. A regular car boot sale I go to charge £2.50 for a cup of tea!, there was no way I would pay that for one out of a plastic cup especially. On the way home we stopped at the orange shop & bought some rolls & sandwich fillers to take home as we were very hungry indeed. It was very warm but breezy.I took my huge sun hat to shield myself from the rays especially being in the same spot for hours. Todays takings will going to the emergency fund as this money will go towards my sons schools holiday to Germany which willcost just under £300.00. We have said no to a few of the school holidays but this one he is really keen to go on.
Emergency fund took a dent for the head gasket as we had to pay £300.00 towards it.
I find that doing a car boot sale is great for decluttering. I love going to car boot sales but I am getting to the stage where I do not want to buy things for the sake of it if they are not needed. I love the green aspect of car boots buying secondhand & at a fraction of the cost.  I enjoy visiting car boots to perhaps I have a car boot addiction.
Weight loss has stayed the same nothing gained & nothing lost! 
Watching the olympics at the moment & in awe of all these aamazing athletes from allround the world
x x  

Organizing...

One of the areas in my life that I really need to get better at is organization.  Aspects of my dis-organization pop up everyday!. I strive to get better at this area.  Things I want to implement in to my routine this week!

• How many times do I list this one & it goes out the window!.  Keep my spending diary from this point on.
• Keep a to do list notebook!
• Menu plan will start this the next time we foodshop. Since we have been eating uber healthy our food budget has been over £100.00 a week & more. We want to at least half this.   
• Start using up top drawer smellies!
• List a few items on ebay (done)

Life is a rollercoaster!

I Cannot believe how much time has lapsed since my last blogpost. Life has gone up & down. DD is not home.  I think she will be staying put for the time being.  
I have been doing ironing from home & things have really picked up which is good. So much so that I am doing everything properly and I am going to grow it as a little business & do everything correctly!. 
We have managed to grow the emergency fund to £1720.00!.  The car that we bought needs a new head gasket!. Luckily the garage will cover the majority of the cost as we have had it less than 2 months but we still need to pay at least £300.00.
I did acheive some weight loss I lost 7lbs. This was done with smaller portions & cutting out the cakes, biscuits & stodge   
Still I will add more to this post soon !. But hello everyone if anyone is left!
xx  

Well Nearly June!

I cannot beleive we are at the half way through the year mark already. Its a good time to review goals.
Our savings fund has gone down to £300.  Mr No Spend & I made a decision  to change our car.
We have a little Renault Clio which we have had since the children were very young about 11 years. Only one of the seats would work when you needed to pull it forward to let someone sit in the back. It needed brake pads doing & 4 new tyres.  Mr No Spend was offered £1250. for the Clio so we had to come up with £600.00 as the car we bought was £1850.  It is still a 2 door & it is a VW & most importantly it has more room in the back.  It is just a runaround & a car. I am glad Mr No Spend is good about cars as I do know some people whos cars would pay of our mortgage!  We had to pay extra to insure it for the year an extra £50.00 & the tax is a little extra. It was nice to be able to use the cash for the difference a bit like when we used cash for the bed.  Mr No Spend did want a different car & had been saying for the past year when I get a different car I might need to get a loan(I am secretly glad no loan!).

Junes Goals

• Emergency fund is at £300.00 again. My goal is going to be to make it to £500. by the end of June
• All Ironing money to go in to emergency fund
• Ebay earnings to be left in paypal to build up for a bit.
• My weight is at 11st & 9.5 lbs. I have stayed the same & to be honest I have not been trying so I will make it my goal to get to 11st 3lb. This means 7lbs in a month. I am hoping this salad eating weather I can use to my advantage!  
• To be more organized!. I always strive to do this & struggle
• As June is a new month & a half year marker to keep better track of finances

Hope you are all ok . I feel like the snail in blogland as I am slow getting round! x x

Car boot bargains & rather long post!

One of my favourite past times on a sunday is going to a carboot sale. I bought this top which was from Monsoon with a label still on which says £25.00 for a fantastic £2.00. I love the shade & my size 14

This top was from Next with a tag still on stating £25.00 bought for a fantastic £2.00 It really is very pretty with a lacy front

This cardigan is a M&S one with merino wool. Label on says £25.00 bought for £2.00 . I love the buttons on the sleeves

I also bought a most gorgeous dress which happened to be a Boden one! for £3,00 it a beautifull shade of lilac/purple. I have never bought anything new from Boden. This morning I managed to get a pair of Brand new never worn Cath Kidston shorts for bedtime for 50p!!.  I am always really pleased that i can get all my clothing at car boot sales.  I did buy a skirt the other week brand new from town which i fell in love with it was pleated with  bluebirds on.  If you have not been to a car boot sale I say go for it.  I love finding things from shops that I could not justify the prices of !but at a

Car boot sale you can

 

This tea bag selection I have bought for a friends birthday. I Paid £2.00 for them brand new & unopened. I know my friend will love them as she is in to her different teas. 

I met another friend for coffee this week we had not seen each other for a while.  At home I had a little french tin with lavender on which inside I store dried lavender. I have had it for a while & my friend is very creative & likes crafting.  I like to give little gifts usually things that I already have. I tied lace around the tin & attached a luggage tag gift tag. I did decorate the tag to.  I wrote the meaning of her name on the tag . My friend loved it & was so pleased.

Then another friend called me & invited me out her treat for her birthday. She is french & took me to a little patiserie( probably spelt wrong!). I picked a pastry tarte with pecans & yummy things on top& a pot of tea. My friend had pan au chocolat & hot chocolate.  I gave her a big box of choclates tied with a lace bow again!.  Hubby was given these chocolates at work & he is not really a chocolate person so I thought lets re- gift them.  My friend was delighted with her chocolates. I was delighted as I would have scoffed the lot otherwise!

Finance wise emergency fund is up to £900.00. I have been keeping a spending diary I have missed an odd day here & there filling it in
Ebay - I did not do any ebay the week before last but today

• sold a bag for £14.99 (profit of £6.99)
• Top £3.99                   (profit of £2.99)
• Top £7.50                   (profit of £5.50)
• I bought a mirror the other week second hand which was not right for where i bought it for it cost me £20.00. I just wanted to get my money back on this which I did it went for £29.99 local pick up

This week has been a quiet week only one ironing job as well as my regular cleaning job.Maybe a new ironing client to. I will do some more listing on ebay this evening.
The anxiety workshop was last week & I really enjoyed it .Lots of others with anxiety out there.
On the home front DD staying half a week & being quite pleasant if I do say so myself!.
Mother in Law staying with us next week. !!!. I will be on regular kettle duty
Bye for now xxxxxxxxxxx