Dear reader,
Happy Stoptober. I'm sure we are all partaking in some new challenge as the new month starts.
Maybe you are always frugal and cannot stop anymore than you already do?
Maybe you are stopping a bad habit that you have or starting a new good habit?
I am determined to pay off this debt as fast as possible. It feels like a dark cloud hanging over us.
I love hearing about how other people did the same.
Today is the first day of the Awakening October challenge I am doing on MSE.
It will be tough, especially the cooking and making of packed lunches. We are doing 12 hour days at the moment. No sooner have we got home and eaten than its time for bed. The alarm seems to go off as soon as I have fallen asleep. Will probably be doing 12 days in a row too.
Yes, I want sympathy!
I suppose we are both lucky to have decent jobs at the moment.
My main challenge this month will be to cut our shopping down to £50 per week.
I will be planning and plotting what meals to make and doing a meal plan later.
For now, have a relaxing day.
X
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Giving up holidays in the name of debt
Dear reader,
This was sitting in Drafts. I have posted it so is a bit back to front.
Thank you for your helpful and supportive comments yesterday. I do like to listen to your ideas and advice.
The car saga is now, hopefully over. I collected it yesterday after another £40 and it started first time hooray. A total of £1420 spent on it.
It has totally wiped out my car account and the insurance is due in December followed by the tax.
Sadly I can't do without a car here.
I am still pading from MSE on the pay a debt a day challenge. I've got £20 extra to pay off our debt, not bed for a week of skimming pennies off our bank accounts in one week.
Just waiting for the direct debits to go out and then can adjust my progress bar. Can't come quick enough. We are both so eager to get rid of the debt. I have even said I will do without holidays until then. Aaaaagggghhh I love holidays.
I'm not sure where I will find the car bill money from. It's just something I hadn't budgeted for, not that much anyway and we don't have any emergency savings.
I have put it on my credit card for now to give me time. I think I will try to pay half this month and half next. I've got about half in my car account already.
I could get depressed but I won't. There are people far, far worse off than us.
I'm trying to see where else we can save money. I can't change the set bills like council tax, we try our best with the other utilities and the food is the same. We eat three meals each a day as we take lunch to work and there aren't any snacks. I would really like to cut down our food shopping which is about £80 a week from Lidl.
I think it's best if I do it in small steps rather then cut right back and have to go to the local, convenient but expensive shop.
I'd like to get it down to £60 week first and see how we go. There are 5 Saturdays between now and next pay day so am going to draw out £300 and split it into envelopes.
Some of you do so well with your food shopping. I cook everything here and mostly from scratch so I should be able to reduce it.
So giving up holidays and cheaper shopping is being done here.
Much love.
X
This was sitting in Drafts. I have posted it so is a bit back to front.
Thank you for your helpful and supportive comments yesterday. I do like to listen to your ideas and advice.
The car saga is now, hopefully over. I collected it yesterday after another £40 and it started first time hooray. A total of £1420 spent on it.
It has totally wiped out my car account and the insurance is due in December followed by the tax.
Sadly I can't do without a car here.
I am still pading from MSE on the pay a debt a day challenge. I've got £20 extra to pay off our debt, not bed for a week of skimming pennies off our bank accounts in one week.
Just waiting for the direct debits to go out and then can adjust my progress bar. Can't come quick enough. We are both so eager to get rid of the debt. I have even said I will do without holidays until then. Aaaaagggghhh I love holidays.
I'm not sure where I will find the car bill money from. It's just something I hadn't budgeted for, not that much anyway and we don't have any emergency savings.
I have put it on my credit card for now to give me time. I think I will try to pay half this month and half next. I've got about half in my car account already.
I could get depressed but I won't. There are people far, far worse off than us.
I'm trying to see where else we can save money. I can't change the set bills like council tax, we try our best with the other utilities and the food is the same. We eat three meals each a day as we take lunch to work and there aren't any snacks. I would really like to cut down our food shopping which is about £80 a week from Lidl.
I think it's best if I do it in small steps rather then cut right back and have to go to the local, convenient but expensive shop.
I'd like to get it down to £60 week first and see how we go. There are 5 Saturdays between now and next pay day so am going to draw out £300 and split it into envelopes.
Some of you do so well with your food shopping. I cook everything here and mostly from scratch so I should be able to reduce it.
So giving up holidays and cheaper shopping is being done here.
Much love.
X
National Trust- great days out.
Dear reader,
Thank you so much for your supportive comments yesterday. It really makes a difference when someone takes the time to comment.
I know I have been guilty of reading and not commenting much. Sometimes the little numbers and letter you have to put do my head in and I give up. I will try harder.
The postman brought our new National Trust membership cards with a yearly cost of £92 for a couple.
In true frugal style we set off to make the most of them in this great weather.Click here for National Trust
Yesterday we drove out to Nuffield Place the home of William Morris the founder of Morris cars. He was aid to be one of the richest men in the world. He gave a lot of money to good causes and lived in a very modest way with his wife lady Nuffield. A lovely home, still as they left it. Lady Nuffield
resided in til 2001.
We also went to Greys Court near Henley on Thames. A 16th century mansion with a wonderful tower in the grounds from the 12th century and a Tudor donkey wheel. That was a bit like a huge hamster wheel, I did feel sorry for the poor donkey.
Today we had a look around Hughenden Manor where Benjamin Disraeli lived. Wonderful house and grounds with fascinating war history and display in the cellars.
I thoroughly recommend the National Trust membership. It gets you into loads of wonderful places and free parking even if you just go for a coffee and as my mum and I always say, "There's no idiots there either." You know the type!
I did get hungry at Greys Court and we spent £13.80 on tea, a prawn sandwich, a flapjack and a bake well slice. Not very frugal but it's nice to support the trust. That's my excuse ha!
October Stoptober soon. I am really trying to get my friend to stop smoking. Best thing I ever did last March.
I have joined the October awakening challenge over at money saving expert. There's a list of rules, no spend days, take packed lunch, set food budget that sort of thing.
Am looking forward to it.
I did the stretch it out September and made some meals out of nothing or leftovers. I batch cooked a few meals and we only shopped every 10 days rather than once a week so it went quite well.
I still seem to spend much more on food than everyone else. I reckon we spend about £300 per month
Anyway, here are some photos of the lovely place we visited.
Thank you so much for your supportive comments yesterday. It really makes a difference when someone takes the time to comment.
I know I have been guilty of reading and not commenting much. Sometimes the little numbers and letter you have to put do my head in and I give up. I will try harder.
The postman brought our new National Trust membership cards with a yearly cost of £92 for a couple.
In true frugal style we set off to make the most of them in this great weather.Click here for National Trust
Yesterday we drove out to Nuffield Place the home of William Morris the founder of Morris cars. He was aid to be one of the richest men in the world. He gave a lot of money to good causes and lived in a very modest way with his wife lady Nuffield. A lovely home, still as they left it. Lady Nuffield
resided in til 2001.
We also went to Greys Court near Henley on Thames. A 16th century mansion with a wonderful tower in the grounds from the 12th century and a Tudor donkey wheel. That was a bit like a huge hamster wheel, I did feel sorry for the poor donkey.
Today we had a look around Hughenden Manor where Benjamin Disraeli lived. Wonderful house and grounds with fascinating war history and display in the cellars.
I thoroughly recommend the National Trust membership. It gets you into loads of wonderful places and free parking even if you just go for a coffee and as my mum and I always say, "There's no idiots there either." You know the type!
I did get hungry at Greys Court and we spent £13.80 on tea, a prawn sandwich, a flapjack and a bake well slice. Not very frugal but it's nice to support the trust. That's my excuse ha!
October Stoptober soon. I am really trying to get my friend to stop smoking. Best thing I ever did last March.
I have joined the October awakening challenge over at money saving expert. There's a list of rules, no spend days, take packed lunch, set food budget that sort of thing.
Am looking forward to it.
I did the stretch it out September and made some meals out of nothing or leftovers. I batch cooked a few meals and we only shopped every 10 days rather than once a week so it went quite well.
I still seem to spend much more on food than everyone else. I reckon we spend about £300 per month
Anyway, here are some photos of the lovely place we visited.
Saturday, 28 September 2013
Big fat debt!
Dear reader,
Apologies for lack of postings. I have been away visiting my lovely mum.
I am excited for two reasons. One, I have a new follower. Hi, lovely to have you here. X
Secondly, our debt is less and I have adjusted my progress bar. Sadly, it's not a massive move on the bar (can't really notice it)
We now owe £26,288.
That's it, I've said it. Twenty six thousand, two hundred and eighty eight pounds.
It's getting smaller but it's still a big one.
We paid £400 today PLUS the £15 I had scraped in my PAD challenge.
Short post tonight. Hope you are well.
Much love. X
Apologies for lack of postings. I have been away visiting my lovely mum.
I am excited for two reasons. One, I have a new follower. Hi, lovely to have you here. X
Secondly, our debt is less and I have adjusted my progress bar. Sadly, it's not a massive move on the bar (can't really notice it)
We now owe £26,288.
That's it, I've said it. Twenty six thousand, two hundred and eighty eight pounds.
It's getting smaller but it's still a big one.
We paid £400 today PLUS the £15 I had scraped in my PAD challenge.
Short post tonight. Hope you are well.
Much love. X
Thursday, 19 September 2013
What we are doing to save money on heating.
Dear reader,
I can't believe how the temperature has dropped so much and so quickly. It is 16 degrees in our house today so that's about 60. I always feel warm in the morning and am sitting here in my pj's.
One of the things we decided to do to save money was to cut down on our gas and electricity bills.
We used to just have the heating on and heat all the rooms, we also had a really old boiler here when we moved in.
We previously lived in a tiny one bed, one lounge, tiny kitchen and bathroom house so the heating wasn't much of an issue. Before that we were in a flat with storage heaters. (Never did get the hang of them)
Now we have had a new boiler fitted in this house and all the radiators changed. We also had a heated floor put in the bathroom. Seems funny that we are now trying our hardest not to use them.
We don't have a tumble drier so everything is dried outside. Has been a disaster of late as we have had so much rain and dampness. We dry it on an aired in front of the log burner in the winter.
We have our logs ready all seasoned. We bought some that needed seasoning £90 and I found a load of wood for free on Gumtree that Big man was tasked with chopping and chain sawing.
We have pallets for kindling that my dad gets from work. So we are prepared.
I have been reading the meters and entering them on line. I love to see the gas comparison show we are paying a lot, lot less than other people in this area. We pay direct debit monthly and it was always £50 a month for gas. We built up a large amount and claimed a refund. I wouldn't let them keep it in their account. They then dropped the monthly amount to £44 and we are still paying slightly over according to the last reading. We have spent £80 on gas since June.
This may be more then other frugal folk but Big man loves a hot, deep bath and he works so hard I can't deny him.
We turn everything we can off to use as little electricity as possible. I just couldn't leave a light on in a room we aren't in.
We have an electric under blanket for our bed. This has a 5 minute quick heat and we will use this before we go to bed just to take the edge off the cold of the sheets when it gets bitter and we add out winter duvet to the thin summer one.
I don't really like the bedroom to be heated, I get nightmares if its too hot.
There will be lots of slow cooker stews, curries, chillies and jacket potatoes.
There will be thick socks and slippers, fleece blankets on the sofas and dressing gowns.
The doors will be closed to keep the heat in one room and the log burner will be used about November time.
There will be brisk winter walks and hot drinks.
The sun facing rooms will have the blinds opened to get some free heat if there's any sun.
I am hoping to keep our heating bills to a minimum this year. Don't get me wrong, we won't suffer, if its really cold or one of us is ill, the heating will go on, we just want to last as long as we can without it.
Sadly, not everyone in the UK will be able to do the same.
I can't believe how the temperature has dropped so much and so quickly. It is 16 degrees in our house today so that's about 60. I always feel warm in the morning and am sitting here in my pj's.
One of the things we decided to do to save money was to cut down on our gas and electricity bills.
We used to just have the heating on and heat all the rooms, we also had a really old boiler here when we moved in.
We previously lived in a tiny one bed, one lounge, tiny kitchen and bathroom house so the heating wasn't much of an issue. Before that we were in a flat with storage heaters. (Never did get the hang of them)
Now we have had a new boiler fitted in this house and all the radiators changed. We also had a heated floor put in the bathroom. Seems funny that we are now trying our hardest not to use them.
We don't have a tumble drier so everything is dried outside. Has been a disaster of late as we have had so much rain and dampness. We dry it on an aired in front of the log burner in the winter.
We have our logs ready all seasoned. We bought some that needed seasoning £90 and I found a load of wood for free on Gumtree that Big man was tasked with chopping and chain sawing.
We have pallets for kindling that my dad gets from work. So we are prepared.
I have been reading the meters and entering them on line. I love to see the gas comparison show we are paying a lot, lot less than other people in this area. We pay direct debit monthly and it was always £50 a month for gas. We built up a large amount and claimed a refund. I wouldn't let them keep it in their account. They then dropped the monthly amount to £44 and we are still paying slightly over according to the last reading. We have spent £80 on gas since June.
This may be more then other frugal folk but Big man loves a hot, deep bath and he works so hard I can't deny him.
We turn everything we can off to use as little electricity as possible. I just couldn't leave a light on in a room we aren't in.
We have an electric under blanket for our bed. This has a 5 minute quick heat and we will use this before we go to bed just to take the edge off the cold of the sheets when it gets bitter and we add out winter duvet to the thin summer one.
I don't really like the bedroom to be heated, I get nightmares if its too hot.
There will be lots of slow cooker stews, curries, chillies and jacket potatoes.
There will be thick socks and slippers, fleece blankets on the sofas and dressing gowns.
The doors will be closed to keep the heat in one room and the log burner will be used about November time.
There will be brisk winter walks and hot drinks.
The sun facing rooms will have the blinds opened to get some free heat if there's any sun.
I am hoping to keep our heating bills to a minimum this year. Don't get me wrong, we won't suffer, if its really cold or one of us is ill, the heating will go on, we just want to last as long as we can without it.
Sadly, not everyone in the UK will be able to do the same.
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Our big fat debt.
Dear reader,
Firstly and most importantly a huge welcome to two new followers. I have a problem seeing who is new as my followers list doesn't seem to be in order but I know one is Judy Y from Australia because she told me.
Yesterday I told you about my new challenge PADing. It has become addictive! I love it!
It's the Payment A Day challenge from MSE. Brilliant.
Many of you also do some challenges with not buying any C**p for Christmas being a popular one and also the brilliant sealed pot challenge from our own SFT which you can read about here
SFT sealed pot challenge
We are getting quite excited about the amount we have put in the tin. I say we as Big Man has participated too. He likes saving money too and he is in charge of meter readings, compost bin, outdoor work (lawn mowing, bins or anything smelly or heavy!)
I have been really brave today and added a new progress bar (see the very scary number above right)
I have been writing this blog for a while now but have never really told you how much money we owe. While it is big, I can tell you it's not there by us being frivolous. We both have old cars, we don't go out, we don't buy new clothes, we don't go mad at all.
We have however spent this money on doing up home. Dragging it screaming and kicking from 1968 (we know that the last time it was decorated as we found the newspaper wall lining) into 2013.
We scraped the 4 layers of wallpaper off the walls ourselves and Big man did all the painting and decorating, skirting boards and all the other thing he could do himself.
We couldn't do the electrics, the new boiler, the new windows, the floor, the bathroom, the driveway, the wood burner or the plastering and this cost us over £30,800. Aaaaaggggghhhhh.
We are down to £27,196 from March which is not much but we have also bought a new car, £4,500(yes the one that has just cost me £1400) and a wardrobe £800.
Some of the money we owe is attracting interest so obviously we are attacking that first. The rest is on interest free credit card which will have to be paid off by the end of the term.
So, that us. That's what we owe and we both want rid ASAP. I will update the bar every time we pay off more money. Usually monthly as that's when we get paid.
On another depressing note. The garage rang last Thursday. The cars ready and all done. I paid, they drove it back to my house for me as I was at work.
Saturday morning, to the shops.........it won't start! Not happy. Garage closed until Monday morning when we will be having a discussion.
The sun is shining here in Bucks. Still no heating in here. Rushing out now to hang some washing on the rather damp still line.
Much love. X
Firstly and most importantly a huge welcome to two new followers. I have a problem seeing who is new as my followers list doesn't seem to be in order but I know one is Judy Y from Australia because she told me.
Yesterday I told you about my new challenge PADing. It has become addictive! I love it!
It's the Payment A Day challenge from MSE. Brilliant.
Many of you also do some challenges with not buying any C**p for Christmas being a popular one and also the brilliant sealed pot challenge from our own SFT which you can read about here
SFT sealed pot challenge
We are getting quite excited about the amount we have put in the tin. I say we as Big Man has participated too. He likes saving money too and he is in charge of meter readings, compost bin, outdoor work (lawn mowing, bins or anything smelly or heavy!)
I have been really brave today and added a new progress bar (see the very scary number above right)
I have been writing this blog for a while now but have never really told you how much money we owe. While it is big, I can tell you it's not there by us being frivolous. We both have old cars, we don't go out, we don't buy new clothes, we don't go mad at all.
We have however spent this money on doing up home. Dragging it screaming and kicking from 1968 (we know that the last time it was decorated as we found the newspaper wall lining) into 2013.
We scraped the 4 layers of wallpaper off the walls ourselves and Big man did all the painting and decorating, skirting boards and all the other thing he could do himself.
We couldn't do the electrics, the new boiler, the new windows, the floor, the bathroom, the driveway, the wood burner or the plastering and this cost us over £30,800. Aaaaaggggghhhhh.
We are down to £27,196 from March which is not much but we have also bought a new car, £4,500(yes the one that has just cost me £1400) and a wardrobe £800.
Some of the money we owe is attracting interest so obviously we are attacking that first. The rest is on interest free credit card which will have to be paid off by the end of the term.
So, that us. That's what we owe and we both want rid ASAP. I will update the bar every time we pay off more money. Usually monthly as that's when we get paid.
On another depressing note. The garage rang last Thursday. The cars ready and all done. I paid, they drove it back to my house for me as I was at work.
Saturday morning, to the shops.........it won't start! Not happy. Garage closed until Monday morning when we will be having a discussion.
The sun is shining here in Bucks. Still no heating in here. Rushing out now to hang some washing on the rather damp still line.
Much love. X
Saturday, 14 September 2013
Frugal shopping day and pading.
Dear reader,
At last, it's shopping day today. I could have gone in the week but never feel like it after work. We just want to get home and relax. As you know (cos I,often tell you) I work long hours and often leave by 0615 and don't get back until 1900. You just don't want to plod round the supermarket.
We used up practically everything we had in the fridge and freezer.
I have checked the bank account and we will have £50 to spend for the food for the week ahead.
I will update you later to tell you what I bought. It will be a Lidl shop as I can get so much more for our money there.
I have been reading the forums on money saving expert lately (MSE) Money saving expert is here.
Do have a look if you don't already. I really like the debt free wannabe forums.
I read the 2013 list of challenges and found one called Payment a Day (PAD).
This is to pay off debt and you pledge an amount that you will pay off your debt doing one a day.
Some people with online banking actually pay the money off every day and you each show your amount everyday. A nice person on the forum then adds up the amounts and the group can see what they have paid off debt that day. Last year I think was about £400,000 in total.
The way everyone find the money every day is to round down their bank account. For instance, if your balance was £201.67 you would transfer the £1.67 to your debt leaving a nice round £200 pounds balance.
This works twofold for me as one, I get the spare change and two, I then don't want to spend anything. As I like the round number left in my account.
I have done it for 3 days now. It's a bit of fun but it really, really makes you focus on your debt and your bank account. I have got nearly £10 for 3 days now. It's money we won't miss and when we pay our monthly debt payment we will add this on. It will soon add up.
Do you do any challenges to save money?
We are doing this and SFT's sealed pot challenge.
Much love from rainy Bucks today. X
At last, it's shopping day today. I could have gone in the week but never feel like it after work. We just want to get home and relax. As you know (cos I,often tell you) I work long hours and often leave by 0615 and don't get back until 1900. You just don't want to plod round the supermarket.
We used up practically everything we had in the fridge and freezer.
I have checked the bank account and we will have £50 to spend for the food for the week ahead.
I will update you later to tell you what I bought. It will be a Lidl shop as I can get so much more for our money there.
I have been reading the forums on money saving expert lately (MSE) Money saving expert is here.
Do have a look if you don't already. I really like the debt free wannabe forums.
I read the 2013 list of challenges and found one called Payment a Day (PAD).
This is to pay off debt and you pledge an amount that you will pay off your debt doing one a day.
Some people with online banking actually pay the money off every day and you each show your amount everyday. A nice person on the forum then adds up the amounts and the group can see what they have paid off debt that day. Last year I think was about £400,000 in total.
The way everyone find the money every day is to round down their bank account. For instance, if your balance was £201.67 you would transfer the £1.67 to your debt leaving a nice round £200 pounds balance.
This works twofold for me as one, I get the spare change and two, I then don't want to spend anything. As I like the round number left in my account.
I have done it for 3 days now. It's a bit of fun but it really, really makes you focus on your debt and your bank account. I have got nearly £10 for 3 days now. It's money we won't miss and when we pay our monthly debt payment we will add this on. It will soon add up.
Do you do any challenges to save money?
We are doing this and SFT's sealed pot challenge.
Much love from rainy Bucks today. X
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)