My Soa - Any advice welcome

Lucy1982_2 · 8 October 2007 at 12:25PM

Ii find every if I over cook and make sure I have enough for 2 meals it helps.

Smoking - I don't smoke, but my Aunt was a 40 a dayer and quit by reading Alan Carr's easy way to quit smoking (or something like that) another friend tried another book I can't remember the name of... possibly The Nicotine Treat (?)

anniestar · 8 October 2007 at 12:27PM

Hi and welcome. Firstly the foodhonestly cooking from scartch neededt take that long. As Lucy says batch cooking ie make up a base sauce tomatoes onion herbs etc freeze then you have a base, pasta sauce, chilli, etc. If you need any ideas please feel free to PM me.
The horse. GET RID( JOKE:I would rather eat my own foot than get rid my cats):rotfl: :rotfl: NOT......Animals (particularly cats and Horses)ARE WORTH EVERY SINGLE PENNY. REGARDLESS OF WHEITHER THEY ARE MOGGIES/PEDS; AT HOYS or a "nag". (this is from a sad case that sobs through the Pony club games EVERY YEAR)
Regarding eating out could you not entertain at home(show off your cooking skills)far nicer and much more personal. You are in a decent situation please dont worry too much, if you could ditch the fags and mnake some adjustments you will be fine. Good luck with your boy he sounds WONDERFUL:T

the_cat · 8 October 2007 at 12:27PM

Well done on the gas/elec! You can now pay off your first chunk of debt.

Council Tax - I don't think it would be a good idea to pay this all at once whilst you still have debts. It is in effect an interest free loan and therefore it saves you money to keep to DD.

You obviously haven't got much time for cooking, but batch cooking as suggested will help. Do you have a slow cooker? Or could you get one? You could have dinner ready to dish up when you get in and then freeze the extra portions for other days.

Concentrate on savings which will not cost you extra time. Hair costs vary, but time taken does not. Cornflakes take the same time to eat as breakfast out. You get the idea. Try to find time to start a spending diary. Just writing it all down focuses your mind on what you need to buy and where alternatives could be used.

You have very good income and not too scary debts. With a little cutting back you should make inroads into this quickly. Keep spending on those things that are most important to you (the horse) and cut back on what is least painful.

Cat

PS Well done of finding such a talented horse, he sounds lovely!

missk_ensington · 8 October 2007 at 12:28PM

catlover1 wrote: »

Hi,

Liz - I have pm'd you re the job

Smokes - could be worth a go - I haven't smoked yet today !!!! and have some patches but haven't needed to us them yet. One of my probs is I feel I should stop but actually enjoy smoking .... bad I know , but I also know I would be less tired probably sleep better etc... if I stopped

Food - the batch cooking sounds a good idea will look inot it.

xx

I actually quit smoking for a bet and thoroughly enjoyed smoking and had next to no desire to stop! Its only because I'm a stubborn pig head that I stopped because my friends said I wouldn't last five minutes. I didnt even have a "last fag" because as it happened, I'd run out of fags on a night out and asked my friends if they had one, and no one smoked, they suggested I stop so I said I would, and did. So by then, I'd already (unknowingly) had my last one! And now I'm the most horrid reformed smoker, I literally wretch at the smell of anyone who's had one!

catlover1_2 · 8 October 2007 at 12:42PM

Thanks for understanding about my horse everyone.. I know it may seem extravgent to those without pets but I feel exactly the same as Anniestar.

Regarding the slow cokker ... I know myself I hate getting up in the morning and my routine is ... get up have coffee let cat out then shower,dressed (total 15 mins) eat apple or someting while driving (bear in mind this is 6.15 in the morning!!!) get to office car park ... brush hair (it dried while driving now 7.30 am) enter office do make up in toilet while kettle boiling 7.45 start work.

So the chances of putting someting in a slow cooker preparing it are slim to nil.

But will try the batch cooking I am guessing there are simple recipe's that would take only about an hour or so at the weekend ... I spend most of Sat & Sunday with the horse and often work some of sat.

xx

tyllwyd · 8 October 2007 at 12:45PM

I'd say that your biggest problem is muddled thinking when it comes to your money. You are earning good money, but because you know you have got a fair amount coming in, you are treating yourself with nights out, clothes, expensive haircut, horse, etc and you haven't got any budget in your mind about how much you can be spending.

My advice would be to sit down and organise your SOA into areas such utilities etc, debt repayments, everyday food & clothes, horse, etc - then you can see what you have over for treats and give yourself a budget. My feeling is that you have to make sure that your first job is covering the essentials, so that the second job can be for treats/debts/saving. If you don't save now while times are good, if the second job ends or becomes too much for you, cutting back is going to be very very tough.

missk_ensington · 8 October 2007 at 12:53PM

catlover1 wrote: »

Thanks for understanding about my horse everyone.. I know it may seem extravgent to those without pets but I feel exactly the same as Anniestar.

I know how you feel, I'm a keen ice skater, I have two hours of private tuition a week at £22 an hour, plus my rink pass at £3 a visit (at least 3 times a week) plus car parking at the rink, £1.50 a visit, a locker 50p per visit. That's around £60 a week to go skating and thats before I need replacement boots, blades, outfits, padding, show costumes, comp fees, travel to rink, travel to shows....... But I'd rather not eat and wear a sack for clothes than give it up, however hard up I ever got!

catlover1_2 · 8 October 2007 at 12:54PM

Thanks,

Will try to write down my spending and set up some sort of budget ... now just spend as and when ... generally I have no real idea where it all goes.

How do you all keep track of your spending and stop yourself buying stuff ... alot goes at the petrol station as will most days buy stuff when re fueling to eat / drink in car --- this is very often lunch and dinner. its not unusual to hand over a twenty and drop the change in my bag ... then at the end of the week have millins of coins in the bottom of my bag .... spent £25 on groceries in Sainburies on Sunday and paid for all in pound coins from last week :eek:

xx

the_cat · 8 October 2007 at 1:08PM

I think a lot of it is down to planning. If you grab a couple of pieces of fruit, a cereal/chocolate bar, a drink and a sandwich each morning (you could make these up at the weekend, one per day, then wrap individually and freeze them) you could cut a lot of this out. Like wise if you know you have a homemade meal waiting to reheat in the fridge, you won't need to buy dinner.

Also, the slow cooker. By thinking outside of the box, this could still work for you. Put a batch on before you go to see the horse one day at the weekend, then freeze in portions.

catlover1_2 · 8 October 2007 at 1:16PM

Thanks .. that a realy good idea about the slow cooker .. do I just dump meat and veg in ??????

My Soa - Any advice welcome

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