A Budgeteer's Adventure

Thanks lippy - yes i've lurked on alot of threads and i've learnt loads from here. That's a good idea with the signature - i'll have a think what i can put in it. As i'm capped on what i can overpay to the mortgage i see that as the regular mortgage payment each month.. will ponder..

Yesterday was a NSD and today should be as well

I'm cooking a few things today - using up some bits of leftover veg as well as prepping for tomorrows tea which will use up some leftovers from today Whilst cooking I've been making note of the staples I've used up in recipes - so a bit of a bigger food spend than i'd hoped for due this week but all stuff that's long lasting and I use regularly.

I'm going to list an item on the bay of e today as well - that'll be an item gone and money in hopefully if it sells.

Trying to think if there's anything else I can do to get some extra funds in to pay off credit card - I've already switched energy supplier via cashback and am awaiting this being payable, listed everything i'm getting rid of but the 1 item i'm listing today on the bay of e, done a bank account switch hopefully that should pay out in January, I need to do my tax return for MS which should generate a small rebate, i'm also owed money from my old energy supplier so i'll need to ring for that when they're open.. and am owed £8 from college but they're not open until the new year, I need to put in a claim with post office for a non delivered item as well but need to buy ink first. But I was expecting these few bits of money and am pretty stuck for new ideas... probably why I was thinking of kondoing again... All xmas gifts were gratefully consumable or useful - the cash I got I've already overpaid to the mortgage :T

Oh well - will keep trying to think of ways to raise some extra cash - i'm certainly doing well with stretching our food as far as possible and have prepped my packed lunches for the first 2 weeks back in work and these are already in the freezer :T Pleased with this - in my last job there wasn't a microwave or fridge so inevitably i'd end up spending on something hot during the cold miserable days so I won't be spending that in my new job now

As this is a MFW diary and I've read a few others I thought I should share a bit more about overpayments - i'm capped at 10% a year and I've set myself to overpay £800 a month - more than double my monthly mortgage payment - as soon as I hit the 10% cap the £800 will be paid into savings:D This makes sense to me - the cards I have are 0% but i'm working on clearing these as well - I managed to reduce my card debt by over £1200 in December :T:T A great result due to bay of e sales, cashback being paid and being paid money I was owed as well as regular payments - the majority was from money I was owed so difficult to replicate each month - just wanted to give everyone a fuller picture x

It's been about a week since my last post so what's been going on?

A busy week in work which saw me spending £2.90 on takeaway at the end of the week & wasting the 50p meal i had planned Must do better.

Overall i think it's been a bit of a spendy week - some of this has been with the intention to save money in the long run - bought as many treats for our cats as i could when i found some at half the price we usually pay (xmas clearance). Also stocked up on some essentials which we usually buy every week - the freezer is bursting but these were reduced to 10% of the price - love finding those sticker reductions Such a big reduction meant spend wasn't that much and overall food shopping - which includes cleaning products, alcohol, cat food and treats as well as food and some toiletries came in under the £40 i didn't want to spend over :T

Spent some of my xmas money on a new coat to replace a tatty one i'd got rid of but hadn't found a suitable replacement for in my price range - mucho bargainous in the sales :T Also got a new skirt - again to replace one already recycled as that was all it was suitable for - again a sale bargain :cool: Added to my new work wardrobe with a couple of things i'd identified as needing - less than £5 an item - bought 2 skirts and a dress :T Time to stop the spending now though :cool:

Also had to buy new make-up - i did get 2 free gifts which i needed and so will use so thats good - make-up isn't the cheapest brand though but as i have had reactions from other products :eek: i play it safe with this one and i do like it and eek it out as much as possible

I've chased some of the money i'm due back - more to chase tomorrow and have added this into my diary. Some cashback will become payable though which is good :T

picked up a freebie as well whilst out getting my make-up - again a need :j

Checked mortgage balance and interest - must add balance into my sig..

In other news I'd better get on with some studying - where does the week go that its left til Sunday? :rotfl::rotfl:

Also, i've a few things on my mind at the moment - things i'm considering doing this year - helping with a soup kitchen, going to a climbing wall to learn climbing, buying roller skates and re-learning how to skate, keeping up with my music lessons, running a regular half marathon.

Think i needs me a timetable.