Flying out of debt (Hopefully!) One Fresian's adventures...*Now with SOA!*

jo41

Loving your diary but it's preventing me from getting off my fat one and getting on with the day!
Jo x

mooomin

flying_fresian wrote: »

• [strike]Checked online banking. All is well.[/strike]
• [strike]Made my PAD to the overdraft account[/strike]
• [strike]Take out £30 cash (Ebay sales) and put into a pot for t'other half's birthday fund[/strike]
• [strike]Take out £20 cash to last me for this week.[/strike]
• [strike]Emptied cat litter.[/strike] Not DFW in any way, but t'other half forgot to do it yesterday, we have two cats and I wanted someone else to know how I had suffered this morning. Eek.
• [strike]Make lunch to take to work[/strike] I was a Bad Fresian though and went to the Chinese for lunch instead. I did pay for it with my Entertainment budget though. Only have £10 of that to last me until January now....eek :eek:
  
• [strike]Take flask to work[/strike]
• [strike]Have leftovers from yesterday for dinner today[/strike] Nom nom nom.
  
• [strike]Check Onepoll after work (Nothing this morning)[/strike] Surveys done!
  
• [strike]List more books on Amazon tonight[/strike] Oops. I did get an email saying that I have sold one of last nights books already though and that's now packaged and ready to go!
  
• [strike]Go to supermarket and buy my slow cooker. And more flipping cat litter [/strike]
• [strike]Call my mum and let her know how much she owes me for the stuff I bought her in the sales[/strike]
• [strike]Washing hokey cokey[/strike]

Well, look at me, I've done all my list! Apart from the Amazoning, but hey ho!

Now, I am going to need some help and advice....I don't get paid until the 23rd of January. I have £66 left for groceries until then and two adults and two cats to feed. I have enough cat pouches for a fortnight and enough cat litter for about the same period of time. I have filled the freezer tonight with some good bargains:

• Kievs (pack of two) for 43p
• Fishcakes (pack of two) for 29p
• Pork leg (organic) for Sunday dinner for £1.72

I am not masterchef and I do have other things in the freezer as well. I have taken out a kilo of mince so I can make more bolognaise sauce tomorrow and freeze it for meals later in the month. I also have some lumps of mutton (No idea what they are but my friend is staying and he used to be a chef so he's going to tell me!) that my parents brought me.

We are going to need to keep ourselves in bread, milk etc as well, and despite how well I have been doing with my DFW, I am worried that it won't last the month and I'll have to dip into the overdraft again. Any suggestions that you have for cheap and cheerful meals would be so gratefully appreciated. To give you a rough idea of our supplies at the moment:

• lamb mince
• kidney beans (can)
  
• canned tomatoes
• baked beans
• pasta
• rice
• mutton
• tatties
• onions
• mushrooms (will be used tomorrow)
• condensed soups - mushroom and tomato
• stewing steak

I will give most things a try but don't like spicy food/curries etc. Help - I need to know that I can feed us all on £200 a month, which even to me seems quite a lot...

paybacktime2008

Hi. If you post that list on the Old Style board you'll get heaps of ideas....thye love a challenge. A huge casserole combo springs to mind to me say 6 portions eat 2 freeze 4. Anyway.

I am so with you with the books. I've done it before, had a cull, then months later thought......I really fancy reading xxxxx and of course it has gone. One of my new years resolutions is to use the library more, as I know a fair bit of my debt has been caused by late night ventures into Amazonland!

You're doing great. Onwards and upwards for 2009

mooomin

Morning all!

Time for my usual list of aims for the day to C&P to the "What Small DFW" thread later!

So, today I have done/will do:

• [STRIKE]Checked online banking[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Made my PAD[/STRIKE]
• Made breakfast & dinner from supplies in the house
• Also batch cook bolognaise sauce for freezing
• Have free lunch at work - they are getting us a free buffet for the festive season
• Take flask to work for coffee
• Go to local shopping centre :eek: to return unwanted Christmas gift (ugly scarf) and items bought in sales that were unsuitable
• Aim not to buy anything else in said shopping centre
• Post on Oldstyle board for ideas on making my groceries budget last. Damn the five and a half week month...
• Dishes
• List more books on Amazon
• Post book that sold on Amazon
• Check OnePoll after work
• Cut images from Christmas cards and save to make gift tags later in the year. Brownie points to MSEers who can suggest a good source of cheap red/green card and ribbons, as this will be an activity I will enjoy in the dark months! For those of you who do these types of crafty things, what would be the best glue to use?

That's all folks. Got to run - just been offered a lift to work and need to jump in shower to be ready in time so no time for my usual smillies!:rotfl:

tomtombeanie

morning! i really feel for you about the books as well, they are my weakness too.

there was a thread in the weekly email a while back that was very interesting, i'll post the link - about feeding a family of 4 on 20 quid for the month. should give you some ideas! don't forget about good old jacket potatoes and beans on toast - cheap and underrated

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333

have a good day! x

mooomin

Books are a bad weakness for me. I sold one on Amazon and got very excited, then got a confirmation email from Waterstones about the three books I bought in their sale

Silaqui

Hello F-F I haven't seen your thread on here before! You sound like you have done brilliantly with all that cleared in like ONE MONTH! (Insert fancy pants smiley of your choice here lol).
I like the way you do lists and things, I am a list obsessive too I get through pads and pads of them! And books... omg books.... I really should take a leaf out of your book (no pun intended haha) and try to sell some, its horrible thought isn't it. Still, I suppose they are meant for sharing.
Thats well good at your work giving you free food, I would be dropping stuff in my handbag lol! Well probably not that bad. I have been known to do it with teabags and things. And my fridge is full of those sauce sachets from pubs haha what a scrounger.

PS for cheap ribbon and stuff go to any market haberdasherer (sp?) or a sari or general fabric stall or shop and ask for offcuts then you can just trim them into ribbons yourself. For card, if you have a 'The Works' near you they usually have some good deals as do £shops.
Best types of glue - good old prittstick for flat things, a little tip buy the one that is in the silver tube, its a bit stronger. People underestimate prittstick and expect it to stick strongly straight away - you have to give the poor little guy a chance!
Alternatively buy a cheap bottle of the white PVA from a £shop of similar, useful for everything paper/card based, use sparingly and again, hold it together to let it set for a few minutes.
For anything that isn't paper/card based you will need something different, superglue is good but I prefer a hot glue gun I picked a basic one up from B&Q for 1.99 with the glue sticks a while back. When you stick the pictures on, this will give you a bit of relief and make the cards a bit more interesting, you can layer them up to make little scenes. Also for some more interesting ideas check out http://www.robertsabuda.com/popmake/index.asp they are fab! (can you tell I teach Design & Technology lol hope this helps!) xx

mooomin

Just put three meals worth of bolognaise (for the two of us) in the freezer. That'll help! I am going to check out the Old Style board tomorrow.

I signed up to this challenge today http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1381291 and am already coming out in a cold sweat at the thought...

Lula-Hula

flying_fresian wrote: »

Books are a bad weakness for me. I sold one on Amazon and got very excited, then got a confirmation email from Waterstones about the three books I bought in their sale

Hi fresian - that made me :rotfl: (a bit like me when I take clothes to the charity shop & then immediately feel the need to replenish my stock )

Good luck on your journey

Lula x

makeup

Hi Friesian

Really enjoyed reading your diary and think you have done brilliantly :beer:

I have been planning to sell a few books, I know for sure I have a few which I would never ever read again (rubbish chick lit stuff). Were your books in really good order? Was it easy to list on amazon? I've signed up to the £1009 in 6 mths challenge so def need to get on the case!

Good luck on your journey!