My Debt Free, Lose Weight & Be Super Frugal Diary 2009

Bambywamby

Afternoon all, :wave:

Sat here with my cup of tea and these new Ryvita crispbread things called Fruit Crunch. They are basically Ryvitas with sultanas and seeds in and they are really tasty. Particularly when dunked in a cuppa. They are like HUGE biccys but only 57 cals each.

Thanks for the advice Marge, I am a firm believer that there are only two ways to really lose weight: 1) healthy diet and exercise 2) taking a new lover.

As I am stuck with the old lover :cool: , I guess it's plenty of exercise and low fat living for me.

Thank you Lemon Tree, I am feeling loads better today. The fat free dumps are lovely, just keep adding tablespoons of water until you get a doughy consistency. They make really, big fluffy dumplings, make sure you have plenty of gravy though as they soak it up like nobody's business.

Hiya Rags...What website are you using for measuring your calories? I have used WeightLossResources before but they charge after the initial free trial. I liked using it though just to keep a tally on my intake.

The fixed rate for the mortgage we have got for 10 years is 5.34% and that comes with a product fee of £199, (Which we shall be paying upfront, even though they tried to get us to add it to the mortgage...swines!)
I have looked at the interest rates over the past 20 years and in the 240 months that makes up those 20 years, the interest rate has only been 5.34% or below 18 times. Which really equates to 18 months out of 20 years. So I reckon on the face of things to come that is a pretty good deal.
Should the fixed rate go down in the next 14 days we can change to that, so I have my fingers crossed. Even 0.1% makes a huge difference with a mortgage.
"C'mon Natwest don't be stingy." :rolleyes:
Another good thing is they are still lending 100% to their existing customers on a 5 & 10 year fixed deal, even if your in the dreaded neg equity...so I am wondering if other mortgage lenders are too. Might be worth asking...unless you want to go on the SVR. Which is a fabulous rate at the moment...if only we could freeze this moment in time eh?

Spent £63 today on out fortnightly shop. We went to Morrisons for a change and was quite surprised at the the decent range of value products and the competitive prices they currently have.
O/H also took me for lunch...they do a mean Tikka Masala. Since we have been paying off the debts, just once a month we have a lunch or dinner out. We usually make it lunch as it costs up to 66% less than dinner and it allows us to have that little treat that stops us from feeling deprived.
We must have sounded quite an obsessed pair of nuts to those sat around us in the cafe, as all we talked about were mortgage rates, overtime at work and saving money. In fact we must have sounded like quite a money grabbing pair of misers...but did we care lol?

Talking of money saving again...the BBC do some fantastic free language courses online, supported by TV programmes on The Learning Zone, BBC2 between 1am & 5am.
I have decided to learn a bit of German...having been to Germany a few times, loving it very much and intending to visit the future.
They also do French, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, Greek, Chinese and more...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

Well m'off to do some studying...then I may treat myself to an hour with Judge Judy...gotta love her and her sayings. "Beauty fades but dumb is forever..."

Auf Wiedersehen. :T

ragstoricheswannabe

I found this on the fight the flab thread over on the marriage, relationship etc forum: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/account/index.php

Jolly2009

Evening,

All this talk of food is making me hungry! I think I have finally learnt how to subscribe to threads....although not sure how it works. I keep losing threads that I have written on.

Those ryvita things sound yummy - I too am still on a health kick but been a bit slack in all of areas of late :mad: Although I do have some salmon and veg on the go in the steamer at the mo. That's good isn't it??

Am trying to catch up on your thread so wil be back...after reading it all. x

Bambywamby

I shall have a look at that site, cheers me dears. It would be interesting to see how many cals per day I consume, more than I imagine I bet. x

Hiya Jolls, I love salmon...baked, broiled, smoked, steamed, in pasta, in a sandwhich, in a fish pie...yummy and so good for you. Lucky duck.
I over indulged on the Ryvita dunkie things so had to skip tea...oops. :rolleyes:

Jolly2009

He he, know that feeling. So many times have I skipped lunch or dinner after snacking too much :rotfl:

Salmon is lovely - i'm like you could eat it anyway possible.

Thanks for the website link to learning a language - might give that a go :T

GlennyNat

Hi Bambywamby

www.foodfocus.co.uk is a brilliant website where you can keep track of foods eaten, calories, exercise taken etc. Builds up your own personal profile and you can choose at how fast/slow you want to lose weight!

And its completely FREE :T I'm using it at the mo and is a great way to keep track!!

Hope that helps

Glenny & Nat x

Bambywamby

Just been on that site GlennyNat...thank you. It's very informative. :T

Back on a night shift tonight ...can't wait to be a multimillionaire so I don't have to work nights anymore.

I have had a very productive day today, me and him in doors have tided the house from top to bottom, I have studied German for two hours, Ebayed eleven items, walked the dogs, washed my hair, had a bath and made a poor mans stroganoff in the slow cooker. It's called a poor mans stroganoff because you use twice as many mushrooms, less meat and you use milk & cornflour to thick the sauce rather than cream. It was very tasty. I have loads of the gravy left so I am going to make a mushroom soup tomorrow.


Well just a quickie today as work is calling, have a fab Friday night y'all.

X x

ragstoricheswannabe

Hiya bamby, you are steaming ahead with paying your debts off!!!! wish my total looked more like yours....cant wait to hit the £1k mark, few months off yet though.

have a good night shift, i also hate night shifts, mucks up my system as body doesnt know whats hit it. Thinking of asking to do someover time at work too when i go back, where i work has started a home care service so may be able to get a few mornings extra..........not sure how the tax would go though, fine doing all the hours but find the tax man benifits more than me!!!!!!

Bambywamby

It seems gutting doesn't it, that the more you work the more the tax man gets...but that's life and I guess no one is exempt.
Homecare is ideal if you have little ones as you can fit in hours here and there that suit. I did alot of homecare when me son was a wee one.

Today I have logged our gas and electric usage online to Scottish Power so they can calculate our bill. We pay by direct debit and it costs £116 per month.
When I had put the figures in, it said we are £488 in credit. :eek:
I think that money would be better off our debts than gaining interest in their business account so first thing on Monday morning I shall be ringing for a refund.
I have read on the site that they do an annual review and pay back any excess then...but you can ask for the refund back at any time...and I am.

It's going to be - 7 degrees here in Yorkshire tonight, O/H is at work until 2am so I will be watching Tv on the couch covered in a snuggly quilt. I may even treat myself to a late night horror...O/H won't watch them as he gets scared:rolleyes: ...so I will frighten the pants off myself while waiting for him to come in lol.

I put 2lbs on this week...not very good I know. I think working all these nights isn't helping...I am eating when I am tired instead of going to bed. I will have to catch up on my sleep a bit better and maybe prepare myself a tub of healthy snacks for when I do want to nibble. A fresh fruit salad might be a good idea...sweet and healthy.

Today is my second no spender in a row...that's very good for me. I have also collected my wages and they will be banked on Monday and a few pounds shall be thrown at the one of the cards. I also got my Ebay bill in today...£55 ...I know I have been Ebaying like nobody's business but...their fees are so steep!

I am off to prepare a healthy tea now...homemade mushroom soup (made with last night's stroganoff stock) and some heavily seeded onion bagels.

Have a great Saturday night boys & girls...

Bam x x

sharronloves2spend

Hi there, received my dummy today so guess what i've been doing all day.... Clothes look great so thanks for that tip bamby:A DH not so enthusiastic tho, so here's the tale (v.v funny) DH is a postman and works in the sorting office in which our post comes out from, this morning while he was bundling his walk, another postie shouted 'Oi Dave's got a blow up doll' que the blow up doll jokes:rotfl: DH not amuzed although he sees the funny side now!!! Then i hung the dummy on the picture rail in the front room, ds14 walked in and said 'that's a pert pair' not realising i overheard him pmsl:rotfl: We have been laughing all day here today.

Anyhow back to seroius stuff. Ebay fees are really high, they have two bites of the cherry as ebay own paypal. You pay you listing and final value fees and then have to give paypal money for reciving money:mad:

Try and not worry too much about the 2lb weight gain. i stayed the same this week, probably something to do with the bag of thorntons mishapes that i scoffed all to myself:o I'm sure you'll deal with it once your not so tired.

Do you have a debt free date Bamby?? We have 22 months to go, can't wait i want to do lots of thing with that disposable income!!!!

Bye for now Sharron