My Survive the Recession Diary

skysky69

We always holiday in this country as we have a touring caravan. There are so many beautiful places (and cheap too!) to see and visit in this country - the biggest thing that lets it down is the weather.

Our family loves nothing more than pulling our little home from home to a field, sitting outside watching the sun going down with a chilled glass of wine. The downside is that sometimes we're all sat in the van with the pitter patter of torrential rain on the roof! :rotfl: Last year, we went on our main holiday in August, weather was pants, went on another week away in September, weather was changeable some lovely days some not so good and a long weekend late in October where the weather was absolutely scorching and we were on the beach in Cromer in tee-shirts!

I do yearn for the sun though and a lounge around the pool holiday - maybe when DD is a bit older

Sun_Addict

Time to update my diary as all money for the month has been gathered in and I'm pleased to report I've managed to pay £150.99 off my debt so have updated my signature to reflect this. :j If it wasn't for having to pay £125 for the TV repair last week it could have been more but I'm pleased with what I've achieved this month. £25 is the minimum payment, £100 came from income and £25.99 came from saving money left over from our food budget in a jar. This has rounded it off nicely from £2550.99 to £2400.00. If all goes according to plan I am hoping to pay £200 per month and this would mean I would have it paid off by the end of the interest free period in April 2010. Obviously if I can pay more I will. I'll have to see how things go.

I've had a good couple of days bargain wise as OH wanted the new James Bond DVD for his birthday next month. I had seen it in Sainsburys for £9.99 which I thought was good but yesterday I got an email from Tesco and it was only £7 plus free P&P on Deal of the Day. So I've saved £3 there - which of course will go into the paying off the debt pot towards next months payment.

Also yesterday I had some Advantage Card vouchers from Boots and one was for a Boots 17 mascara for only £1 instead of £5.49 so I hot footed in there on my way to work this morning to pick it up and they were giving away a free nail varnish with every Boots 17 purchase. Not bad eh! At the checkout they also had a load of reduced items and I managed to pick up a huge Boots Amazon Forest body scrub for £1.84 and a lovely Boots Amazon Forest toiletry bag filled with full sized body lotion, bubble bath, soap and body wash for only £3.67. So all in all a very money saving morning.

I will be joining the April Grocery Challenge when it starts and am looking at other challenges to keep me motivated. This diary is really motivating me to add any bits of money to the pot to pay off my debt. I'm so glad I started it.

tiff

Well done on paying some money.

Thats a pain about the TV, our washing machine wouldnt drain this week so I checked the filter, still wouldnt work. Then remembered the last repair man saying to blow down the outlet pipe which DH did and low and behold its now working, £40 callout saved! Shame you cant do the same with TV's!

savingholmes

well done on the money paid off so far

Tiff - well done on the mse approach to fixing things LOL

robsmum_2

Well done Sun Addict on paying some money off. Thanks for your message on my new diary. Looking at doing a challenge or 2 myself. Will have a look over weekend.
It's Friday and I am also going to indulge in a glass of Red.

Swinstie73

Afternoon Sun Addict,

Well done with reducing your debt again, I always want to get to next pay day so I can see even more coming off, what is it they say 'patience is a virtue'.

I myself had to fork out for a new fridge freezer last month, tried everything to get it working again, but at least shouldn't need another one for a while.

Keep up the good work! x

Sun_Addict

I am feeling very positive as it's the 1st of the month and have joined 2 challenges - the Weekly Spending Challenge and the April Grocery Challenge. I have also set myself a few challenges for April:

1. Pay a minimum of £200 off Virgin Card
2. April Grocery Challenge £300
3. Weekly personal spending challenge of £10 per week.
4. Pay outstanding balance of summer holiday (£150)
5. Lose 4lbs in weight before end of April (ready for that bikini )

I think this is enough to be going on with for now. I have made myself a few spreadsheets to keep track of where I am heading or I'll get all the challenges mixed up and end up losing the plot.

Here's to a great April! :beer: Better update my signature!

Swinstie73

Hi Sun Addict,

You seem to be doing really well - I am getting worse, had to pay for roof repairs cos I had birds trying to nest!

Hope you manage to tick everything else off, especially the weight loss, have you got a holiday coming up soon?

Think may look into the grocery challenge too!

Sun_Addict

Hi Swinstie

The positive vibes will last until the next thing breaks down! OH's van exhaust will probably be next on the list as it's rattling a bit so will have to be looked at in the not too distant future.

We're going to Menorca on July 3rd for two weeks. We've booked a privately owned apartment from Owners Direct and flights with BMI Baby so it's cost us a fraction of what we used to pay when we were booking villas with James Villas. It has everything a villa has except for a pool but as it's overlooking the sea and beach it's not far to walk for a dip. I only want to lose 8lbs so have plenty of time. I lost a stone 7 years ago with WeightWatchers and have managed to stay within my goal weight range ever since. But Christmas and a winter holiday took its toll and I am currently 3lbs over goal weight when I like to be 5lbs under.

I've been sticking unofficially to the Grocery Challenge for a couple of months now and really got down the amount I used to spend on groceries. This month I decided to do it officially so it's there in black and white for all to see. Hopefully this will be a good motivator.:D Same with the other challenges - if they're announced I'm going to have to do them! Let's see if it works! Feeling quite motivated at the moment but this may not last.

skysky69

I have only got 4lbs to go until I get to my goal weight but I think that it will take an eternity at this rate as the last little bit has really got me stumped. I dread to think how many points I have had today