My Survive the Recession Diary

Sun_Addict

I've decided to challenge myself to be good for a month, starting today, to see how I go on. By being good I mean stick to budget and bikini diet. I've only got 5 pounds to lose by the end of June so shouldn't be too hard.:rolleyes:

Just recently I've been straying a bit from the straight and narrow on the spending front. I have a credit card which should only be used for things such as OH's petrol and mobile top ups and internet food shopping. This is paid off in full every month by direct debit. Not a lot else should be going on this card. However, little things that aren't budgeted for have been creeping onto it. This means the unbudgeted "extras" will have to come out of the emergency fund which isn't good as they are definately NOT emergencies!! And this is how I ran up a debt in the first place by overspending on the spending card and then transferring the naughty spends onto a 0% card. Tut tut!!

OH is back at work today after hardly any work in the last 3 weeks and should hopefully be busy for the next few weeks. So today is the ideal opportunity to start afresh.

I made a huge batch of butternut squash soup yesterday to last me for lunches all week at work and have menu planned right until the end of the month.

Will be ebaying a few things at some stage. Photos have been taken and uploaded onto computer. However, whilst browsing through what sort of items are selling, I suddenly found I had bought myself a skirt! But this was yesterday and today is a new start new me. :rolleyes:

Let's see how long this lasts!!! Don't hold your breath!!

Sun_Addict

Well everything more or less going according to plan so far. Meandered a bit off the diet track last night by nibbling on a piece of cheese when I was making OH's packing up and found some left over sultanas in the cupboard which also went down the hatch :rolleyes:. This is what I am trying to stop doing as otherwise I stick to the diet religiously, it's just the little nibbles that need to stop. So today I am having a no nibbling day! I suppose I'm the same with my budget - buying little bits and bobs that all add up in the end.

I did, however, stick to my budget yesterday - went to Sainsburys and stuck to my list.

All in all not a bad start!

Sun_Addict

Still all going to plan. Was very good with diet yesterday - no nibbling - so am determined today will be the same. Going well so far but then I'm still at work!

Only shopping today was (yet more!) food shopping, this time in Aldi. Tonight I'm having a big monthly delivery from Tesco - this will consist of all the heavy/storecupboard stuff. I buy the fresh stuff on a daily basis. I usually have this delivered at the beginning of the month but seem to be out of synch this month!

Yet another birthday today at work so more cakes! I was good though and chose the one with the least calories and saturated fat (only 2 WeightWatchers points). However, probably not the best tasting one! I was briefly tempted by the coffee gateau but was strong and thought about my holiday in just 7 weeks time. Also me and OH have a mini challenge on to reach goal weight in time for holiday. He has a stone to lose and I only have 5lbs, however, my small amount is proving harder to shift! :mad: He gloats like nobody's business if he loses weight and I don't.

Here's to another day of the budget/bikini boot camp!

Sun_Addict

Still keeping on track, although getting desperate for a glass of wine but will have to wait until tomorrow for that. It will taste like nectar I am sure!

Big shop from Tesco came last night so all stocked up for the rest of the month now. Unfortunately this doesn't include fresh stuff so will still be treading the supermarket path each lunchtime. Still at least it keeps me out of the clothes shops!

Skirt I ordered from eBay came yesterday and it's gorgeous! Much better than it looked on the photo. It's from Oasis and is new with the tags still on (or BNWT in eBay speak). So I will be commenting very favourably on the seller on the feedback. Hoping to at least get around to weighing my stuff I want to sell on eBay and writing descriptions this weekend so I will be one stage closer!

It's great that OH is back at work full time but the downside is he was doing all the cleaning and ironing when he was off so it's back to me doing it now . I'd much rather he be working though so not a problem really!

No birthday cakes today and everyone in the office is having withdrawal symptoms! There are some more birthdays coming up in the next few days so we won't have long to wait. They all get worried when it's my birthday in case I bring all WeightWatchers stuff in.

Friday tomorrow :j

Swinstie73

Hi Sun Addict,

Been thinking of doing a Tesco shop for heavy/store cupboard items, are they ok? Had a look at the website and it looks a bitty complicated, I'm more used to going up and down the aisles and picking what I fancy!

5lbs will be gone in no time, I feel like a bloater since finishing the detox, can't stop eating, ha! Sure you'll lose the weight before the hols!

Sun_Addict

Hurray it's Friday :j Only 3½ more hours of work to go :j

Swinstie - Tesco's are great for home delivery. I used to have a delivery every week at one time (when I had money!) and then they weren't so good but once a month they are brilliant. Once you've done your first shop the items you've ordered will be saved so next time you shop it will be quicker as they will be saved under "My Favourites". I think my first ever Tesco internet shop took me about 2 hours! Now it only takes about 30 minutes at the most. Nice to sit there with a cup of coffee/wine putting your groceries in the virtual trolley instead of the trolley rage of real supermarkets. I find I save more as well because you can't impulse buy, plus you can see how much you're spending and can take things out of the trolley if the cost is getting too high. Have a look on the Tesco coupons thread first to see if there are any money off vouchers you can use. The other month I got £7.50 off my groceries from there. Unfortunately they don't always work as was the case this month. I've tried Sainsburys a few times too but they put me off them last time as they claimed to be out of stock of quite a few everyday items which meant I had to go in store to get them myself which defeated the object of me paying for delivery. However I did complain and they refunded my delivery fee.

Couldn't walk to work today because it was absolutely pouring with rain so OH gave me a lift. This means I was at work ½ hour earlier than normal (7.30) and feel like I've been here a full day already! Still it will all add to my flexi and go towards my next flexi day off! Will be in the gym tonight though to try and make up for it.

Not doing any food shopping today. Friday is a food shopping free day. However not a NSD as I have to buy OH a new shaver foil from Boots as his has developed a hole. Yesterday he broke his flask and last week his electric toothbrush stopped charging up - he is very high maintenance! Luckily the toothbrush was still under guarantee (just) so it was replaced free of charge.

This weekend I am hoping to make some more inroads towards ebaying my little stockpile. I am also going to cancel some of my magazine subscriptions as I have so many I never get time to read them all. I have subscriptions to:

Marie Claire - only got this for the free perfume (which I haven't used yet!) and will cancel as the year is nearly up

Prima - will cancel this now the 12 issues for £12 has finished.

Glamour - only got this for the 12 issues for £12 and free gift of Lancaster after sun. Will cancel this and probably renew when the next offer comes out. It's actually a little bit too young for me now but I still love it.

Woman & Home - I always renew this one as I love this magazine.

She - just renewed at 12 issues for £12. Like this one a lot so will probably keep renewing at this price.

Women's Fitness - only just started this one 13 issues for £12.99 but doubt if I will renew as it's for more obsessive fitness freaks than even me!

In Style - only just taken this one out for the 12 issues for £12 and free gift. Don't buy this one very often as it's full of pictures but the offer was good. Won't renew it when the years up though.

Phew I think that's it!! I'm embarrassed by how many subscriptions I have now I've listed them.

Looking forward to my glass of wine (or two) tonight. Hopefully won't be spending much at all this weekend. I filled in DS's tax return for him (he is self employed) and he got a very nice rebate yesterday (nearly £600) so he is treating me to 3 bottles of wine. Just waiting for OH's accountant to get his finger out and do his tax return. I'm not confident enough to fill in his as he has a lot of expenses to claim for (not of the type MPs claim for however ) whereas DS has very little to claim for so his is straightforward. Hopefully his rebate will cover a good part of the holiday spending.

Hope everyone has a brilliant weekend!!! :beer:

Sun_Addict

I've decided to just update my diary on a weekly basis (probably on a Sunday) as not enough is happening to be of interest. Today I've decided to have a look at how I'm doing with May's challenges:

1. I've only lost half a pound out of the 3 I would like to lose.

2. Ebay challenge - I've got around to taking the photos and uploaded them onto computer. Today I WILL weigh them and write out descriptions.

3. I'm sticking to grocery budget.

4. I'm sticking to £10 weekly spending challenge.

5. Any money left over out of grocery budget is going towards debt.

6. No holiday savings as yet but need to wait until end of month for that.

Today I'm making a huge batch split pea soup which will be my work lunches all week.

I'm also going to start keeping a daily spending diary to track what I'm spending. Same goes for a food diary so I know exactly what I'm eating. I've got loads of empty notebooks so it's about time I started using them.

See you next Sunday! Have a good week!

Sun_Addict

Thought I'd better update my diary today as I didn't do it on Sunday as I was sunbathing all day:cool:

Got all this week off work so will get plenty of time to update and also read and post on other threads. But also have tons of house stuff to do this week and I really really must get around to finally ebaying the stuff I've been saying I'm going to get rid of for the past year:rolleyes: and I will actually have time to do some surveys!

The main challenge will be sticking to my diet as when I'm at home on my own I tend to eat more than normal. As I've not lost any weight so far at all this month (I lost half a pound and then put it back on:mad:) I have put myself on a 28 day diet and exercise plan to try and shift this pesky 5lbs I can't seem to shed. This will involve me sticking to my 18 points a day WeightWatchers allowance, cutting down on the vino and stepping my exercise routine up a notch. If this doesn't work then I will have to accept I'm already at my ideal weight, however, I'm 3lbs more than I was before Christmas so not happy about this theory. I'm starting my plan today and it will end on 22 June in plenty of time for my holiday. I have a nice shiny new notebook and intend to keep it up to date on a daily basis.

On Friday I will be able to update my finances as OH gets paid then. Not going to be a great month as he hasn't earned a great deal but anything is better than nothing. I'm on the last week of my grocery challenge for May and have already put £30 that I've saved out of that towards my debt. However this means I only have a few quid to last until the end of the month but I WILL do it!

Any spare money this month will have to be ploughed into the holiday spending money fund as we are going 5 weeks on Friday :eek: and not a penny is in that particular pot at the moment. If I can pay £100 off the card then I will be a very happy bunny.

Will update later in the week.

Sun_Addict

Have been looking at my spending credit card statement (which always gets paid off in full by direct debit) and have noticed we are spending far too much money on what can only be classed in my budget as "other". This means things that aren't budgeted for on payday. Last month we spent £69.52 on things for the house and £142.65 on "bits and bobs" (although £45 of it was for OH's dental treatment so can't be avoided). This is scary :eek: as it totals £212.17 of unaccounted for spends. This means this money will have to come out of savings which are dwindling at an alarming rate and if a REAL emergency comes up there will be nothing left to cover it.

The reason there is no money in the budget for these "other" items is that by the time I've paid for bills, food, OH's diesel and work expenses there's not a lot left over which at the moment is being split between paying off the debt and holiday savings. I am going to have to try and do something about this and try and put a little away and STICK TO THE BUDGET! OH is as much to blame as his favourite expression seems to be "We're going to have to buy ..." We each have a personal spending allowance of £50 for the month which as you all know doesn't go very far. It certainly doesn't cover these "other" things.

Anyway rant over and any suggestions would be very welcome.

Sun_Addict

Time to look back on my progress for May. Did I meet my targets?

1. Lose 3lbs - only lost ½lb so NO!

2. £290 Grocery Challenge - only spent £270 so YES!! :j

3. £10 per week Weekly Spending Challenge - YES!! :j

4. Get debt down to under £2000 - could only afford to pay off £75 but better than nothing!:j

5. Save £300 towards holiday spending money - could only afford £200 so not bad :j

6. Ebay at least 5 items - YES!! I've finally done it!! :j No bids or watchers as yet but plenty of time to go.

I've updated my signature and will be posting June's targets on my new diary as I've decided to start a new one - this one is getting stale. Hopefully see you there!!