Vodkabarbie's DFW diary

vodkabarbie

So, I guess my LBM has come round and bitten me in the bum - I'm stressed and miserable and looking forward to a long period of being sensible and prudent. It's my own stupid fault I am in this situation so I need to get on with it!

I personally owe 1200 on my overdraft, and 3200 on my Barclaycard. DH & I also have a joint account which is permanantly £500 overdrawn. What have I done today towards sorting this out?

a) I had a no-spend day - nearly picked up some expensive shampoo when I popped into the hairdresser for a free fringe trim, but reminded myself that I have perfectly good £1.50 shampoo here!
b) I swapped our line rental, leccy and gas using moneysupermarket and will hopefully have saved us about £200 a year! Yeay!
c) I started delving into the threads on this site....loving DFW and Old-style boards.

Wish me luck!

vodkabarbie

OK, so first DFW weekend
Went out on Friday but took cash only and didn't spend more than my budget. That said, it could have been a cheaper night out - I need to drink less booze!:beer:

Saturday we went to a wedding but instead of staying in London overnight we got the train home, made it late but I took flat shoes in my bag and we managed it, so that saved some cash.

Today we went out to Hampton Court but we took our own picnic which cut costs - normally I spend loads at these places on food! Managed to avoid the temptations of the shop as well - phew!

mooomin

Ooh, I like a new diary!

Have you done a SOA somewhere?

Well done on posting :T

vodkabarbie

Thanks for the support!
I worked out an SOA but as a lot of our income and outgoings are joint my OH wasn't too happy about me posting the details....so I have created a budget and gone through a lot of the other threads to try and get tips on moneysaving. Hence the leccy and gas move
I love reading all the handy tips on this site!

vodkabarbie

Been on holiday this week. The holiday was good in that we stayed in the UK, went camping, and didn't eat out or drink very much.....but I've still overspent and this month is super tight until pay day now - I guess it takes a while to get into the true DFW habits I feel a bit cross with myself!

I'm going to try to have a no-spend week this week as I have a full tank of petrol and I am on holiday this week but at home - I have so much to do round the house and garden that I shouldn't need to go shopping in town!

One good thing is that I've been doing the supermarket downsize challenge and I am amazed at how many sainsburys basics are awesome! Especially the fruit and veggies! The only thing that I didn't like were the tomatoes, but it's getting a lot easier to cut spend on the shopping.

Fire_Fox

Why don't you spend the week doing a Storecupboard Challenge and seeing what meals you can get out of your existing stocks? For example homemade soups are cheap, easy and yummy! Write out an inventory of your cupboards, fridge and freezer and post it here or on the OS board for ideas. My inventories are embarrassing as I am a total hoarder. :rotfl:

vodkabarbie

Fire Fox that is an ace idea, I have so much stuff in the cupboards!! I'm already not automatically replacing things I finish, as so often it's something we only use once every 6 months and it is just taking up cupboard space

I'll be having a good look next week when I do my meal plan and try to reduce this further using the storecupboard!

Today's not been a 'saving' day but it HAS been a no-spend day - as was yesterday - going out with a friend tomorrow, think I will take some cash out when I go and not take my cards...

vodkabarbie

OK, so the weekend was good....we were relatively thrifty despite having visitors. I also had a lot of food left over but portioned up things, froze where appropriate, and have told Mr Vodka I'm not going shopping until we have more space in the fridge! :0)

I'm back at work so I am making my own lunch and have had 4 no spend days in a row, not bad!

I've also started collecting vouchers and have become a demon for Nectar points where we can get them, starting by signing up our leccy to earn them.

Continuing the downsizing supermarket challenge, though Mr Vodka was most unimpressed with the cheaper pasta salad!

Have also had a big house and wardrobe audit and have a lot of clothes to sell or swap, not sure quite what to do as eBay is no good for lower value items.....need to research this a bit.

crapwithcash82

Hi Vodkabarbie... had to pop in and say hi - love the username! :rotfl:

You sound like you have a good plan - well done on the 4 NSDs, thats great progress! There is sooo much info and hints and tips etc on this site that I'm sure you'll be debt free before you know it!

CwC

PARIS_5000

vodkabarbie wrote: »

Been on holiday this week. The holiday was good in that we stayed in the UK, went camping, and didn't eat out or drink very much.....but I've still overspent and this month is super tight until pay day now - I guess it takes a while to get into the true DFW habits I feel a bit cross with myself!

I'm going to try to have a no-spend week this week as I have a full tank of petrol and I am on holiday this week but at home - I have so much to do round the house and garden that I shouldn't need to go shopping in town!

One good thing is that I've been doing the supermarket downsize challenge and I am amazed at how many sainsburys basics are awesome! Especially the fruit and veggies! The only thing that I didn't like were the tomatoes, but it's getting a lot easier to cut spend on the shopping.

I agree that sainsbury basic foods are really good expect for the Tomatoes.

vodkabarbie

So, update this week. Tuesday I had to get a tank of petrol, though that should last me till payday, and I had to do the dreaded food shop as we were out of fruit and a few essentials. I did however walk to the shop and take a draconian meal plan list - so we didn't spend too much and I have ways of using up all the food in the fridge. I've also started unsubscribing myself from the mailing lists of all the shops I use online, like Lakeland, Office shoes, etc - I'm so impulsive I'm a sucker for the discounts or one-time offers so it's best if I just don't get the emails.....wish I was better at resisting temptation. I wonder how long it takes for being frugal to become a habit?