September09's Debt Free Diary

september09

Boot camp! That sounds tough. Hope it goes well you should definatly go along. :T

As for me, as of tomorrow I will follow Weight Watchers from home (using my old books - not paying for anything!!) and start to follow my exercise routines.

Go us!! :beer:

jacey98

yay sounds good i go to ww but help the lady out so i dont have to pay anything (in fact we get paid a little bit from her) have lost half a stone but then kind of gave up but weigh day tommorrow so will start from fresh.....

woo hoo money savers and super fit people how good are we!!!!!!

jc x

claire0788

:rolleyes:Are you any good with spreadsheets, MSE people like spreadsheets (from what I can gather everybody is at it ). It really helps me because I have a terrible memory, I have the dates the direct debits will come out and how much.

With your phone, can you get one of those deals that you get free mins or texts with topping up £10 or whatever the latest deals are ? I know o2 and orange do things like. I have a contract phone so I cant remember the exact details but that might be something to look into aswell so you can stretch out your top up.

The shopping bit im not much help with, I barely go food shopping because of the way my work shifts go (and that I get fed for free at work :rolleyes:). There are loads of people on here that can help you out for that though, they have loads of tips. Going for a cheaper version of your usual product is a help at the tills though, it really does add up. On the rare time I do go household shopping I never buy cheap versions of my make up remover or body wash or hair stuff, BUT i do change the place where I buy it like semi chem instead of boots.

The social bit im good at ! http://www.5pm.co.uk/, I have had some great deals from that website, for meals out and drinks, new places opening that kinda thing, they also can give you invites to random events if you sign up to the mailing list. Do you go to the cinema alot ? If you do would it be cheaper to buy a cinema card ? http://www.cineworld.co.uk/unlimited if you have a cineworld near you, thats pretty good.

september09

Hi thanks for replying.

I am not so good with spreadsheets. My laptop is soooooo slow and its infuriating trying to do anything like that on it!! I think maybe a bigger book might be in order though. This one only has one column!! and not really room for much else.

I will have a pop at the spreadsheets though, anything that might work for me is worth a go, I'm very hesitant to say No to things straight away without even giving them a chance!

I am currently on Virgin Mobile, so is my Fiance so each text to each other is only 3p so already quite cheap. The only deal they do is free texts the weekend after you topup £10, which is pants really! In the past though my other half has said that he would consider switching if I found a good deal. So think I will add this to a future to do list and look for a better deal or perhaps even a contract?

I will have a look at that website this evening, thanks! :T

Regards the cinema, we currently go to a showcase near us. I have an insider card which gives us special deals sometimes, and the main Pro really is that its only a short drive away and parking is free whereas the nearest cineworld is in a city centre further away, so there's added petrol and parking costs on top of the price of a ticket. Thats why we never ventured there before.

Will have a gander around and hopefully get some shopping tips somewhere on the board-- I definatly need them!! :rotfl:

claire0788

If you have mircosoft works it has a spreadsheet part, go into the spreadsheet, then new and hopefully it will have finance spreadsheets already saved. Well mine does anyway, dont know if this is a new version of anything (my laptop is only 8 months old). If you want I could email you a blank one and all you have to do is input your names and amounts.

wendz86

Hi,

O2 do deals where you can get free texts and minutes to other o2 numbers. Worth looking at and you and OH could both do it and save yourself some money.

september09

I think I have microsoft Works. Will have a look tonight and get back to you! Wish me luck with the ancient laptop.

Hi Wendz86. I actually sent for some free O2 sims, they have arrived so I will see if my phone is unlocked (im not really sure atm) tonight and let you know. That would be great if both our phones were. :money:

september09

Ooooooooh and good news - I'm now in credit. Only £70 for 23 days but still! Just got to live an extremely ''money-savingly-thrifty-dont-spend-anything-i-dont-need-to-this-is-gonna-be-tough'' month now!! (That was a mouthfull) :rotfl:

september09

Ok. Yesterday evening. Finished off the to do list (well, almost)

It was:-

• [STRIKE]Go through cupboards, fridge and freezer to make meal plans to use up what we've got and save money on the old grocery bill.[/STRIKE] Written EVERYTHING down and got some meal ideas but not actually written them down yet, but thats far enough for me! Will work on writing them down tonight!!
• [STRIKE]Ring BG check on what engineer told me yesterday[/STRIKE]. All done, how pro-active am I?!
• [STRIKE]Text my friend regarding dinner plans for friday[/STRIKE]. All sorted and will be at my house, a meal from my yet to do meal plans (gives me an excuse to get started on that then!) how very Money-Saving.
• [STRIKE]Text our vote registration thingymajic to the council to stop them pestering us[/STRIKE]. Done and done!
• [STRIKE]Complete one of my exercise routines that I have all ready and written out for me but have yet to actually do! Must get fit this year!! [/STRIKE] Done! Yay!

Didn't get chance to get out the laptop and look for microsoft works. Will get on that tonight. Did however try the mobile and its locked so can't use the O2 Sim Cards Not wanting to change mobile as only just got a new one so will just have to cut my usage right back for now instead and make do.

This morning went to Wilkinsons and bought some toiletries (on offer--woop!) and a £5 mobile phone top up. Lets see how long this can last me!

september09

Todays to do list:

• Do a very restrained grocery/weekly shop.
• Write down actual meals for the meal plan!
• Look on laptop for Microsoft Works/Something like it.
• Tiday up house ready for friend coming tomorrow.