Not Tiny, Not Courageous, but definitely in debt

tiny_courageous

Right that's Christmas out of the way. Had a lovely time, busy but plenty of bargain food on Christmas eve and some lovely presents. Now starts the hard work of new year resolutions and hopefully lots of debtbusting!

tiny_courageous

Am going to try to get back into NSDs for the new year - I find they really do work for me. I need to find out a little notebook to start writing down my spends. Not bad so far - £3.99 for a [STRIKE]hangover cure[/STRIKE] burger king yesterday and nothing today. Mind you, I've not left the house today apart from to put washing out. Also spent less than I was anticipating NYE so that was a bonus as well!

Got a Mary Berry Xmas cake in the oven - got to give it a go for a couple of quid! Chicken in the slow cooker for a nice easy tea (and lunch for work tomorrow as well, and probably tomorrow's tea too!). Shouldn't need to do much food shopping over the next week or so as got loads of whoopsies over the Xmas period. I just need to be a bit organised and remember to get things out of the freezer the night before. Will probably do fish pie this week as have some spuds that nee using, and some soups as lots of carrots. Also some very nice cheeses left over from Christmas so those on crackers sounds like a good tea to me!

tiny_courageous

Yay, the mobile bill was exactly £15 this month!

Had whoopsied chicken for tea last night and whoopsied steak tonight. We'll have the remainder of the chicken in a curry tomorrow along with whoopsied naan. Everything in the kitchen has a yellow sticker on it at the moment. Made my Mary Berry Xmas cake as well, smells well nice. Will ice it at the weekend.

Had a wander around boots this afternoon after work - my goodness there's a lot of sale stuff left. Lots of Sanctuary stuff, which I love, and lots of No7 which I also love but I resisted as I got some No7 stuff before the wedding and that'll do me for now. Though if the prices go down to 75% off I'll probably not be able to resist temptation.

Spend day today, as I needed petrol. £60 to fill up and hopefully that'll last a couple of weeks.

Am now going to contemplate the ironing for a bit and then search the house for more things to declutter

tiny_courageous

Spent £8 on ebay postage yesterday, and nothing today, so that's 2/5 so far. No plans for the weekend so should manage at least one or two - pub tomorrow night so no chance!

Am avoiding the supermarkets and trying to be sensible with food, and not throw food away. Have taken lunch to work all week this week, and even though I wandered around the shops didn't buy anything, which is very good considering the sales are on!

Work is good at the moment, which also helps. Just wish I could get rid of this cold!

tiny_courageous

Well I was avoiding the supermarkets but then OH came home with a £5 off when you spend £40 voucher for morrisons, so we figured we may as well stock up. So, £44 later we came home with a trolley full of whoopsies, plenty of tins and a few treats. And then we went to the pub.

Today I am not leaving the house so it will be a NSD. Once I've decluttered the sky hard drive I'm going to start on the wardrobe and drawers.

tiny_courageous

Another day not leaving the house (well with this amount of sport on the TV why would I want to?) so NSDs are up to 4/8. Random sausage stew concoction is in the slow cooker which will sort work lunches for this week. Sorted out the drawers yesterday and finally did the old PC - now to see if brother in law wants it or whether we just freecycle it. That'll give us more room upstairs anyway.

Need to start contemplating storage options. Also need to get OH to go through his clothes and general clutter on his side of the room.

tiny_courageous

NSD again today, making 5/9. Very pleased with this! However, at some point this week I will need two new tyres for the car so that'll be a significant expense. Gutted! Got a mate looking out for some at trade price though so not entirely a crisis.
Sausage thingy in the slow cooker looked lovely when I took it out this morning - kind of like a sausage patatas bravas. That'll do nicely for work for the rest of the week!

Also realised that so far in the new year I am 7/9 AFDs (alcohol free days). No drinking on a school night, which is quite the challenge considering how much alcohol is left over from Christmas. I don't for a minute think that I will keep this up for long but I'm trying to make sure I have lots of soft drinks in the house so I don't feel quite so tempted.

OH has come home tonight with vast amounts of BOGOF vouchers for my favourite beer at our local pub, so we'll have to make use of those. Also have some tesco vouchers for pizza express to use up before february, so maybe we'll combine the two on a MSE night out!

tiny_courageous

Creme Eggs my !!!!. It's not even bloody February yet!

Anyway, now I've got that out of my system... 5/10 on NSDs and 8/10 on AFDs. Got a toastie maker today for £5.99, paid for with £5 voucher that had to be used before 20th Jan, and 99p in change, and then £1.60 for parking which I will claim back from work.

I'm 6/6 for taking lunches to work, which is great, and there's definitely stuff in the fridge to last the rest of the week. Got lots of whoopsied fruit the other day too, which helps with the healthy eating plan (which is not so much yay healthy eating as ooh lots of fruit at work and no beer during the week at home. At least OH ate the last of the christmas chocolate yesterday).

tiny_courageous

6/12 on NSDs and currently 9/12 for AFDs but it may be 10 depending on my contemplating a beer tonight.

Good whoopsie haul in tesco the other night, was quite pleased with that but disappointed with the reductions (or lack thereof) on Christmas stuff. Will wait and see with that.

I still keep looking round the house for random stuff I can sell/get rid of. Found an iron in the back of the cupboard that we haven't used for about 5 years so that can go. I just want to simplify my life. I don't need things, I don't need 500 dresses or 300 tops or 200 pairs of shoes, I need (and want) experiences and the more I declutter and save and am sensible with money the more experiences I can afford and the more calm the house will seem. Definitely going to take another look in the wardrobe because there's loads there I haven't worn in years but I keep because it's nice or smart or whatever.

I'm also going to stop saving things for best. Best is now.

I also need to find a nice box to put wedding memories in. Just little things like the guest book, order of service, table setting etc. And then find somewhere that does dry cleaning so I can also sell the dress! Don't get me wrong, I loved the dress, I had a fabulous day and felt wonderful in it, but I'm also practical. I won't wear it again. It'll go to waste in my house when potentially someone else could feel as special as I did in it. Even if I get a quarter of the money back it'll be better than nothing.

I have lots to do this weekend! In fact, I might start in a few minutes by finding a box to put the PC in before it gets taken to whoever is having it. By the time I've done that the washing machine should have finished and then I can sort that out. And hopefully OH might be home by then so I can have some tea!

And after that I shall deserve a beer.

tiny_courageous

8/14 on NSDs (didn't spend anything in the pub last night!) and 9/14 AFDs (currently necking a mulled wine as it's bloody freezing!).

Got the car tyres done on the cheap which is ace. Every little helps! I feel really focused at the moment which is good and I'm going to try to harness that to push myself to do things that need doing and make positive changes. You only live your life once, so I'm trying to grab opportunities and make the most of them, but at the same time be financially astute and make the most of what I have.

I worked out what was in my bank account, and paid off £500 on my credit card the other day. It's a start and once I hit payday I think I'll hopefully be able to make another three figure payment. If I can pay £500 a month, it'll be clear by the end of the year. £500 is not unrealistic, but only if I'm sensible.