Want to be a mfw but worried?

ally18

I had a think yesterday about trying to make a little more money using my credit card and day to day buying so this is now in place. I should make around an extra £50 which normally would not happen, just by changing my ways plus about an extra £30 in vouchers for Christmas.

Another nsd again, lunch is soup provided by home.

Had an altercation this morning with a rail passenger! I live close to a station and passengers who don't like to pay car parking fees and prefer to take up residents parking, are starting to annoy me quite a bit. They deliberately block residents cars in and I couldn't get out this morning. I don't care that they pay their tax, it does not mean that they can park just anywhere at all!!! And their common sense just seems to have gone out the window. I watched one guy this morning take about 4 attempts to park his car exactly on the corner of two roads which was plain dangerous for people turning the corner!

Rant over

ally18

Been hit by the lurgy this week so currently sniffling and sneezing and not being able to taste anything.

Was not in work yesterday so after much paracetamol, I spent the afternoon chopping all the veg which was starting to go slightly yuk and made another four portions of soup to freeze.

Another nsd, well tbh, I rarely spend during the week so this was usual.

I found I had added my grocery shops up wrongly so far and so only have £25 to last till the end of the month. It shouldn't be a problem I hope, £10 this week and £15 next, but I do have an 18 and a 15th bday at the end of the month to cover. I have the funds saved for the day's entertainment but I wanted to do a bbq for family members on the bh so I need to plan this out. It will be lots of hm treats I think which I can do and so just buy the meat. I have drink left over from the weekend previously (scrumpy) which can be diluted with lemonade for a refreshing drink.

ally18

Another weekend gone, spent it in the sun putting up a shed on the allotment that someone very kindly gave me. It was a bit of a hassle but I managed it all by myself, go me . I just now have to finish off the roof with some more felting and paint it.

Planted the lavender plants and lucky dips I received last week as well.

Made the mistake of going to cos*** on Friday and spent £22 which I could not really afford but really the visit was to look at bday cakes. I have stocked up on juice, choc milk, cereals and other bits. But I did stick to the £10 grocery figure though which I guess now was a daft. All best laid plans and all that.

As I only put £40 diesel in, the remaining £10 will be added to the fund for the bbq.

I have started to do a few surveys when I have time to see if it is worthwhile, will see about this.

Will be glad when May is over, it has been a long month. Am hoping to make another op at the end of the month as it will be the emergency monthly fund that I have gone into so fingers crossed, there may be something left to op with.

ally18

Really p**** off at the moment. One of the new tyres on the car keeps going flat!! Had it for all of 10 days!!!!!!!!!!!

ally18

Big sigh of relief this morning, the tyre has been checked and it wasn't sealed properly. So this has been redone and it will be fingers crossed and lots of kisses for the car over the next few days. (I don't know whether I should admit this but I do talk to my car. Meg is the most wonderful car when all is ok. I must keep her sweet as she is 100% needed)

However, air-con on the car is no longer working. Do I pay to have that done or, on the basis of the weather yesterday, do I use my car as a sauna ...... lose weight and save money?

Decisions, decisions.

Oh roll on pay day this month. I am so skint

Mind you that won't make any difference as it all goes out the same day on bills and dds :rotfl:

Coffee and chocolate needed today

ally18

A new month and big decisions made last week. I have used my maturing ISA to pay off a large chunk of m2 to bring this under £1k. Emergency savings have now gone down but the sense of satisfaction of having m2 very nearly gone is outweighing the practicalities.

M1 is £51,900 ish
M2 is £900 ish

From this month on, I will now be concentrating on over paying m1 and just making the min on m2. Still on course for 2026.

Birthdays went well, cakes from c**co were fab and well worth the money.

I have tightened up some more budgets just a tad to see if I can manage on them. Decided against fixing the air-con, it isn't a necessity.

June costs will be boiler servicing and car tax. I made a lot more hm soup this weekend and that will cover work lunches, plus a chicken casserole from yesterday will also do my tea for the next couple of days. No spending this week.

ally18

I wanted to post my figures so I could see how far I have come through using this forum. I started originally in 2009, then came back properly in 2010 with the following figures:

M1 - £62,367.59 @0.68% (Was at £66k this time last year 2009)
M2 - £17,441.98 @1.49% (Was at £19k this time last year 2009)

As of today, 4 years later:

M1 is £51,900 ish
M2 is £900 ish


Original mfd was 2036 age 70
New mfd to be 2026 age 60 - I don't know if this will be achieved but I will try.

Plus I now have an emergency savings act, although depleted at the mo, it is still in place.

I have to admit I am pleased with what I have managed to achieve so far. If I had not had this forum to follow, read other peoples' amazing stories, become mse and really change my mindset, I hate to think where I would be today. :j

I still have a long way to go though but it just shows what you can do if you keep trying slowly. I own the second floor of my house myself plus the stairs. Its all mine, mine, mine. I just have to pay the toll at the front door to get past the bank manager to reach it at the mo :rotfl:

juststuff123

Hi Ally18, just been reading through your Diary, it's been a big transformation both in money saving & confidence. A great role model!

ally18

Thankyou juststuff for your kind words. I wouldn't say a role model just a determind plodder really

ally18

Well, my stoozing plans are in place and am using the new % free cc. I have already moved over the money spent to the new higher interest account. Pennies will make pounds.:)

I have been using a cc for years now, always paying the bill in full each month, I wonder how much extra I could have made in interest if I had done this years ago. But, I am a bit funny about having too many cards and so only ever applied for one. It seems to be the norm nowadays that you have more than one card and numerous bank accounts so ... I have jumped aboard the wagon. I also plan to have a basic current act where I can have abt 3 dds on to use as a switching account in the future, then I may make something on the offers around.

However, have found today that my new cc wasn't accepted at one retailer which is really annoying. I have no idea why and had to end up using the old one I wanted to close down. Hope this is not going to be a frequent incident

Need to use the emergency fund this month as I have to buy weed membrane for the allotment and some outdoor wicks for my torch lights. Hopefully there will be some sun soon so I can use them

Stock cupboard is coming along nicely, I will be adding more supplies next week which are winging their way over to me. £30 out of grocery budget spent, total already for month £60/£160 so will need to stick to £25 for the next 4 weeks.

Gym tonight, shopping with mother tomorrow and then 2 days free. More soups needed for next week's lunches. That batch of mushroom soup I made last weekend has supplied all this weeks lunches plus two further portions in the freezer. The chicken casserole supplied 4 evening meals. Not bad for a total sum of £2.50