DFSD's five year plan... and all it brings along the way

debtfreesomeday

Well I made myself knuckle down and get some work done! I have managed to sort the spare room which I'm really pleased about as it was really starting to bug me. It's all back in order now, furniture moved back in the right places and 'stuff' put back in its rightful places.

I also sorted through the books we were keeping for a car boot sale and have put about 15 of them in the charity collection bag we had through the door yesterday. I was considering giving them all of the car boot stuff just to get rid, but most of it's in the attic and I really can't be bothered to go up there today. We will do one boot sale in the next few months and whatever doesn't sell will be given to the charity shop. I have also found a few other nice bits and pieces which have gone into the charity bag, hopefully they can raise some funds with them.

This afternoon I have also made two large dishes of bacon/onion/herby potato type bake which I'm going to portion up and freeze for hubby's lunches. He's not a sandwich or soup lover, so it's hard for him to find something quick and easy to take to work at times and often results in him buying something out if we don't have much in.

Little cakes have also been baked.

I'm still cold, so am going to have a lovely early evening bath; followed by some soup for one and then snuggle up under the blanket on the sofa for the evening. I'm going to leave the petrol and picking up of bargain duvet until tomorrow. There's no rush for either.

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

Oh, forgot to mention that, whilst sorting out the spare room, I put aside some surplus furniture to sell via the notice board at work. I also found a couple of items lurking in the garage too - I am currently charging the camera to take pictures of them so I can advertise them on Monday. Nothing of large value, just £5 - or £10 each but it all helps and is better than nothing. I won't even mind if we give them away for free, just so we can have a bit more space and somebody else is getting use of them.

Chocforever

Your lazy weekends sound like my busy weekends .

I have also pottered a bit today, then spent more than I care to admit at the hairdressers and went on to help at a charity event. Definitely a lazy evening in and can sort out the money from the charity event at the same time.

I really must make some more effort with the tidying tomorrow. I found some clothes suitable for ebaying today and took photos of them. I won't list them yet as I have a long weekend away next week, but at least it is a step in the right direction

Hope you sleep well tonight x

debtfreesomeday

Your long weekend away sounds nice Chocs, a much needed break by the sounds of your hectic work schedule lately.

Didn't sleep any better last night - worse in fact - so am shattered today!
I managed to find a burst of energy tonight to do some hoovering, a bit of washing and cook 5 portions of fish pie to freeze. I also had a bit of a tody up in the kitchen food cupboards. Tonight we popped out to buy potatoes, bananas and a few other bits and pieces we'd run out of. We stuck to the list and spent £21 - which included a bottle of wine to take over to a friend's who is cooking us dinner on Wednesday night.

I've done the scratchcards tonight - 10p & 25p - and also started a new free daily game via Tombola.

That's about all for now I think, sorry it's not much of an update, my head's fuzzy from lack of sleep at the moment!

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

I've been a busy bee again tonight... I've made some relatively healthy pizzas from scratch with dough made in the bread machine (but don't tell hubby they're wholemeal!;)). They're currently cooling, ready to be frozen for hubby's lunches.

I also had to pop out and pick up some batteries - the cheapest I could find were £5!:eek: I also picked up a reduced posh sandwich (59p) for hubby's lunch, but when I checked the receipt in the car, I saw they'd charged me the full price of £2.70! :eek: So, swiftly back into the shop I went, and got the difference refunded. The 'old' me probably wouldn't have bothered! :o:o:eek:

25p & 10p on the scratchcards tonight.

Dinner was slow cooked beef stew which we put on this morning, there was enought to freeze one portion of leftovers too.

I had a much better night's sleep last night, so am feeling brighter today. I'm sure the exercise at the gym is helping me to feel a little more energised in the evenings. We tried to go to the gym tonight, but couldn't park due to another event on there tonight.:mad: SO, the plan is to go in the morning... at 6am! :o:eek: Wish me luck!!!

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

Well I was up at 6am, but we didn't make it to the gym. :o:rotfl:Have decided to go after work instead, before we go over our friend's for dinner.:D

I've done the scratchcards (25p) and free games etc this morning, except for one, whose site is down for maintenance.

Lunches were done late night, no need to sort food for this evening as we're being fed. I need to jump in the shower shortly and get ready for work.

I'm not feeling happy about our progress with the debt busting of late. In fact, apart from the regular payments, we've made practically no progress. I'm going to have a good think about this today and come up with a bit of a review of how things are and what we need to do next. After paying off the credit cards we've allowed ourselves to relax a little and this is not good!

Must get ready for now...

debtfreesomeday

A little sale from Amazon has cheered me up today - £4.95 made on a DVD. :j
It shall go straight off the car expenses on the sainsbury's card.

Talking of which, it is this that has been getting me worried about our finances lately. The idea of this card was to use it to earn lots of extra nectar points - ie. use it then pay off immediately from the bank account. We have been doing this 90% of the time, but there has been a couple of occasions when we have totally forgotten to transfer the money - resulting in a small amount building up on it. (Very small, and nothing we can't cope with, but after our LONG battle with credit card debts, it worries me). So, I have decided to remove this card from my wallet and just use it for food and petrol - nothing else like we had been doing.
Regarding the groceries, my card is already registered online anyway, and hubby usually fills the car up with petrol, so I don't really need it anyway. It was the little spends that we were forgetting on there - this will hopefully avoid this happening again.

Needless to say, the £4.95 from Amazon will be going straight towards that small balance!

I have also found that using the card makes working out the remaining budget much more difficult. There are many more transactions and transfers to keep track of and it hasn't helped at all this month. We still have money in the bank, but not a lot. Next month will be a clean slate for us, financially. Hopefully we will start to overpay the loan's with April's pay and we'll be on the right road to debt freedom then.

I have been asked to work overtime this week (*groan*). It is good money, especially at weekends, so I shall be working right through this weekend I think. Hopefully the extra money, which we should receive in April or even May's wages (don't ask - it's a stupid system :mad:) will help with an overpayment.

Lunch today was homemade butternut squash soup, and a basics bread roll. I brought a big enough tub of the soup in to last for tomorrow's lunch as well.

It's funny, but it's the little things in this journey that keep me motivated - like making a meal stretch for a couple of portions, little Amazon sales or saving water by turning the shower down to a trickle when shampooing/conditioning hair etc. (luckily we have a good shower - it doesn't affect the temp!). The big things like finally paying off the credit cards was a bit of a let down when the moment came (even though I know that's the whole point of all this).

The phrase 'It's not the destination, but the journey that counts' springs to mind.

I just want it to be payday now so I can sort out next month's finances and see what's what. Only a week to go...

DFSD

Lemon_Tree

you're very right about this journey being about the road we travel rather than the destination. I think that's why so many of us fall off the wagon along then way and then have to clamber back on hopefully having not made our situations too much worse.

Chocforever

Hi DFSD

I think it is that middle of the month feeling when there is no money coming in and most of what was earned last month has been spent so there is little scope to save anything. You are doing really well chipping away at the debt, batch cooking (your freezer must be full up!) and keeping your spending down :T.

I have been at concerts the last two evenings which has been lovely. Long, long days, though, and I nearly choked on my supper last night when I read you were thinking of going to the gym at 6am. I know that really this is the most sensible thing to do and gets the exercise done for the day, but whenever I planned to do it and the alarm went off, my willpower was gone and I would lie in instead! Mind, I am not a morning person at all whereas you seem to be up and about early even on a weekend, so you probably have a fighting chance of joining the early birds at the gym.

Hope you made it there tonight and had a nice evening out x

debtfreesomeday

Regarding the early morning gym Chocs - that's exactly what I did too! We didn't make it early, but did go last night.

Had a lovely evening last night too thanks, but am paying for it now as I'm feeling very tired and really could've stayed in bed this morning.

I suddenly remembered last night that we need to get the brake pads replaced on the car as soon as possible - I forgot all about it. I'm not entirely sure how much that's going to cost, but I guess any overtime earned will be paying for that. I might work late tonight actually, solely for the money.

DFSD