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

Chocforever

Oooh, home grown veg sounds great and very MSE . I must start growing rocket. I love the stuff and have heard it is very easy to grow but have just never got round to it .

I had a lovely, relaxing weekend away. Some money spent on a gorgeous jumper, but other than that I was restrained.

I am so envious of your payday (LOL at hourly countdown!). I have to wait until next week and I don't think my bank balance has looked so low for ages. I have been transferring money out to my house saving pot so I can't fritter it away, but maybe got overenthusiastic! I think I'll have to plan better next month.

debtfreesomeday

Glad you had a lovely relaxing weekend Chocs. Hope it's refreshed you a little after your stressful/busy time at work these past few months.

I got sent some Carrot and tomatoes seeds in the post last night - a freebie from the RHS - so I shall try and sow those in the next week or two... if it ever stops raining. The rocket is doing really well on the windowsill. So well that I probably need to transplant and thin out the plants a little. I love rocket too, and we buy so much of the stuff. I find it never lasts much longer than 24 hours in the fridge though, so we often end up throwing it away, hence my decision to grow some and cut fresh as we need it. The seeds were less than £1 too - bargain!

I see I have had a '£10 birthday bonus' sent to me from a bingo site today. I will check that out tonight and play it through if it's free and demands no other deposit.

13 hours until payday... :T

DFSD
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Chocforever

Is it your birthday today? Well Happy Birthday DFSD! Did you bake yourself some of those cupcakes?!

To a novice rocket grower like myself, do you have any tips? It will have a choice of very sunny or very shady in my flat.

And good luck with the bingo .

debtfreesomeday

No, not my birthday today, but in the next week - thanks for the birthday greeting though, you're the first! No, no cupcakes unfortunately, but my Mum baked me a lovely chocolate cake and gave it to me early when they came to stay last time (of course, we had to eat it then, it couldn't be saved for 3 weeks).

As for the rocket, I bought a 97p 'grow in the pot' kit from Wilkinsons and just shoved it on my windowsill. It's quite a sunny room during the day, so I guess sunny rather than shade, and just don't let the soil dry out, but don't over-water either. I'm going to transplant ours into the garden in a week or two IF the weather warms up a bit, but sure you can grown them to full size successfully on a windowsill.

Good luck!
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debtfreesomeday

As it's payday agin in a few hours (!), we have been doing our monthly budget, and it's dire for the month ahead.

We have ended up £110 overdrawn through cr&p planning; we have to pay for new brake pads on the car this week, and we also very sadly have a funeral to go to this week which involves a tank of petrol and an overnight stay - cheapest room being £75.

We have just worked out our budget, and we only have £79 left to pay for the brakes and any other little expenses that may crop up this month. :eek: I have no idea how much the car wil cost, but I'm guessing it is around £100, maybe a bit less. Excuse me for swearing, but oh sh*t. The only alternative we have is to pay for them on the Sainsburys card and pay it back next month, something I really wanted to avoid. I know it's 0% but it means that card won't be cleared this month, and will effectively be credit card debt.

We've decided that we are going to meal plan this month - I have already printed out some blank meal planner templates. First we need to 'tocktake' what we have in, which is loads actually, so we're lucky there. We've run out of fruit though which I will buy at the weekend. We are also expecting a large delivery of meat from an online butchers on Friday which was paid for last month, so that will help greatly. This month we have decided to withdraw the grocery budget in cash, and go out shopping to Lidl and such, rather than order online. We shall only go as and when we need things, and I mean NEED, not want! Once the money's gone, it's gone; but hopefully we will be able to come in under budget by doing it this way.

Hubby has managed to throw in an extra £40 this month too, so that should help a little.

We've just had to downsize birthday plans for the weekend too - we were going to go out for the day and have a meal - nothing expensive, and hubby has saved the money up, bless him, but we really can't afford to do it, so we'll just cook something nice. He is more disappointed than me and I feel really bad. This is the month when we get our finances back on track!

I'm so annoyed we're still in this mess, I really am.

yukkibear

We're the same, it's crap but sadly life chucks us pearlers and we have no option to cope with it.

Our 0% is creeping up to an uncomfortable limit, and I hate it. I don't want debt, but seriously need to stop spending money on crap and plan better and eat better.

Hope you get through the month ok, and have a lovely birthday despite all this.

debtfreesomeday

Thanks Yukki, and sorry to hear things aren't going great for you at the moment either. How's the teeth now?

yukkibear

Teeth are still the same, don't bother me on a day to day as long as my cheek / chin area isn't touched. I am still waiting for an appt from the hospital.

debtfreesomeday

The countdown's over - we've been paid. A chunk of money's been paid off the Sainsbury's card (although there's still a balance on there which will get paid off next month - grrr.) It's been taken out of my wallet and is now only going to be used for petrol this month, as it was getting too confusing using it for everything else and then trying to transfer the money across.

We're withdrawing cash for the grocery budget this month, there's £120 in the pot so that has to last us. We made a list of everything we had in the cupboards and freezers last night, and there's loads, so we will be absolutely fine. We are meal planning this month too, which we need to finalise at the weekend. I have to buy some more fruit tomorrow and some veg, but will go down to the local shops and see what their prices are like. If it doesn't look good, then I shall go to Lidl which is near us as their fruit and veg is usually very good and very reasonable.

We're also £40 up on where I thought we'd be, thanks to hubby managing to throw a bit extra in the pot this month.

I think we may need to get ourselves in gear and do a car boot sale before next payday and try and make a bit of money. We just need the weather for it though.

Have a good Thursday everyone,

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

I've just compiled a spreadsheet of the household groceries we have in presently - thought it may be a bit of an OTT exercise, but when it's all laid out in front of you it's really easy to see what we are short of and what we don't need to buy for a while.

I've also photocopied some recipes from a book at work instead of buying the actual book. In more flush months, I would've just bought the book! I've chosen a few simple and cheap treats - including a particular type of biscotti that hubby LOVES which are expensive to buy. I can't wait to get baking!

DFSD
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