June 2010, 80 payments to go............

tootallulah

No spending day today as I was late starting for work and didn't have time to buy a coffee.

13 days to pay day and £140 to spend.

tootallulah

Coffee £2 and then everything forgotten from my grocery shopping. Perversely a jar of coffee, apples, loo rolls, and self raising flour £12.91. I have properly counted my money and I have £132.21 left with 12 days to pay day.

tootallulah

Coffee £2, Strawberries £1.99.

gallygirl

tootallulah wrote: »

£8.40 plant, £7.80 fruit.£45.90 Waitrose, largely Prosecco and Badoit,and I took £75. oo out of the cashpoint. I think that is classed as everything wents XXXX up. So I start again!

:wave: Hello Toots & welcome :wave:

Am guessing you have a high income to support your lifestyle, which is great, but there are lots of ways you could cut your spending. For example, your £2 coffee - this is from your take home pay. Take off tax, NI, travel costs, work clothes, 'bonding sessions' in the pub etc, and work out your net hourly rate. Is it really worth it? Especially bearing in mind a £2 OP on your mortgage knocks off around an extra £2 in interest. So that £2 coffee is actually £4 and is costing you how many minutes? If you still decide it's worth it, great, but at least you'll have gone through a thinking process. There is a tool HERE to help you assess.

Also, you seem to shop a lot in Waitrose, and are buying top end mineral water etc. Set yourself the challenge of dropping a grade in some products every week, e.g. downgrade to Pellegrino, then Highland Springs, then own label, then value etc. Try this with a range of products - you'll be surprised. Some you'll hate, others you may not notice the difference, others you may prefer. For example, I always carry a few cans of energy drink in the car - I bought 6 own label today for £1.50 instead of £1 each for Red Bull - I actually prefer them.

In Newark I am sure you have some stores like Lidl & Aldi. Try them out - especially for cooked meats - the salami & Serrano ham is great, and Lidl's free range chickens are lovely.

I look forward to following your progress

tootallulah

Thanks GG I am fortunate to earn a good wage but until this month I have considered myself "careful" how wrong am I? I love Aldi and shop there often but as this diary shows I just shop too much in every way and Waitrose is next door to where I work.

I am definitely keeping going for June and then giving myself a target for July (and then for the months to December). I would sacrifice pretty much anything to keep a coffee in the morning even though I know it is a completely unnecessary expense.

I look at people here and know I can do much better. Task for today is to list what is in the freezer and cupboards and eat it. I do not need to enter a food shop for the rest of June! We'll see............

cha97michelle

I find it has become a mind set thing. Instead of thinking i have £140 i could spend, i would be thinking, how much of that amount could i not spend. So i would be challenging myself to make do with what i had, walk rather than catch a bus - that sort of thing. It soon becomes habit to work this way instead. Or, if i can get x for 50p cheaper, i'll put the 50p in my mortgage pot. If i didn't treat it like a game i would not do as much as i do.

tootallulah

That's a good idea, I certainly need to do something. I am having a quiet day at home today, which is a real treat. I will count up my pennies etc and see where I am for the next two weeks. If I really can manage on what I have left it is a good pointer for next month. Also I must do some cleaning today, it's all looking very slovenly.

greent

I really like your diary and your honesty about your spending

We spend £3500-4000 a month in this house. (that will horrify some people!) Thankfully we have the income to support this, but I do try and reign it in a bit (honest!) (ignore the fact that OH and I have bought brand new cars costing £45k in the last 12 months - we did pay cash - and I'm ignoring what that could have done to the mtge!!!:p:p)

OH catches the train to work and regularly has a tea/ coffee - I think that's fair enough - although I'm not convinced about the Krispy Kremes (sp?) to go with it!!!:rotfl::rotfl:

I think a big thing is understanding where your money goes - and if you're happy with the level of what you spend/ where you spend it.... This diary should sort that bit out for you

I look forward to reading more!

gallygirl

tootallulah wrote: »

I am definitely keeping going for June and then giving myself a target for July (and then for the months to December). I would sacrifice pretty much anything to keep a coffee in the morning even though I know it is a completely unnecessary expense.

A 'completely unnecessary expense' is when you buy another pack of chicken because you can't be @rsed checking the freezer, or, the one that makes me have to bite my tongue when I see people buying it, a sealed bag with a chopped up onion in it. If you are buying the coffee because you love it, look forward to itr etc., and it's not something you just do out of habit then it's worth it

tootallulah wrote: »

I look at people here and know I can do much better.

We all could do that. There are threads on here (well, on old style board and DFW) of people who live on very, very little through choice. I admire them for what they're doing, but that extreme action is not for me. It's more useful to look at YOURSELF and know you can do better.

tootallulah wrote: »

Task for today is to list what is in the freezer and cupboards and eat it. I do not need to enter a food shop for the rest of June! We'll see............

I found menu planning a little restrictive - my brain/stomach would revolt & say 'don't you tell me what I'm having to eat Thursday night' (they gang up on me a lot ). What I found more useful was to sketch out what was happening over the next few weeks, e.g. 'late meeting' so no time to cook, 'working from home' so could use the slow cooker etc. Then I went through freezer & made a list of what I could make & what I had already cooked & frozen. That way I could think, 'right tonight I can defrost lasagne or curry or take out a chicken breast & do a quick stir fry'. That way it was like choosing off a menu. (Note tense used there - feeling guilty now so will do the same exercise today )

cha97michelle wrote: »

I find it has become a mind set thing. If i didn't treat it like a game i would not do as much as i do.

Me too. I treat Peefer the mortgage pig as a pet and pat him every time he gets his 'dinner' etc.

greent wrote: »

I think a big thing is understanding where your money goes - and if you're happy with the level of what you spend/ where you spend it.... This diary should sort that bit out for you

I agree - this is key really, we're all in a very fortunate position where we are choosing to do this so how much we do & how much time we devote to it is up to us. Which is kinda empowering :T.

Crikey, I've prattled on a bit. Will shut up & sort out freezer now

tootallulah

Lordy, lordy, LOO ROLLS £2.05