My diary - A little bit of everything!

sidneysmum

I`m not really sure if I should be posting a diary here but hey ho! I just feel as though I need to put down in writing on a regular basis the changes I hope to make in my life. I dont actually want to record my diary as a "debt free wanabee" as I have a few changes I want to record are not all money saving.
Over the last couple of years, my life has been in a bit of a limbo. I have actually changed from being a proactive person to being a bit on the lazy side. So - I need to buck my ideas up as regarding getting off my backside and catching up with jobs that need doing instead of idling about. I only work 2 1/2 days a week so have plenty of free time. I think thats been my trouble - The more time you have on your hands the harder it is to get things done.
I have my first financial goal to meet. I own a property I no longer live in which I rent out. I have an endowment mortgage on the house but sold the endowment years ago as it was rubbish. Anyway I owe the massive amount of £7111.93 as of today!! My goal is to pay this off as quickly as possible. I should be able to do this fairly quickly as I do not have many outgoings. My husband pays most /all of the bills for the home we live in. So my plan is to pay off as much as I can as soon as I can so I have got rid of one anchor round my neck.
My next goal is to try to use up the massive stock of all manner of thing that I have accumulated over the past year or so. I have 2 freezers which are bursting at the seams with food - likewise tinned food and toiletries etc. My plan is not to replace anything unless we have used up our stock. At the moment we have started to use up food out of the freezer and I plan to only buy bread, milk etc. I must have enough frozen food to last until the end of February at a rough guess. I feel as though having full cupboards and freezers are just dead money. My plan is to save as much money as I can on day to day living and to use my savings to pay off the mortgage.
To sum things up, I need to start to put my back into all aspects of my life. I need to get on with some small DIY projects in my home and garden. At one time I would treat life as a challenge whereas nowadays I just put things off. This needs to change.:A:T

sidneysmum

Well my first day got off to a mixed start. It was my first day back at work after Christmas. My plans for a jog before work were scuppered by yet another load of snow. First good intention out of the window!!
Anyway I made my first dent in the mortgage debt. My youngest son owed me £856.50 which he has now paid me back. He is currently in Afghan so I pay his bills whilst he is away and he settles up on his return. Easy! So the mortage debt has been reduced by that amout :j. I have also cancelled some car insurance today and hope that I might get some money back from it. However I wont know for a week or so. At least I got my finger out and arranged the cancellation instead of leaving it!
Today I took both my breakfast and lunch to work - Both leftovers - fruit and youghurt for breakfast - the fruit being blackberries I picked last summer and froze. Lunch was leftover savoury rice. Tea was leftover frozen pasta and tuna which was great. No longer are leftovers meals being given to the dog when we can eat them instead. In fact I have toughened up with the dog this week. She is starting to get a bit picky with her food so I have decided to stand firm with her and make her eat what is in her bowl. As much as I adore my dog, I do remember the dog we had at home when I was a child. It ate what it was given and no fancy dogfoods. Its now a battle of wills!!
I have also made up a rough meal plan for the next few days using up some of the mountains of food we have in the freezers. Sidneys dad bought 2 loaves of bread today which cost £1.25. I also paid a builder friend of ours £80 this morning to hang 2 internal doors and to repoint the garden wall. Money well spent I think. I have been putting off doing these jobs for most of last year. I really need to get my finger out. The internal doors had been sat there for 6 months at least and just needed hanging. What was so difficult in ringing up the builder to arrange it. NOTHING. I dont think the garden wall would have lasted another bad winter so its far preferable having it repointed rather than rebuilt.
On my way home from work I called at WH Smith and bought the latest SW magazine. I didnt use hard cash to buy it but a gift card which has been lurking in my purse for about 18 months. I buy this magazine every issue so really made a saving using the gift card.:T
Not sure what tomorrow will bring as I am at work again. I really hope that I can still manage to do a couple of extra little bits of jobs before / after work. After tomorrow I am off till after the weekend so hopefull I will be motivated to catch up with some chores:A

ironlady2022

Wow, keep up the good work!! Very interesting read lol

sidneysmum

Mayling03 - Thanks for your interest. Its good to know someone is reading all my ramblings !



Anyway today has seen a little more progress. I have been at work again but have still managed to do a few extra chores. I checked my current account. My months salary was paid in a few days ago, and my direct debits have now been taken out for the month. I decided to take the bull by the horns an mayke a payment off the mortgage to the tune of £350. DONE! If I had left the money just sat in my account, I am sure it would have probably ended up being spent at M&S. Now the temptation is gone and I have brought my debt down to under 6k. :rotfl:
Tomorrow I am off work so I am really hoping that I get up nice and early and motivate myself to catch up on some chores. I have got very lazy over the past couple of years and can spend far too much time on the internet !! Its not that the house and garden etc are a tip, its just that they could do with getting a bit more TLC.
Today we have had leftovers from the freezer for out tea - chilli and rice which was really nice. Lunch and breakfast at work consisted of leftovers so a few more savings there. At the moment my chest freezer is still very full but once we have used up some of the food, I plan to make a list of its contents. There is just too much food to empty out of the freezer at the moment. However I have made a menu for the next few days - chicken curry, roast dinner, steak and onions and a huge ham for Sunday.
Anyway enough of todays ramblings !!!

ironlady2022

Hey sidneysmum, how about going through all your direct debits to make sure you know what's coming out and those that shouldn't be should be cancelled! Are you doing regular savings per month? I know you're only part time but still I believe anyone can save if they could!

sidneysmum

Hi Mayling 03 - I took your advise regarding cancelling old direct debits and managed to cancel one.:beer: However I think I only have 5 other DD`s - phone contract £30, Gas £50, Elec £50, cineworld membership £13.50 and cancer research. They are all paid at the start of the month so whatever is left I use to buy food. So thanks again !!
Today has been a very productive day. I have been off work and actually managed to get up early and go for a jog. I have spent the remainder of the day putting my time to good use - Washing, drying and ironing bedding. Loads of general ironing then some food shopping. I went to 3 different shops - Farmfoods, Home bargains and Netto. I spent £19.92 of only which £5.20 was for myself and sidneysdad. I only bought milk, apples, cat food and a birthday card. The remainder was spent buying supplies to send out to my son in Afghanistan. He asks me to send him jars of sauces, bread wraps, pot noodles etc. I try and send him a parcel every week and what I bought today should last about 3 weeks / boxes.
I managed to do some sewing repairs today which I have been putting off. :T
Today we have survived on more food from the freezer / leftovers. I had leftover chilli for my lunch (small portion) and home made chicken curry and rice for tea. Yum Yum. I am being very organised at the moment and have got food out of the freezer to eat over the next couple of days.:A
I have realised that we have a couple of large bags of porridge oats in the cupboard so I will not be buying any more cereal until it is used up. Also discovered that the can be used to make flapjacks so I will be getting sidneysdad to make some - He is the baker at our house.
Not sure what other people this about this - Its my elderly aunts birthday next week. I have a bottle of Baileys and some liquer chocolates already (unwanted gifts). I am unsure whether to give them to her as I know she would like them or to buy something else. They money saver in me says I should give her what I already have.

Anyway enough of my rambling for today. Good luck to all.

sidneysmum

Another day off work today. Have kept quite busy but I had to change my plans due to the weather. I had hoped to do some clearing up in the garden but it snowed again this morning. Quickly decided to do a few chores indoors and a bit of family visiting.
I made a £2 repayment off my mortgage this morning. I remember reading one of the diaries on here ( not sure who it was ) and the lady concerned made lads of very small repayments against her mortgage. She said it kept her completely focused on her goal. Anyway I have decided to take a leaf out of her book. I am hoping I can get this mortgage paid off pretty quickly so that I can move onto other debts - ie. sidneysdads car loan.:o
Had a store cupboard lunch and had leftover frozen Christmas dinner made into a pie for tea. It was lovely. God we have a lot of food in this house. I made a large portion of sage and onion stuffing this afternoon and that should be very nice with our meals this weekend. I have got to say I am quite disgusted at the price of dried sage. I think I need to find somewhere I can buy it in bulk !
One thing I have noticed this last few days is that I now know what is in my fridge! I am using the bottom two shelves for food that needs eating first. So far I havent had to throw any food out - or give it to Sidney either! This system of rotation is working.:j
I have also decided that once I have used up all the frozen roast potatoes I have in stock, I plan on making my own in order to save a bit more money.
Anyway enough of my rambling for today. Good luck to all.

sidneysmum

Not much to report today in the Sidney household. We managed to clear one of the spare bedrooms in preparation for redecoration. Sidneysdad even ripped the carpet up and took it to the tip in the car. We can now make a start of stripping the walls!!:T
Called in Tesco this afternoon and spent £13.87 but used a Tesco giftcard for payment - £9.50 of this was in payment for a new single duvet cover for the bedroom we are working on. The rest was spent on Kale ( only thing my tortoise will eat ), deodrant and golden syrup which we need for making flapjacks.
Again we ate leftovers for our meals. Porridge for breakfast, leftover roast dinner pie for lunch and pork and jacket spuds for tea. I am really hoping that I dont have to do a big shop again till about the end of February . I have made a rough menu plan for next week based on the freezer and cupboards - ham with cheese and pineapple, chilli con carne, ham with pasta and blue cheese sauce and "turkey leg pie".
Used up two items of toiletries today - bottle of perfume and a tub of facecream. I have a lot of toiletries in the house - some opened and some not. My plan is to use up the opened ones before I start on the unopened ones. I think I will be a very old lady before I need to buy shower gel again. I have made a decision today about the bottles of body oil I have in store. I dont like using them on my body as they can leave a greasy stain on your clothes so I have decided to use it to keep my feet soft!! :rotfl:
Anyway enough for today. Thanks for reading.

EC12345

Hi Sidneysmum - have just read all of your posts - great stuff and good for you. I'll carry on reading.

This year, my target is to save £2,500. Last year it was £3,500 - I managed £3,504 in the end.:j . With prices of everything going up this year, I think this is going to be hard, but sometimes, I just make a £5 or £10 payment (like you said earlier about your £2 payment). Sometimes it really is the small payments that keep you motivated. Every pay day I am going to try and save between £100 and £200 per month. I do like my treats (i.e. beauty treatments) so every couple of months it will be less so I can treat myself.

Like you I also got TONS of shower gel for Christmas - I think I won't be buying any for at least 7 months.

Keep us updated.

Emma x

sidneysmum

Hello Emma.
Thanks so much for reading my posts and replying. It is really motivating to know that people are following your progress. :beer: I have started to make a bit of a dent in the massive stock of toiletries I have in this house. Today I finnished up some face cream and a bottle of perfume. I am going to use up all the opened stuff I have before moving onto the unopened. Like yourself I like to treat myself. I have my hair cut every month. However I manage to keep this to a minimum by styling it at home and just having it cut at the salon. I also have my nails manicured every few weeks. I consider this money well spent as people always comment on how good my nails look.:T
Today has been a good day. I always love Sundays as my children ( or those who are available ) come round for Sunday tea and we have a lovely get together. I always do a great big meal as I have 4 children and a couple of them have partners. Today I cooked a huge ham. I bought it at New Year from Tesco. I got a massive bargain. It should have been over £20 but I managed to get it on offer for about £10. There is not much left but hopefully enough for me and Sidneysdad to have some on Tuesday with cheese and pineapple.
I had to go out today and spend some money :mad:. I went and filled my car up with LPG which cost me £27. LPG must have gone up in price because I usually pay about £22. I will now have to start to be careful how much I use my car. I think I need to plan my routes a bit more carefully and try to stop any short random trips. The only thing I bought other than the gas was some bananas. I am at work for 3 days this week and need to take some fruit with me to snack on. I bought quite a lot of bananas as Sidneysdad has learnt how to make banana loaf and it is a wonderful way of using up spare bananas. We even froze some of the last lot he made. I think the bananas cost £1.35. God I have hardly spent anything this year (especially on food).
Enough of my ramblings for today. Hope everyone had a great day.

sidneysmum

Today I had a very nice suprise in M&S. Last year I bought myself a costume jewellery necklace for about £15. I didnt keep the receipt. Anyway yesterday it broke so as I was passing M&S I decided to call in and see what they had to say about it. They immediately just gave me a replacement even though the goods were over 28 days old and I didnt have a receipt. Gold star M&S :T
I have had a bit of a lazy afternoon today - That needs to change ! However I have made a couple of nice meals. Homemade chicken with parsnips, honey and mustard for tonights tea with layered potatoes. I have also prepared some ham which was leftover from last night. I have layered ith with cheese and pineapple. That will be so easy to just warm up when I get back from work tomorrow.
My two freezers are starting to look a little emptier as I havent bought any food since Christmas. However they are still very full. I know what meals I have planned for the rest of the week and only need to get a few oddments from the supermarket - ie. bread. I cant believe how much money I have saved just using up a little bit of the food we already have.
Unfortunately I had to chuck about 1 pint of milk this morning. I realised that we had a further 4 pints in the fridge which will be out of date in 5 days so I promptly put 2 pints of it in the freezer. :beer:. I dont want to end up pouring that down the drain too.
At the end of the week I might consider doing a freezer inventry but at the moment it is just too big a job. Once I have emptied one freezer, I intend unplugging it. What is a bit worrying is that I have loads of margerine pots full of food and I am not sure what is in them. I think thats going to be a bit of an adventure. :rotfl:
Hope you are all having a good frugal day.