Trotting along nicely - my MFW diary

Iris_Blue

:j Well done on the OPs :j

AuntieMabel

Ayeshalush wrote: »

Next week is going to be a little expensive as I am off work and am meeting a friend for lunch on Sat, going to a barbecue on Sat night and will need to take some stuff with me, meeting another friend, who is home from Australia for a few weeks, for lunch on Monday, having a facial on Thursday, riding lesson on Friday and car is going into the car one day.
Last weekend was quite expensive too as my 5 year old nephew came to stay overnight for the first time. I had to buy in all the things that he likes to eat, which came to about £20 and on the saturday i took him to McDs and for a riding lesson. Went to the Royal Highland Show on Sunday so that entailed a fair bit of petrol, £25 entry and spends during the day but it's a great day out amd only once a year!

A
xx

Sometimes it's just how it happens - lots of 'real life' expenses come at once but go with it, enjoy seeing your friend, the bbq, the lunch, the facial, the riding lesson and your nephew - life's got to be fun as well

You won't lose your MF focus!

LilB_3

Ayeshalush wrote: »

Time for an update of my figures...

ETA - I've just realised that i've knocked another 2 months off my MF date - Oct 2018 now!! Yay!!

I love looking at figures like that. It's a massive motivator for me.

2 months might not seem like much to some but it's 2 months worth of interest the bank isn't getting - well done!

cha97michelle

And you are pretty much keeping up with me. I'm at about £25,230. Our normal payment is slightly higher than yours though, £183. I've just asked them to reduce payment this time when i paid a lump sum, so i will see how that affects us.

Well done for knocking another 2 months off. :beer:

Ayeshalush

Thank you Iris Blue (for some reason , I can't quote you!!!)

AuntieMabel wrote: »

life's got to be fun as well

Completely agree, but I've been having a bit too much fun lately when it comes to spending money:o, however I am not going to worry, next week is my 'holiday' as I am not going away anywhere this year, so I am just going to enjoy it and refocus on the OPs when I get back to work. In saying that, when it comes to grocery shopping, cooking, etc I am pretty frugal anyway so it's not as though I'm going completely off the rails for a week!

LilB wrote: »

I love looking at figures like that. It's a massive motivator for me.

2 months might not seem like much to some but it's 2 months worth of interest the bank isn't getting - well done!

Always something to celebrate! I really hate paying money to the bank so knocking even one month is worth a celebration in my book!:beer:...and my original repayment date was Sept 2025 so that's almost 7 years interest that the bank will not be getting their hands on!:T

cha97michelle wrote: »

And you are pretty much keeping up with me. I'm at about £25,230. Our normal payment is slightly higher than yours though, £183. I've just asked them to reduce payment this time when i paid a lump sum, so i will see how that affects us.

Well done for knocking another 2 months off. :beer:

Thank you, though I think your lead will increase during July as it's not looking like I have much free cash to overpay with. I seem to recall saying that at the start of June as well:o, so you just never know:D.

Had dinner at parents tonight so that was cheap:D. I've still got loads of stuff in the freezer so I am going to try and spend as little as possible on groceries during July. I will need to buy fruit and veg, but my goal is to only spend half of my £100 budget.

A
xx

cha97michelle

Did i not say as well i thought you would overtake as i had nothing up my sleeves, and then i overpaid £900.

We'll see.

I'm expecting it to be quiet as i will have the kids both at home eating me out of house and home for the holidays, and the rest of the school uniform to get. Dh also needs a new decent waterproof coat, and needs to fit a towbar to the new car for the hols so we can take bikes. Always something.

Anyway, we can but try.

debtdesperado

Hello Ayeshalush!

Really enjoying reading your diary! I too love my beautiful skincare (dermalogica is my favourite) - have you heard of strawberrynet.com? They sell all the expensive ranges discounted. Generally their products are the salon sizes and salon only things, so you can buy, for example, a litre of dermalogica toner...often waaaaaay cheaper than buying in a salon etc. So that starts to shave bit off the cost.

My other tip is to look at what you use, and try and eek it out a bit longer, so if you do a face pack every 7 days, try doing it every 10.
Also watch how many sprays/pumps/splashes of things you use - so if you spray 3 pumps of toner, try using two sprays. If you don't spray, but splash products onto cotton wool it will often cut the cost if you transfer to a spray bottle as you'll use less.

I write the date I start using something on the bottle with a marker, so I have a rough idea of how many per year I use, and then I try and make it last longer.

Also don't buy unncessary products (obv!), but also experiment to see which items don't make a difference if you don't use them, eg eye cream I noticed I can do without (just use my moisturiser), and face wash doesn't make a difference if I use a cheap boots own one if the rest of the routine (toner and moisturiser) is still my premium stuff.

Do it gradually and just try one thing at a time, and give your skin time to slowly adjust.

And then watch the cash you save mount up!

Ayeshalush

cha97michelle wrote: »

Did i not say as well i thought you would overtake as i had nothing up my sleeves, and then i overpaid £900.

We'll see.

I'm expecting it to be quiet as i will have the kids both at home eating me out of house and home for the holidays, and the rest of the school uniform to get. Dh also needs a new decent waterproof coat, and needs to fit a towbar to the new car for the hols so we can take bikes. Always something.

Anyway, we can but try.

You're right! And it's amazing how much we seem to manage to OP even during those busier/more spendy months.:D I really don't know how you manage with having a family too - I only have to attempt to control my own spends! You really are an inspiration:T.

debtdesperado wrote: »

Hello Ayeshalush!

Really enjoying reading your diary! I too love my beautiful skincare (dermalogica is my favourite) - have you heard of strawberrynet.com? They sell all the expensive ranges discounted. Generally their products are the salon sizes and salon only things, so you can buy, for example, a litre of dermalogica toner...often waaaaaay cheaper than buying in a salon etc. So that starts to shave bit off the cost.

My other tip is to look at what you use, and try and eek it out a bit longer, so if you do a face pack every 7 days, try doing it every 10.
Also watch how many sprays/pumps/splashes of things you use - so if you spray 3 pumps of toner, try using two sprays. If you don't spray, but splash products onto cotton wool it will often cut the cost if you transfer to a spray bottle as you'll use less.

I write the date I start using something on the bottle with a marker, so I have a rough idea of how many per year I use, and then I try and make it last longer.

Also don't buy unncessary products (obv!), but also experiment to see which items don't make a difference if you don't use them, eg eye cream I noticed I can do without (just use my moisturiser), and face wash doesn't make a difference if I use a cheap boots own one if the rest of the routine (toner and moisturiser) is still my premium stuff.

Do it gradually and just try one thing at a time, and give your skin time to slowly adjust.

And then watch the cash you save mount up!

Hi debtdesparado, thanks for posting:D.

I used to use Dermalogica, quite a while ago now, and really loved it at the time - not really sure why i stopped but I'm finding Decleor is really working well for me at the moment (I am gradually changing from Elemis to Decleor - just finishing off open products first). Just a wee something to think about - when I was using the Dermalogica products I was so impressed that I sent an e-mail to them telling them this - they sent me back an e-mail asking which products I used in my routine and for my address and they sent me a box containg loads of full size products and a voucher for a facial - if i remember correctly it was almost £300's worth. As I said, it was some time ago, and in the current financial climate they may not be quite so generous, but still worth a try!

I have looked at strawberrynet.com in the past (probably when using Dermalogica) but not recently so will have a look next time I need something.

That's a good idea about writing the date on the bottles as it means I could work out just how much i need to put aside each month in my skincare budget - I'm only allowing £50 a month at the moment, but that's not enough as it has to pay for my monthly facial too.

I do try not to use too much of the products, but a spray is probably a good idea as my Decleor toner has a pump and definitely pumps out too much.

I always try and look out for salon sizes on special offer and last night I got a good deal from QVC for my cleanser and toner (I am halfway through the current ones so was due to buy anyway). They were doing the 400ml sizes of cleanser and toner duo for £37.50, free postage and a free 15ml moisturiser. Just checked strawberrynet and they're asking £35.50 for the 400ml cleanser on it's own:eek: so I think I definitely got a good deal:D. I think that size lasts me about 3 months but will write the date I start on the bottle to check.

That's also a good point about cheaper products, I have used them in the past, like you for my eyes, and not noticed any difference so I'll give that a go next time around.

A
xx

Ayeshalush

I have just spent most of my Friday evening doing surveys - how sad am I?;)

I also watched the tennis while doing them. Was gutted Andy Murray lost, but not surprised to be honest, Nadal is definitely the better player. Hopefully he'll have upped his game again for next year.

I've also done two loads of washing, made some bread, made a curry and used the cross trainer, so quite a productive evening!:T (I really know how to live don't I?!!:D).I had intended to make some jewellery too but just haven't got around to it. I usually keep Monday evenings to do this, but a friend popped round last Monday, that I hadn't seen for ages so it was good to have a natter and a coffee. Will just need to try and make double this week coming.

I am off work this week, so I have to try and get on top of the house work and keep up with the surveys etc (I'm not so good at this when I'm not sitting at my desk at work all day).

I almost placed a Sainsbury's order for delivery this week but, as I said in a previous post, I don't really need anything except some fruit and veg and was just buying for the sake of it, so I managed to resist and will pop into the greengrocers tomorrow for a couple of bits. (ETA :eek::eek::eek: Just noticed my signature and realied that i had completely forgotten about the grocery challenge I set myself last night. I am so glad I didn't place that order now:D, but I'm also a little worried about how bad my memory is!:o I WILL ACHIEVE A GROCERY SPEND OF £50 OR LESS THIS MONTH and I've just stuck a note on the fridge so that I don't forget again.)

I've managed to overpay £103 so far in July:D, by siphoning (sp?)off little bits from various budgets, a payment from TCB and a small ebay sale. I've got another couple of items on which both have bids, but I don't expect them to sell for much more but it's all money for the mortgage. I'm going to try and add a couple more items on Sunday.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

A
xx

AuntieMabel

You've had a very fruitful Friday evening. Well done you

I wouldn't worry about housework though, in my book that can always wait