Finally seeing the right track getting closer

mustmakealist

Buy a jar of decaff coffee that you'll enjoy drinking - It'll probably have saved you the money you'd have spent on other drinks within a few days! Coffee is one of my 'luxuries' and one I don't begrudge spending money on.

freebyfifty

Hey Muffy,

I enjoy reading your diary.
You remind me of me. I have trouble talking about money and I am the only one who knows about my debts. I have a fairly wealthy family and although they know I struggle I kinda let them think it's because I'm a single parent/work part time etc etc. (I'd actually be quite comfortable if I didn't have my debts to pay)
I come on here to get it all out, the brilliant people I have met on here are so non-judgemental and encouraging. Before I came on here it would go round and round in my head driving me bonkers but, I find, writing it all down is a release and it instantly takes the pressure away. Now if something goes well or goes horribly wrong I can't wait to tell my diary and the folks that read it.
It's your diary so just write what you want to write, we'll all listen (read)

I don't know anything about energy suppliers but cancellation charges??? Really??? I didn't know they did that.

And, good for you, taking your own coffee in. Keep it hidden though, if the coffee on offer is as manky as you say it is you might just find yours mysteriously evaporates :rotfl:

MuffinTops

Stop the press! I've just had a weekday NSD!!! Wooh! Whoop and Whipdedoo!

I had a very organised (and just within budget) weekend. I've put my christmas tree and festive decorations up and out and yesterday I managed to do some cooking for work lunches and preparations for some dinners to save time in the evenings. Because of that I had a very healthy breakfast and lunch at work, and came home to a half cooked dinner that just needed finishing off, so although I've still had some chocolate I've had quite a healthy day too. The sense of achievement that gives me is really exciting.

I didn't even need to buy my usual breakfast of toast this morning as I had porridge with me, which actually filled me for longer.

I did take some coffee in, but I did feel bad having it hidden in my drawer knowing others were drinking the manky stuff, so I've brought it back home again and will have tea at work. I get up early enough in the mornings to prepare my first coffee of the day and the tea at work is more than drinkable and saves me worrying about everyone else.

We've been discussing the Secret Santa at work, and as I usually organise it I'm trying to work out how to steer it towards a more frugal budget this year. It's great fun so I don't want to not do it, but I just want to keep it within reason this year.

LondonGirl, you're right, whenever I organise anything there's always someone who isn't happy, but I do tend to ignore them for that time because I am literally the only person who organises anything for my department. I do always take opinions into consideration, but I tell them it'll be one of the choices for the next time. They generally seem happy with that, and those that aren't just don't go with no hard feelings that I'm aware of.

So, I feel that after a disturbing weekend (of only just about managing to stay within budget) I have started the working week really well.

I also joined a couple of survey sites today and an MSE member kindly "sponsored" me onto an invite only site. I'm currently having a look at that to see what I need to do and if I can do it on my phone.

Ooh, that reminds me. I also bought an account tracking app months ago. February I think, and never really got into the habit of using it. But now I'm getting into the habit of keeping an eye on my finances I decided to give it another try. It's a great app that lets you add direct debits to it (I nearly put DD's but didn't want anyone thinking they had to give up their children for an accounts app ) so that each month it just puts the outgoing to your balance on the date specified. So once I get everything on there it should be more reliable at showing what's there and what's due to come out before the next salary date then my bank account is.

I also checked an HSBC that I walk past most days and it has a coin changer in there so I have finally found somewhere to put all my silly coins without having to bag them up and take 3 bags at a time to the bank. I was really on a roll today!

My next step is to get organised for ebay and boot sales. I've decided to continue lurking in the £10 a day challenge as I want to gather ideas and just ease into it as I know I can be guilty of taking on too much in one go. Once the month is out I'll have a good idea if it's something I can achieve and it'll be a lovely new challenge to start the year with a profitable bang!

I need to update my lovely diary more often as I can't keep posting such lengthy updates! Thank you to the people who said they enjoy reading my posts though. I really appreciated that.

MuffinTops

NSD day 2 for the week and counting. I'm completely chuffed with that as I struggled so much last week.

I also had a Shop and Scan invite email this morning, so have set all of that up. Just need to wait for the hardware to arrive and that's another way of obtaining little gift tokens.

I have a lunch booked with one of the Managers at work tomorrow, although I think it's just going to be a drink and no food so I'll take food with me just in case but it's obviously not going to be a NSD! On the plus side, I need some cheese so haev saved that shopping for when I'd have to spend. In fact, I should have a good shopping visit around my cupboards and make sure that's all I need because I can make the rest of the week NSDs then.

Today I also set up a little container for all of my small coins now that I know how to get rid of them without paying commission. In my local Asda I noticed the coinstar machine was taking 8.9p in every £1 !!! I can't understand why so many people use them. I know that bagging coins and taking them to the bank separately can be a nuisance, but surely that's better than paying a machine 9% of what you have? Although I guess the trick is to never underestimate the laziness of some. None on here though! :cool:

Well my little MSE diary, that's really all I've done or thought about today! Most years I really struggle to get through Christmas. I've been pretty good at not using a credit card for years, but I still go overdrawn and basically spend way too much from one or two months salary and it actually took me until April this year to catch up from Christmas. I never resent what I spend on people, but I did really resent paying for Christmas a quarter of the year on. It was such a struggle. Not this year though. I've got a plan and I know it'll be easy to stick to. What a great feeling that is!

LondonGirl252

Hey!

Well done on being so organised this weekend! It makes such a difference to the spends during the week. And on the xmas budget! I thought I was doing well on that until today! haha next year I plan to save ahead!

Hope the accounts app helps you too, be really handy having it on your phone

debtfree2015_2

I do shop and scan too - its brilliant! Got most of dd's presents with argos vouchers, and myself a pair of jeans from dorothy perkins with a £10 voucher, in the sales paid £2!!

If you scan reciepts it builds up even quicker x

MuffinTops

LondonGirl252 wrote: »

Hey!

Well done on being so organised this weekend! It makes such a difference to the spends during the week. And on the xmas budget! I thought I was doing well on that until today! haha next year I plan to save ahead!

Hope the accounts app helps you too, be really handy having it on your phone

I am finding the app a real help at the moment. I have to constantly reconcile it with my account but that's ok as I have internet banking and once I feel I have all regular outgoings and get into the habit of updating it as I do things then that will be a great visual on exactly what's in and what's going out.

MuffinTops

debtfree2015 wrote: »

I do shop and scan too - its brilliant! Got most of dd's presents with argos vouchers, and myself a pair of jeans from dorothy perkins with a £10 voucher, in the sales paid £2!!

If you scan reciepts it builds up even quicker x

Thanks for the reassurance on the shop and scan. I'm getting quite excited about receiving the scanner and getting started. I've seen the vouchers they offer and keep changing my mind from getting a Next voucher to treat myself or an Amazon voucher for stuff I have to buy next year for the house! I think I should stick with the practical for next year though as I have decided to dedicate 2012 to getting as much paid off as I can.

MuffinTops

Well, today looks like being another NSD day. I had a last minute meeting come up so had to rearrange my lunch, so that's on for next week now. As I'd brought food with me I didn't have to buy any so no reason to spend.

I'm off work tomorrow which is for Christmas shopping which is in the budget. Although I have a Christmas shopping budget I'm not planning on taking lunch with me, so I'll probably need to take a little extra just in case, which is ok with the NSD's I've been having.

I received a message from my bank today regarding my mortgage. As I naturally make overpayments my mortgage will take 3 years less to pay off than if I paid the standard amount, which is good, but not good enough. As it stands my last payment is set for August 2020 (provided my payments and interest rates don't change) and although I'm happy it's in sight, it's still way too far away.

But that has pushed me on to get my credit card sorted asap so that I have more spare money to throw at it, as well as decorating next year. Phew! It's all doable though if I stay positive and organised.

I hope everyone is doing well on their MSE journey today!

MuffinTops

Well, yesterday was by no means an NSD! But, it was a great gauge of how my attitude has changed.

I took the day off work and decided to take my Mum up to Brighton so we could do some Christmas shopping and spend a nice day out together. We got up there late morning and based on various research I'd done I found a decent priced car park. I've been to Brighton before and parked in the first car park I found which was a flat £25 for a day no matter how long you stayed within that day! Eek to that! So, already I felt happy that I'd saved around £20 on parking!

We had a lovely day wandering around the shops. I love Brighton shopping and seeing the seafront etc, so I go there as often as I can with anyone who's willing. I'm not a shopping type of person really, but I make an exception for Brighton.

Well, I honestly ended up walking in and out of various shops for around 4 hours before I bought anything. At first I was really pleased with myself that I'd not spent anything, but then I realised that that could prove embarrassing on christmas day with no presents to hand out so I sort of changed gear! At one point I was even talking about what I could make rather than pay out for! What has MSE done to me?

So, with lunch and parking I spent a little over my £10 but as I've had a few NSD's this week I just took from them. I also managed to buy 5 presents from the allocated Christmas budget and I feel I actually have nicer presents as value for money is so much more important to me now. A few things I picked up I'd normally have just bought but I kept thinking "is it worth that price?" and a lot of the time the answer was no.

My feet were killing me by the end of the day, but it was well worth it.

I did try to avoid the motorway during peak commute travel times, but in doing so ended up driving along in those strong winds! PHEW is all I can say to that! Drives like that certainly test your driving skills and awareness! We had to be taken up to the car park by one of the attendants as it was apparently too dangerous. Stuggling to walk along to get to the car was hilarious though. But, I've never felt so vulnerable to the weather.

So the day wasn't great on the budget, but it was very productive in that I've only got 2 more presents to buy and then I'm done I'm usually quite organised, but I currently still have some money in the bank which is unheard of for me in December. The pinch would normally start now and end in March or April! But where I've planned and budgeted and taken those plans and budgets seriously I feel calm and relaxed!

Today is looking to be a NSD so another little December bonus.

I'm very happy!