Fresh as a daisy

Kittikins

Hello, I've decided to start a diary to record my money-saving, decluttering, no spend days challenges that I'm setting myself for this year.

I'm hopefully moving from a nice house to my 'forever bungalow' soon and need to get rid of junk as DD and I will only have 2 rather than 3 bedrooms to fill with our tut ! So far I've done pretty well over the Christmas holidays, I've been up into the loft and have a small pile of stuff to keep and a larger pile of things for the tip/charity shop.

I post over on the OS decluttering thread and it's great to get ideas of what other people are doing and to check in with how I'm getting on.

No spend days - In 2011, I managed 64 of these; this year I want to do 100, or hopefully more! The problem is, I seem to be addicted to spending, even if its just on a chocolate bar or a loaf of bread, I feel the need to go out with my purse. Yesterday and today, my beloved OH is with me and is feeling poorly so with any luck, today will be day 2 of no spending.

I am going to be booking a Group0n voucher for a car service as its only £49 rather than the £150 or whatever my usual garage charges, but as I have a separate bank account for car expenses, this will come out of there and I'll count the day as a no spend one. I just need to get back out of bed and go and find my purse!!

I was also planning on going fruit and veg shopping, but actually I do have a few bits of fruit and plenty of veg, it was just an excuse to go out to the shops! I need bread, but can make my own, I have plenty of flour and yeast etc in the house......see what I mean about being addicted to spending?? I do still have the urge to see if there are any bargains in the supermarket, but I really don't need anything, and can go tomorrow when I'm back at the office and can combine the journey to work with popping over the road to the supermarket.

Money-saving - I'm lucky in that at the moment I have my mortgage as debt and £500 on an interest-free credit card, but the house move is going to be expensive, and I'm actually borrowing a scary amount of money from my parents to allow me to move to this new place. I'm moving mainly for medical reasons as I have a dodgy leg that is only going to get worse, and am waiting for the first of hopefully only 2 operations that will restrict my mobility, with luck, only a bit more than now, and only for the short term.

The new house needs some walls knocking through to make the kitchen/bedroom 3(dining room) into one, more useable room, and again to merge the toilet and bathroom into one.

Then the new kitchen and bathroom need refitting. The existing kitchen has one tiny worksurface at present and no cooker.

I want to make the bathroom more disabled-friendly, i.e. with a walk in shower and a higher loo, so of course all of these things are going to cost me serious cash!

I won't have much left each month once I get my new mortgage and loan repayments going, and am slightly scared as to how I'm going to keep afloat, so hopefully by starting now to stop spending, I'll be in a better place in a month or so when we move.

I currently have money put aside for car/house insurance costs, and smaller pots for things like DD's dance classes, which I pay into each month.

I'm currently inspired by a few blogs I've been reading where people are pledging to have 'no spend' years or months and know that I don't have the ability to do that at the moment, as I will need to spend on various fripperies like a cooker for the new house!

However, I have more than enough clothes and shoes to keep me going, so I'm going to pledge to not buy any clothes or shoes in 2012. I am seriously overweight and have clothes in a multitude of sizes from my current 26 down to 14/16, so I will have to get back into them.

I also don't need to buy any new books - I tend to only buy cookbooks and I am a big user of the local library, but occasionally I do treat myself.....this year, I will only buy books from the 20p stall at DD's school fetes. That way, I'm giving to charity and feeding my desire for lovely books on the shelf

I'm usually quite frugal and good at keeping a reasonably tight hold on the pursestrings, but I have to get better.

I've joined MrBloater's lose 2 stone and save £2k challenge for the first 4 months of the year and hope I can hit both the targets.

Anyway, this is probably going to be all very dull for anyone reading, but hello anyway! Pull up a chair and if you have any tips to share with me, then please do share, I'd be very grateful :beer:

ILoveSaving

Good luck Kittikins,

Hope you do well with all your challenges. I like the idea of counting the no spend days, havn't heard of that one before. I suppose if you try to beat your own record doing this each year it might help to curb the impulse to go out and spend, because I know what you mean, I find myself being pleased that I have to go to the shops for something so that I can look at everything else, but this just puts temptation in the way doesn't it?

Our house is completely full of junk, I am a bit of a hoarder. So this year I am going to try and thin this down and recoup some of the money by selling things on. I did well before Christmas on ebay, so onwards and upwards in 2012. I have also joined the challenge to save '12k in 2012' although I have put my target at 5k as I only work part-time, but I will keep an eye on your diary too.

Kittikins

Hello Ilovesaving nice to "meet" you

I've just heard of a website called zapper.co.uk that you can sell books on, so I'm pulling things off the shelves to see if I can get any cash for them. I've sold pretty much all my CDs and DVDs over the years, either on Amazon or Music Magpie (but only discovered yesterday that you can go to MM via Quidco and get commission, grrr!).

So far I've only found 2 books that they'll accept, and you have to have a minimum £10 order, so I may not get there, but it's worth a try, as I read a lot and very quickly, so keeping books on the shelf is a bit of a waste really, when they could be earning me money towards that £500 credit card/my £2k target for the end of April!

I've done the Groupon voucher for the car's service and will book it in for as late as possible during the voucher's validity as I have about another 5k miles before it's officially due.

I really wanted to go and buy some cake or something as now OH has gone back home, I'm bored witless until DD returns tomorrow - yes, I know, I have tons of tidying and cleaning to do, but that can wait for a bit longer, as I'm now making scones, using up some sour milk. Won't help the weight loss, but hopefully will be better than shop ones

ILoveSaving

Hello Kittikins, nice to meet you too.

Will have to check out those sites, as I haven't sold books anywhere except on ebay. Usually we pack up our books and take them to a good bookshop in Alnwick where we can exchange them for others. We make it a day out and go there 2 or 3 times a year.

I have been annoyed with myself this Christmas as my biggest downfall is buying food. I always buy too much, although I hate waste and rarely throw any away, I tend to over feed people as we have to eat the extra to use it up in time. So tummy toning is a must this month. Why do I do it? I always think I havn't got enough. So cupboard sorting is a must too this week.

Kittikins

I need to do a food plan and use up some of the quartermaster's stores that my kitchen resembles! With not yet having a date for our move but hoping its soon, I really shouldn't go round buying more food, and should use up what we have so I (a) save more pennies and (b) have less to pack!

I didn't get on particularly well with ebay, as it annoys me that you pay them 3 times, once to list, second when it ends and third you pay paypal. But I do like buying things on there.........

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Kittikins, wishing you well on your quest for your perfect bungalow! (sounds lovely *sigh*)

For NSDs - have you tried the Challenge? https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3699521 - pop in and join us...... great friendly supportive bunch! (The threads mega busy with it being Jan - but certainly room for a few more!)

ILoveSaving

Before Christmas I was only listing on a free-listing day, which seemed to be every other weekend, this cut out one of the costs. I also use ebay for larger items to 'collect' only and I usually say 'payment preferred on collection' which also avoids Paypal costs. I also like to do car boots, so roll on March for shifting the stuff I dont sell on ebay.

Just looked at 'Zapper', seems a quick and easy way of selling some bits and pieces. All avenues are worth exploring. Let me know how you get on, I may try digging out some old DVD's.

Good luck with your house, hope you move soon.

Kittikins

Thanks rising, I'll come and join you on the no spend challenge for January, having had another look at the state of the fruit bowl, I reckon I could do another NSD tomorrow at least

Kittikins

Yippee!! DD has returned from my grandparents and the light is back in my life

I've also so far managed to avoid going out in the horrible rain - I made bread rolls for us all (me, DD and my Dad) to have with our lunch and he's now hard at work sorting out the remainder of the loft for me.

I am though going to have to get a builder in to look at some guttering before I can sell the house as the buyers are querying something that given that the house is over 100 years old and hasn't caused a problem yet, is unlikely to, but I need to be able to dot the i's and cross the t's I guess. Grrr.....that'll mean spending money! Ouch!!

Today will be my 3rd NSD for the year Hoorah! I've got a bit of soup left that I will s-t-r-e-t-c-h by adding some veggie mince and calling it spaghetti bolognese, nomnom. If I'm sensible, I'll not eat all the pasta and might get packed lunch out of it for tomorrow. I've got cheese rolls already stashed in the freezer for DD to chomp on.

Wonder if tomorrow will be a NSD, probably not as DD is going to the childminder's and my plans for the afternoon with OH have changed as he's still feeling rubbish

ILoveSaving

Hello again, you sound as though you are good at using up your left overs, any idea what to do with some left over beef that was a little chewy when we had it for Sunday dinner? Dont fancy chewy sarnies. If not it doesnt matter.

Forgot to say yesterday that ebay are doing a thing at the moment. You can list your first 100 items 'free' each month, as long as it starts in an auction for 99p or less.You also have to be a private seller, so I have just been adding some more.

I went to the sales for the first time yesterday, as my teenage girls still have kiddies bedding on their beds and I managed to get some bargains. Got 2 bed sets for £4 and £4.50. Then we picked up a lovely chenille throw from the sale shelf, which still had the full price of £14.99 on the front but when we got to the counter it was actually £2.99! So although it was my one and only spend of the year so far, it was worth it.

Kittikins

Hi there, I'm actually pescetarian (no meat but do occasionally eat fish) so not sure what would be best with the beef....but I do cook meat for OH and so I'd probably chop the beef up and stick it in a veggie, beany, tomatoey soup in a slow cooker or casserole dish and cook it slowly. HTH.

Oooh, thanks for the ebay tip, I shall have a look round for some goodies to stick on there

Wow, that throw was a bargain! Bet your girls will be chuffed to have 'big girl beds', lol. My DD is 6 and keeps on whining about her babyish bedding, so I've finally charity shopped the Fifi flowertot duvet set. *sigh* she's growing up fast!

Managed to get enough leftovers from dinner tonight to make my lunch tomorrow, hoorah. Although I will need to go shopping as
we do now need fruit, toothpaste, and a few other bits, oh well 3 NDSs in a row is good I guess.