Saving money and getting more organised

thriftylass

Last night I did declutter only about a quarter of my wardrobe and threw some old socks etc out but kept a nice stripy one to make a sock monkey. After tea however I put more seeds down, this time for peas, mini carrots, radish and two different kinds of salad/spring onions. I only put them in pots to add to my conservatory/greenhouse as a test for next year when we hopefully have the garden chucky free.

Went to the bank today and paid £210 of birthday and engagement money in. That reduced the overdraft to -£135.

I also made a list of things I want to change/achieve in the next few months to save money and feel happier:

- don't buy any more books, revive library membership
- read more and watch less telly or only really stuff I want to watch rather than having nothing else to do
- cancel gym membership (cycle to work anyway and might go out for lunch time cycle/walk instead) --> save £17.45 a month (might have a couple of months notice though)
- drink less coffee, rather tea --> cheaper and healthier
- have one craft evening a week
- start a long term saving account even just with 30 quid (in 20 years it's £7200 plus interest)
- not that I have been shopping for me in ages with real money, but I felt the temptation recently, so no shopping for me (clothes) till christmas unless I get vouchers
- DECLUTTER

thriftylass

Cant wait for June. Why am I always so enthusiastic at the start and then it fades....Anyway, had some more good news. From July the DD for gas and leccy will be reduced by £40 and DS is moving up to the 2-3 year old in a couple of week which should also save about £40 a month.

The "drink less coffee" goes ok so far as I had tea this morning. But got my finger stuck in the kilner jar snap thingy so got a really sore finder for it.

Sorted some more of my clothes last night. Tonight I'll just have the tops left to do and to sort the bags for charity shop or clothes bank. I also found quite a few miniature shampoo and body wash bottle s from hotels etc. So I'll be using them uop to save on toiletries (which is a low bill anyway).

thriftylass

Got all my clothes sorted last night, vacuumed, did the cat litter, changed a light bulb on a outside light that's been sitting there broken forever, cooked tea and just read. So not too bad going with my life changes lol

thriftylass

Yesterday, cooked a lovely whoopsied fish dinner with couscous and loads of spices. OH kept looking around for better home insurance deals and was surprised to find our supplier offering the same deal for a quarter of the price. So I had to explain thats because they bank on people being lazy and not shopping around for a new deal. So he'll phone them and see what they offer otherwise we'll change completely. Also need to have someone look at our aerial soon so we can change to free view.

Payday today and paid a large lump of the CC and still stuck sth into the rainy day fund. Also started a long term savings account with 30 quid that I want to keep feeding for 20 or so years as a wee back up, never know....

thriftylass

Well it's been another month and a half that I abandoned this diary. I few things have happened.

FIL's debt is now paid off thanks to the successful PPI claim, so has OH's overdraft and a savings account was filled with some money for my engagement ring which is now hopefully on its way soon.

I am preggers with number 2, woohoo. Although most nights I don't feel like that, long story, but let's just say I'm over the moon to be pregnant again as I always wanted two but I just don't do pregnancies, don't like it (despite probably getting an easy ride again physically, hormones and my brain is the problem ).

Started to declutter the house bit more and will make a daily plan from next week to keep me in check. Also gonna tackle the back garden this summer and toilet train our two year old, fun, not.

More later

thriftylass

So this isn't really a diary as more a half yearly affair. That needs to change. I guess the reason is that I'm getting on quite well on NSKs challenges but it'd do me probably good to write down my daily nitty gritty stuff more for myself really.

Soooo, today I had to spend £1.28 for postage so not SFD, and I caved in a bought a packet of crisps. However looking at my stats out of my HH and other spends only 10% were junk i.e. chocolate, crisps, things that were not needed or on a shopping list. Vast improvement.

I also juggled my accounts a bit more. I split them up again into:

ISA (contains DS savings, entirely his money so won't list it here, and £900 rainy day fund, will put that up to the target 1000 next month)
MOT (will put a total of £300 in there till December to cover the MOT and the service in December
Christmas (will also put £300 in there in the next three months to cover presents not bought with vouchers or made, food and any emergency for the festivities, won't need that much but just in case)
Wedding (will try to put at least £400 in a month to save for our wedding as much as possible before I go on maternity leave, should be possible as the other big things like car are covered and the recent bigger bills for the garden etc are paid).

thriftylass

I also started doing surveys again to earn mostly Amazon vouchers. Already cashed a £10 one for my mums birthday (book), made a card and DS painted some pictures. So all this will cost me is postage to Germany. I only started about 1.5 months ago, but will keep going past christmas to save them up for next year and be even better prepared and also get vouchers for other retailers.

That's were I stand atm (those two I find are the most lucrative ones)

Val.Opinion £12.20/£15 needed to cash in
Ipsos pts 715/1380 (for £10 voucher)

I also still got about £3.60 pending with TopCashBack, but I don't use them much (as I don't shop much) or they retailers I use don't give cash back.

thriftylass

Woohoo, finally started the kitchen makeover last night. But it'll take a while, only managed to wash, sand and put two base layers on two doors. But that was after taking care of DS cooking dinner etc. So not too bad. Can hopefully finish those two tonight to see what i'll look like.

Going for lunch tomorrow with my old boss and will take my pennies to the bank to pay for it as I spend the fiver that was meant for it on snacks etc the other day.

Calling14

Not feeling like writing my diary today as I know I need to spend today so I thought I would read a few diaries. Hmm might give the survey thingy a go any extra cash/vouchers would be helpful.

Enjoy your lunch we all need a treat now and again.

thriftylass

Calling14 wrote: »

Not feeling like writing my diary today as I know I need to spend today so I thought I would read a few diaries. Hmm might give the survey thingy a go any extra cash/vouchers would be helpful.

Enjoy your lunch we all need a treat now and again.

I can def recommend those two mentioned above as their rewards are good and I can usually cash 20 or 30 every two months at least. Well that's the prediction based on the last 3 months. I usually just do them during my lunch break everyday.