6 months to freedom / Race against the bank

littleweasel

A bit of good news in my race against the bank!

I'm currently in the process of switching from British Gas to ScottishPower, and the completion date is 17 October. I am in credit to the tune of £237 (it's the end of summer, after all)...I guess this will be reduced slightly by the final bill deductions, but I should still get a nice refund of most of it. :T

Hiddenidenity

You've paid a fab amount off since you started your diary think if you could knock the coffee off how much extra it would be

Anyway look forward to following *subscibes*

littleweasel

Thanks! I know re: the coffee...I should really knock it off. I don't know how I will function in the morning without a strong coffee shop drink though instant is not the same!

Anyway, my bank account is taking a few hits...paid a colleague the £9 I owed her, and also paid my Christmas lunch deposit (£10). Annoyingly, last night Tesco didn't show up, and so I had to nip to Sainsburys for milk and bread as I'd run out. I only spent £3 though, and rebooked my Tesco delivery for next week...I can manage til then. They've still charged me for the failed delivery, although the woman assured me it would be refunded. I hope I get to keep my Clubcard points from it to make up the inconvenience

Also counted how much change I had in my change jar - £5.50 and £7 odd on my Nectar card. I am wondering if I can get away with only doing one biggish shop this month, if I spend the money from the change jar and my Nectar points?

Work drinks tonight. If I can keep it at £15 or so that will be good, then £20 budgeted for drinks tomorrow. Hoping I can avoid spending anything on food out then.

littleweasel

Happy Friday :j

I have a terrible hangover from last night...we drank so much! However, bizarrely, I didn't spend anything at all. Kept on offering people money or trying to buy rounds but nobody let me! Drank a load of wine and whisky and ginger and staggered home at 1 in the morning...

Today I've been a bit spendy and topped up my travel card with £5 (had to get the bus to work as I would have been late otherwise and was feeling...eh...'delicate') and then bought a coffee and a green tea drink (£3) because the 'delicate' turned to 'dying'. I haven't actually brought lunch in today but I think I will capitalise on the hangover and make today more or less a 'fast day' for the purposes of the 5:2 diet. I shouldn't have too many problems being restrained at drinks this evening I have about £25 in my wallet and hopefully I can come home with some of it. After tonight I will know if I can make another extra payment to the evil overdraft.

HeadAboveWater

Wanted to stop by and say hi! Sounds like you're doing pretty well so far!!

Now THIS I can relate to....

littleweasel wrote: »

Thanks! I know re: the coffee...I should really knock it off. I don't know how I will function in the morning without a strong coffee shop drink though instant is not the same!

Coffee shops are my downfall too! Would go every day if I thought I could get away with it! Me and OH go once every weekend (used to be twice but we're trying to cut down!!) It's usually me pays as he's the one drives us there but it works well for us. And of course I keep my loyalty card with me so every few weeks manage a freebie

During the week I'll drink instant at work, but generally Friday is my 'treat' day where I stop off at the cafe on my way in to work for a takeaway cappucino

What I did a few years ago was buy the boxes of Nescafe cappucinos (10 sachets for about £2.50, but on offer every so often. Plus one sachet would do me twice) Yes I agree it's not the same, but how about substituting these for the 'proper' coffee 2 or 3 times a week? It'll save the £ for starters, but you still get your luxury a few times too.

Something to think about sure

Subscribing and keep us updated!!

Good luck

littleweasel

Hey, thanks for the comment! Re: coffee, yeah, it does add a fair bit to my food spend. Believe it or not, 1 a day is already a substantial cut down (:eek:) and I would often buy breakfast, with a coffee, and lunch, also with a coffee!! If I wanted to get rid of it completely I think I'd have to start using my cafetiere at work- my poison of choice is Americanos and cafetiere coffee is the nearest thing to it. I drink instant at work the rest of the day. Maybe I'll have a go at this, although it's going to be a fail today because I'm going to Nero to study!

Last night was a bit unnecessarily expensive. I didn't spend a lot on drinks at all but the whole group ordered pizza (£15ish split between us) and then we went out for karaoke (haven't divided this up yet, but guess it would be about the same). I don't regret the karaoke as it would be a real killjoy not to go on my best friend's birthday, but I didn't really want the pizza in the first place! Oh well. My friend loved her present (a popcorn maker) so that was good

Decided I couldn't be bothered with the clothes swap today, so saved a bit on that (although will be spending £2ish in Nero while studying).

littleweasel

Hello moneysavers feeling good and positive today, I am sure I can clear that overdraft by Christmas!

Don't need to spend any money at all today as my plan involves:
-studying
-going for a run/gym
-Piano practice

I'll go to Nero for the studying but the woman filled up my loyalty card yesterday:money:which was nice of her! So won't need to spend anything.I also have enough food at home not to need any supermarket visits etc. Tesco are redelivering on Tuesday

I also rejoined Slice the Pie and have made $4.60 since last night. Will have another go at it tonight and hopefully reach $10. The plan is to make $2 a day during the week (as I won't have much time) and $10 at weekends. If I can stick to that it will cover the rest of this month's coffee and grocery spends entirely! :T

littleweasel

:j Morning!

Good news - Tesco called me and sent me an evoucher for £10 to make up for the inconvenience of my recent order. I'd already had my 'free delivery' voucher refunded but didn't exactly gain anything by that as I'd already had to call them to apply it to the delivery in the first place. I don't really know what was going on with the call centre last week but the woman today was helpful, so good job Tesco. I'll stick with them for now (I like their teriyaki mackerel ) but if it happens again might try Sainsbo or Ocado.

Got a strange sandwich for lunch as I'm running out of fillings! Cheese spread and Marmite-hmm. Got a yummy pizza for dinner which was reduced at Sainsburys and will have the rest for lunch tomorrow. Then hopefully Tesco will actually turn up...

Paid another £4 off the overdraft...token but everything counts. I think I'm just about on track to make another biggish payment at the end of the month.

HeadAboveWater

littleweasel wrote: »

I'll go to Nero for the studying but the woman filled up my loyalty card yesterday:money:which was nice of her! So won't need to spend anything.

hee hee I managed a BOG2F yesterday at Bentleys as I had one card full and only 1 more stamp needed on my other card (plus I've already 2 stamps on a 3rd card!) So much nicer than spending £7-£7.50ish on 3 coffees/hot chocolates...

littleweasel

Haha, yes, the occasional free coffee does seem to make it all a little bit better value! I seem to get a lot of free stamps from that Nero (but I only go there on weekends).

Have scoffed my yummy pizza- was amazing! Have kept about a third of it for lunch tomorrow but I was quite tempted by the idea of eating it all Will have some fruit crumble if I still feel hungry in an hour or so. Only spent £1.40 today which is as good as a NSD in my eyes also the karaoke and pizza turned out to be cheaper than I thought. Hurray! Now, if I could only get up the motivation to go to the gym once the pizza's settled a bit...but it's so cold outside....