Diary of a "Frugal Saver"

dawnybabes

(((hugs))))

WantToBeSE

I'm really sorry to hear about your argument with your OH.
How are things now?

Frugal_Saver

Hi all, I've been a bit lazy with my diary, it is now one year since my LBM and I'm still on target to be debt free by 30.

First of all I would like to reassure everyone things are back on track with me and the other half, we hit rock bottom (as a couple) when I made that last post and although we're going through a rough time at the moment with other things we're there for each other and I'm so glad we worked through it.

Now to focus on my quest to be debt free. When I started a year ago my debt was £10,573.00, the total is now £8,433.79. If my maths is correct I make that 20% paid off. It's not been easy but I've been very determined and I have enjoyed some elements. I'm obsessed with my spreadsheet with my debt balance, my monthly spending spreadsheet hasn't worked though.

I'm still not frugal nor am I at a point where I'm saving money but I'm slowly getting there !!!

WantToBeSE

Hi FS, great to see you back again and i am really glad to hear that you and your OH are working through things.

Well done on the amount you have cleared off so far! I am not a spreadsheet person either, and all attempts failed. I just kept plodding along paying it off until it was gone. YES, I AM NOW DF!! WoooHooo!

I had started to save, but have just had to wipe out my meagre savings account as my car failed the MOT and cost £400 to fix..aargh!! But at least i had the savings there to fall back on! I need the car for work, so no choice.

Really glad to see you back

Frugal_Saver

Congratulations WTBSE, that's fantastic! Not so good about the car but at least you already had the money to pay for it rather than get into debt again.

I tried to update my signature yesterday but I kept having problems so I will try again when I've posted this.


I'm setting myself some targets to help motivate me even more.

• I am looking forward to starting 2014 with my total debt below £8,000.
• According to my spread sheet I should hit the £6,000 mark on my loan in May 2014, with overpayments I would like to reach this target by March.

On the money saving front, I've definitely become more organised and I'm planning ahead with spending most of the time, there's still room for improvement but the times when I was really strict with myself I got really annoyed when I had an unexpected spend or OH asked me to pay for something.
I'm starting to get organised for Xmas already, usually I buy half price cards in January but this year I was really good and resisted the temptation, instead I am making my own cards. I'm cutting up old cards and making home made cards. I've bought plain card and envelopes from the pound shop (enough to make 90 cards!), my only extravagance was some pretty tape from Hobbycraft which gives the card a better finish rather than looking like a child made them!

I'm also hoping to make a lot of Xmas gifts, I've become addicted to pintrest recently and it's given me so many ideas. I'm not sure if I will follow through with any of them but the thought's there at the moment!



Now for a list of daily/monthly targets/things to do:

• Cancel gym membership (was costing £10pm but offer ran out last month and now costs £17pm and I only go once a month)
• Bake some cakes
• Earn more money from surveys
• Check my credit score to see how it compares to this time last year to see if it's worth applying for 0% transfer - will wait until payday for this

I'm sure I'll think of more things to list once I've posted this!!!

WantToBeSE

Thanks FS, I must admit that it feels really good to be DF. It took a few years, but finally i am there! And you will be too

Card making sounds like good fun. I am not crafty like that at all, but i wish i was.
I normally save all the Christmas cards that i receive and then cut out any pretty shapes/images from them and use them as gift labels for the following year/s. I have had loads of comments on my pretty labels, and my mum was gobsmacked when i told her about them!

Frugal_Saver

I'm not really a crafty person either but I needed to find an inexpensive hobby to keep me occupied in the evenings and weekend instead of watching TV all the time or falling asleep ridiculously early! I'm the same, I used to cut up cards to use as labels, its a trick I got from my mum as a child.

My next plan is to start making birthday cards from old cards, I'm a bit of a hoarder and I don't like to throw away old cards but OH couldn't believe it when he was looking for something the other week and found my stash of old birthday cards! I'm sentimental about things like that but on the other hand what is the point in keeping them, I'm liking the idea of re-using them. I even thought about cutting up old cards from when I was younger to create cards to give to my nephew and maybe even my children when I have them!

The problem with me is I'm always full of ideas but I don't always follow through with them, I've got a dress half made hanging in my kitchen which I started two months ago and have no motivation to finish!

On another note already ticked something off the list today, cancelled gym membership so that's £10 a month saved. This will go towards joint debt rather than person debt as this had been coming out of joint account (long story!). Next account and Littlewoods accounts have crept up again, I could list a number of excuses for this but I would just be doing this to justify the spending to myself, I have it under control and that's the main thing! I'm not too bothered about Littlewoods as this is 0% but need to work on Next account.

Heating is staying off today, determined to leave this off as long as possible, I will be getting the slow cooker out of hibernation though! Rice pudding for dinner tonight after roast dinner cooked by OH.

Still can't get my signature change to save, I make the changes and as soon as I click save the changes I get an error message.

WantToBeSE

Well done for cancelling the gym membership.

I think the thing with paying off debt is that if you sacrifice every small pleasure/spend/enjoyment to get there, it doesn't feel like a good thing to do, it feels miserable.

You have to have a few (small) pleasures in life, even when paying off debt! I could have paid mine off quicker if i'd have only paid for essentials and nothing else, but i didn't.
I am not one of those people who find it enjoyable to clear off debt and spending £0. It's just not me.

I am battling the energy companies this year. I want to save up for a new (not brand new, just new for us) car and also to move house (i need a 3 bed and have a 2 bed). Both are expensive, so i need to get a move on with saving.

Re the signature, loads of people are having probs changing it today, no idea why.

Frugal_Saver

I think Sunday has become my day of updating my diary, doing surveys and housework, how exciting!

Not much to report on the money saving side of things, I did another food shop yesterday which came to about £40.00 (after £20.00 of vouchers!:money: )this is a similar amount to what I spent last week. Both times I did a meal plan before which helped me prepare a shopping list which I stuck to quite well. OH still not on board with meal planning but it worked quite well last week without himeven realising!

Have been thinking I can now look at budgeting for food, if I spend £40 on a food shop on a Saturday and allow £10 for top ups during the week (e.g. milk,bread and fresh veg) that's £200 per month between two of us. The only problem is OH always gets alcohol (we hardly ever go out so I don't mind this) but I'm not going to include this in the budget. He gets really annoyed with me going on and on about budgeting at money, I can't say to him I'll get the food shopping but give me money for your beers. He never asks me to pay for them anyway, but I need to come up with a way that works. Maybe if he paid for the shopping and then I transfer my share the weekly budget. I'll see how we get on over the next couple of weeks.

I've managed to cash out on a survey site this morning, £10.00 Amazon giftvoucher, not sure how long it will take me to receive it, still waiting for £15.00 voucher from nearly two weeks ago. I prefer paypal because this can go towards my debt but all of the survey sites offer this. I need to be good and use the Amazon vouchers to but Christmas presents, not treat myself when I'm feeling down (usually a couple of days before payday!!!)

Heating is still off, had it on for less than an hour on Wednesday when the landlord came round to get it working again, he's shown me how to top the pressure up so next time I won’t need to call him! I'm so grateful we have a good landlord, he's even offered to come and sweep the chimney for us as he has the equipment to do it, should save us about £30.00. We’re still using the summer duvet. We're going away the second week in October and I'm hoping we can wait until we get back from there before changing to the winter duvet and putting the heating on.

I never got around to the rice pudding last week (just as well as I didn't have any rice ). I made alovely coffee cake instead. I've made sure I have all the ingredients this time and will definitely be making some today. OH is on Sunday roast duty again, he makes the best roast potatoes!

Enough procrastinating, I must get on and start this housework, working two Saturdays in a row may stop me spending money but the house does suffer!!!

Frugal_Saver

Didn't realise how long my last post was until just now!

I've just spent a good couple of hours scrubbing the bathroom, this definitely makes up for not going to the gym. Can't believe how grubby it gets.

Resisted the Next sale this weekend for the first time in a long time, I usually always order at least one thing even if I take it back.

Keeping the heating off today was very easy, it's been so warm we've got windows open and washing on the line! Rice pudding is slowly cooking away and OH is sorting dinner. I'm liking that I'm getting into a routine on a Sunday.

I'm really close to cashing out £5.00 PayPal from my swag bucks account, really struggling with the last 50 odd points, once I've got that I'll have £10.00 in my PayPal account which I'll withdraw and overpay my loan.