Diary of a "Frugal Saver"

Frugal_Saver

First spend of the week today. Couldn't wait until tomorrow for shopping after all so had to pop to local shop for a few bits. With the shopping tomorrow I'm now left with less than £4.00 until Sunday. Shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Nursery fees now confirmed and best news is I don't need to pay anything this month as I have just about enough in childcare vouchers to cover the payment as I didn't need to use it all last month when LO started. Once that's used up it's only an additional £40 month on top of the vouchers. What a difference compared to £300 ����������I was spending previously.

This means I have gone from struggling to find the cash for weekly budget to having £80 buffer. Feeling much more organised now and less stressed.

Frugal_Saver

£30 better off today. £5.00 returned from the kitty we had for drinks last Friday and my sister transferred some money owed to me that I wasn't worried about seeing again.

That will pay for the new coat I ordered last week. Just need to decide which one to keep, I ordered 2 to get free delivery (returns to shop are free) and for choice as I wasn't sure which one would suit/fit me.

Desperately need a waterproof coat as I had one which I'd had for 15 yrs and the zip broke and another I was given in an old job which is about 8 yrs old but too small as I've put on a bit of weight in recent years.

Can't decide between the two coats which are completely different. It doesn't help that I don't have a decent mirror to see how they look. May just have to go with my 3 year olds choice if I can't decide!

Can't believe it's the end of august tomorrow. Think it's time to start thinking about xmas if only to make sure I'm not spending money I don't have on presents that aren't needed/appreciated.

Frugal_Saver

Well today was an even better MSE day than yesterday.

Finally got a refund from the old nursery, that's an extra £226 to go towards the credit card.

My savings account also matured and I earned £55.00 in interest. Opened a new savings account to move money around to get the best rates.

Returned some items to shop which were bought with a gift card I was given 18 months ago, I've been struggling to spend the money on the card and have returned many items after changing my mind. Had a browse after returning some shoes and came across some umbrellas reduced from £10 to £1 and some socks reduced to a pound as well. Stocked up using the gift card (and still have a balance). Will use an umbrella myself, the rest will be put aside as spare gifts or for when I need to replace me umbrella as I'm constantly breaking umbrellas.

As my spend at the shops was on a gift card I'm counting this as a NSD. Also didn't ended up having left overs for dinner so that's extended my meal planning by a day. Didn't realise until I finished unpacking all the shopping last night that I had a loaf of bread I'd never ordered. Already bought a loaf the day before and not a fan of freezing bread so think I might make bread and butter pudding tomorrow. Also did price comparision for my shopping and got money of my next shop as it wasn't 10% cheaper than elsewhere.

Re-jigged money in my accounts as I realised my main current account earns interest monthly but I wasnt utilising this as money was set aside in another account to stop me spending it. Now I will swap and use the other account for day to day spending and transfer money to that account to use at the beginning of every week.

i was going to do all my money shuffling and non direct debit payments tomorrow but I think I might leave that until Monday as I assume that's when direct debits will go out so will aim to do it all on the same day.

Will only make minimum payment on credit card initially to make sure i don't encounter any problems with my budget this month. When I get closer to the payment due date I will assess my balances to ensure I'm not going to leave myself short and fall back to using the credit card again.

Feeling very positive about reducing my debt again but don't think this will last as I really don't like it when I go for long periods of time where I don't see any movement in the balance. Maybe I should look at making small overpayments on a weekly basis if I'm on target with budget.

Frugal_Saver

Well that’s my weekly budget blown. Had to buy head lice treatment for myself and my daughter and also a great way to spend a Saturday night, not! Already tried a free treatment from the chemist but that didn’t seem to get rid of them all plus at the time I didn’t think I had any but now I do. Horrible things.

Besides that everything is on track. Played around with a spreadsheet this morning to work out how my budgeting will affect debt and savings. I do love spreadsheets!

Tomorrow should be a NSD. Hoping to make it to the cinema with LO using my free cinema tickets which need using up. Will take snacks from the cupboard and water for us both. One thing that may cause me to spend money will be if LO decides she’s too tired to walk and we end up getting the bus home. Hoping that the excitement of the cinema will help alleviate her ‘tired legs’. Might even take her scooter with us.

If I find time in the morning I’m hoping to make some soup which should do a few lunches at work next week.

Need to keep focussed with budget. I was very tempted to buy a bottle of wine this evening as I thought the budget’s blown what difference is another fiver but then I realised that would be the start of me returning to old ways when actually I can try and recover the overspend in the next few weeks.

Frugal_Saver

One successful MSE trip to the cinema today. Not a penny spent. Took plenty of snacks and wasn’t even tempted by any shops while in town.

Came home and applied for a 0% fee balance transfer for up to 23 months at 0% but was only offered 18 months with 3% fee. As only some of my debt is incurring interest at the moment I didn’t proceed. Instead I looked at what offers my current 2 credit have. Best I can get now is to move the interest debt to 4.9% interest for with no fee. When 0% ends on rest of the debt I will consider a 0% with a fee but not paying it now as I know I can reduce the debt before it’s needed.

iwanttogoonholiday

Subscribed

Frugal_Saver

iwanttogoonholiday wrote: »

Subscribed

Thanks, welcome to my diary :j

Another NSD today. Meant to post my September targets the other day, here they are:

• 10 NSDs (already on 2 but as this is my first month I’ll leave it at 10, I’ll increase it next month if I find this is too low
• Increase savings by £200
• Get credit card debit back below £6k (and update signature as this is from over a year ago)
• Take lunch to work everyday (only in the office 4 days a week so I’m hopeful I can achieve this)
• Keep heating off all month

Frugal_Saver

Just a small spend today for lunch and dinner things. So proud of myself for resisting the temptation of a reduced pack of donuts. It took so much will power not to buy it but I’m so determined right now, I do not need to be spending 50p here and there on ‘bargains’ I had no intention of buying anyway.

the_cross_rabbit

Well done on resisting those donuts

Frugal_Saver

Thanks, it was so difficult to walk away from them but really pleased with myself.

Small spend again today, really need to organise the shopping for the weekend so I don't have to do small shops next week.

Spent some time playing with a snowball calculator earlier. Worked out I'm better off over paying on 0% interest card than the 4.9% as 0% ends soon and then it reverts to 17.65% and any fee to move it over elsewhere will be more than the interest I'm paying on the lower interest debt.

Just trying to stay focussed everyday, I'm so easily distracted I know it won't take much for me to slip into old habits