Diary of a "Frugal Saver"

Frugal_Saver

Just logged on to my online banking to find an extra £150 in my account from Lloyds which is recorded as PPI claim refund. :j Haven't had anything in the post from them and don't know if this is for my CC or loan but pleased they have found in my favour. :j

Money will be going towards service and MOT which I will now book. Fingers crossed I see more money in my account tomorrow for the second claim.

I'm so excited!! Was dreading putting car in for service but now I'll able to pay for it on debit card rather than CC. (Or put the money on CC and pay for it on CC....)

Frugal_Saver

Time for a weekly update!

I received a letter from Lloyds about my second PPI claim, they wont pay out, looks like I'm going to have to complain to financial ombudsman.

Managed to check OH credit score, he's got a marker for late payment on a loan a couple of years ago, he's adament they've got it wrong. The loan is settled now but it still means he's got a worse score than me.

Had a look at a snowball calculator this afternoon, was quite motivating to see how much difference paying off even £10 extra a month makes. Current DFD is based on me paying £300 per month towards debt. If I can get a 0% BT for CC and pay £330 per month my DFD would be April 2016, thats 9 months sooner! It still feels like a lifetime away but at least I have something to work towards.

Decided to start putting money away in different accounts in the end. One for car fund i.e. service, tax (and eventually insurance!). One for emergencies and one for non essential spends e.g. drinks down the pub, whatevers left in that account at the end of the month will go towards debt.

Christmas is fast approaching, starting shopping already and have an idea what I'm going to buy everyone. With the help of OH I should hopefully be able to avoid buying any of it on credit, just a bit worried as my pay will be less at the end of this month. I had two days off sick and my commission isn't going to be as much as usual as it's very quiet right now.

Hoping to keep spending to a minimum this week, only in work three days as I'm using up holidays Monday and Tuesday. This should stop me spending too much. Only £65 left until payday (plus £30 in second account for non essentials).

Frugal_Saver

Just realised my current DFD is just after my 30th birthday :eek:

This has really made me evaluate things. I don't want to start a family until all my debt is cleared but I don't want to wait that long to have a baby.

Frugal_Saver

Day off today. Going to finish off the housework. OH worked nightshift last night, had to get up at 6am to pick him up, at least it means I'm up and awake and not wasting the day in bed.

Hoping to do some baking today as running out of shop bought snacks yet I have plenty of eggs and general baking ingredients.

Will try and phone student loans to get a statement, I've hardly paid anything off since graduating 4 years ago and I'm not in a position to pay more than the minimum which comes out of my pay but I'd like to have an idea of how much is outstanding.

I'm planning on making a list for Christmas presents either today or tomorrow. Also going to make a list of things that myself and OH would like as we've already been asked by both our mums and neither of us have a clue, usually we both end up telling our own mums the same thing and double up on everything!

Need to do meal plans until next Monday when OH gets paid and make food shopping list, although the fridge is nearly empty I don't think we need to get too much extra. I've been thinking about buying items in larger quanity such as sacks of potatoes. We get through so many potatoes a month I'm sure it will work out much cheaper and I can't see them going off before we use them up.

OH still won't agree on what we're doing for Christmas day. I've got my Mum on at me wanting to know if we're going to my sisters or if we're having it at ours but whenever I mention the word Christmas to OH he starts on at me about it's too far away to think about. I feel like I can never please anyone. I would really like to get organised myself as this would help keep costs to a minimum but I just can't convince OH.

WantToBeSE

Hi FS.

Sounds like your OH doesnt think too far ahead, in regards to Christmas! I feel your frustration, i like to be super organized!

Hope you are doing OK

Frugal_Saver

Hi WTBSE How are you? Well done on the NSD, I've only had 4 this month and think it's going to be another week before I see another one!

Overheard OH asking his parents down for christmas last night (he had mentioned it before, but only in passing) they live in Scotland and we live in England. Just like him I don't think they'll make a decision until nearer the time. I honestly don't think they will come, and I have tried saying this to OH. At least he's doing something about it!

Yesterday went well with housework. Downstairs is really nice and tidy. Planning on doing some cooking around lunch time. I think I'll make a large portion of bolognese and make lasagne tonight and freeze a portion for next week. Also really need to make some cakes or cookies or I'll end up buying ready made ones.

Getting close to a payout on one of my survey sites, it's only a £10 sainsbury voucher but it'll help towards food shopping. I have a spreadsheet where I record all my survey points etc and calculate how much I currently have. If I was able to cash in everything as it is now it would be nearly £90!!! Most of it is vouchers. I'm still not sure whether to treat myself with the Amazon vouchers or use it towards presents. I think once I have a present list I'll be able to work out if any of it is worth getting on Amazon.

Plan for rest of day (in no particular order) :cool:

• meal plan for rest of week
• food shopping list
• go shopping
• cook dinner
• bake at least one cake
• finish housework
• sort out gym kit ready for tomorrow after work
• take lunch to OH while out shopping
• pay £10 towards next account, feeling down about debts at the moment as it's middle of the month I think it might help seeing the balance reduce even a small bit!

Things I may do

• find items to put on ebay
• clean car
• sweep away leaves in garden
• make a note of everything in the freezers
• clean the fridge

Frugal_Saver

What a productive afternoon

Frugal_Saver wrote: »

Plan for rest of day (in no particular order) :cool:

• meal plan for rest of week - Done
• food shopping list - Done
• go shopping - Done spent far less than I would have usully spent and got excellent bargain for washing powder
• cook dinner - Nearly done, bolognese ready just need to make the sauce and turn it into a lasagne
• bake at least one cake - Done and nearly finished making banofee pie for pudding to use up the over ripe bananas
• finish housework - still to do
• sort out gym kit ready for tomorrow after work - still to do
• take lunch to OH while out shopping - Done
• pay £10 towards next account, feeling down about debts at the moment as it's middle of the month I think it might help seeing the balance reduce even a small bit! - Done I'll update my signature when it shows on my account

Things I may do

• find items to put on ebay- Done found some skinny jeans will try and put on ebay tonight
• clean car realistically this was never going to happen!!!
• sweep away leaves in garden same as above
• make a note of everything in the freezers and again
• clean the fridge two of the shelves are on the side waiting to be cleaned

Back to work tomorrow. Have hopefully organised it so that I get a NSD either tomorrow or Thursday, need to book car in for service and MOT and get petrol. I've got money set a side for service and MOT and I'm really hoping it's not going to need all that money.

Frugal_Saver

Argh!!! Just when I felt like I was getting somewhere

Took car for service and MOT and it cost £424. I'd only allowed for £200 so had to use CC.

Why does it always feel like I take one step forward two steps back.

Really need to get an emergency fund built up for things like this in the future.

Frugal_Saver

Need to make sure my set back this week doesn't get me down.

Yesterday I got collected some freebies from vouchers I printed off, got a chocolate bar from Thorntons and Grape juice. Today I have ordered the free bowl from McCains and ordered something from Andrex puppy points which I will probably give someone for Christmas if I receive it in time.

Today I need to do yet more housework. There's only the two of us yet it seems never ending, doesn't help that recently we've both been leaving the house at 7.30am and getting home at 7.00pm. By the time we get home I've got enough enery to cook dinner and sometime clean up afterwards but not always. That should change next week !!! OH is starting night shift and going 4 on 4 off. He has made promises to help out a lot more around the house.

Not looking forward to pay day on Friday, I don't know how I'm going to make it stretch to cover paying back extra on CC and buying Xmas presents. I can survive by paying minimum amount on everything but it sets back my DFD.

Frugal_Saver

Hello 2013!!:wave::wave:

This is the year I take control of my finances and take my head out of the sand.

Christmas went by far too quickly but I managed to get organised and didn't go too mad with spending.

I've now got a spreadsheet set up which shows where all my money is going at the beginning of every month. This will vary from month to month but it shows the minimum I'm potentially left with and helps me work out whether I can afford to pay extra towards debt once I've had my payslip.