A Budgeteers Continued Quest to be Debt Free & Mortgage Free By 40

The_Dragon · 28 December 2012 at 2:53PM

Happy Shiny New Diary! I hope 2013 is a great year for you

DedicatedDFW · 29 December 2012 at 4:40PM

The_Dragon wrote: »

Happy Shiny New Diary! I hope 2013 is a great year for you

Thank you Dragon

I hope the same for 2013 for you too x

DedicatedDFW · 29 December 2012 at 4:52PM

Positivity, positivity, positivity...

Ok folks, yesterday, as a fare few days lately have been, was rather difficult. The upshot of all this is that unfortunately my well laid plans for 2013 have to be re-shuffled. At first i was upset as i was very focused on my goal and already diligently working towards it (mainly the savings and the mortgage).

The reality is though that all of the house jobs were going to be listed and prioratised - at least i'll have a project for new years eve now

So i now need to save quite a bit ( a few thousand) for an urgent job to be done as soon as possible *gulp* So there will be a shift of focus towards this now. There are actually 4 urgent jobs that need doing - but as we all know these jobs all need to have money spent on them so regardless of how urgent they are if there is no money there for them they cannot be done.

I'll still be overpaying the mortgage and putting money into savings at the same rate - its just that all extras will have to go towards getting the money in to get this job done first.

DedicatedDFW · 29 December 2012 at 4:53PM

Savings for Urgent Job

30/12 £25.50 refund

DedicatedDFW · 29 December 2012 at 5:34PM

I have been pondering about being frugal lately, i've seen the thread for the new year on frugal living and thought can i dabble in frugalness? And what level of frugality can i achieve ?

We currently have ALOT of food in

which i am pleased about as that should help with the grocery bill over the next few weeks which should also help save some money towards the urgent house job that needs to be done. I am aiming not to waste any of this food if it can be helped - not too much of it is fresh so i am consciously checking dates and trying to make sure nothing is thrown away. We throw very little away to be honest but i am aiming to make that nothing AT ALL is thrown away

It will be the little things like this this year that will help.

I *do* use cashback sites and shop around for energy suppliers, car insurance etc.

I also fritter money away though

I *love* finding something fab and at a bargain price. I have implemented the jewellery jar and the fritter jar this year in an attempt to counteract that. The fritter jar will be emptied for one of the urgent jobs. Hopefully this frittering will be curtailed somewhat.

I am pondering the *hidden* expenditure of things, for example i have the heating on now - after a long walk (more on this shortly) and it is a cold day and the house is very cold (due to draughts, poor doors and windows etc, hence the urgent jobs). I only want to have the heating on long enough to take the chill out of both me and the air. The cost to me is hidden as i don't get the bill for this until later but its something i still need to think about. The walk was because its good to get out and have a good long walk - covered between 4 and 5 miles :T This was instead of jumping in the car and driving to the shops to change a present i'd received that didn't fit

I've also been thinking about the grocery shop - this can be an area of big expenditure for me - evidenced by the fact that the freezer is groaning and the cupboards are full - i see things in the whoopsied section and i can't resist

i wouldn't say i buy things that i'd be buying anyway - some of the things are - but other things are just so expensive otherwise that i wouldn't be able to justify buying them but at a fraction of the cost i snap them up! There are of course weeks when there's nothing reduced that i want. Here i,m thinking unless the price is so low it would be silly not to pick it up i am going to stop getting these bargains. This way i can clear a drawer in the freezer and with this i will have room to put in tubs of batch cooked food

Which will also help with costs and times as rather than think i can't be bothered cooking i'll pick up a ready meal :eek: i'll be able to use something i've already prepared :T

These ponderings will do for now. I don't think i'll be able to join the challenge - the jobs that have been put off for years due to no money need to be done now and cannot wait any longer which will necessitate the spending of several thousand pounds this year but they are major jobs and are essential and will make our home much nicer to live in

:T

Tomorrow i'll make a head start on the 365 declutter and get some items listed on the bay of e - hoping for some sales to help with the money needed

DedicatedDFW · 30 December 2012 at 1:08PM

Hi all,

Really need to get on with things today!

I have listed 1 item on the bay of e and have 2 items for the carboot pile. I could really do with more bay of e stuff to be honest as i obviously need the money as soon as possible! but part of the reason for the 365 declutter was not only to make my life more streamlined but as many of you will know, i declutter pretty much constantly, the 365 was a way of stepping back from this and allowing decluttering to just be a natural process rather than emptying the wardrobe and choosing what can go. An example of the natural declutter process is the dress i've listed today. It is a lovely dress and i've worn it lots but when i was going out and i lifted it out to put on i realised i didn't actually love it in anymore and my style has changed from this now so it was no longer something i'd choose to wear. Ditto the other dress and cardigan

So the good thing is that i have decluttered a few bits today and also done something to hopefully help me make some money

Yesterday i made tea and bulked it out a bit - something i usually do but my Mr usually eats it all :eek: But this time as part of serving it up i filled a tupperware tub which means we've a homemade meal for 2 in the freezer so the batch cooking has very happily commenced :T

I've checked for any surveys today but there are currently none available.

i've received a refund so have some money towards Urgent Job no. 1 :T

I've checked for MS's

Now i'm going to try on some of my Chrimble gifts and make a decision on keeping or returning these - hopefully they'll fit as they are really nice