6 grand in 6 months - my personal challenge!

joanne109

Don't worry about the occasional cave in, we all do it, remember you're only human and you don't want to get obsessed.

You've got some very challenging targets and don't beat yourself up if you occasionally don't make it, no one can criticise you for trying

The hygienist needs to talk to your OH about the fags - or maybe she knows she's onto a good thing;)
Good luck

Joanne

cottage_retreatist

Thanks Joanne,
I suppose its a bit tough and the whole MoneySaving thing can almost take over your life if you let it - i think I need to still be a militant saver but maybe not come across that way and maybe then I'll be able to enjoy the little treats like takeaways when we have them and not feel guilty with every forkful!

I wish I could get his hygienist to talk to the OH about his smoking but seriously NOTHING does the trick - he's been smoking since he was 13 (over 20 years ago) and it is so engrained, in fact I think the only time I saw him think seriously is last time we visited his parents and his mum had stopped cold turkey (with a man who is more of a chain smoker than mine!). So I think that prompted him to start thinking about giving up if not right now giving up!

But, damn, I don't want to think about how much money we could save by not buying tobacco! That's a whole other story! Haha!!

cottage_retreatist

Well - there we go - actually trying to pay a debt back and no one wants to take the money!!!!!!

I wanted to pay off the stupid TV debt i have from when I bought a tv (which was confined to the tip a few months ago when it broke) a few years ago - called Moorcroft who held the debt and they had transferred it back to HFC - called HFC and they said I had to call Moorcroft!!!!!! :eek: No one seems to want my money!!!! So I have to call them again on Monday! How frustrating!!!

But on a better note - I transferred the OH's money into my other account and was able to pay my HSBC credit card on minimum payment and did 300 to the brother which takes my debt payments for this month to - 844.71 so far!!!! Yay!!! With the tv which I'll hopefully sort on Monday I'll go over my target by 200 quid and pay off 1200 - I can't wait!

But . . . . the OH has spent this morning talking about spending 400 on the car and how we should go on holiday! I'm nodding and smiling but all the time inside I'm thinking - we can't afford to! But I've said -if he can do all this with his 'play money' he can spend it on what he wants - so we'll see what happens.

(will update my signature)

cottage_retreatist

OK - So I said the other week that I would start trying to do fortnightly menu planning and I have prepped the plan for the next 2 weeks starting from tomorrow (this is the day when I do big cooking and go to the market so it's the best day to start the week for me!)

I've prepped myself a couple of rules as well to try and stick to:
1) 1 takeaway day every 2 or 3 weeks (because I have to admit I do crack every now and again)
2) 1 jacket potato meal every 2 weeks
3) 1 salad meal every 2 weeks (trying to lose weight!)
4) always make double or more on stews/pies and freeze extra
5) try a new recipe every 2 weeks
6) let the OH choose a meal for every 2 weeks
7) everything homemade and not prepackaged meals (except takeaway day!)

So here goes:
Sunday (tomorrow) - roast chicken, quiche and salad
Monday - salmon (got 2 fillets in freezer already), potato salad and salad
Tuesday - omelette, potato salad (leftovers) and salad
wednesday - sirloin steak (butchers - buy on day) chips and veg
Thursday - fish pie, veg (make enough for freezer leftovers)
Friday - spag bol (from freezer) and salad or veg
Saturday - HM sweet and sour chicken and egg fried rice (my try a new thing!)

Sunday (23rd) - roast chicken, roast pots and veg
Monday - carbonara pasta, salad (got some lardons in freezer leftover from making massive bol)
Tuesday - salmon, salad and j potato
Wednesday - spag bol (from freezer) and salad
Thursday - curry (hm) and egg fried rice
Friday - fish and chips (hm or takeaway?) and peas
Saturday - HM pizza factory fun!!!!

the chickens each week are hoped to go towards chicken sandwiches over the week - if not we'll have egg mayo sandwiches and I'll get extra fruit to eat at work. Each evening we'll have ice cream or HM cake for dessert.

Most of the stuff i have in the pantry already so it's just chickens, eggs, fish steaks, some chicken pieces and some veg i'll need to buy (could make bread for sandwiches if feeling energetic! :rotfl:)

andrar

Loved reading this, well done for being so studious with it all! I don't think I could be as patient with your OH though - I'd have gone crazy by now if I was the only one budgeting!

You're doing a grand job with it all and I can't wait to read the rest.

32b3in2013

Your determination is catching OP. Well done, you are doing really well

32b3

cottage_retreatist

thank you 32b3 and andrar!!!! The enthusiasm could simply be the sugar I've had in a cheeky snickers and glass of cola!!!!!

Haha - the OH is infuriating (trust me on this) but his enthusiasm about buying stuff is almost the same about mine for saving stuff!!!!! So it's hard not to simply laugh when he talks all the time about this and that! The great thing is 9 times out of 10 he doesn't actually go ahead with the purchase!!!!!!! So long as he's got his Xbox to distract him I could leave him in front of it 12 hours a day and I know he won't spend any money!!! hehe!! 5.99 a month very very well spent!

cottage_retreatist

just realised from that post that he sounds like a 15 year old boy!!! when actually he's 35! Eek!!!!!!!

Haha!!

32b3in2013

Lol, not sure there is much difference between a 15 year old boy and a 33 year old man when it comes to computer games

cottage_retreatist

Haha! True about that with men and their computer games! The living room around the sofa looked like a teenage boys bedroom after his 12 hour marathon too - only difference were the empty beer cans!

Well, apologies for not posting yesterday - it was EPIC!!! Went to the market in the morning and got all food for the week (apart from Wednesday's steaks), came home and did a load of washing, tidied the 'boys bedroom' living room, tidied bedroom and cleaned bathroom and bathroom floor, tidied kitchen, cooked roast chicken, quiche and a beetroot and chocolate cake to use up two beetroot before they went off. Even managed to make the sandwiches for today's lunch - chicken mayo and cheddar cheese, mmmm!! Phew!!!!! We even defrosted the freezer so loads more space for meals.

So - tonight should be salmon fillets but I think i might make the fish pie instead as that is to be frozen and i have the prawns and salmon in the fridge for that so it doesn't go off - don't want to freeze, defrost, cook then refreeze! Hope that makes sense?

Spent only 89p on milk on the way home, otherwise a NSD. Though OH bought his ma and pa a few presents for his da's birthday which I can't really prevent him from doing. Although i was a bit shocked by the 6 quid cost of a card from funky flying rat dot com!! :eek:

aim for this evening - wash his workshirts, make the fish pie and try and relax. :rotfl:

One of my debts - Halifax - sent me a new credit card today (newly valid) - i don't know if they're trying to test my willpower but it goes straight in the 'firebox' - our box of docs to take if the house was on fire!!!! Good think i haven't used it for so long I haven't the foggiest what the pin number is!