6 grand in 6 months - my personal challenge!

cottage_retreatist

Okay, so meal planning isn't as easy as it seems!!! -

Sunday (tomorrow) - roast chicken, quiche and salad - DONE!
Monday - [STRIKE]salmon (got 2 fillets in freezer already), potato salad and salad[/STRIKE] - had omlette instead cause I'm soooooo lazy on a Monday!!!!
Tuesday -[STRIKE] omelette, potato salad (leftovers) and salad[/STRIKE] - had fish pie instead!
wednesday -[STRIKE] sirloin steak (butchers - buy on day) chips and veg[/STRIKE] - will probably have the remnants of the fish pie with salad
Thursday - [STRIKE]fish pie, veg (make enough for freezer leftovers)[/STRIKE] - probs make the chicken as chicken breasts in the fridge still so don't want them to go off
Friday - spag bol (from freezer) and salad or veg
Saturday - HM sweet and sour chicken and egg fried rice (my try a new thing!) - too confused to consider Friday and sat right now!!!!!

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!!!!

I now know (or i knew but didn't pick up so obviously on it previously) that Mondays are slob evenings for me after the weekend and first day back at work so the easier the supper the better so this would be good for reheat days, and if I'm going to make something I want to freeze portions of either I should make it on the Sunday and eat it all from frozen or make it early int he week so the meat/fish doesn't go off in the fridge during the week before making it. I know after 3 or 4 days something shouldn't go off in the fridge but somehow I just have a way of looking at something and it goes off - that's why I like stews - just chuck everything in, watch it all go into a brown sludge with a good few cans of tomatoes and bobs your uncle!!!

My OH and I have a joke that if I ever went on Masterchef and got given a potato, egg and an exotic fruit I'd still manage to make a tomato-based sauce!!!! :rotfl:

On another note - complete and utter NSD - whoop!!!!! :j
tomorrow - gotta top up oyster, should really start walking - grrrr, where has my motivation gone?!!! Oh and the OH cheekily went and got his hair cut for 43 quid :mad: but he spent it form his 'fun money' so can't really have a go at him!!!!!

Hope all other fellow DFWs are well and good this evening?

cottage_retreatist

Ok!
So a quick update - still HFC don't seem to want to take my money off me! I need to try and call them again tomorrow - i'll have to do it at work but thankfully I get in before anyone else in the office so no one has to hear my financial minutiae!!!!! I hate talking on the phone in an open-plan office!!

Sticking to the walking - I've walked home yesterday and today! Yay! (saving bus fares) and walked up the stairs to my 5th floor office this morning but goodness - it almost killed me - shows me just how out of shape I am so that will become a daily thing now as well!!

Having the sweet and sour chicken today but bought the sauce instead of making it - had a t*sco voucher as part of the price promise so used that - so the sauce was FREE!!!!!! (was discounted to 1 pound from 1.69 anyway!!!) WHOOP!!! :T

So a NSD!!!!!! But yesterday I caved in and bought a boots meal deal to eat lunch in the park -that will be my one extravagance of the week.

I just want to update my signature now so I can pass the 1 grand target for the month :mad: So frustrating!!!!

But I'm going to keep on trucking!! Hopefully tomorrow

xx

cottage_retreatist

:j

I just paid off £423.31 from that stupid TV I bought on credit which means that is a debt paid off!!!!! :money:

I can't believe it only cost about 600 four years ago and although for 2 years I paid it off the money never seemed to go down so NEVER buying anything on credit ever again in my life!!

Lesson Learnt!
Just had to tell you - I'm so excited!

cottage_retreatist

OK! My signature has been updated and generally - another NSD! yay!

So excited! Spag bol from the freezer tonight just wish we had a crisp white chilled wine (half price) to celebrate shutting down a debt!!! Well - that wouldn't be the MSE way I suppose!

ItWillGetBetter

Hi thought I would pop in and say hi cottage_retreatist.
You have started really well, I know it is difficult but keep going.

I will now try and find out how to subscribe to a thread - ah just found it.

cottage_retreatist

ItWillGetBetter wrote: »

Hi thought I would pop in and say hi cottage_retreatist.
You have started really well, I know it is difficult but keep going.

I will now try and find out how to subscribe to a thread - ah just found it.

Thanks ItWillGetBetter!!! :beer: I keep looking at my 'home management notebook' :cool: and thinking - I want to pay this off now - i want to pay this off now but obvs I don't have the money to do any more paying off until next friday - PayDay! Whoop!

The goals for next month are to pay off:
Capital One - 140 left - this one will then be cleared :T
Brother - 450 - this means it'll only be 295 left to him! Phew, it's been a long time coming! (Final amount hopefully pay to him in August)
Vanquis (which has a credit card limit of 400 but is at about 360) - pay off in full!!!! :T

Hoping to call up the credit card I've been avoiding as well and start a monthly plan to pay 100 off that per month and do a starting payment of 280 to sweeten the deal (fingers crossed they accept my offer - it's a 2250.00 debt). :eek:

Well - it all sounds very hopeful! Some of it I can pay off at the start of the month and the rest I'll have to wait til the middle when the OH get his pay packet in.

I will definitely keep you updated!!! At the moment i'm looking at my meal plan and working out what I've got and what is needed form the market tomorrow (today will be a NSD (also known as a 'clean this pigsty of a home day') - so think i'll make a mushroom risotto as had the scheduled sweet and sour the other day.

cottage_retreatist

So - I've been away this week and that's because I've felt so guilty - I fell off the MoneySaving wagon and the only person hurt by it is Me (and i suppose the OH!). I went into our rent savings by 200 pounds which pushed me down by 200 sorting out where the debt payments should be paid this month and I don't know if i'll reach our 1 grand target for July :mad:

I know where the money went - on alcohol and takeaways - the OH was having a stressful time at work so i compensated with food and booze - although i did cook this week mostly from the cupboards to try and compensate when I could have just spent even more and gone shopping for groceries so I feel a little bit hopeful!

Glad to have got that off my chest!

On the other hand today (day after payday!) - I paid off the final 140 to the credit card so that is one PAID OFF!!!! Yay!!! And by paying it off our debt total is now BELOW 20,000 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!! :j

I can start to see a real change! It was 23,000+ at my LBM back in May this year so we've almost cut 4 grand since then and the only way is down (to paraphrase Yazz!!!!). Just got to keep pushing and be strong when the shops come into view - I don't ever buy anything except food!! But then the money spent on food must be horrendous because of all the 'snack junk' we eat! I think we need to factor snacks etc into our meal plans and shop wisely - maybe try writing down all our payments so we can see where this dead money actually goes.

Sorry - its a bit of a self-reflective post! But if feels good writing it!

beach-holiday

Hi Cottage-retreatist

You're doing really great! Your diary is very inspiring, and the ups and downs just go to show that you're trying really hard and coping with what life throws at you!

Well done on clearing some of the debts already :T

My OH was exactly the same as yours, but 2 years in to the journey, he's finally on board, and can be worse than me with the MSE sometimes! Stick with it!

B-H

cottage_retreatist

beach-holiday wrote: »

Hi Cottage-retreatist

You're doing really great! Your diary is very inspiring, and the ups and downs just go to show that you're trying really hard and coping with what life throws at you!

Well done on clearing some of the debts already :T

My OH was exactly the same as yours, but 2 years in to the journey, he's finally on board, and can be worse than me with the MSE sometimes! Stick with it!

B-H

Hey beach-holiday! Thank you for your post! :beer:

haha! thank you for saying my diary is inspiring! Its just my everyday trials and tribulations but i do have to say it was reading all the other diaries on here and reading how other people were getting through that inspired me in the first place!

The OH is a bit of a b*gger sometimes! But I suppose I knew what I was getting into when I started with him and he lost a whole months of wages through bounced cheques fees!!!! Ah those hedonistic days!! :rotfl:

I'll keep my fingers crossed one day he'll be as good as your OH but til then, i'll just hide all the credit cards!!!!

beach-holiday

cottage_retreatist wrote: »

I'll keep my fingers crossed one day he'll be as good as your OH but til then, i'll just hide all the credit cards!!!!

Ha ha, been there too :rotfl: