I just started my MF journey!

EchoDelta

Thanks Castlelough

I'm really pleased. Calculator says we'll have saved over £3000 in interest from doing it.

Want to get another month off by the end of the year to meet the target I set myself. Got £40 in the op account so "just" another £250 to find. Should be totally doable.

I am slightly embarrassed to confess that I impulse bough some new shoes on eBay last night.... They are beautiful though. Pale blue with swans on them. I love Irregular Choice! Just over £30 which is about half the cost of a new pair. Not very mse really , in fact, a little flash of the old me! I'm reminding myself that last year a £30 pair of shoes would have been a not-at-all unusual occurrence and not beating myself up too badly!

EchoDelta

EchoDelta wrote: »

Need to get the lid back on the spending for the rest of the month. Been getting a bit too enthusiastic with the Christmas shopping (yes, I know it's only September!) so short term aims are :-

-buying nothing else from eBay or Amazon for the rest of the month
-at least 10 nsd for the remainder of the month

Just remembered this...
Epic fail!
*slaps self on wrist*
I can blame the pmt right?!


Doing okay on the Amazon and nsd front (2 so far).

EchoDelta

The good = heating remains off despite Mr Delta wanting to put it on (he was sat in a tee shirt at the time....) and I have done 3.5 hours of overtime at time and a half which will more than pay for....

The bad = friends invited us to a theme park for the day at the end of the month and we're going! We love roller coasters and haven't been for ages (on honeymoon in 2007 I think) and (my plea in mitigation) I booked online and saved a tenner each.

The ugly = sodding mould in the basement which is where all Small's outgrown clothing, cot, pram, non-kid books, Christmas and birthday presents etc etc etc are stored. So we're running dehumidifier down there and will have to keep it on a lot to stop it. I love our old house and the extra room downstairs but mould does my head in!

Aside from that I have been thinking that going away at the start of the month means I never quite get a handle on the month's money. I need to have a proper sit down tomorrow at lunchtime and see what we have left.

Am in desperate need of a good sleep. Night all, sweet dreams

castlelough

Echo Delta I love the way you manage to combine being a mfw and actually still having a life! You always have such lovely plans! Good for you!

EchoDelta

Ah thanks castlelough! Trying to keep abalance between planning for the future and enjoying the present.

This may seem a bit tragic but I was justthinking about the small stuff I have changed since the start of the year andworking out what they save……

Over draft – I used to dip into this everymonth just by poor money management and a mentality of “just paying for it onpay day”. Now I don’t do that which saves me the OD usage fee of £6/month (£72per year)

Mobile – I used to go over my dataallowance every month and now I keep an eye on it and don’t (have discovered Idon’t actually need to be connected to the internet all the time…). That andsending multimedia messages (which charge) instead of emails (included in datapackage). I would usually go over by about £4/month and now I don’t which savesme £48/year.

Tolls – my route to work takes me over atoll bridge which costs 75p a time. If I go a different way it takes a bitlonger but is the same distance and saves me the toll. Only good for decentweather as it takes me over minor roads but I do this on average twice a weekyear round which saves £1.50/working week (47 per year) = £70.50 per year

Eating crap at work – there are vendingmachines and I have no self-control and love a sugar and/or caffeine boast toget through the day! The old me spent about £3 per working week on this and nowI’ve stopped that (bring stuff from home now which is bought cheaply insupermarket) it’s saving about £141 per year

Lunch at work – I used to think I was beingquite frugal as I would walk to the local supermarket and get something ratherthan buying off the van that comes round the office park but I would stilleasily spend £3 on this at least 3 days per working week. Now I take stuff fromhome esp leftovers or value beans and bread to make toast or soup, all cheapstuff and save about £423 per year.

None of those things particular enhanced mylife and by being a bit less greedy and a bit more organised I save about £750per year!! :money:

EchoDelta

That was the longest week ever! Every day dragged.

Hooray for Friday at last! :beer:

Now up to 4 nsd for the month. Haven't paid for the toll bridge all week. Packed lunches and no vending machine purchases. And the heating is still off :money:

Tomorrow should be a frugal day - taking Small to a birthday party in the afternoon. Not sure about Sunday yet, will see what happens with the weather.

Got our house insurance renewal to sort so going to have a look at that tonight.

EchoDelta

Home insurance sorted. Saving per year = £450 :T but also for being so embarrassingly over insured! After Small was born I was really anxious and went a bit mad with insurance. Sorted our life cover earlier this year as well which was also really over the top.

We're now adequately insured for a much more sensible price!

EchoDelta

Nice frugal weekend including a nsd on Saturday (that did include the hell that is a child's party at a soft play place!)

And I get to amend my signature! We were checking out our mortgage stuff and our original end date was April 2029 so we've actually reduced the term by 13 months.

EchoDelta

A big step in the Delta house this evening - we've just planned our meals for the next week. We've been talking about meal planning for ages but finally managed to get around to it.

EchoDelta

Having a bit of a "the week before pay day" slump. No money left to send to mortgage account or pay a bit back to the in-laws. Got enough cash to keep us fed etc but nothing to play with on the online banking!

Keeping myself entertained and motivated by playing with the over payment calculator, reading diaries on here and doing little bits around the house. I just found a quilted curtain for the front door which we bought at least a year ago. Just need a bit of wire to fix it up and cut the drafts. Contemplating vacuum bags for old baby clothes which we're keeping in hope of another baby - space saving and will mean I worry about damp in them much less.

Reading this you'd never think it but honestly, I'm a HOOT! :cool::o