Mr and Mrs K's New Journey to a Debt Free Life.

Granariesgirl

AlexLK wrote: »

We may be buying a car this week (another classic) if the work doesn't prove too much for us upon inspection. The plan is to do the work run it until February and sell it for a profit (lots more than what the repairs, tax and insurance will cost). Hope that's MSE enough.

That's the spirit! I love buying stuff that looks awful, cleaning & repairing it then selling it to someone who doesn't want to do it themselves. :cool:

Knew a guy in France who was a Panhard fanatic, would buy these pieces of rusty junk that had been in barns & usually used as chicken sheds, do them up in his spare time, drive 'em around for a while & sell 'em on for a humongous profit. The profit was the cherry on top of the cake, what he really loved was bringing those lovely machines back to life!
Oh, & he never had to buy fertiliser for his garden, either...

:wave: Hi mum2one, hope all went well at the toothpuller's today!

mum2one

Thank you - 1 tooth down 2 to go and now discovered I need a filling as well.... didnt hurt at the time - painful now - looks like going to get a couple bruises on cheek - that could be fun.. done the diet good... enforced diet... xx

HOK3Y

AlexLK wrote: »

....after all, it's far too mainstream to be up to your eyes in credit card debt for me to participate any longer.

Honestly nearly snorted tea this morning!!!!! :rotfl:

AlexLK

Sorry there was no diary update last night, we went to the fireworks near the in laws, despite the previous two nights me getting very little sleep. As soon as we were home, it was lights out for me.

Granariesgirl wrote: »

That's the spirit! I love buying stuff that looks awful, cleaning & repairing it then selling it to someone who doesn't want to do it themselves. :cool:

Knew a guy in France who was a Panhard fanatic, would buy these pieces of rusty junk that had been in barns & usually used as chicken sheds, do them up in his spare time, drive 'em around for a while & sell 'em on for a humongous profit. The profit was the cherry on top of the cake, what he really loved was bringing those lovely machines back to life!
Oh, & he never had to buy fertiliser for his garden, either...

:wave: Hi mum2one, hope all went well at the toothpuller's today!

I know a few people who do things like that. Mrs. K. and I like Triumphs, MGs, BMWs and I know a lot about old Land Rovers, so quite a few :rotfl:

mum2one wrote: »

Thank you - 1 tooth down 2 to go and now discovered I need a filling as well.... didnt hurt at the time - painful now - looks like going to get a couple bruises on cheek - that could be fun.. done the diet good... enforced diet... xx

Try to look on the bright side and I hope you get well soon.

HOK3Y wrote: »

Honestly nearly snorted tea this morning!!!!! :rotfl:

:rotfl: I did promise to try and make my diary amusing along the way.

Mara_uk7

Morning Alex, Glad you had a decent nights sleep . Did little K enjoy the fireworks ?
I do love watching them, We have our Community Bonfire & fireworks to look forward to on Friday night, Its held down at the beach, the whole community contributes wood for the fire, and being farming area, there is plenty of wood around ! We all chip in a tenner towards the fireworks, the domesticated mums make home bakes & soup, and it turns into a very sociable event, we all bring a few drinkies .. and us childless ones sit around till all hours watching the fireworks, then once theyre over, the stars, and listening to the waves ..... and putting the world to rights before wending our merry way home around the back (private) roads, The one who is sober enough to get the key in the ignition drives ... Saturday we sleep late !!

AlexLK

Mara: You and me both!

Yes, he loved the fireworks and didn't want to leave his Grandma's house. Not sure what my wife has said to in laws but they seemed very keen to have their grandson round. Even if the niceties with me have ebbed somewhat since our last visit, still it wasn't so bad and we all enjoyed the fireworks.

Your local bonfire sounds idyllic, can I have an invite next year?

AlexLK

Wednesday 6th November, 2013.
Day 67.

Dear Diary,

Apologies for not writing a diary entry yesterday due to going to see some fireworks near to the in (out)laws.

Today my day has been generally rather quiet, mainly due to feeling a little unwell, again. However, Mrs. K. has applied for a new job and got a bit of extra work from a friend who is buying house which needs a little structural work doing. It's not a big job but they are paying her a decent amount of money for something that shall take less than five hours of her time.

I have noticed that our spending is becoming a little out of control again on the food / groceries side of things, so any ideas to keep costs down would be appreciated. Debt busting has once again been pushed to one side as Mrs. K. has been at work and I've been keeping myself busy. Unfortunately, the rest of the week and into the weekend looks to be rather busy with little time to be sorting through our things and putting items on eBay.

Summary:
-£12.40 Chinese Take Away (Tuesday).
-£55.00 Diesel - LR.
-£80.00 Petrol - BMW.
-£8.40 Cafe.

Yours Faithfully,
Alex.

gallygirl

AlexLK wrote: »

I have noticed that our spending is becoming a little out of control again on the food / groceries side of things, so any ideas to keep costs down would be appreciated.

Meal plan and batch cook - that's the way ahead. I know you won't want to do that so what about a compromise. Think about what you can cook in reasonable quantities - bolognaise sauce, chilli, stew, chicken curry etc.,Eat one serving and freeze one serving so you build up a stock of meals. Then meal plan but don't include those. When you really can't be bothered cooking what's on the meal plan then you have something quick that just needs defrosted and heated up. That will stop the 'can't be bothered cooking' takeaways. Takeaways are fine as a treat when you really, really fancy one (and can't find a cheats homemade version ) but not as a lazy substitute the rest of the time .

On the other hand - it's your money (well, yours and Mrs K's ). If you think your budget is unrealistic for how far you're prepared to compromise then, as long as you can make all your payments and put something extra aside, don't feel bad about it.

On the other, other hand......That £12.40 on your takeaway may have knocked £37.20 off the interest bill on your mortgage. Was it that good? And how long did you have to work to earn it? Have you seen the DEMOTIVATOR tool? If you spend £12.40 a week on takeways, .... based on you earning 20k.......

£644.80 takeaway

2.5

£29,016.00

That's a lot of pens/watches/cars etc . Will try to remember to ask you in 2.5 weeks if you've enjoyed working just to pay for takeaways

AlexLK

Mrs. K. and I are just not organised enough to do this meal planning and batch cooking. Is this where we admit to having a VERY small freezer as well?

We were quite motivated at one point to start planning healthy meals (we don't eat things which are good for us), in fact when we cook something from scratch I usually post about it on here. That says how infrequent it is. Worse still I'm often not very well due to the food we eat, nor does it set a good impression to our son. However, by the same token neither my wife nor I can be bothered to spend 1 hour+ in the kitchen everyday.

I haven't seen the demotivator before but £37 in interest on the mortgage?? Wow, kind of wished we'd put the cafe / takeaway money into that now.

maddiemay

It's difficult to make suggestions for food without knowing a person's taste and available shops, but when I worked full time we had a basic repertoire including some of the following:-

Grilled pork chop, top quality butcher's sausage, cheese or mushroom omelette or frittata (large one portioned up or smaller one each), Chilli or Spag Bol made one evening and eaten the next. Served up with large plate of mixed salad and a handful of olives or broccoli/green beans. None of these take long to prepare or cook and we used to do the day's de-brief while throwing it together, much healthier and cheaper than regular takeaway. A healthier takeaway for us would be a quick call into the deli for some sliced meat, bag of salad, yummy semi dried tomatoes and French stick. None of the above super cheap, but quality and quick. I remember that "too tired to cook feeling", then thought of the money wasted and the sluggish digestive system after the oily takeouts:eek:

Keep going with the baby steps, you have come a long way.:T