Regrets, I've had a few

In_Debt_Bet

Dear Diary
Happy Monday everyone!

Well today got off to a good start, I telephoned the water company to query the increase in our bill, and the very nice lady I spoke to checked our account and came back to me to say that she could actually reduce it to £15.00 so our bill has gone from £25 to £46 to £15 ! :j Should I wish to I can now have a shower, then a bath, put on a few loads of washing, run the dishwasher and water the garden (not that it needs any more water after the rain we've had today)

Now it's confession time, I didn't have any breakfast this morning so ate my lunch a little early, unfortunately by about 3.30 I was rather peckish and in a moment of weakness purchased a sausage roll at work, even more unfortunately said sausage roll was tasteless, greasy and a rather unpleasant waste of £1.99, I consoled myself that at least I could work off some of the calories in my Zumba class - but that was cancelled:rotfl:

Bet x

HOK3Y

Hello Bet,

Well you sound like you have made some good changes and are ticking along beautifully! Well done you! Just keep that motivation up and keep going.

And bravo on keeping away from take-aways - so much money to be saved making something for yourself. Very best of luck to you. X

In_Debt_Bet

Thanks Hok3y, I don't think I'll be able to resist takeaways indefinitely, my plan is to set a monthly limit say £10 and either have one good 'proper' takeaway or a couple of visits to the local kebab van - their veggie burger and chips is my guilty pleasure :-)

trixie888

In_Debt_Bet wrote: »

Stay away from the coffee shop and restaurant at work - that £1000 I've spent there over the past year could have been spent on a holiday - I meant reducing my debt - sorry temporary slip up there:)

Bet x

I am in the same situation - staying away from the cafeteria at work.

I stopped buying cappuccino and croissant in the morning and I bring my own packed lunch now.

I am saving €10 each day. :T

wegle

In_Debt_Bet wrote: »

Thanks Hok3y, I don't think I'll be able to resist takeaways indefinitely, my plan is to set a monthly limit say £10 and either have one good 'proper' takeaway or a couple of visits to the local kebab van - their veggie burger and chips is my guilty pleasure :-)

I find as soon as you say you can't have something you want it so much more!! So it's a great idea to give yourself a limit, that way you're cutting down but still getting your fix. :j

Dominoes pizza is my absolute favourite but the cost is just astronomical!!! :eek: I bake quite alot and thought that this weekend I might make my own pizza dough and do a fakeaway (see what I did there! ). Hopefully it's just as tasty if not better!!

In_Debt_Bet

Hi Trixie, wow €10 a day that is a big saving you are making there. I did a few sums today and calculated that if I can carry on taking my lunch to work every day from now until Christmas that will be about £282.00 I've saved.

Hi Wegle, I make my own pizza quite often, although I do cheat and buy a packet of pizza base mix from a certain Mr T's - you just need to add water and mix. I haven't yet made my own pizza dough from scratch so I'd be interested to hear how you get on.

Bet x

timetogrowup89

In_Debt_Bet wrote: »

Thanks Hok3y, I don't think I'll be able to resist takeaways indefinitely, my plan is to set a monthly limit say £10 and either have one good 'proper' takeaway or a couple of visits to the local kebab van - their veggie burger and chips is my guilty pleasure :-)

Hok3ys diary has a great idea for cheap chicken wraps that are like the ones from kfc... Yum! You should take a look, think it works out at under a £1 for homemade takeaway wrap

In_Debt_Bet

Dear Diary

Hope everyone is having a good week, I didn't get around to updating yesterday so here are the spends for the past couple of days.

Yesterday
£2.99 - strainer to stop waste going down the sink plughole - unfortunately it didn't fit and as I had to destroy the packaging to open it I can't return it.

Today
Pint of milk for drinks at work - 49p. I've stopped wasting money at the Starbucks we have onsite here but I do need proper milk in my coffee - can't bear the powdered stuff in the machine.

I've come to the conclusion that I really do need a hair cut - I think I last visited the salon around Nov 2012 and my hair is starting to resemble a brunette Marge Simpson. :eek: anyway after a bit of online searching I've booked an appointment at the hair and beauty salon at our local college which is going to cost me £10.00 (last visit to a salon cost around £50) I must admit I'm feeling pretty chuffed with the new moneysaving me, the old me would have just booked an appointment at the salon and then put it on the credit card. My appointment is booked for next Tuesday so I'll let you know how it goes.


Bet x

In_Debt_Bet

Dear Diary

Here is the latest update on my journey to debt freedom.

Thursday 12th

Took my lunch to work again, I'm now fully committed to this, I wandered over to the onsite coffee shop with a colleague for a break, leaving my purse in my bag and was shocked to see that they were selling Walkers Baked Crisps for 75p a packet. I've been taking Cheesy Wotsits in my packed lunch all week which I picked up in the Pound shop for the bargain price of - yes you've guessed it £1.00 for five bags. I needed to stop off at the Supermarket on the way home for a few bits and pieces, as Sainsburys is on the way I stopped off there and came out with my purse £16.00 lighter.


Friday 13th
Yay - a no spend day :j. OH is out tonight and I've got last night's leftover pasta for dinner, I'm not even entertaining the idea of a takeaway, however I do have a nice bottle of red that a friend gave me for my birthday a couple of weeks ago which I'm currently enjoying a glass of - cheers all :beer:
My car needs petrol and that will probably be about £35 to fill up - thank goodness it's only got a little tank. I also need to do a proper grocery shop as supplies are running low - this will definitely be either an Aldi or Lidl shop.

OH and I are off to Hampton Court Palace tomorrow which I'm really looking forward to, I know that this isn't very MSE but we are in need of spending some quality time together, there are probably cheaper ways we could do this but we haven't had a proper day out together for a very long time, my plan is to get the most out of the day we can whilst spending the least amount of money and of course try to avoid the gift shop.

I've got a sapphire ring which I brought many years ago and have heardly worn so I'm sending that off tomorrow for valuation and to hopefully sell, am keeping my fingers crossed I get offered a good price for it.

Have a fab weekend everyone.

Bet x

In_Debt_Bet

Morning Diary

It feels like Autumn is here now, there's a bit of a chill in the air here but so far the heating is staying off.

I've got my cut price haircut at the local college today which I'm looking forward to. I think I may need to spend a bit more money soon on a massage, I'm in quite a lot of pain with my neck and shoulders which I think is a combination of poor posture at my desk in the office/slouching on the sofa at home and I've also disovered that I have a habit of sleeping with my arms raised above my head which some googling has revealed is very bad for you, the trouble is as I don't realise I'm doing it the only solution I can think of is to sleep in a straitjacket - OH thinks that's a brilliant idea!:rotfl::rotfl:

I've sent a ring off to hopefully sell, I don't know what it will fetch but I'm hoping for good news. Ive used a company that I found on MSE that had good feedback so fingers crossed. I've got a pandora bracelet with a couple of charms on that I hardly ever wear so this will be the next thing to go, it will be on e-bay by the end of this evening.

Latest spends are below:

Saturday 14th
Hampton Court Parking - £4.00
Tea Towel in Gift Shop - £4.99 (I did try to resist)
Bottle of water - £1.60 (my excuse for this is I had a blinding headache and needed something to help swallow tablets)
Coffee and cereal bar on way home - £2.69

Sunday 15th
Breakfast with Mum - £7.00

Mum is going on holiday for three weeks and this was our catch up before she goes away - I tried to pay for our breakfast as she always insists on paying when we go out but she wouldn't let me and insisted on giving me £10 towards it so this was just my contribution.


Monday 16th
Post Office - £6.40
Bag of crisps - 49p

My aim is to get my overdraft down to around the £400 mark by the end of this month, usually it's around the £600, once my debts get below the £15K mark that will feel very good and will encourage me to keep going.


Bet x