The march to financial freedom

Ali-OK

The saga of the single storey pitched roof insulation continues.... a reputable company were due to visit and survey tomorrow but on them phoning this eve to confirm, it turns out they do not do the blown-in insulation type, so they are not now coming out

Must get neighbour to look at it and see what he can do, or last resort is the guy that came out and quoted (then reduced) the other weekend.

Why, when everyone bleats about how quick and easy insulating is, can I not find what is needed?

I reckon a pitch-fork and some squares poked through the roof struts would do just as good a job :rotfl:

mooomin

Ali-OK wrote: »

Need to start a cheap jiffy bag hunt very soon!

I get all mine from Poundland so worth checking if you have one nearby. They do loads of different sizes (better range than Poundworld which is my other local pound shop) and at the moment have one free so you get 6 for £1. When I saw how much WH Smith wanted to charge for two jiffy bags I swore I would only use pound shops from that moment on

Ali-OK

Thanks for that Moomin - we have a Poundland in town and I shall find time to hot-foot down there as soon as I can.

A friend popped round for coffee this morning, you must think that's my normal Monday morning routine after going to another friends last Monday :rotfl: Honestly, it's not, it's just coincidence!

A good day workwise and picked up some more for December delivery. A not so good day when I realised my accounts book shows this Friday to be my month end :eek: I had it down for next Friday. Ah well, does mean pay myself day is a week early, but also means a smaller income from a 3 week work month due to mostly being off over half term. Have plugged the likely figure into my spreadsheet and it looks ok. Very glad I've mostly covered Christmas spending now.

After a delicious Toad in the Hole for dinner, I've peeled and chopped the carrots and grated the cheese and put it all in the freezer. It is starting to fill with ingredients rather than processed foods. Including the bits and bones from the chicken thigh roast yesterday - I'm going to attempt to make my own stock when I've got some more.

Bank account checked - lots gone out - the CC payments :T, elec, gas, life insurance and SB monthly CC. Shall update my sig shortly and I've got the additional £35 here to pay off CC1 as well (probably Friday when I do business banking).

Nectar adpoints - not had chance to look at those, ooh the excitement to come
freepostcodelottery checked

DS is getting much better at switching lights off I've noticed, this is great progress and possibly because I said I'd be quite happy to divert his pocket money to the electricity bill :rotfl:

Doglet No.2 is in fine fettle now, vets averted.

Loft insulation - no progress. Catching neighbour when we're both around in daylight is proving tricky. Am keeping an extra watchful eye for his car to be home.

I am claiming today as a NSD from my purse - though DS has come home with the school Christmas lunch letter so that is going to cost me £3 to send in with him tomorrow. It's never ending and unpredictable at the moment.

Ali-OK

I've got a handle on when we need the heating on with it being colder - primarily early morning for 2 hrs and then late afternoon to get back up to temp again - more if I'm working at home rather than out at customer site.

From tea time onwards, cooking and the 4 candles are keeping it warm enough, so heating not on during the evening. Quite happy with cold bedrooms at the moment.

Bank account checked - next DDs are on the 21st - mortgage and car payment.
freepostcodelottery checked
Adpoints checked - 54 available and done
P!necone survey email in and done - another £3 LVs should be on their way.
Nectar search bar up to 72 - 10 days and 28 to get to max 100 for the month
Nectar Canvass - rejected half way through one yesterday, ashame as was worth 80 points.

Am moving meal plan around a little so we can use up some new potatoes from the fridge tomorrow night.

Spends - just the £3 for DS Xmas lunch at school.

Tomorrow I plan to get to Poundland first thing for jiffy bags to get the eBay sales posted off.

Think that's it for today.

Emmala

Evening Ali!

You're doing so well!! I have my laptop on this evening and am with you on the candles....I love having mine lit too! We are also letting the heating come on for a short while in the morning, but resisting it thus far in the evenings, just popping a hot water bottle in the kids beds (and mine!) when they go to bed.

I'd also second Poundland for ebay bits, jiffy bags are so expensive!! I often just pop my sales into bubble wrap and then wrap in brown paper, sealed with brown tape, as this can work out even cheaper than jiffy bags for bigger items.

Wishing you well, enjoy your evening!!

Molly xx

Ali-OK

Hi Molly :wave:

It's great to see you and hope school is still going well for you :j

I'm utterly convinced candles are the way forward! I'm still using the same 3 from over a week ago, whilst the dinner candle gets replaced every 3 days. That's got to be cheaper than using the heating and electric light.

My gas and elec provider's prices go up later this month too, so I am going to take readings on the day and submit them, to ensure I don't get estimated usage on the old and new rates. My deal is a 6% discounted one that runs out in Feb and has penalties to leave, so am hanging on before looking to change.

Hot water bottles are great. I feel like I've been transported back to the 70s with all these changes and more OS cooking, but I am enjoying it so much and seeing real progress in savings. I've loads I want to learn about cheaper joints of meat and using the slow cooker.

Fab idea about bubble wrap and brown paper, thank you for that. Hopefully I can get a roll of paper in Poundland and have got a fair bit of recycled bubble wrap hanging around at home.

xx

Ali-OK

Today's update:

The whizz into town was successful and with jiffy bags and brown paper in tow (£2), eBay parcels have been wrapped, addressed and sit ready to go tomorrow.

Parking cost £1.10 and I picked up some milk at £1.39.

A bit of a treat too, as the lounge clear up unearthed a half eaten box of Orange Matchmakers that DS doesn't like...Best By date is 08/13 but I'm not fussy and they taste fine

I seem to have inadvertently given myself Friday off this week. The work planned has been postponed and I don't have anything billable that I can bring forward. Admin and accounts for month end will need doing though and prep for next week too - I can have a weekend off from it totally then.

I am therefore going to try to get a hair appointment which will cost £9 for a dry cut. It's been 4 months since it was last done so I am slightly overdue and am almost eating my fringe :rotfl:

My brother has visited this evening, similar to DS he didn't like my home baked choc chip cookies either I'll try with a different recipe next time, but nothing wrong with them and I've polished them off myself I gave him Aldi Rich Tea as an alternative, that'll teach him

We had an interesting chat about the Cheese Biscuits our old Nan used to make, but neither Mum nor I have the recipe. They are more moist than cheese straws so I am now on a hunt to find the closest match that I can. I even have Nan's old metal cutters in their original boxes ready and waiting to be used.

Heating off and candles on tonight. Dinner was Chicken kievs, new potatoes and beans. I've taken pork steaks out of the freezer for Somerset Pork tomorrow night.

Bank account checked - nothing happening there today
Nectar adpoints - have a 4 pointer to view but it won't play, will go back to it soon
Nectar Canvass - annoyingly, I thought I'd got through the preliminary questions for a 40 pointer and onto product viewing/opinions and out the other side, only to find that I was just being entered into the prize draw to receive the product for trying out. Nil points :mad:

More research on gas and electric charges has been done too - the standing charge on the electric is going up by a whopping 65% (15 up to 24p)- so £3 a month extra that can't be avoided has to be found in savings instead. I need to lay down after that aka get to bed and snuggle under the big duvet!

Edit: meal plan says Baked Potatoes, cheese and beans - we'll be having that then!

Ali-OK

Quite a busy day and some supermarket shopping decisions to make!

Bank account checked - car payment gone out, sig to update
Adpoints checked - another 6, so up to 60 points. No luck with the Bingo one, it never re-appeared
Nectar vouchers came through the post - treble points in store looks to be the main one of use

Morrisons magazine in the local free paper has £3 off a £20 spend and £5 off a £40. I am debating whether to try Morries out and use the £3 off £20 for our weekly shop - not sure how their prices and weights compare to Aldi.

eBay parcels sent and second class stamps for Xmas cards and December/January birthdays bought - too much spent :eek: Need to find PO receipt for total but over £20 and deduct parcel costs from eBay proceeds. It gets confusing as to what I've made, as I bought the toothbrush heads using Paypal. I do like things simple.

A good work day then took Mum late afternoon for her hospital appointment and she likes to have a KFC when over here, so she treated us all thus pushing our meal plan tea a day back. Free parking with her blue badge at hospital too. However, had to leave heating on and push it up a notch so she was warm and over a gallon of petrol used. Swings and roundabouts.

Booked a dry cut hair appointment for Midday on Saturday.

Gas and elec prices go up for us on Saturday :eek: Note to take readings and submit, but am aiming to get all washing done, the dishwasher load done and hoovering completed tomorrow on the old rate.

Am also going to SB first thing tomorrow to get my double exchange points voucher for the desserts for the big pre-Xmas lunch. Got my eye on a Profiterole Gateaux (we had one last year and it was delicious), the larger roulade and chocolate ice cream - £10 exactly. Fingers crossed they're in stock. Might be worth me going to the larger store across town rather than our smaller local one thinking about it.

Heating now off and candles on - it's a norm now

Ali-OK

I've been to Morries for the weekly shop and the great Yellow Sticker hunt I was surprised to see so much YS in meat, fish and bread and yet very few people in there. No chickens though.

YS items:
Loaf of bread, 2 smoked haddock loins, 8 pork loins and 2 salmon fillets.

Plus the items we needed for the week. They are quite a bit more expensive than Aldi in everything else I bought, except own brand Marmite, which was 80p cheaper than the real thing. And to make it up to £20, I got the large bag of Birds Eye peas that we need for the big Xmas lunch, which were 25p cheaper than SB.

Spent £20.74 minus the £3 voucher, so £17.74 :j

Very pleased with that. The freezer and cupboards are chocca - just enough room for the desserts in the half chest left!

The smoked haddock is a real treat for me, I am looking forward to 2 meals from that (DS doesn't like it) and the salmon I will make into 8 fish cakes.

I think I will have a go at a budget of £15 a week for December for food (5 weeks £75) and then £25 total for dog food, toiletries, cleaning items and extra Xmas items.

Ali-OK

Friday again And only 4 work weeks left until Christmas :eek:

A productive and NSD day, starting at SBs for the Double Point Nectar Exchange. £5 of points converted to £10 and voila, I have desserts for the lunch of 19 at no cost at all. :j Both freezers are full, very full.

With washing on, I cracked on with work stuff. Weekly and month end done, including expenses and receipts. Two more pieces of work in for December as well. :j

Business banking done and pay myself day too. Less than an average month though, so I need to be extra vigilant during December on discretionary spending. Forgot to take the extra £50 I've put aside to pay off CC1 from eBay sales, but will manage £420 off of it this month, just need to go to the bank and pay that bit to it.

Perfect drying weather with sunshine and a breeze, ashame the temperature was a bit low, but still managed to get a fair bit partially dried on my still temporary shorter washing line. Washing now on airers infront of the open oven door.

Dishwasher has been on and emptied too. I think all the high usage items have been used to get them within the old rate before the increase tomorrow.

Nectar Adpoints checked - No advance past 60
freepostcodelottery checked
Nectar Canvass - new survey in, but was rejected.
Bank account checked - have taken £150 cash out for the next 5 weeks. £100 for food budget, £50 for discretionary spends, of which £9 will disappear tomorrow for hair cut. Bits and bobs from purse have gone into the change bucket and tin.

The emergency fund (or what's left in my account at the end of December after my predicted budgets and DDs) is £2,524. But I need to fill up with personal use fuel next week as I begin the Christmas present deliveries (early because of taking birthday presents too) so that will come down by probably £35. Also need to use the 8p off a litre voucher by Wednesday.

DS had a friend come round straight from school tonight so we abandoned baked potato plans and went with fish fingers, chips and beans for speed and his friend's taste. Batch chilli is already defrosting in readiness for tomorrow eve and will be split between 3 of us as DS has a different friend coming over for the afternoon and eve and is eating with us.

Heating is off and candles are on, though DS has switched between both due to getting his homework done. A bit cruel to expect him to write and draw neatly by candlelight :rotfl:

Only 9 days until we put the Christmas tree up, so am hoping to sort through old decorations and lights and re-arrange furniture in readiness for that. Our tree is 4 years old, bought in a 75% sale and replaced a 20 year old one that was so bare it was referred to as the 'twig' and became an embarrassing talking point :rotfl:

Also on this weekends agenda is setting up the 2014 budget spreadsheets and transferring birthdays to the 2014 calendar (£1 in The Works bought in September!). I've been given a diary so won't need to buy one of those.

Have a good weekend.