Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

StressedSteph

Happy New year everyone :beer:

Got abit of a headache this morning . Only had a couple of glasses of wine, what a wuss.

Hope you all had a lovely evening.

I nipped out to our local little supermarket and treated hubby and I to a rump steak each and and cheap bottle of fizz.

It wasn't a fraction of what a usual New Years Eve costs. :T

So its January 1st - Frugal time.

Got to finish my meal planner to take us to 12th January, Its abit ambitious but we have quite a lot of what we need I just need to get clever about it.

From today there is a ban on the little trickles of money leaving our account. No quick little Amazon/Ebay purchases or nipping to the local little supermarket for 1 item which turns into a £30 shop.

Maybe I should sign up for the "No Spend Day" challenge. I haven't done that in a long while.

Hoping on a fairly quiet day today, we have been invited to some drinks in the village between 5-9pm but its abit tricky. its an old posh couple so don't really feel like we can take our unruly children and also they live up a very narrow lane with hardly any parking, so it tricky to drive and quite a long way to walk.
As you can see I am not feeling like going, but i am biting my tongue as hubby will probably accuse me of trying to be a hermit as he loves socialising

Oh well will wait and see how it turns out.

Hope you all have a fab day xxx

tootallulah

HNY Steph, my advice go at 5, take the kids leave at 6.30 just as the kids are getting "super lively". Get home, quiet night in nd good night out rolled into one!

the.new.me

Found you happy new year to you hope the head feels better soon.

Well done on the cheap new year celebration and here's to lots of NSD's I'm here any time you need a kick up the arris to stop the internet buying

StressedSteph

tootallulah wrote: »

HNY Steph, my advice go at 5, take the kids leave at 6.30 just as the kids are getting "super lively". Get home, quiet night in nd good night out rolled into one!

Thats a very good plan tootallulah. I might just do that, I could always leave hubby up there to catch a lift back with someone.
I love it when we get back from somewhere and there is still abit of the night left over. Silly really.

Hope all is good with you & Happy New Year. xx

the.new.me wrote: »

Found you happy new year to you hope the head feels better soon.

Well done on the cheap new year celebration and here's to lots of NSD's I'm here any time you need a kick up the arris to stop the internet buying

Yay thanks for finding me TNM :T.

I am feeling a little better now after my third coffee:D.

Thanks for the kick up the bum offer, I will definitely need it.
Think I might try to post my temptation on my diary and leave it 24hours. If we still desperately need if after that then I will have to start a saving pot. I need to stop falling for the "1 click purchase" trap that Amazon are so good at. Its all too easy

Thanks for posting, and hopefully we can keep each other on the straight and narrow xxx

misstara

Happy new year Steph! Sounds like you had a lovely night last night Hope the head is feeling better though.

I'm thinking about doing a NSD challenge as well, I'm definitely better than I used to be at not making little purchases I don't need but think it would give me another incentive.

Tootallulah's advice for tonight sounds like a good plan. Hope you have fun if you go.

debtfreeoneday

Happy New Year Steph!

StressedSteph

misstara wrote: »

Happy new year Steph! Sounds like you had a lovely night last night Hope the head is feeling better though.

I'm thinking about doing a NSD challenge as well, I'm definitely better than I used to be at not making little purchases I don't need but think it would give me another incentive.

Tootallulah's advice for tonight sounds like a good plan. Hope you have fun if you go.

Hi MissT

Just had beans on toast so feel all recovered now thanks x

I have signed up for the January NSD challenge. I have gone for 20 days :eek:. I should really do 31 days as I REALLY do not have the money for any extra spends but thought I would aim low so I actually achieve it .:o

I have added an extra savings pot to my YNAB budget - School costs. It is shocking how many bits and bobs I have to pay the childrens school for. its only silly bits like Tuck shop money, Non uniform days, school outings and buying bits they have made, but actually it really adds up over the months. I am going to try to put £5 per week into this fund so that it will cover those misc bits and maybe extra towards organised trips they go on.

All the Christmas decorations are down and house hoovered :T
It looks so much better.

Not sure what to do this afternoon??. I will have a shower and then maybe clean out the utility room. After serving dishes and things come out of the larder cupboard, they often do not go back in very well so end up on the worktop cluttering up everywhere. It now looks abit of a mess.

Next week when the children go back to school I will tackle their bedrooms. I would REALLY like to remodel them as they are just a hodge podge of mismatching furniture and boring cream walls.

Ds fancied a kind of camping / bear Grylls type bedroom

On Amazon they have a large wall mural of an actual woodland, and he wanted camo bed linen etc. All money i don't have though so will have to start a little savings pot.

Crickey I have so many savings pots!, I am not sure how far i think our money will be able to go :eek:

StressedSteph

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

Happy New Year Steph!

Thanks DFOD, good to hear from you. Hope all is well and Happy New Year to you too. xx

StressedSteph

Morning all,

Had abit of a lie in this morning. I have been ploughing through books on my kindle during the holidays, its been lovely.

Going to be super tough next Tuesday when the school runs start again .

Got to pop into big town today. Its a close friends birthday today and also my mums on the 4th. So need to get them a little something each.

I also thought that while I was in Big town, there are quite a few discount card shops, so think I will buy a bulk load of ladies, mens and childrens birthday cards so that i don't end up buying the expensive local ones that are usually £2.50+ each :eek:.

Hoping not to spend much, I was hoping there might still be some sales on.

Beautiful day outside today, so I thought i would be a good idea to do some work at the veg plot this afternoon.

The house isn't in too bad a shape, and the rest of the bit of cleaning is better done on Tuesday when everyone is back at work and school.

Feeling super organised and ready for the year ahead. Think I might go through our Finances metal box as well today.
I have this metal box that has dividers in it which I put all the years receipts, bills, important docs, passports etc. All in one place so that if I get hit by a bus, hubby will have everything to hand as otherwise he wouldn't have a clue ;).
Every year I go through and bag up the last years bills etc and put them in the attic. I tend to keep around 5 years worth. (just in case). With all our creditors the tin box fills up very quickly and gets a mess. Its always nice to go through and re-organise it.

So, thats the sum total of my day, also need to get in my head what I am doing for dinner tonight. At the moment I have no clue as I still haven't managed to do the menu plan. I really need to go through the freezer and cupboard to see what I have got.

Looks like its going to be a busy day .

Hope you all have a great day. Still so pleased its 2015 :T

maddiemay

Hi Steph, sounds like you are really getting organised:) (MSE why do you not recognise words written in the English language using an "s" not a flippin "z":(:(:(:()

Family came to visit yesterday, food was simple, but freshly made and no rubbish, it was appreciated (I suffer from self-doubt when catering for others these days:o)

Usual Friday visit to market in town this morning, bought nothing that was not on list and came back and written up all spends in my diary, able to do a food bank contribution too as local 1 Stop have a collection bin - food there expensive, but all branded and they have decent offers each week so usually select from these when they are running the scheme.

Spread sheet started to pay off CC which through ill-health and cannot be "ar&ed has built up a bit, could clear it from emergency account, but I know I will not be disciplined enough to replace it properly, so would rather pay a some interest, might try printing off your hundred square grids and using, need to check how many more months are free from Water DD and shunt the money across each month, 7 days to first "payday" of this year.

For the past month or so I have been looking things up on e-bay and Amazon and leaving them in basket/watch list, it is amazing how few things I have bought after leaving them their for a while:money:

You have had such an amazing 2014 and hopefully 2015 will be so much easier, particularly as you can reduce the interest payments and then snowball to the others.

MM
xx