The Adventures of a Debt Defying Diva

RainbowBridgeReturns

Day 8

I still have my £10.00 and an unbroken fitness streak! My free seven day pass has now expired, but I have picked up another week's freebie for a fitness centre at a local hotel, so I am going to attend their body tone class tonight.

Provisions are beginning to run low, but I am using up all the bits and bobs that are lying around at the bottom of the vegetable tray and fridge. I made a fish pie yesterday, following a Mary Berry recipe, which was padded out with boiled eggs and a tin of tuna and covered in the mashed up potatoes that had been going to seed and scraps of assorted cheese. It tasted surprisingly good.

I confess to having watered down the milk, to make it last longer, and hiding toilet roll, which we seem to go through at a phenomenal rate. I suggested to DH that we have a roll each, to see who the main culprit is, but he laughed, and said that was far too anal, which makes me think that he is the guilty one !! Oh the joys of frugality.

in_need_of_direction

The irony of being anal about toilet roll usage

RainbowBridgeReturns

You are right INOD! My two are very fussy about their brands, so weaning them off is going to be a tricky process. Milk has to be full fat and organic and toilet paper Andrex or Cushelle!

I was at the gym again last night, and I think that I will wind down the month with an hour's walk today and tomorrow, which I can fit into my working day, and start classes again on Monday.

That will give me my 1000 exercise minutes for this month, which I am really proud of. I have stayed off the scales all January, but I sneaked on this morning and I have lost 5 lb.

Another NSD yesterday and another one planned for today. £10.00 is still intact, this is all very unlike me, but it feels good to be getting some control back into my life.

Onwards and upwards!

in_need_of_direction

I'm with your two. Some luxuries cannot be sacrificed at the moneysaving altar. Soft toilet roll is one of these.

RainbowBridgeReturns

Now, this is an area that I could make sacrifices, but I draw the line at the tracing paper that you get in public loos, however, I need to keep the family on side!

I think a compromise is in order. Morrisons are selling 16 rolls of 'Velvet' toilet paper for £5.00. Velvet is 3 pli and 200 sheets per roll, whereas Andrex is 3 pli and only 160 sheets per roll. The best offer I can find on Andrex is £4.00 for 9 rolls. So Velvet wins.

Cushelle is only 2 pli and 180 sheets a roll, so they are getting an upgrade!! That is how I will sell it to them anyway. Can this get anymore exciting LOL.

I will start February tomorrow as all my money is in, and it keeps things tidy. Four straight weeks. Another NSD today though, so a good finish to the month.

Have a great February fellow MSE'rs.

clippy_girl

i love how much research has gone into the toilet roll :rotfl:

well done on the 5lb loss :j:T

RainbowBridgeReturns

Thanks Clippy. Warning now long post ......

I am going to do a mini SOA, to keep me on track. First a little bit about DH. He is actually really good with money, he earns double what I do, has no debts and an emergency fund of 5k in case of redundancy. He also has various saving pots for holidays, car etc. etc. I say he has, but in reality all of this is in our joint names, I just don’t tend to get involved here or touch the accounts.

We have a mortgage of £42,000, equity in the house of approximately £150,000, and we both have contributed to company pensions for many years. Our car is nearly new, paid for outright, and worth about £13,000, so I have always thought we were comfortably off, whereas DH thinks we are hard up. DH wages pay for all the household bills, savings, car expenses etc and his personal spends. His must have is the Sky full package for films and sport. The SOA below is therefore just for my wages, as that is the bit that I have control? of. They go into a separate account, which DH doesn't get involved with.

I should be able to manage fine, but I have a very bad habit of running up my O/D to the limit £1,500.00, panicking, paying it right back down and then repeating the process. I also am dangerous with my Next card. I don't use credit cards, as they are far too tempting. I am amazed at what fellow MSE’rs do on a fraction of the money that I have, and I want to make my pennies count now rather than fritter them away.

Earnings (take home):-
PT job 1 - £430.00
PT Job 2 - £340.00
Various other ventures (mystery shopping etc) - £200.00
Total income £970.00 per calendar month.

I work around DS and spend approximately 1.5 days a week helping my elderly aunt care for dear uncle (81) who is dying of brain cancer. Working full time is not practical at the moment, but eventually I would like to get back to a career.

This is what my SOA is going to look like in February:-

Grocery Shopping - £230.00 (half the average spend last year)
DS Shoes and trousers - £34.00
Gym - £52.00
School hol spending with DS - £25.00
My mobile - £11.00
DS Mobile - £9.75
Hair DS and I - £65.00
Uncle and Aunt - £30.00
Mum - £80.00
Total expenditure - £536.75.

I have saved £235.42 this month, leaving me with £433.25 to pay in order to be debt free. By following the budget above, I can put the £433.25 immediately against my debt and obliterate my O/D and Next card. The trick will be to stay debt free until month end. I am ABSOLUTELY determined to do it.

Although my SOA probably looks ridiculous to many on here, have patience with me, I am a relative newbie to the frugality mind set. My must haves are still a decent hair cut and a gym with a sauna, Jacuzzi and hydro-pool.

In the school holidays DS has said that he would like a trip to Frankie and Benny's, a badminton and swim day, and a trip to the cinema, so I have budgeted that in.

My mum is on a basic pension and I keep an eye on her finances and contribute between £50.00 and £80.00 a month to help out, and it gives me great pleasure to do so.

Ditto my aunt and uncle, I spend £30.00 to £50.00 a month on treats for them, because their life is tough and aunt is doing a phenomenal job caring for dear uncle at home, she desperately doesn't want him to go into a hospice.

So for February I AM GOING to:-
STICK to the above budget religiously
Only drink on a Saturday night
Exercise at the gym 3 times a week
Cycle 150 km on my exercise bike
Average 1300 calories a day food intake
Declutter the house - one room a week, starting with the kitchen.
Earn £7.00 a day on the £10.00 a day challenge.

I'm really excited about February, moving all my money about, cutting up cards, and staying Debt Free.

If anybody ever reads all that lot you deserve a medal xx.

RainbowBridgeReturns

Good Morning February! I have had a long lie in as befits Diva Day! The sun is shining brightly outside, and today I am going to paint my finger and toe nails a nice bright, sparkly purple, which will be my February colour. I am bored with dark red.

I spent £40.00 on shopping yesterday, which will last me until next Friday, but I have allowed myself another £10.00 for any bargains that I spot on my travels.

I already had a large shoulder of lamb, from Waitrose, in the Freezer, so for date night tonight, DH is serving up slow roasted lamb with mediterranean veg, accompanied by red wine.

The leftovers will be turned into Jardaloo Ma Murghi (Curry With Apricots, lamb and chickpeas) and lamb hot pot (meals for Sunday and Monday). I may even try and squeeze out some lamb broth too!!

My £40.00 spends included the 16 rolls of Velvet toilet paper, which I plan will last us all month, and a month's supply of the cereal DS likes and the branded juice he drinks, as they were both half price, but in different stores. I'm going for a cycle ride today, in the February sunshine, with whoever I can persuade to join me.................

RainbowBridgeReturns

My overdraft is now clear!!! and I have enough money, in my other current account, to see me through until the end of the month, while I stick to the above budget. I have also paid off my N*XT account, and closed it.

I had an interest free overdraft of £1,500.00 with Nation*ide, but the offer was just for a year and that ended on the 1st of February 2014, so I beat the deadline, just.

I still have a few credit cards lying around that I haven't used for a couple of years. In total my available credit is approximately £18,000, scary stuff if I decided to go on a massive blow out ..... which of course I am not going to, but still temptation has got to go, I am about to close them all down now.

I have picked up 12 short jobs at local supermarkets, for this afternoon, paying £7.00 each, which will give me £87.00 towards my £7.00 a day total. That will get the month off to a good start.

I am loving my purple nails, though I am not sure that they are to everybodies taste. Hey Ho!!

in_need_of_direction

Well done on the overdraft and the next card. Even better that you closed it too. Doesn't February seem such a short month after the hell that was January.