NSK; February 28 Days Later!

clippy_girl

thanks everyone

need to stop buying sweets as prob been spending about £5 a week on junk for a few weeks. have also put back on the weight i lost this year chest is still sore so just want to sit around eating but need to get back in the zone! going to start gym again on monday if chest ok. not risking exercise yet as still getting twinges. not sure whether to go salsa thur or leave it until next week as well (doesnt cost anything as got a vouch for 10 classes).

even with my reduced spends i still have £90 per month to spend on whatever so am aware i am luckier than most. got a meal and drinks for colleagues leaving in march then my spa night the week before payday so those will be my treats. really going to try and be frugal with the rest as much as poss as i want to save to buy new clothes.

when im debt free i plan to save all the money i would normally use for debts so i dont want to start using it for other stuff. savings will be for my holiday, new fridge freezer, new window and redecorate bedroom. plus £1k emergency fund.

when im back from holiday in dec i plan to start saving each month towards my next holiday and overpaying my mortgage with the rest.

dont want to get into debt again! :A

re blender if you want for soup and smoothie you can get a stick blender for about £5 from most places. i just use it in a jug for smoothies or pan for soup. i have a smoothie maker but its too much faff to clean! plus i have broke the seal. however i would really like one of these- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Breville-Blend-Active-Personal-Blender-Watt/dp/B00DGLUW4E/ref=zg_mw_kitchen_2 not much use for soup though!

re putting beans in slow cooker not sure if that would work. think its only kidney and soya beans that release toxins that you need to prepare as directed. imagine they would cook nice in the slow cooker but prob need to soak so they are moist enough. i cooked the last of my black beans by soaking, boiling and simmering as usual then chucked in my slow cooker with sausage casserole. dont think they were any softer than usual so would be concerned they would still be hard if they werent cooked first. i also leave my slow cooker on whilst i am at work. if you are economy 7 you could use overnight as well.

clippy_girl

hmm actually i might splash out on two new toilet seats when im debt fee to celebrate as mine are both broken! :rotfl: i know how to live

thriftylass

clippy_girl wrote: »

re putting beans in slow cooker not sure if that would work. think its only kidney and soya beans that release toxins that you need to prepare as directed. imagine they would cook nice in the slow cooker but prob need to soak so they are moist enough. i cooked the last of my black beans by soaking, boiling and simmering as usual then chucked in my slow cooker with sausage casserole. dont think they were any softer than usual so would be concerned they would still be hard if they werent cooked first. i also leave my slow cooker on whilst i am at work. if you are economy 7 you could use overnight as well.

Only kidney beans need to be soaked and cooked for about 10 min before putting in the slow cooker to destroy the toxin. Most other beans don't even need soaking as they will be cooked after at least 6 hrs on a high setting. Soaking however makes them easier to digest and you less gassy. There are a few good sites about it

NinjaSavingKat

I always buy dried beans as they are cheaper. Black beans need soaking as per packet instructions but I didn't bother a while back and boiled them for 3 hours seperately, rinsed them really well then added everything else topped up with stock. I get the feeling a good soaking wouldn't go amiss.

dolly84

I won the item I was bidding on on ebay. It was a floaty top and matching cardigan for DD, it's brand new and including postage was £4.60. She will need a couple of other bits for spring/summer but this one will be wearable year round.


SFD planned for tomorrow and hopefully Friday too.

stewby

Hey NSK... slow cooker is amazing. My meals won't really work for you as it's all chicken and beef based so far but there are some brilliant recipes for soups and stuff. OH made an "lovely" beef and ale stew last night with lots of veggies in it. I suppose you could make that but without the beef maybe. Afraid I am not very good at vegitarian meals so wouldn't know what to suggest.
:undecided

Had a wee boost today on the way over to my auntie's house. I still owe my parents £650 so they were discussing our holiday in December (they are using my cc to pay it all as I get cashback when I spend on the card). So... my mum was speaking to my dad and said if I paid for her part of the holiday then I would only owe them £150 but it would leave £1000 extra on the credit card. But my dad said no as I am trying to hard to clear the card!!
It kinda made me feel pleased because my dad can obviously see that I am trying hard. When my mum asked him when she would get their money back, he said he will take bits and pieces back when he can but he wants to support me in what I am doing.
So, it's a good day for me.


Spend-free day number 13 of 15 so we are getting closer.
:j

And you are right NSK... the holiday is a year way and we will just have to save as hard as we can. (Although as soon as the debt is cleared we are starting to save for the wedding).


Anyways... speaking of NSK... you kinda dodged the conversation earlier. Even just give us the basics, did you have a nice time with your archer friend?? Did you go out for a meal?? Or to the cinema?? Does he know about your "holiday"?? You don't have to answer if you don't want to... I am just curious.

Siouxsie32

Afternoon everyone After a small run of SFDs, today is a bumper spendy! I'm trying to get the spends out in one day...had a hair cut and colour this morning, a waxing session this afternoon and I have to hit the supermarket after yoga this evening - phew! My food budget is more or less gone, my misc budget has been smashed and I seem to have overspent on petrol as well

So, the good things that have happened in the last few days have been a) finding 2 x £10 notes as I was leaving the train (wrapped up in a piece of paper) b) I have been eating really well and have loads of energy c) I've not had to use my credit card yet (um, actually, that's not totally true - I did pay for my hair with the card but I get paid again before the bill's due. Oops!) d) I've identified my need to defrost the freezer as a reason why my food bill's been so high as I've not been able to batch cook as usual e) I successfully opened a First Direct current account so should earn £100 in the process f) Despite half of my village being evacuated and every other house on the street flooding, my little house survived with no damage g) I had a fabulous week at my friend's house whilst said flood invaded my neighbourhood.

Not so good: a) budgets are kinda gone and there are still 9 days left of the month b) I've been a bit rubbish at updating my progress/errors here.

I have been reading every day though!

I always use tinned beans/chickpeas as I never seem to be organised enough to soak dried ones. However, I've been reading a lot about eating a clean diet and tinned food is definitely not clean. In fact, I met a girl on a flight last year who had cancer and her doctor told her it was okay to eat meat and processed food, but she should avoid tinned foods due to the chemicals found in them. Perhaps I need to get more organised!

Right, off to battle with the traffic and get to my yoga class. Catch up later

XSpender

Hi all

Sorry I haven't posted but I have been reading your posts, you are all doing so well.

My new role at work is great but the hours are long which is playing havoc with my food spends. I am up to £270, around £50 more than last month and about £70 is takeaways:eek: I seriously need to do some planning for next month.

The good news is I saved £330 this month which is the first month in I don't know when(if ever)that we have done proper grown up saving.:j

It would have been more but h0tpoint had a recall on our 6 year old dishwasher and were offering a free repair or a new half price one so we went for the new one. Ours was on its last legs anyway and we nearly bought a new one before Christmas so it was too good an offer not to take advantage of. We also bought some new pans with 75% off and 2 ik3a bedside cabinets:o. It was DH birthday this month too.

Last month I decided to ditch my £130 a time hairdresser for the £52 local one and have been really pleased with it. We have also made the decision to cancel our cleaner saving £20/week:)

I will watch from the sidelines for the rest of the month and look to join in again for March.

Keep slaying those zombies x

TiptoesDB

Arghh, spends just seem to be coming at me like zombies. Was in the office today and the planned team meeting to discuss impending Ofsted inspection turned into a mandatory pub lunch so had to pay £6 for sandwich and drink when I had my lunch ready and waiting in the car… bah. And I have a week off booked in two week’s time that was going to be staying home and de-cluttering and spring cleaning and seems to have turned into lots of other things that are not going to be free. I don’t know what’s wrong - whether 8 months of being v good and not seeing people and doing things has caught up with family and friends who are used to seeing me and going out etc and everyone wants to do things, or if my resolve is weakening. Unfortunately the two main things that week are with a family member and a friend both of whom are the only two people who don’t know about the debts and I would not choose to tell them as they will judge DH badly for it.

Also, my bras are giving me bad ‘double b00b’ due to being too small! (sorry chaps) so I need a new ones and the home insurance is due too. I feel like Feb is turning into a bit of a meltdown month, and March is shaping up the same. But I will not weaken… I must be strong. Did a swim on the way home, despite really not wanting to so at least exercise is going up even if money is going down.

• 7/15 SFD’s
• £121/£180 food budget
• 11/20 exercise
• 2/3 planned outings

CEW

Hi All,

SFD today but sadly no LTW again :eek:

So my totals are:

12/15 - SFD's. Really pleased with this and planning on quite a few more before month end :T

7/18 - LTW. No chance of reaching total as I only have 7 more days at work this month :mad:

£147.55/£130 - Groceries. Reduced budget from £150 this month which is probably a bit more realistic but I do have lots of food in the cupboards and freezer as well as stocks of toiletries and household items. Should only need some milk now before end of the month. I will try for £130 again next month - I WILL GET THERE

£50.03/£100 - Fuel. Will probably need to top up before month end. Quite happy with this as we had to make a long journey to collect an eBay purchase for stepson and OH had to drive an additional 100 mile ish round trip to sort a leak in my Mums kitchen that we hadn't budgeted for

21/28 - Decluttering. Think I will need to carry this one over into March (and possibly April) as I have so much to clear out. I have a couple of weeks off work in April so hope to really crack on with what's left then :eek::eek::eek:

That's all from me for now. Back tomorrow to update.

Keep up the good work everyone.

Chez x