Scrimping behind the scenes - with debt of £31,000!

Seasidegal58

Thanks very much GunWharf 😄

Well today I just went out earlier and bought my paper - £2.50 -so that's it for spends today.

My sister telephoned and is popping over tomorrow evening. I've got chili in the freezer and enough salad, but will have to get some wine in so will see what's on offer tomorrow.

Have also downloaded the YNAB app for the iPad which was free. So can now update transactions on here now as well as on my iPhone.

Going to order my monthly shop from Tesco later after I worked out my meal plan. My new month doesn't start until Thursday but I can order it today for delivery on Thursday evening and then it's done and dusted. Cost will come out of next month's budget though

After I've done that I've got a couple of things to catch up with on the TV so a nice relaxing time ahead for the rest of the day. 😴

Cwgg

You have done so well.

I have been lurking reading your diary, but have joined the gang and subscribed.

Well done and keep up the secret scrimping.

Seasidegal58

Thanks very much Cwgg and welcome!

Just waiting for my sister to arrive. Chili ready to warm up, rice ready to microwave and salad done. Popped in Costcutters and they had some of the nice £3.99 rose wine in so bought two bottles plus some popcorn. Had some of the tasty individual rhubarb crumbles from M&S in the freezer so that's dessert done!

Apart from the above from the food budget just bought paper today..

I also booked my rail ticket for when I visit DD in December. I travel up there a few times a year and am I member of the rail company's loyalty scheme so I have now enough points for two first class tickets! I've got the ticket for the journey up there and am waiting for the tickets for the return date to be announced. So quite a nice freebie there!

Sister will be here soon so will have to go into unscrimpy mode!

Cwgg

Hope you had a lovely evening with your sister.

Your diary really has opened my eyes. It appears like your still enjoying yourself whilst saving.

I dont have debt to pay off but I would like to have a nice emergency fund should I ever need it.

I've really enjoyed reading your secret life and how you have juggled it.

That elephant will be a mouse in no time. Good luck SSG

Seasidegal58

Hi Cwgg - I had a smashing time with my sister. We had a good old natter and put the world to rights!

Yes I'm trying to do as much as I can on the enjoyment front whilst hammering down on the debt. I am fortunate in that I have a good job, my DD is not financially dependant on me, my other immediate relatives are solvent, I have a small mortgage, and no car to run! I think all the above has made an enormous difference to how much I can throw towards the debt and has allowed me to take what is rather a "scenic route" on my DFW journey. It's been some of the small day to day things that have really helped such as no bought breakfasts or lunches during work week, meal planning etc

I swear I can see the Elephant shrinking now that he has lost just over 16 per cent of his body weight!

Seasidegal58

It’s the end of Scrimp Month 5 Week 4, and after a scrimpy couple of days of buying just newspapers and a buy-one-get-one free offer of cotton wool pads in Boots (£2.83), I came in underbudget with spends of £42.67 and overbudget by £1.89 on the food front. So at the end of the month the grand total added up to underbudgets of £68.03 on spends and £9.44 on food and accordingly a total of £77.67 has been transferred to MBNA Card 2 today.:j
Negatives of the past month:

• Notification that one of my water suppliers has increased my monthly bill by £1.89 to £8.69
• ……. and least said about the diet the better…………:(

Positive highlights were:

• Monthly electricity bill down to £30 from £39 due to switching to Ovo;
• Receiving new 0% balance Lloyds card and a 0% balance transfer from existing Barclaycard;
• Will hopefully receive 0% Sainsbury balance card soon;
• Free first class rail ticket from East Coast rail from reward points for when I visit DD later this year;
• YNAB free app for Ipad.

Ciao for now!

mooomin

Well done on a great overpayment

crunch_time

Well done! You are doing so well! Must be great to see all those credit cards paid off already? Keep going...
Crunchyxx

Verbatim

Really enjoying your diary SG. Re the cc increasing interest rate I believe you can decline this and continue at the old rate. The card will then be closed so that you can't spend on it but just continue with payments until it's £0.

Dobbibill

Love how you break down the negatives and positives for the month. Good to see a longer list of positives so well done

keep up the good work

DB