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

Seasidegal58

Hi inod - you know one of the best places re make up lessons and what sort to wear is YouTube! There are loads of people and make up artists who post their films. I type in how to apply foundation or eyeliner or whatever (I also type in "mature skin" to make sure I don't get a lesson in what to wear when clubbing in Ibiza!!!) and bob's your uncle! Tons on hair as well!

Anyway, not a bad day today re spending - just newspaper and mouthwash, which was £1 off in Boot's as i had a voucher through their loyalty card. I always get my toiletries and make up in there because the points are so good.

Not long been in from work - very hectic day today - feeling tired so am having bite to eat then early night.

tizerbelle

Hello seasidegal! You're really going great guns now, keep up the enthusiasm and don't forget to allow yourself a little (cheap) treat every now and then to keep the motivation going. That Santander 1 balance will start vanishing very quickly I imagine.

I'm feeling rather chuffed - went to make a brew just before 9pm, poured in the milk and got blobby floaters! In a not very happy mood, trudged off to the local sainsburys (just a small store) as I wouldn't be able to cope with no milk tomorrow morning for my coffee. Grumbled at the cash point on the way as it would only dispense £20 notes and I only wanted £10 . But then in the store, I spot the yellow stickers and grab myself 2 x 1kg packs of chicken thighs & drumsticks; 500g of beef mince and a 200g cod fillet for the bargain price of £1.40 :j.

I thought the freezer was full before but a bit of re-jigging and I managed to get it all in. Since I started budgeting, I've developed the knack of stocking the freezer, but I still need to develop the knack of remembering to use that stock to feed myself with!

On Saturday my mum popped in for a coffee and commented that since I started budgeting for food and groceries, I've had more food in the house than I ever did when I didn't budget!

Keep up the good work seasidegal. If I don't pop in before have a great day out on Thursday.

Seasidegal58

Thanks tiizerbelle - wow £1.40 is a fantastic price for all that food! You'll be dining off that for the next few weeks. I can see some Jack Monroe recipes in the pipeline! My freezer too is looking a lot more healthy than it did previously!

Had a no spending day today! Another really busy day at work and worked late again as off tomorrow. Was really chuffed though as the last minimum payment for this month was calculated so I was able to work out how much I am paying off this month on Santander 1. Worked out (with the little amounts I have winged across already) to £420.30! I will update my signature though on the 17th when I work out exactly how much has come off the other cards.

Looking forward to my day out tomorrow - though not perhaps the ultimate cost!

tizerbelle

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

I was able to work out how much I am paying off this month on Santander 1. Worked out (with the little amounts I have winged across already) to £420.30!

:TBlimey gal, that's some good going - who'd have thought that when you started this diary, you'd be almost halving that Santander1 debt in less than 3 weeks. Bet you feel good about that - you deserve to. :T

turfy6

Have just subscribed youre doing amazingly well especially in such a short space of time, well done.:T

Seasidegal58

Hi tizerbelle and turfy6 – thanks so much for your support and reading my ramblings! Annoyingly, after posting about my Santander payment, I had forgotten that they were about to load my monthly interest which came to £14.45 so the payment’s a bit less than I thought! :mad:

I had a fabulous day out on Thursday - it was organised by my sister whereby she and her boss and some of their work colleagues have a theatre day out a few times a year, and I am invited along as an honorary member of the club! We meet up in the late morning, have hired transport to ferry us up to London, have drinks when we get there, see a matinee and then have early dinner afterwards and ferried home. I had already paid for my theatre ticket a few months ago when they were booked and my sister’s boss very kindly paid for the pre-theatre drinks and travel cost for everyone. We all enjoyed the play but the best bit of the day for me was that my daughter came along as well. She lives at the other end of the country where her firm is based, so though we speak on the phone and email all the time, I only actually see her sporadically. She comes down to London from time to time for work and her office there is quite near to mine so I meet up with her then and she sometimes comes and stays the night with me if she hasn’t got an early breakfast meeting the next day, but I wish I could see her more. After our dinner at the restaurant, she colluded with my sister (who was in charge of the bill) that she would pay for me which was lovely of her. All in all I spent £9 on some drinks at the theatre during the interval.

Thursday was the end of week 2 of 4 in respect of Scrimp Month 1 and I came in £2.82 under budget on food and £10.85 under budget on other spends for the week!

On Friday, I just bought my newspaper and today has been a NSD :j . I had a call from the dress agency and she is taking one of my bags - £8.50 if she sells it.

Am off now to make Jack’s “Mixed Bean Goulash” for dinner!

in_need_of_direction

Glad you had a lovely time and spent less than expected.

Seasidegal58

Thanks inod!

Quiet day today – weather wasn’t brilliant so I just popped up to the local Costcutter’s and bought my paper (£2.50) and some food bits for the week that I needed (£6.68). Spent rest of day going through my paperwork, which I had already done at the end of last summer, but it seems to have sprouted again. Shredded quite a few bits, put some out for recycling and filed the rest away.

This week will be the last manic week at work until the autumn – should get back to normal then. Haven’t got anything in the diary to do in particular in the evenings or next weekend so will hopefully have a few NSDs.:)

I am at the dentist tomorrow morning, but the cost here is taken care of via my dental plan so nothing to pay out. However, I received a letter yesterday from the dental plan people notifying me that from July 1st the monthly cost is going up £2. We have a meeting in work tomorrow for employees by our new benefits administrator who is giving a presentation of the new benefits package that goes live online next week so I’ll be able to find out how the dental plan here works and how much it is.

Still haven’t spoken to Sky so must make that a must-do tomorrow.

Historybuff

Hi seasidegal, I'm subscribing to your diary. We started around the same time with the LBM and I can identify with your story. I'll pop in from time to time if thats ok. You're doing great btw.

Seasidegal58

Thanks Historybuff and welcome!

I’ve read quite a lot of posts lately on the forum with regard to the budgeting software “You Need A Budget” and most people appear to rate it highly. I went on one of its tutorials the other night and was impressed.I ’ve been quite happy with my own little spreadsheet and spending app, but thought I would try the month’s free trial and so will download it at the end of next week when I get paid.

I didn’t get far with Sky - I’m in contract till January so it’s no go until then. I tried asking if they would give me a discount for paying telephone/broadband a year up front but they said they don’t offer this any more.

Not been up to much the last few days moneywise – Monday just bought my paper and some birthday/anniversary cards. One of my M&S loyalty vouchers (£5) was actually running out at the end of month so I bought the cards with this and paid the £1.25 balance in cash. Today just bought my paper so doing ok.:)

Hopefully I can carry on with the low spending till end of this week as I have a couple of things on next week so will be paying out more then.