two frugal years to freedom: a fritterer's tale

lobbyludd

tsk have gone overdrawn as child maintenance hasn't gone in yet (it's usually the 25th but can sometimes be up to the 28th).

never mind, have ventured back into the dreaded land of surveys. yawn. having found that I have 75p uncashed in VO, and have completed one for 1.25 (as well as half completing 2 that screened me out mid-way). The aim for this is purely to get £10 out by christmas, nothing more, because other things are a more productive use of my time, and the screening out brings me to the brink of technicide. but I'm trying to diversify and keep irons in all fires.

NSD. packed lunch for work. am working from home tomorrow which will save some petrol and as it's nice weather shouldn't use too much in the way of electrickery etc. plus might get some washing out.

The jasmine in the garden is wonderful, it's like the whole wall is lit by daytime stars, and the perfume is amazing, have brought jam jars of it in for every room

new cheap sim has arrived, just need to transfer my old number to it tomorrow and that'll be another bill cut down.

liltdiddylilt

So jealous of your garden!! I love jasmine! My mums garden sounds like yours without the fruit trees. She would love it but my dad is OCD about wasps after I was stung by our apple tree about 22 years ago lol. He's also handy with a chainsaw. She has jasmine and honeysuckle and her entire shed (think more small house than shed) is covered in both plus a billion clematis flowers.

Well done on NSD I'm terrible. I frittered £55 last night mild "depression" and a debit card don't serve me well. But I did replace my very broken work shoes and buy some trousers, a travel mug and a beautiful holey jumper

Hope you have a nice day!!!

lobbyludd

I've had to hide my cards lilt - i spent £65 on new boots when I gave up smoking again this year (still going which is good) as a present to myself. The boots are beautiful, in fact i've clearly decided they are too beautiful to wear, because i haven't yet.

they will be saved for this winter if nothing else.

LOVE my garden: love, love, love it, it's only tiny (a right angled triangle on the side of the house mostly in shade, with a lilac in the corner, and a mahoosive jasmine and montana clematis along one side and one of the neighours' wysteria languishing in (it's very welcome ).

the fruit trees are all in pots along the house side of the garden as I can't plant another tree in the garden without it affecting insurance and house stability

but it's mine, and it's fab (although I do beggar all in the winter in it).

not an NSD. bought essential toiletries with boots points (should last for a couple of months) and need bread, fruit and icing sugar for baking.

ds has gone for an induction half day at high school and went in all the local cs's at lunchtime and din't buy anything. although that valance embroidered with lavender for 2.50 might be mine if it's there on saturday as it would make nice lavender sachets.

alternatively i could embroider lavender sachets for chrimbo - the question is, will i get round to it?

also can you dry jasmine for the same purpose???

lobbyludd

bread, icing sugar and fruit bought, along with some snacky things for kiddles/packed lunches etc. £5.96 spent so total is around £34 on groceries so far: 1 week in!, 3.5 weeks to go and only £26 left of budget). for reasons of discount vouchers I am shopping fortnightly, and have to spend £30 on each shop and I've miscalculated what I need slightly from each purchase (would usually do 1 big shop for the month with a couple of top ups for perishables which works out well at around £80 actually spent for an on the scrimping-side of normal grocery spends).

The house is bursting with food, but mostly stuff that only I'll eat because the kids go through phases and on a week night I cba to make something that they will have to be encouraged to eat. So the next shop will have to be all the things they always eat, until I get into more of a swing with this reduced budget and I'll have the venison nom nom.

tea from freezer, need to make soup for me for over weekend and lunch tomorrow.

adpoints and swagbucks to go then I'm going to tuck up in bed and watch a murder mystery on i-player.

need to send off my gas and electric readings as forgot last month and they've overestimated my usage (she types by candle-light).

liltdiddylilt

Better overestimating than underestimating eh?! DO you keep on top of it that closely? Is it on a monthly direct debit etc? I got a lovely letter saying mine were cutting my DD payments, estimated reads and all. They were actually very accurate but I still felt the need to put it back up a bit. We compromised!

You're very good with your budgeting. I too have a fussy child. She has about 6 things she will eat she will happily not eat for days if you give her the wrong food.Hate it but hoping she will grow out of it. She is only just 2 after all!!

Your garden still sounds lovely, and i love the idea of fruit trees in pots! My one and only pot plant has sprouted mushrooms this week so I need to repot it at the weekend. Hahaha.

Enjoy your iplayer, although be careful; you've cancelled the tv license haven't you? iPlayer comes under this and you can get fined! :eek:

Lottie1974

Hi Lobbyludd, good luck on your journey! We have just started on ours and our debt situation is also going to take 2 years to clear! You have summed up exactly where I have gone wrong in the past by under budgeting and then quitting when we 'fail'!

I'm sure I read somewhere that the i-player doesn't require a TV licence but equally I could be wrong! Sorry that didn't really help much!

Lottie x

lobbyludd

thanks both, I've still got a TV license, even though no TV streamed in, so I could watch i-player live if I wanted, but actually was only going to watch catch-up (which doesn't need a license).

am still within the one-month trial to see if we want TV at all. undecided as yet as the school holidays are looming.

the gas and electric - I switch at the end of every deal (September for the current one), and one of my providers as I was switching changed my account details removed all my previous bills from online, transferred nearly £200 credit out for reasons I was never able to get to the bottom of and claimed I owed them £23.

I was very unwell at the time (divorce in full fling, threats of harm from ex, very near breaking point) so I just paid the bill and lost the money. To add insult to injury they 2 years later sold my "debt" to a collection agency who tried to chase me for £25 outstanding plus costs of near 100. They got very short shrift, plus the reference number from settling the account and a promise to pursue them fully if they contacted me again.

However in the last 3 months of any deal I now make make sure I take my balance down to zero and get my readings in regularly, I've no problem building up a balance on direct debit over the summer months to subsidise the winter, but these companies are not banks, they are not regulated like banks and they do not get to hold money that I am currently paying interest on via debts.

I've eaten 3 flapjacks at work - I now owe the charity box £3. beggar.

lobbyludd

have felt dismal today, groggy and bleugh. dd went on a play date that I'd arranged to be here but the other little girl's parent took pity on me and took them both out instead.

have succumbed to takeaway pizza this evening, used the last of batch-cooked bolognaise sauce for lunch and had planned hm pizza for tea but could not face making anything. so a lesson there - I need more easy to reheat food in stores - can you freeze pizza dough? because that's the faffy bit that I usually can't be bothered with when tired/ill, proving knocking back etc. I don't like the pre-made pizza bases you get.

and each weekend I've had unplanned spends on children's meals because I/they are tired, so need to work something into the plan. Also their dad cancelled having them for tea yesterday, so I'm a day out with the evening meal planning, really need to properly get back into the swing of that.

feeling a bit less yuck now, have managed to throw a load of washing on, hopefully I'll be back to normal tomorrow so can get some batches of food prepared for the week ahead.

I have missed TV today, I've mostly been on the sofa feeling miserable (and playing lego/loom bands/drawing competitions - there's not much taking it easy when ill as a single mum!).

I have however saved money by not doing any housework and therefore saving electricity/cleaning products etc:p. and i've not felt like eating so that'll have to do.

definitely early to bed tonight

lobbyludd

so - to be debt free in 24 months I need to reduce the debt by 740 a month.

because the interest is ridiculous on 2 of them I'll need to actually pay off near 1000 a month to do that at least initially until my credit rating increases enough for me to get a zero percent/lower interest card.

I'll be snowballing those 2 highest rate ones first obviously. I'm going to treat June as a consolidation month and not part of the 24 months as I started part way through and well - because it's my plan so I can

not sure I can get the groceries down to £60 a month. It may just be a squeeze too far - we'll see.

washing out on line, i've shimmied it in and out 3 times so far this morning for brief showers, and resorted to the td last night.

plan for today is to finish washing, finish taking in ds's new school trousers, unpick, re-arrange and re-sew a pillow that has twisted inside it's cover, house-work, meal-plan, NOT LOOK AT EBAY where there are some gorgeous stained glass windows finishing today pick up only in a very rural location near me for a silly price that there is no room in the budget for petrol to go and get.

I'm struggling to slash the groceries, I can't afford stained glass windows....

lobbyludd

roast beef for lunch, dd now likes beef (hurrah) ds now doesn't (boo). Trousers adjusted and pillow mended. have 2 loads of washing to finish, that has been such a faff bringing it in and out, it can all stay in now and the last lot will go in the td as the rain seems set in until at least tomorrow now.

brownies baked (dd now doesn't like brownies, which is a shame as they are for her packed lunch).

chicken leftovers stew bubbling away, and will make a beef leftovers stew in a bit. have cleaned fridge as it was disgusting. but that's it, I have an hour until tea/bath/hair/stories/bed and I'm tuckered out.

The house in general is a bit of a tip, but the kids are away at grandparents for the first week of school holidays and I'll tackle it in seriousness then, and try and get some diy finished.

ah, seems some peace negotiations are required downstairs, joy. I will meal plan during lunch at work tomorrow as I can't think what we eat right now.