Our Journey from Debtdom to Freedom

hazeldreams

Evening!

Bit of a spendy day today -bus to work due to a ridiculously heavy bag, lunch out with a work colleague who is leaving, plus a gift to buy on the way home from work and pictures tonight to cheer up my sister and a friend! All within my spending budget though and accounted for on YNAB.

So my positive updates are a little light today!

- YNAB updated in full
- packed lunch at work
- 20% off voucher used to purchase gift
- 3 for 2 on cinema tickets


No reason I can think of why tomorrow won't be back to normal though, so onwards and downwards!

H x

hazeldreams

Bridget Jones' baby was HILARIOUS! :rotfl: You absolutely must go see it if you haven't already! We all laughed so much!

Anyway, back to the financials!

After the spendy day yesterday we're back on track today;

- NSD#2 today
- YNAB up to date
- no expensive coffees bought at work
- lunch brought into work
- walked to work rather than paying out £2.30 bus fare

Happy days :T

hazeldreams

Eek! We've dipped below 500 days...another milestone!

We've been struggling with autumn colds in the Hazel household this weekend but some good money saving activities still took place!

-cleaned out the shed and listed 6 items on eBay, 2 already have bids on
-enjoyed a day at a lovely NT site yesterday with the kids, we took a picnic and some ice cream and therefore swerved the expensive ice cream and treats on site
-had a lovely Sunday chicken dinner using half of the chicken cooked last week which we'd frozen. It saved time but more importantly ordinarily we'd have just picked at the leftovers until halfway through the week then thrown it in the past, such a waste!

This was balanced out by a few spends though but in the main they were frugal! Spends included a Christmas present for the father in law and a school friends birthday as well as a meal from the place we parents hate but kids love (think Golden Arches!) but even those used vouchers so can't complain!

Want to aim for an NSD tomorrow, today I need some essential toiletries!

Happy Monday folks!

hazeldreams

Evening!

Another week has flown by! It's been as busy as ever but the MSE activities continue! Here's a summary of the last few days!

- £380.76 haggled off full sky tv package for the year (cannot get hubster to drop it so this is better than nothing!)
- £46 saved on last years car insurance renewal quote
- enjoyed a free elemis facial!
- did loads of research into bulk buying using this fab forum and discovered on the whole ALDI is well cheap (we already shop here) but could save more on toiletries at wilko. Also found out I can save a ton (between 4-11%) at various retailers I use such as Argos, boots, wilko, toys r us through a work benefits site. All of this will hopefully drive down grocery shopping which we still battle with
- achieved another NSD (that's 3 so far this month)

All in all a really good week!

Happy Friday!

hazeldreams

Note to self..must try to post more frequently again! Standards are slipping!!

Despite the reduced frequency of posts MSE habits continue. Here's the last few updates;

- made £92 on eBay sales following the big clear out last weekend
- NSD#3 today
- walked instead of getting bus today and yesterday
- no expensive coffees at work so far this week
- heating still not on at home (hot water bottles have sufficed so far)
- ordered the discount cards for Tesco's, Sainsbury's etc for brought work and saved between 4-11%


Lots on to do list though - got to start the Xmas shopping but just dreading it!!

:rotfl:

hazeldreams

Morning!

Really looking forward to half term! Girls and I are so exhausted! I'm thinking a discounted cinema trip and a couple of visits to NT sites for Halloween activities is in order! Keeping it cheap and cheerful!

Regular MSE activities continue!

- mobile charged at work
- last night and tonight's dinners are use ups from fridge
- walked to work saving bus fare
- central heating still not on...yet!
- YNAB up to date and planned through to Feb to ensure we hit deadlines for when 0% runs out
- lunch brought in to work everyday
- meals planned for this week but freezers and cupboards are running very bare!
- resisted the urge to book a break in a log cabin with a hot tub for Jan. Hubster was amazing at being objective and reminding me of how important it is to me to clear this debt by Feb 2018 and helping me understand that booking a break like that would push the date out further-was super proud of us both for dodging that mistake!

Just 2 days to get through then a week off! :T

hazeldreams

Back to work today but I've had such an awesome week with the DDs! OH has them today-they've just dropped me at the station and now they're going for breakfast and then to a NT site for Halloween fun!

We've packed so much into 4 days! We've had a meal out with family, a trip to the cinema, friends over to play and pumpkin carving with a trip to Golden Arches afterwards! It's not been the cheapest week we could've had but for once I don't feel guilty as we've done so well with the debt over the last 2 months!

The break from work has been good to give me chance to get organised for Xmas too...I've now bought all presents (and wrapped them) for family and friends -ive just got the OH and girls to get for but everyone is clear we're limiting our budget and squeezing our belts tighter this year.

MSE habits continued this week with earnest;

- chopped and froze in portions all veg that would've gone to waste
- made mushroom soup with leftover mushrooms (got this for lunch at work today)
- sold more eBay items following our "big clear out mission" we've now sold £194 worth of stuff this month! All of it has gone towards Xmas
- purchased a bumper stock of reduced meat and fish by accidentally being in sainsbobs at the right time! Grocery budget blown as a result but the empty freezer is now bursting at the seams and we'll not need to buy any more meat or fish for at least a month! In addition to getting the haul of yellow stickers I got 5% off through using my work discount scheme! Happy days!
- all Xmas presents bought using works discount scheme and combined with other offers like 25% off clothing at sainsbobs and 20% off at M&S,
- Researched how to bulk buy and reduce shopping bill further. Found a lot of household items like loo roll cheaper elsewhere and have purchased a months supply of said items using works discount scheme. Again this months budget blown but a saving of at least 25% made
- still no heating on! It's unusually mild here at the mo!


All in all everything is going well but overspent on groceries by just over £100 due to yellow sticker hoard and bulk buying but I'm hopeful this will mean less spends in November and we can finally get below £400 grocery budget for the month! I think hitting our magic £2033 debt clearance target will be tough in November with Xmas looming but we're working hard to get as close as possible to it!

Man that was an extraordinarily long post but lots to catch up on this week!

Happy Friday everyone!

hazeldreams

Driving down the debt mountain continues....

Payday has come and gone and we're under the £2033 target this month by £175 roughly but I'm not too fussed as we've got Christmas and birthdays coming up so that could've been way worse!

MSE activities continue...

- 2 NSDs this week already!
- managed to eek out my foundation for two extra weeks by cutting the bottle in half and scrapping out the dregs!
- no expensive coffees at work and lunch brought in every day (leftover Spanish tortilla today yum)
- mobile charged at work
- still walking and saving bus fare
- bought a charity shop work top instead of a new one
- heating still not on but temperature has dropped so not sure how much longer I can keep this going!
- 13 active eBay items which will hopefully sell


Off to update our sig!

hazeldreams

Weekend Update:
- bonfire night (spendy)
- birthday meal out for a family birthday (v. spendy)
- 9 eBay sales (but got a bill from eBay for £22 in fees!!Shocking!!!)
- 8 items to charity shops
- last cupboards are decluttered and cleaned


It's been a busy one and mixed one on the spending front but on the whole really enjoyable so can't complain too much!

Planning to go for 3 NSDs in a row minimum to hopefully recover a little from the spendy weekend as although I had budgeted for it we did overspend a fair bit and therefore need to be extra careful to not do that again this month!

Got my lunch with me as usual today and fridge and freezers are full so reigning in the spending this week should be relatively easy!

Happy monday!

hazeldreams

It's been a pretty tough few days!

On the work front we're restructuring (again!) and this time I'm not feeling confident of keeping my job but trying to remain positive until the usual consultation periods pass and the dust settles ....I'm feeling really low about it though as I love the work life balance I have with this role and I know I'd struggle to match this with my current package with another firm.

Managed a NSD Monday but had a small spend on a bag of crisps yesterday which wrecked the NSD plan. Zero spends so far today but I forgot to leave meat out of the freezer for dinner and we literally have nothing fresh left in the cupboards until tomorrow's shop is complete so I'm currently resisting the urge to go out for a curry to lift our spirits and fill our bellies as this would definitely be an unplanned spend and hurt the budget planner! At what point is it ok to comfort yourself in this regard and say to hell with it?! Comfort eating and spending are a trend for me when I'm low

Nevertheless I have to remind ourselves of the positive points so far this week;

- YNAB balanced
- phone charged at work
- lunch brought in everyday
- 4 NSDs this month so far
- limited heating use instead we're relying on hot water bottles and blankets where we can
- shopping under budget and freezers full

But still want a curry and bottle of wine!!!:rotfl: