Five years till I'm 50 - 60 months to get debt free!

beanielou

Great news on the results :j :j
Try to not let work grind you down~~so much easier said than done though.
Take care.

newpennypincher

Well, that's Monday out of the way at least - four sleeps till the weekend :j

Work was ok today, I was civil and polite with everyone and managed to steer clear of any office politics. I can tell you, it was hard work for a naturally chatty person

Driving home was quite scary with all the wind tonight.

Money wise today's been ok. I made £5.65 on Eb*y and may just manage to end the month in the black. I have lots more stock to list but they need to be cleaned and prepped first.

BF has been ill since Saturday with a stomach bug but he's a bit better today. I caught it just before Christmas so I'm hoping I'm immune to it this time! His being home meant I didn't get to do all the cleaning I usually do on a Sunday.

Its BF's payday tomorrow and mine on Thursday so its almost time to get back on the treadmill and start all over again. I need to work out a new menu for next week, starting from Saturday and I need to write up a new shopping list, keeping to a budget of £35 per week for the two of us.

Tonight's dinner was really scraping the bottom of the barrel - we had tomatoes on toast with cheese. Just as well BF hasn't got his appetite back yet

Its very, very cold here today. We're on the last bucket of coal now so we need to order some more tomorrow. I don't want us to be in this position next winter so I'm going to stockpile the odd bag of coal throughout the summer to keep us going through the cold bits without leaving us skint in the process.

I hope everyone else had a good Monday x

newpennypincher

Good morning! I hope everyone's having a lovely Saturday.

I've neglected my diary a little bit these last couple of weeks, but the moneysaving has been going on in background and I'm back.

Payday came and went 10 days ago and all bills paid apart from Ne*t which isn't due till the 16th. The good news is, I haven't added anything at all, not a single penny to my debt so far this month. I'm going cold turkey!

I got slightly cheesed off yesterday when we got the six monthly water bill. We're on a meter, and have been in credit (albeit never more than about £10) since living here but this time we owed them £72.60 - so there goes half the money we would have saved by not paying Council Tax this month. The other half has gone to pay for coal! Sometimes you just can't win :mad:

I'm still planning my menus and shopping at Al*i. No problems with this so far and the weekly shop came to a grand total of £37 for the week beginning on Thursday. The only thing I miss from MrT so far is the Village Bakery bread which is delicious, but I'm trying to watch what I eat and have cut down on bread anyway so its not really much of a hardship

I'm stuck indoors today waiting for a delivery. We had a TV in DS3's room which stopped working before the guarantee ran out so Currys gave us a voucher to spend in store as the telly was beyond repair. I put my sensible head on for a change and decided we really don't need another TV in the house and bought a condenser dryer instead (BF paid the difference). I've been without a dryer since last Summer when the last one caught fire. I don't know if I'm right, but after reading up on them I decided a condenser would be safer and more economical

I don't know when the delivery will arrive so I can't go anywhere today which gives me a whole day of staying home and not having to go out - heaven! I feel like a complete meanie because I usually go to my mum's for lunch on a Saturday but the prospect of a whole weekend to myself is very appealing My brother is making one of his rare visits up for Sunday lunch tomorrow so she'll have his company for a few hours. I call with her everyday on the way home from work so I don't feel too bad (who am I trying to kid )

DS3 was in an accident on the way home from work the other day. Thankfully nobody was hurt but the van was a write off - he was a passenger but was quite shaken up for a few hours.

I'm expecting DS2 for his lunch later. He's going to have to eat healthily - I have some lovely green pesto from Al*i.

Eb*y has slowed down a little bit but the sales are still coming in slowly but surely:rotfl: I will work out my budget for the rest of the month a little later.

I haven't lit the fire yet because I'm too stingy to use up the coal. I have a small electric fire in the corner so its not too cold here. If I get cold I'll go and put another jumper on! I'll have it going before BF comes home from work at 4pm so its nice and toasty for when he gets home.

Work has been ok. I had one day off sick this week with a migraine. I can usually cope with them but the other day was worse than usual - I couldn't see to drive, my arm went numb and I couldn't get my words to come out. Its horrible I don't like missing work because of them because if people don't suffer from them, they don't really know how nasty they can be. For once I was glad to look like hell going to work the next day, because they all told me I look awful and they could all see that I wasn't pulling a sickie the day before

I'd better go an phone my mum to make sure she's ok. I'll be back later with a budget update.

newpennypincher

Morning! I've got loads of things I need to do today but no get up and go whatsoever

I'm sat here enjoying my guilty pleasure (Jeremy Kyle on catchup!!). The ironing is staring at me from the corner of the room and I desperately need the inspiration to get up of the sofa and get cracking on the housework

My new dryer is brill. Clothes dry in less than half the time it took with the old one, although I'm hoping if we have a nice Summer I won't need to use it too often.

I've had a couple of sales this weekend, but it seems to have slowed down a bit the last couple of weeks.

Things to do today

1. Finish the laundry
2. Finish the ironing.
3. Hoover the whole house.
4. Cook a lamb dinner for when BF gets in.
5. Cook a shepherds pie for tomorrow's dinner.
6. Change the bedding.
7. Tidy the bedroom

Right, I'd better get cracking - I hope everyone else has a good Sunday x

elly68

I went full time penny pincher and insteadof a cleaner i got a tumble dryer i love it mainly because it remove dog hair from my washing which is a real hassle with my long haired german sheperd .same here i'm doing an adverts day today though unlike my very lazy day yesterday happy cleaning x

judi24

nice to see you back penny pincher - glad DS is ok after his crash and tests were all ok! and glad you like your new dryer - I have a condensing dryer but I have hardly used it in the last few months as I am trying to get my bills down a bit but its definitely better then my old one!


Your migraine sounds horrible! Nasty things!


Your shopping budget of £37 is great well done! - I still struggle to get mine down - I blame the kids!!!!


Your list for today looks like mine - best get my backside in to gear too!

newpennypincher

Its tea break time, so I've got Call the Midwife on catchup

I've decided to try to stretch the shepherds pie to an extra day so I've go some leeks I had in the fridge steaming away nicely with some carrots to try and bulk it up.

Hi Elly, hi Judy nice to see you both. You're both doing so well with your debt busting. I keep up with both your diaries - don't comment very often - just willing people on in the background :T:T

Picking up on my diary again, made me think of my grandad. He kept a diary every day for the last seven years of his life. It wasn't personal, its a diary he wanted people to read. The first page explains his intention to keep a family record, something you can refer to during discussions when when who did what and when can become quite sketchy.

I love reading them because I was the apple of his eye and when I'm feeling a bit "bleurgh" because I have no money or feeling a bit neglected, they provide a good reminder that family don't mean to take you for granted - they just forget sometimes

Enough of the melancholy - we have more good than bad :T

So far, I've:-

1. Done the bedrooms.
2. Most of the ironing.
3. Stripped the bed and the linen is in the washer.
4. Started the cooking.

I'd better get cracking again, Storage Hunters has just started and if I'm not careful I'll be sat here all afternoon.

newpennypincher

Housework all done. Sitting with BF watching some rubbish telly

The lamb was lovely but I ate a couple too many roasties I think

I've had another couple of sales this afternoon so now that I have an idea what its going to be like for the rest of the month, I can start listing some figures.

Items left to pay from now to the end of the month:-

Mortgage 460.71
Life Ins 8.69
Mobile 39.99
Petrol 40.00
Next 64.00

Total - £613.19

Cash in the bank £536.00

Target to break even at the end of the month - £77.19

Cash in the bank will be depleted slightly tomorrow because I have 9 parcels I need to post - half will be posted tomorrow, half on Tuesday.

Its going to be a rough ride to the end of the month but we'll make it because we have to. Its no wonder I keep getting headaches , we're fighting for every penny at the moment

Once I've cleared my Ne*t bill things should get a little bit better - watch this space.

beanielou

You still got a lot to go on your next bill ?

newpennypincher

Hi Beanie. After the payment on the 16th it will be down to £960.00. It was over £1500 just after Christmas so its coming down slowly. I've made a huge mess of things by trying to keep up appearances and being stupid.

If I can't haul myself out this hole I've dug myself, I'm going to have to sell my house, but I'm going to fight tooth and nail to hold on to it. Luckily, I have enough equity to buy a small house but I'm not admitting defeat just yet.

Even if you sell items for a £1 on Eb*y - you only have to sell 10 and you have £10 :beer: