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

newpennypincher

Good afternoon! Today started really bright and sunny but has just turned cold and dark and looks like its going to rain any time.

I haven't lit the log burner yet, but its not cold here. The people who owned this house before me have spent a lot of money insulating every little bit of the house so during the day, even in winter, its bearable without lighting the fire. Of course, it helps if you're busy doing housework :A

The only drawback is the condensation, especially in the bedrooms around the windows. You have to keep on top of it or you get nasty black mould. I've painted three of the rooms with anti mould bathroom paint which seems to have done the trick but still have DS3's room to do. I have the paint, its just the time that's lacking!

I've been busy today. So far I've:-

1. Done the vacuuming.
2. Cleaned the kitchen floor.
3. Done the washing.
4. Cleared the ironing.
5. Emptied and filled the dishwasher.
6. Cleaned around the bedroom windows with bleach.
7. Phoned Cu**ys to sort out getting a broken TV that's still under warranty repaired.
8. Done some budget planning.

I'm so thankful for my Eb*y sales this weekend. Thanks to those, I can pay my mobile phone bill and make it to payday without getting overdrawn and incurring bank charges. By next week, I will have had all my statements and have a true picture of my finances for the first time in a long time because I haven't used any of my cards since before Christmas.

I'm still eking out my Christmas coffee, just had a lovely cafetiere all to myself. On Sundays I try to do all my jobs in the morning and make the afternoon my "me time". I'm not very good at sitting down and relaxing, I've always got to be doing something but someone told me before I lost my dad that when you're responsible for someone else, you have to make time for yourself. My brother is over for a couple of hours today so I don't feel guilty about not going to see my mum. He only lives an hour's drive away and doesn't visit as often as he should but I'm not going down that road today or my diary will turn into a rant. :mad:

Actually I think he's the one losing out - I took dad to all his appointments and although it was a horrendous time, I still treasure the hours we spent just me and him. My brother missed out on that. Right - I need to change the subject, this is getting maudlin.

Things I need to do this week:-

1. Clean the bathroom.
2. Work out a menu plan and shopping list in time for Friday.
3. Keep checking my online banking.

Not a lot else to report really, can't wait till Friday when BF gets paid and I can start the new budget/menu plan. Our food budget for the month will be £140 which will be withdrawn from the bank on payday and budgeted as to £35 per week. I'll post my menu plan when I've finalised it (I bet you're waiting with baited breath :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:).

Hope everyone else is having a restful Sunday x

newpennypincher

I can't believe how quickly today's gone - its absolutely flown past!

Just taken my mum home and its freezing outside. The temperature in my car said -3 :eek:

I went mad last night joining all the challenges. I've joined the Grocery Challenge the PAD challenge, the Emergency Fund Challenge and the 2015: Sell £1,000 challenge...I'm going to be busy!

This is my fourth diary (I think!) and not one of the others worked. So, this time I'm trying to do it differently so I'm joining in the challenges. I've already done two PADs to my Aqua card:D amounting to £3.80. I've decided to follow the rounding down method and if I can't afford to round down completely, I will make a token PAD of about 50p.

Busy day at work today, time flies while I'm there. Its a pity the wages aren't a bit higher.

Tonight's dinner was delicious. We had spaghetti bolognese made with leftover Christmas turkey from the freezer.

Just realised that today was also a NSD. Took 6 parcels to the post office at lunchtime and made myself extremely unpopular but what can you do!

Hope everyone else had a good day x

newpennypincher

Another day that's just flown past, one more day to work then four days off :j

I wish I could say that today was a NSD but I spent some money on bread, butter and something for dinner. I also couldn't resist a bar of chocolate which I've already eaten. I don't think its not as bad as it could be, because it was an Ae*o and we all know an Ae*o is full of holes therefore less chocolate

I also got stung for £10 buying 5 books for DS3 to use at college. He says he'll pay me back, but I'll have to update you on that one :rotfl:

I made another PAD today and sent a grand total of £2.47 to the Aq*a card - onwards and upwards :T

No sales today so far but I had a very good weekend so it would be beyond greedy of me to moan about it (even if I am thinking it )

Two days till BF's payday and four days till mine, meaning that in two days I can finally start our new budget - I'm actually excited about it how weird is that - the shopaholic looking forward to not being able to shop

Hope everyone else had a good day x

newpennypincher

Good evening!

Not a bad day at work today, I managed to do a lot of those jobs you can't do when the boss is there - all the little fiddly time consuming things that you have to do but have to take second place to more "important" stuff that keeps getting thrown at you

I'm sitting here in front of the fire with a hot water bottle on my knee (made for me by my lovely BF) because I just can't get warm. I feel like I've been cold right through to the bone all day today. We've had a bit of snow on higher ground but we've been covered by a really horrible blanket of freezing fog all day.

I'm off now till Monday and can't wait to spend a bit of time with BF, it sometimes feels like we never see each other. We've decided to have a lazy day tomorrow - I'm not leaving the house if I can help it. I'm going to have a lie in and try and do nothing all day - doing nothing requires effort

BF surprised me at work today and took me out to lunch (and he paid!) so we ate my sandwiches for tea tonight. They'd been in the fridge all day and I refuse to waste food if I can help it.

One sale last night, but nothing today yet. I've added £5.87 to my total and just made a PAD of £1.01 to my Aqua card. Its true what they say, this PADing is getting addictive.

Not a lot else to report really. I hope everyone else had a good day x

newpennypincher

Good afternoon - I hope everyone is having a good day

I've had a lovely lazy morning but starting to get itchy feet now and looking for something to do so I decided to update my diary - not that I've much to report really.

Its cold but nice and sunny here today, BF's gone off for a cycle. I don't hide my diary from him because I'm usually sitting next to him on the sofa when updating but I don't think he quite understands the draw of discussing my debts in cyberspace. I've noticed one thing though, I've been suffering from migraines a lot less often since I started talking (typing) about it.

Tomorrow is BF's payday (I may have mentioned it a few times ) and Monday is mine. He'll transfer his share into the joint account tomorrow therefore our month starts tomorrow! Yesss!!! We have to go into town, which I hadn't planned, because the TV in DS3's room is broken but is still under warranty so will be taken in to be repaired. There's an Al*i in town so we'll be able to get the weekly shop done at the same time. I have a target of £35 in mind so I aim to plan a week's menu, then use the shop's website to work out prices and print out a shopping list complete with costs so that if any item on my list isn't available, I can choose an alternative of approximately the same value. You can probably tell that I haven't been paid since mid December and have had plenty of time to think about this :rotfl:

I've had one sale on Eb*y today, only £3 but it means I can do my PAD today. I've been thinking about that too - I'm going to do my PADing to a different card each month, that way they'll all come down that little bit quicker. I was a late starter this month so I'll stick with PADing to my Aqua card until February's payday.

I definitely need to get myself a hobby, I obviously have too much time on my hands :rotfl::rotfl:

Things I need to do today:-

1. Finish planning our menu for the next week.
2. Work on my shopping list.
3. Work on our joint account budget for the next month. The joint account pays for all household expenses but we always run out of money before the end of the month and have to top it up. This month is going to be different.

I'm not cheating, I admit this is a list of things to do, but I'm not doing any housework today - its still a doing nothing day

I'm going to have a look at the OS forum now to see if I can pick up any recipe ideas and catch up on other people's diaries.

newpennypincher

Shopping list is all done and printed ready for tomorrow. I'm finding it really funny how much I'm looking forward to getting frugal and sticking to a set budget.

I've worried so much about money over the last few months and buried my head in the sand while still trying to keep up appearances and convince myself everything's ok. Its like a breath of fresh air to finally start doing something sensible and I fully intend to follow it through to the end.

Here's the menu plan for the week beginning Sat 24th:-

Breakfasts every day will be cereal or toast
Lunches on workdays will be taken from home - weekend lunches will hopefully be leftovers.

Dinners
Saturday - Hotdogs made with real sausages & onions
Sunday - Roast chicken dinner
Monday - Chicken and leek pie & mash
Tuesday - Bubble & Squeak (leftovers)
Weds - Spanish Omelette
Thursday - Shepherds pie or Spag Bol
Friday - Thursday's leftovers

Not very imaginative dinners, I know but its usually after 6pm by the time I get home from work so meals when I'm working have to be quick and easy and need to stretch to feed unexpected guests which is what happens quite often here.

I've already started being thrifty - I had a lime left over from Christmas in my fruit bowl so BF and I just had a couple of JDs and Coke especially in order to use up the lime and make sure it didn't go to waste :beer::beer:

newpennypincher

Nice day today - BF got paid so we can finally get off the starting block with our new budget. I get paid on Monday and will be able to pay my contribution into the joint account.

I've withdrawn our £140 grocery budget for the month from the bank in the hope that paying for it with "real" money will make us more reluctant to part with it.

We shopped at Al*i and as I also shop for my mother, it took a while working from two lists, but I got my mum's shop for £21 and managed to stick to our budget and got the lot for £34.23. Some things were cheaper than anticipated so we got a few extras that weren't on the list such as wraps for work lunches.

Took the broken TV in to be fixed and drooled over a very nice, very large American style fridge that would never fit in my kitchen even if I took out the back wall!

I also returned a lovely garment BF bought me for Christmas to exchange for a larger size. It must be my lucky day today because not only did they have one left in the size I wanted but it was also reduced by 50%. I didn't see anything I wanted to buy with the difference so using my MSE head for a change I asked for credit which I got in the form of a gift card :T

Three items have sold on Eb*y today two have paid and still waiting for the third to pay.

I had another pleasant surprise today - I filled my car for £31 this morning :j I can't remember the last time that happened, it has to be a good few years ago. Being surprised that something costs less than I was expecting is not something I've been used to lately!

I'm off to catch up on other diaries - I hope everyone else had a good day x

newpennypincher

Hello :hello::hello:

Today's been a lovely day so far, made even better by BF just coming home from work - I miss him when he's not here

Its been cold but nice. Not nice enough to tempt me to tidy the garden mind you.

DS2 came up this morning and we both went to see mother. He kept her entertained while I hoovered upstairs and down and cleaned the kitchen floor then DM treated us all to fish and chips which were delicious.

I updated all my challenges - thanks to a good Eb*y day yesterday I managed a PAD of £6.19, added over £51 to my Eb*y challenge total, and added £20 to my Emergency Fund challenge total - its going to take a while to get to £1,000 but I will do it!

I've cheated a little bit this afternoon because I've updated my totals a couple of days early. I get paid on Monday so its not a big cheat but I'll have DM and DS2 here on Monday so won't have as much time to update. I've updated all but one of the CCs because I haven't received the bill for that one yet. My payment total for this month looks good because I sent a lot of stuff back to Ne*t - next month won't look as good. Still, it all counts towards the same target.

I now know exactly how much I owe everyone (haven't known that for a while :embarasse) - no more surprises and no adding to the total

This is when the fun begins! My Ne*t bill isn't due to be paid again until the 16th Feb so my aim for this month is to make enough on Eb*y to pay £110 off that one and £50 to give my DM so I can pay back that £300 asap. I could also do with keeping £20 aside for our Valentine's meal and £20 for DB's birthday. I think I'm probably aiming way too high now but I won't know unless I try. So, from now on my Eb*y takings will be transferred into an online savings account in order to keep them separate from the day to day stuff.

Today's dinner is hot dogs made with real sausages. I've got the whole pack cooking so BF gets sausage wraps to take to work tomorrow. I've also got a large chicken in the oven which will be tomorrow's roast dinner and Monday's chicken and leek pie. I'm going to make the pie tomorrow to save having to cook when I get home from work on Monday. That way I can spend more time with DM and DS2 :T

I hope everyone's having a good weekend x

newpennypincher

I need to make £200 out of selling my [STRIKE]clutter[/STRIKE] treasures on Eb*y this month so I thought it would help to have a visual tracker of how things are going, so, for every £20 saved I will add a to my signature.

newpennypincher

I hope everyone's having a nice sunday :T

Its wet and foggy here today so probably a day for staying in and getting things done rather than going out. I think I may have jinxed myself with my last post - I keep checking my Eb*y account to see if I can add a smiley to my signature and nothing :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I didn't get to bed till quite late last night after becoming engrossed in a thread I hadn't seen before. It made me feel ashamed for thinking life's not fair, because those whose lives really aren't fair just get on with it, never complaining. Apart from not having any money, which is completely of my own making, on the whole, life's pretty good at the moment. From now on this diary is going to be a "mope" free zone (but I can't promise I won't lapse every now and then).

I love lists, so I've decided I need three types:-

1. Daily list.
2. Annual list of things I would like to achieve.
3. Long term list - this is a list of things to save towards, a "keep you going" list.

That's a first! I've never made a list of lists before

Today's List

1. Pick the meat off the chicken.
2. Peel the veg for tonight and tomorrow.
3. Make a pie for tomorrow.
4. Cook a roast dinner for when BF comes home from work.
5. Hoover the entire house.
6. Clean the bathroom.
7. Make some biscuits or flapjacks (haven't decided yet).
8. Iron work clothes.
9. Make two packed lunches for tomorrow.

Annual List (not in any particular order)

1. Fix bathroom tap.
2. Patch up knocks on gloss paint on doorframes etc.
3. Paint hallway and passageway.
4. Paint DS3's bedroom.
5. Rub down and paint radiators.
6. Save enough money to get a mini skip to empty the garage.
7. Get a tatty old second hand table for the garage so I can get back to painting furniture.
8. Buy a cover for BF's motorbike to keep it dust free when I'm sanding things down.
9. Keep on top of the weeding.
10. Get rid of the Debenh*ms, Ne*t and Aq*a debts.

Long term List (Not to be paid for with credit/loans).

1. New bathroom.
2. New kitchen.
3. Garden landscaping.
4. No debt.

I'd better get started on those potatoes