NST; January Challenge- The Money Saving Game

LoveaDove

PheoniX - We have missed you!! I completely understand how easy life gets in the way, it sounds like you have some big decisions to make! Thank you for stopping by for a catchup! Please feel free to cheer lead or pop in again when you have the time.

liltdiddylilt

Hi guys

Typing from my new pretty shiny Macbook which is so light I can't even feel it in my lap. Crikey. Best keep remembering it is there or my brain will switch off and I will stand up with it hitting the floor in front of me!!

Loveadove I didn't mean to offend you, re the meal planning. I just find it difficult to do for long periods in advance. I can manage a week but then I feel like if I repeat anything I am cheating somehow. It is just a mental thing as it really helped me to budget far less to food on the months I managed it.

Today not a NSD. Forgot I had Jelly & I booked in at the hairdressers for different times today. Budgeted £35 in YNAB and it came to £34.10 so am happy with that! Got a quote from local taxi company to take me to and from work to collect my new pretty as my back cannot take pushing the pram there and back. Worried about walking to and from work now but no excuse - I have done my taxi journey and added in the stuff I needed to so no more this month. Taxi cost £7.50 as half price because they are nice to me. Was then given £5 by a bloke working on our building who borrowed the electric for a while, so that was rather lovely!

About to order a chinese takeaway as Him has popped over to see my new pretty and pick up a parcel he had delivered here this morning naughty I know but he is paying and it is a spend day anyway! (Another one here who doesn't count a NSD if OH's have spent!

Anyways nothing added to budgets except the taxi so will update sig now. Driver tried to give me £1.50 change from £10 so I demanded my other £1 in a firm and polite manner and he apologised. Busy telling me how he owns 12 houses and then takes my £ without asking!

Hope everyone has had a good day. Newest addition to my family has arrived, Gertie (not real name just bump name) was 8lbs6oz and has enough super thick long hair to plait!!

xx

Fmess

Evening all

Congratulations on getting rid of your loan welshkitty

Yay to the new macbook lilt, is it weird that I think I can tell you have typed your post on it!

Today was SFD number 4 LTW number 2 and an exercise session done walking the dogs. Not done any debt busting for a few days which is annoying me but need to wait for more tutoring sessions, which should start again next week.

liltdiddylilt

Maybe it shines through in my typing? That or the fact that everytime I make a typo, I hit the = symbol repeatedly instead of backspace and didn't clean up my post properly!! :rotfl:

Meant to say huge congrats to Welshkitty on getting rid of the loan & snowballing the payment to the CC

And sazzle I hear it calling..... Lilllttttyyyy eat meeeee

Back to work tomorrow finally. WTW & LTW, bag ready, clothes ironed.=, journal in my bag. Am just scraping the last of the stuff from my iPhone before I decommission my old laptop. Wish me luck on not losing every last bit of the stuff currently on my phone peeps

LoveaDove

mothernerd - I hope you are resting up now, well done on your venture though!

Lilt- Absolutely no offence taken- sorry that it read that way! Yay for Mac Book's final arrival- is it worthy of a name? Do be careful on your WTW on the morrow- it is already super icy outside, here in the land of Essex.

*Phew* Some time to briefly assess the stats (apologies for the kajillion catch up posts over the last couple of days):

3/18 SFDs -It's been a bit of a spendy few days with moving.
£65.34/£100 Groceries - Fridge, freezer and cupboards are pretty well stocked now
4/21 LTW
£0/£80 Fuel - I had a fair bit of fuel left over from the festive season so I may drop this to £60 for the month and put the extra £20 into another pot. The drop in fuel prices is also making a little difference!
£45/£150-moving costs -I still need to purchase a piece of furniture so this budget will stay open.
£3 Food Bank- To do!
3/3 Brandshift- kidney beans, chopped toms, yoghurts (all value range)

Savings/ Money Made - I have saved £3 off a grocery shop with a voucher, received £8.33 cash back from my CC and at the end of the month should receive £10 cash back once I get to my 1 year anniversary! I use the card for fuel and grocery shops, purely for accumulating cashback, and clear the balance each month. It also gave me fee free foreign transactions when I was in the U.S last year (saving me over £30)- it's great getting money to work in your favour! :T I have also managed to grab some yellow sticker bargains this week and have incorporated these into my meals *nom nom nom*

I am looking to do the change over to F|rst D|rect Bank (1) for the money incentive, (2) Small interest free overdraft and (3) linked savings account. Are any of you turtles banking with this provider and would you recommend them? I had a quick look at their services and they state that you can pay cash and cheques into your account via HSBC, which is handy (they all appear to be owned by them too)! Any opinions would be welcome! I have been with my current bank since I was 10 but feel that may be my loyalty has not gained me any incentives to stay over the last 2 decades..

Right I am going to head off to bed before mothernerd tells me off! N'Night Turtles! Get ready to start levelling up tomorrow! x

Synonymous

Hey everyone,
Quick one from me before bed too. Today the long awaited Aldi shop happened!! Realised yesterday that I had already planned my meals from the freezer and could bag another NSD. I'd forgotten how random the selection is in there and had to look through it all in case I missed something on my list. Didn't buy one single thing not on the list, but did have to go to other shops to get things I couldn't find. I've followed some advice from an OS thread and written quantities/weights of items onto my receipt so that I can compare to other shops like for like.

I did buy the Aldi washing powder, but then also saw my usual brand at £5 instead of £9 in Tesco which worked out about the same price All in all the damage was less than £23, and the veg I got should last all month, so just meat to get from the butchers (their ham joints are cheaper too!). My plan is a bit naff this week though as I bought a whole chicken and am only here until Friday lunchtime, so even if I freeze some I'll be clucking by the weekend .

I'm excited once again as I'll be cooking the chicken in the slow cooker tomorrow and then making stock the day after. Never done either as I'm new to slow cooking so will see what happens.

Got home from meditation and did a time trial and got my Xmas decs down and packed away in less than an hour tonight, but it was too late to vacuum away all the glitter. First proper day back for me tomorrow and gonna be a biggie as my research has stalled and we're having a meeting about it. But plan to walk and take HM soup and fruit.

I saw a recipe for fudge which called for condensed milk, and saw in Aldi that they had condensed and evapourated milk with evapourated being a lot cheaper - is there a big difference? Would this matter in fudge, does anyone know? I have a chocolate mountain and this might be something cool to do with it.

Sorry for the essay, was supposed to be a quick one! Nighty night all

Fmess

Loveadove I can recommend First Direct, they have been fantastic for me and I've banked with them for 10+ years. As you say the incentive is great and I have their Regular Saver account which pays 6% interest of you pay in each month for a year You can do so much online with them (apply for new products etc) they answer the phone in a couple of rings everytime and I've never had a single issue or grumble with them. Hope this helps

speakingofart

Quick check in before I go off to my exam - EEK! Lost a NSD yesterday due to a desire to eat junk food whilst revising for said exam, but am back on the wagon now. Will have to pay for car parking this morning to sit exam but otherwise NSD and have my soup ready to eat at work afterwards.

pheonix - glad you swam to shore safely, welcome back!

loveadove - glad the move went well.

Groceries until 15th January £11.88/£31.16
Groceries 15th Jan - 15th Feb £0/150
Fuel until 15th January £20/£20
Fuel 15th January - 15th February £0/£60
Spending Money: £20/27.65 until Jan 15th.
Lunch to work: 2/20
Lunchtime walks at work 2/20
Food bank 0/£3
SFDs: 3/18

Turtle question: Are we still sticking to the original list of hosts for the challenges, which I think had me for February? I think we've since got slightly out of order and I can't remember who put together the original list. Either way is absolutely fine but would just like to check!

WelshKitty85

Loveadove I also bank with First Direct and find them great. Easy to get through on the phone, to a British call centre, always helpful. My DH is having problems with a second hand car he bought before Xmas and they are helping him with chargeback and have been really good. I would highly recommend them.

Debtdrowninglondongirl

Hi all,

Update: I have spent a total of £20 this year!!

£15 on travel and £5 on food (non branded)
NSDs are up to 4 so far and have exercised twice but am doing yoga every day when I wake up to put me in a good frame of mind.

Great to hear how everyone else is doing!! Go us!!!