NST; January Challenge- The Money Saving Game

Charly27

Week 1 1st - 5th. Went to a race meet with my Dad, DS and DD. Prepared meal for 8 of us to return to. Only spent my Christmas money and had a lot of fun. Din't quite manage a SFD on 2nd; library books overdue 50p:mad: But . . .we polished off the homemade mince piews instead of visting costa before we went. 4th/5th SFD's (2)
Week 2 5th-11th after returning to work have had 3 SFD's. Taken lunch everyday me and DH and eaten in from menu plan 4/5. Yellow stickers in Tesco's shop yesterday saved £8.18 on meat for the freezer. We get paid on the 19th on the month so we have £49.00 left in food budget, meals planned for this week (until Sat) and lunches prepped for tomorrow. I think I'll have to check in once a week as so busy preparing lessons after work I don't check forums. Sewing going well, started 2 gifts all from stash. Have a good week all.:j

Charly27

Mothernerd you do make me smile. I can so relate to the muscles thingy. Also visited the allotment today; just to check for any damage after winds and take buckets and buckets of food waste to compost but . . .harvested leeks (now sliced and in freezer) and my first ever brussel sprouts. I'm so cross with myself 'cos I never got back to harvest my butternut squash, red cabbages (in the pigeons) and my sweetcorn but started new job in September and it's just consumed me.:mad:But it WILL clear my overdraft and help my Debt-free and mortgage free dreams :j

liltdiddylilt

Winning at life... but also at roadkill. I was getting a bit bummed. Walking weird circuitous routes and finding zip. Even on a normal week when I am not chasing it I do better than this. Until today.

£5. Yep. An actual £5 note. In a muddy puddle, half covered in leaves. Which was disgusting and I didn't take my handbag out for my mooch so had no antibac or baby wipes. But I braved cholera or whatever lingers in mucky bodies of water :rotfl: and it has been washed with a bit of persil & is now drying on the radiator. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. It feels like ill gotten gains. Jelly's savings maybe. Or the next charity box I really feel something for.

Shopping came to £42.99 including £1.55 household items and £2.50 delivery charge. Shocking substitutions, a double charge on an item, broken eggs and a replacement which cost more & they did not match the 'offer' on the original items. I called them as I was fuming & the woman on the phone made me repeat my name and address 6 times across the call, spoke to me like I was an idiot when I said they had substituted cannellini beans for chickpeas and sent me around the houses each time I tried to explain the issues. She told me to go back to the store for a refund and to exchange my items. So I should pay them £2.50 to bring me the wrong thing, only to walk down and replace it myself hmm? End result after asking to speak to her manager was a refund that I do not understand so I will wait for the email on that. :mad:

Have a nice evening all. I made a sweet potato gratin from scratch with homemade bechamel sauce today but it was not as nice as I hoped so won't be doing that again. Edible, just overpowering.

SFD #7
Back with grocery total once input into YNAB. xx

Bobarella

Lilt - congrats on your awesome roadkill find! I keep thinking I am bound to find a note at some point as I walk miles a day and am always finding money. I am really happy to read your story
But sorry to hear about your supermarket issues. I know how frustrating it can be to speak to people who seem deliberately rude and obstructive. I had the same thing with BT recently. 3 different advisors told me 3 different reasons as to why I'd been over charged. I lost it in the end. Finally got refunded the £25 in question. But I was so stressed and unhappy about the whole thing. Why do we live in these times where no one is easy to deal with? Big hugs.

liltdiddylilt

Bobarella - thank you! I still feel guilt over it. I know I would be devastated if I lost £5.

As for BT - :rotfl: I fought that battle and won. 7 months on I still have not paid them for a single thing, as I live off the vast credit they put onto my account. Well worth kicking up a giant stink. And also calling back repeatedly until you get the person who listens. It took me 3 months, my own personal complaint manager and endless emails and phone calls, but hey, at £40 a month - free for 7 and a half months by the time the credit runs out... I'm happy :rotfl:

I guess that makes me one of the people who is not easy to deal with... :huh:

LoveaDove

Good Evening, Turtles!

How are we all? I have to admit that I am sat here, relaxing with a coffee and a dash of baileys....*naughty!* :coffee:

I have also had 2 spend days- These have been made up of purchasing presents for my Ma's Birthday- some of which will be refunded by my sister, purchasing toiletries, and a little food top up shop. I had a meal with my friend's this afternoon during our catch up, so decided to direct my cash back money to this rather than pop this into savings to ensure there were no deductions to my other pots for this.

I found 5p money roadkill on Saturday evening, but had spent the whole afternoon in town scouring the pavements to no avail, went to the supermarket and had given up. Just when I was about to step into my car I spied a cheeky 5p right next to my car! *win*

Racing towards retirement- You have done the right thing getting the lump on your neck checked out. I hope that the results are clear for you.

shyspender - Thank you for your confirmation for March!

WelshKitty85 - Wow, what legendary mini Money Savers! :T

Debtdrowninglondongirl - Yay! Super Sales and further money saving with using your works mail room! Very MSE! :T

traveller- Vegas sounds like an amazing reward following debt freedom! I saved solidly for 6 months to pay for my Hawaii trip following debt freedom, and did it because I could- debt payments= savings (it was also a 30th celebration as well). So make sure you have something in mind as your reward, and once you hit debt freedom, start putting savings towards something that you would not have been able to afford during your debt free journey, even if it ends up being a good sized emergency budget. It is amazing though when you reflect on what your debt payments could be put towards post debt freedom, keep positive, it is an exciting prospect the nearer debt freedom gets!

stewby- It sounds like you did the absolutely right thing with maintaining confidentiality and being completely professional. It is hard to deal with harsh responses, but you can be confident in that you did the right thing. I imagine their outburst was mostly embarrassment on their part as well. Hope the remainder of your weekend has been more positive and stress free. *Hug*

Lilt- Hope you have been able to relax a bit over the weekend and recover a little! Epic money roadkill find! I believe you are in the lead for this mini challenge! :j

dolly84- Great money roadkill find and excellent extra payment to the CC! :T

Bobarella - Wow, you are a money roadkill magnet! Have you got any tips??

mothernerd- You are so kind hearted to be so considerate about the usage of your shed rather than panic. :heartsmil I'll give you the custard tart find as a challenge find!

Fmess - Hope you feel more upbeat soon! Recommendations for dropped money- supermarket car parks and generally outside shops. I think Bobarella will have some great tips!

Samiszel - Woooo! Great extra money made there! :T

Right going to make my pack- up for work and get into my pjs.

N'night Turties Keep Saving :cool:

mothernerd

Was feeling guilty as I did intend to bake today so went back to the kitchen made sugar free jellies, curried rice salad (breakfast type stuff is a bit low) and cauliflower dhal. Also had raw cauli with a dip (still some in the fridge). Not sure if there is more or less. I have taken things out of the fridge, put them with other things and now there are bits all over three shelves rather than lots in big bags at the bottom but I tried. Still 2 portions of leek and potato soup self-frozen at the bottom as well.

Still not got the freezer as organised as I would like but I know (I saw it) I still have a drawer full of meat and a drawer full of fish to make things with as well as tins of beans and pulses (+ some dried) and bits and pieces all over the place. Trouble is when I go through the recipe file I start getting hungry again.

blubella

Morning Turtles

2 spendy days and SFD yesterday taking me to 7. With a bit better planning I could have reduced these spendy days to one...I only spent £1.10 on loose spices and herbs from the health food shop on 2nd spendy day. I will plan better next time!! No roadkill as of yet.

I have been invited to Scotland by my house mate who has booked an apartment in a Scandinavian Village for a few days; she has offered to drive and doesn't want anything for the apartment!! I told her I wouldn't be able to eat out as I am on a budget but suggested I could cook. She seemed happy with suggestion so I have been preparing sauces, soups, lasagne to take with me. That's if we actually get there..dependent on the weather. At least I will have a freezer full of prepared meals if we can't go!!

I feel for everyone going through work stresses..I have been going through similar problems myself in the healthcare industry...they certainly want their pound of flesh. For my own health and sanity I am going to become self employed while working part time...trying to remain motivated and positive but I know what it's like to have down days too! Being ill gave me a certain amount of time to reflect on what is important to me and not being valued in my role gave me a kick up the bum so to say. I know I can't do another 20 years in that environment! Chin up turtles!

speakingofart

Happy monday turtles! Sorry I didn't check in yesterday, was busy procrastinating all the things I should be doing and was also inexplicably shattered, so went to bed about 8pm with a book. Anyway, in less good news, lost 2 SFDs over the weekend, one to lunch with a friend and one to buying a new dish rack after mine randomly fell apart (it's almost like things you bought 8 years ago from the discount shop DON'T last forever ) but also to some junk food, which is a very very bad habit that I'm terrified I'm slipping back into.

So my resolution for this week is quite simply to get back on top of things, weight loss wise, budget wise (I get paid on thursday) and definitely studying wise. Feeling generally a bit low and the rain/ wind aren't helping, so hopefully I'll start to feel more positive soon. Have a great day turtles.

Groceries until 15th January £30/£31.16
Groceries 15th Jan - 15th Feb £0/150
Fuel until 15th January £20/£20
Fuel 15th January - 15th February £0/£60
Spending Money: £27.65/27.65 until Jan 15th.
Lunch to work: 5/20
Lunchtime walks at work 4/20
Food bank 0/£3
SFDs: 4/18

sazzlebgood

been up since five this morning as DD2 has really bad earache and not going to school today. So been up and done shopping already £33 hopefully that's it for rest of week. DD1 needed more money on her school dinners account so done that as well. Wish i got up earlier and took the dog for a walk but the wind here was bad, so she'll have to wait till OH home from work.Hope you all have a good day. Was hoping to go into town and pay some money off cc but that will have to wait now.