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chesterroo

Afternoon, now I am back at work I don't have quite as much time to keep this diary up to date as I had hoped.

Bagged another NSD yesterday so that's 5 so far in January. I am in the NSD challenge and I am aiming for 10 in January so should be on track.

Today I have had to spend a few pennies but I am definitely thinking much more when I spend. I went to the supermarket today and I made a list and only bought what was on the list, this is unheard of for me. Had to buy DD some shoes for school today and a few other household bits and bobs.

I went out and did a booking this morning for my own business, don't intend to put too many details of this on here to attempt to keep my anonymity lol. Anyway it bagged me another £90 so that will be going into the business account. I am keeping all the business money seperate at the moment as easier for me to keep a track on things especially when needing to do my tax return. Will go through the account at the end of each month, pay bills, put some aside for the tax man and then whatever spare will be going on to the debts

Me and DD came home, had lunch (normally it would be a takeaway) and then took our two dogs for a lovely walk down the river. Spent some time doing the housework and now I am chilling on the sofa with the laptop and a brew

Plans for tomorrow are to have a lovely day with my DD. Hoping to take her to a local nature reserve for a good walk and some fresh air, fingers crossed the weather will be on our side.

chesterroo

Today has been a mixture of a day. I went for a lovely long walk with my DD this morning and then just as we got back in to our car we found out that a close family member had died they were elderly and quite poorly but it was still quite unexpected and my DDs first real exposure to someone that she loves dying.

I also felt quite down this morning about money generally. I go through phases where I get very cross with myself for the situation I am in. I was very financially sound with a small mortgage and savings and then unfortunately a costly divorce changed all that. Although I am lucky in so many ways, my second husband is fantastic and we are a wonderful family unit I get cross as I should have been nearly mortgage free now and here I am now renting, in debt with no savings :mad:

chesterroo

It has been a few days since I last updated, time just seems to fly past now I am back working.

A few good developments over the last few days though. After divorcing I was forced to rent our house and we have been in it now for 6 years so very much consider it our home. The last few months I have felt uneasy for some reason and worried regarding our home being taken away from us. I had reason to speak to my landlord and I decide to bite the bullet and just ask. He said he has never had any issues with us and considers it our place and that he has no current desire to sell the house, he also said that he would give us first refusal before even marketing. Was a huge sigh of relief and gives me even more reason to get rid of the debts this year so we can start saving for a deposit.

Second good news was that I have managed to swap our energy suppliers to a much better deal saving us a few quid. Doesn't sound much but having been on pay as you go meters for years due to getting in debt when I was a single mum it was such a lovely feeling to hear they would change me to direct debit and that I passed the credit check to do so :T

Have taken a few more bookings for the business this week so will some money coming in, albeit not until the summer.

Another NSD under my belt today as other than a nice long dog walk we don't intend to go anywhere :T

chesterroo

Evening, god this is turning into a very long month. Me and hubby have been so god this month but I fear that this is because we have no money from Christmas, the true test of our new found frugal ways will be once we have money in our accounts again.

Hubby is at work tonight doing another overtime shift so will be some extra pennies coming into the accounts and I have taken some more bookings for the summer so no cash now as such but few more pounds due in the next few months :T

I am up to 8 NSD this month and my target was 10. I am pretty sure I will get these before the end of the month. Again this has been easier due to the lack of funds I have lol.

I am trying to make a real effort to do things in my life differently. Quite often at the weekend due to my hubbys shifts I am home alone with my DD which usually ends up with us going out for lunch, so I am trying to go out either earlier in the day or after lunch.

Saturday I am having my haircut, I have money in my account and my friend who is a hairdresser does it for me at home, so a decent cut for a fraction of the cost in a salon so thats got to get me some MSE points :T

I love reading all the posts on here but I am yet to post as I just don't feel I am in a good position to give out advice. Some of the regular posters on here are a wealth of info and I often wonder if they realise how much they support people, not just the people they talk to but also all those of us who just read their posts.

chesterroo

Good afternoon, I hope you are all having a good Saturday. Had a mini break through yesterday, I checked my bank accounts and I still have a few pennies left in the account before my payday on (Tuesday) I paid a small chunk off one of my debts so I have finally been able to start my attempt to pay off my debt in 2015 . Quite looking forward to payday on Tuesday and making a few more payments so I can update my signature again

Have taken a few more bookings for the business today so will be a few more payments in the summer that will be coming through. Our business is quite seasonal so will be a couple of months before payments start coming in.

Had mine and DD daughters hair cut today which was done by my hairdresser friend so a right bargain compared to a salon and just as good. Money come out of the money I had left for the month so all good

Having a lazy day tomorrow, hubby is at work and DD has two friends round to sleep so will be a pottering about the house day tomorrow and hopefully NSD number 9 for the month. I put down for a target of 10 this month so I am hoping I can get another two before the end of the month

Have quite a hectic week this week. Tuesday is my birthday and I have a busy weekend planned next weekend but me and hubby have budgeted for it already so it shouldn't impact on me

February will be the month where I should see if I am truly changing the way I view money. It has been easy to be frugal this month as I am skint lol.

I have found I have also become slightly obsessed with reading posts about frugal living. I am amazed and slightly in awe of how this people live. I am trying hard to be more frugal, but not to the extreme of some of these people. Although I love shiny sparkly new things when I think of my ideal home in the future I very much see myself on a free holding with the hubby and some dogs, the kids popping in with my grandchildren and us pottering about growing veg. Maybe deep down there is a frugal person in me they are just slightly distracted right now