Always Pass on What You Have Learned

wishus

Hello everyone. I am joining the DFW board as I am in quite a bit of debt and just want to log my progress.

A lifelong saver and frugal-minded person, I always saved up for what I needed. On this occasion, I was unable to. I made a decision to take on this debt to buy a friend out of the house I live in and make some essential repairs to the property. The house is over 100 years old, and would be unsaleable in its present condition, so my OH and I doubted we would be able to move on without substantial repairs in any case. But if the house is restored to homely glory, it will be a very lovely place to live indeed. It's my OH's house (until my name goes on the mortgage, which is imminent) and when he bought it he wasn't terrifically savvy about money or property.... basically, I married a money pit :rotfl:

In this journey, my lovely OH realises he is my young Padawan. He has the Force, but he has to know how to use it! Patience he must have.

And I must have more resilience than ever. I am an old-young person with dreams of curtailing the 9-5. As I fully intend to live to 120 or more, I am nowhere near middle-aged yet, and that's the story I'm sticking to.

I am not going to post a SOA. This is a huge amount of money, but it's all very neatly thought out. If I can though, I don't want to eat up the whole term of 60 months with this, and would like to move on to being a MFW well before then. I have joined the save £12K board for £7K, which will be paying off my debt in 3/4 of the time. As the panto costume designer told the cast about their legwear, "That's going to be tight(s)." Even just To be able to do this, I can't just rely on my regular income and regular saving patterns. _pale_

This will be a diary about doing all I can to claw back on the spending, make more money to fling at the debt and have a life worth saving for in the meantime.

So, bring on the ides of March, and all the other bits of March while you're at it. £24K and counting... :eek:

Come grab a :coffee: and join me!

maddiemay

I have just sat down with a cup of Rosie, so I am raising my mug and wishing you all the best.:)

wishus

Well, it's Pancake Day!


I took a trip to Aldi yesterday to stock up on plain flour for crepe-style pancakes. Got my lemon juice and sugar, I’m flipping good to go. I was not going to spend beyond what is necessary but I saw an awesome celebrity cookbook in there RRP £25 going for just £1.99. I thought it might be good to keep by for a family birthday in June as birthdays are still happening, and my ability to craft stuff is good, but slooow.
“You bought that, and it’s not for us?” said OH. I pointed to the pile of loved-but-still-shiny cookbooks in the kitchen. We have plenty of our own!


But, I might save it as a housewarming gift for the friend we are buying out, as she has asked for cooking lessons from us. I will see…


Some stressful news on the budget front… we had a quote from our solicitor in January for £700, and they have come back now and it’s suddenly £900-odd plus VAT. But we are not sure we have been properly quoted, so that needs to be checked.


I am having issues with trying to sort out my phone. I am "allowed an upgrade" (able to ditch my expensive tariff), but I thought I’d actually take it as the screen is cracked, the port connection is dodgy and I can buy a cheaper tariff for 24 months, when I should be able to switch to an even cheaper sim only account. But I had tried ordering to the store, where they told me I still had my account in my old name, despite me changing it online, and I needed ID in my old name. Fine – my passport is still in my old name. Oh, but my bank cards are in my new name. Here is my marriage certificate! Not good enough…


I swear, if I get messed about much longer, I will cancel my account, get a cheap Sim free phone instead and a cheap mobile tariff – elsewhere. Apparently, I need to wait to get a text to manage the order I placed. It’s tempting to just cancel, but I do think the deal I am getting will be worth it.
Here is what I use on average over 3 months:


Minutes 100/600
Text 57/ULTD
460MB/1GB data
0/5 photo messages

With canny use of Wi-Fi, I could reduce my data usage, but I would say I am a medium phone user. I might not be if I used more Skype or curtailed my usage further. I think it will be a case of needs must!


Anyway, better get that sorted...

chazsucks

Happy pancake day :j

I'm loving your diary so far, sounds like an awesome adventure with the house!

As for the book, I always do this throughout the year... never need to panic at birthdays or Christmas. In fact my stash is well stocked up at the moment so I'm stopping myself from buying anymore bargains until a few more birthdays have passed!

Have a great week x

wishus

Well, I've had some good news and some bad news...

Our solicitor has just confirmed to me that the prices they have provided are indeed a list of fees for a 'worst case scenario'. They have to second-guess what the lender will instruct them and can't be clear. We must wait and see how much this transfer is going to cost. Okay, so it's not going to be £900-odd. Probably.

EE continue to be useless. Having had to "re-arrange" my delivery to another inconvenient day when I can't be in to receive the phone, after they told me they could deliver Saturdays, but apparently can't, I have been told my best bet is for OH to refuse delivery of the phone when it comes, so it can go back to depot. Then I talk to them about lowering their bills/cancelling the contract. My phone is a bit knackered, but it still works, it will do.

Tonight, though, will be celebrating Chinese New Year. I have some pork belly salting in the fridge for crispy pork, which I will do with egg-fried rice, braised beansprouts and other veg, a chilli dipping sauce, and some prawn crackers. A homemade feast, which all being well will beat the Aldi £3.99 takeaway for 2 into a cocked hat!

Kung Hei Fat Choi!
_party_

wishus

Not much time to write tonight, but I did take a photo of my Chinese New Year meal I did for OH and me.


I spent £1.49 on the pork belly, 49p on beansprouts and the rest of the ingredients I already had in, including a pack of prawn crackers. I think I just pip the Aldi takeaway on price, but this was really lush.


We decided to eat with chopsticks, drank proper Chinese tea and set the mood with some mandarin-candles we bought a while ago.


So, crispy pork with egg-fried rice, stir fried vegetables with peanuts, prawn crackers and dipping sauce!

wishus

I have been feeling a bit down lately about paying off the looming debt, and am not entirely sure sometimes that I am going to be fully control of the situation. I am so pleased that my OH is able to share his feelings with me, especially as he is far from 100% at the moment. I think I would feel worse if he wasn't.

I think this is perhaps why I have been throwing myself more and more into routine.

I make sure I am up early in the morning, and if I can I do a bit of my freelance work, or just make sure I have a homemade packed lunch to take to work.

On the walk to the train station, I might listen to a podcast, or just do a bit of thinking. I will pick up the Metro at the station, but after scanning through for proper news and offers, I will try to put it away and read a bit of the latest book I'm on.

At lunchtime, I will quickly log on to my emails and try to clear some of my freelance admin if there is any. This is when I might do a bit of writing too. Sometimes, I need a break away from my desk, so I'll go in the office kitchen, but it's very crowded and they usually have Come Dine With Me on the telly, which I don't mind, but it's pointless watching if you can only watch twenty minutes.

After work, I read on the train again, walk home, maybe pop to the shops if I need to. I do dinner, I clean up, I try to fit in 2 hours' freelance work. OH misses me, but I have to work. We finish the night by catching up on some of our recorded programmes, and I try to do a bit of knitting at the same time. We have loads recorded that I just don't have time to watch.

I feel like I am spending a lot of time working towards my goals and I feel guilty if I don't do as much as I can.

Sometimes it feels never-ending. Does anyone else feel the same?:(

wishus

A month in, things are going well but the budget is squeaky. I have a new phone... so my mobile bills will be cheaper at least.

Transfer of Equity is almost done. Apparently it will be over in a week.

I need to do something to look after me, though. I got given two boxes full of sugary snacks by work. I'm not one to ever turn down free food... but I'm getting a bit podgy. Time to go back to class.

wishus

Over on the April Grocery challenge, £20 spent yesterday - £3.50 in Weight Watchers, the rest in Asda. Got a 48p voucher out of that, but having a look at the rest of the month, and I'm a bit worried.

Spending has to be super tight as we wait for the solicitors to do their thang (STILL not finished :mad:), then we can throw a load of dosh at the money pit that is our house. I had nightmares about the back wall falling down at the weekend, and though I realize this is unlikely right now, it isn't if we leave it.

...and I'm trying to be good and healthy as I have weight to lose. I joined Weight Watchers because last month, through various deals I got them to pay me to lose weight. :rotfl:This month, I have a reduced membership thanks to cashback from shopping, but due to over-spending from one of my pots, I don't have the £55 for the rest of the month - I have £38.

From that I need to:

• Feed me, OH and 2 kitties.
• Go to a group meeting on the bus - which is in a pub.
• Have some just-in-case money for a taxi for work travel things on two days.
• Pay for OH to come with me to a job where I'm only being expensed £10.
• Possibly go to a rock gig that would make OH happy... he needs to be happy.

I am only going to ask OH to come with me where I stand no chance of getting to my gig otherwise.


I need a plan!!


Things going against me:

• £30 would do for food, and just about be healthy. But what about the bread monster at home? :eek:
• No non-day-job money coming in this month as far as I can tell. Lots to be getting on with, though.

Things in my favour:

• I can say no to devilish booze, which makes me gain weight and spend more.
• I have freelance work to do.
• when I'm not working I can garden/run - that should help with the weight loss!
• I have a freezer with liver, pork fillet, whole fish - I think it's bream, various cuts of lamb, fishcakes, frozen cooked pulses, peas, gooseberries, venison - I know!
• larder has pasta, basmati rice, risotto rice, a twist of yellow split peas, flour, lentils, egg noodles, herbs and spices, chopped tomatoes, chicken soup, red kidney beans, WW Chinese sauce, Thai sweet chilli sauce, vinegars, soy, rapeseed oil, olive oil, truffle oil, reindeer pate. :rudolf:Lots of tea. Chutneys.
• treats - loads of American snacks, WW bars, jams, honey, peanut butter, sloe gin, rum, vodka, tonics, remnants of Easter egg chocolate. Christmas pudding, too.
• fresh - eggs, a pineapple, carrots, half a butternut squash, cabbage, cucumber, potatoes, peppers, red onions, garlic (not at its best), ginger, Quark, cheddar, light margarine, milk.
• I'm sure I have a few meals in that lot. Don't count on the eggs and bread lasting - OH is a bit limited in what he feels like cooking and eating these days.
• Lots of reading to be getting on with too. Currently on The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes - it's jolly good.

Best to just get on with things really. I'm sure I can work in something ingenious and clever. Tally ho!

wishus

OH and I had a look at the finances last night and managed to make a few adjustments, so we can eat and catch buses this month. Huzzah! :j

Just as well, because the bread monster had struck again when I got home. Naughty bread monster!

Paperwork came through from the solicitor's. Darn it - we need to organize a signature witness. Dagnabbit, we wanted to take the paperwork back today. Ah well, better see if we can corner a neighbour tonight.

Just about managed to print it out too, am now down to my last piece of A4 paper. :eek:

wishus

We're now on month 4 of my debt-busting - the big debt has been reduced by £1117.09, and I need to crack on with some hardcore debt-busting. When I check through my Budget Brain, I should have plenty to debt-bust with. This month I had a few things I needed to budget for (birthday, anniversary, wedding), however, when they came around, I bust the budget by a little bit each time. Ah the lure of hedonistic pleasure and sociability! Hence, no extra money this month to chuck at anything.

To make matters worse, our budget could be drastically reduced month after next as OH goes back to work with a pay-cut. Not easy encouraging someone who's a bit averse to 'free' fun. That is to say, you can plan a spend-free day of awesomeness, but there are spending temptations all around, and OH will usually find them! I am being mean, he's not so bad... for my inner chimp. We encourage each other.

Well, June is upon us soon (ooh, rhymes! ) and there is a birthday to plan for, and I had better make this a good one, as my present last year was homemade and I'm not sure it hit the spot, even if I was jolly impressed with my skillz :cool:. I also need to make up for a birthday I recently missed. I'm thinking flowers and homemade choccies or cake for the missed May birthday. Something a bit designer and flash for the birthday in June... Gucci, Prada???? :rotfl:I'll think of something... Budget £30, for a glamorous and stylish young woman, who has no problem accessing dresses, bags and makeup due to her work. So if I get any of those it has to be a bit spesh.

Any ideas?