Chasing Freedom!!

chasingfreedom

A quiet day today on the money saving front. Just (not so) patiently waiting for payday to roll back around. I feel like I'm wishing my life away but I really want to be free!! There are so many things we need/want at home. I'd usually just put them on the card/catalogue and have them anyway but determined not to. Our bed desperately need a new mattress for one thing, waking up with a bad back every morning is not fun. Its like sleeping on golf balls, lol. Wouldn't be so bad but it's only 3 years old, came free with the bed though so obviously naff!! It'll feel like a real reward when I finally do get a good one. I want to hold off as long as possible but if it gets too bad I'll only buy one with cash. No more cards or catalogues.


Got a free lunch today as my boss had a meeting and asked me if I'd mind fetching them all lunch (he forgot to order it) so bought me lunch as well for going, result


Hubby has been away for the last few days (fishing, yawn!) and is back this evening. The freezer and fridge are looking decidedly bare and we have run out of meat altogether now. I am trying to use what we have in the cupboards rather than doing any more shopping. The longer I can stretch out the shop the better. I usually buy meat when its in the reduced section and freeze it (or if its on offer in aldi) and usually have a good stock but I've been trying not to spend too much lately so avoiding the shops whenever possible. Might be a good opportunity to defrost the freezer, ooohh the glamour!! Jacket spuds and beans, soup or a tin of peas for dinner for the foreseeable then, haha.

mumstheword***

I find food the hardest! I start the week with the best intentions but sheer work fatigue hits by Wednesday and we head towards the takeaway! Tonight is chilli for adults, pasta for baby and fishfingers for O, plus I have a cauliflower that is destined for a couple of cauliflower cheese lunches for P at the childminder, so need to do that to before it gets past it! Most of our money that isn't spent on bills and debts goes to Mr Sainsburys :-( I suppose I should start batching cooking/using the slow cooker etc - oh to have more hours in the day!!!!

chasingfreedom

I love Sainsburys but without a doubt Aldi is way cheaper in my experience. Have you ever tried it?? Honestly if I went to Sainsburys (infact most other supermarkets) and bought a trolley full of our normal food it'd be about 100 quid and the same in Aldi would be about 60!!


I bought a slow cooker in winter thinking I would leave dinner cooking while I was at work but that relies on me having time in the mornings aswell. I only just have time to get ready let alone prepping food. Disorganised.com!! I've actually only used it once and it was a day I was home anyway, haha. Need to do some research on making chilli's etc in it. Don't actually know if anything is done differently to be honest, I assume so.


Last night we had pasta bake (on account of us having a jar and pasta in the cupboard and not a lot else!!) Tonight god knows, I think it might be beans on toast or actually I think I have fish portions in the freezer so might be fish and jacket potato!! (even the spuds left are spouting and going green, ha) Roll on shopping, I'm not missing the spending but I am missing lovely stir fries and chilli's etc. Impossible with no meat, ha!


Hubby came home from fishing armed with Dairy Milk Puddle (never heard of them but lovely) which I demolished after dinner. The diet is going well then!! I've been dieting on and off the last few weeks (currently off as hormones kicked in and wrecked my willpower!!) but back on it today. I've told hubby no more chocolate presents (especially as its a waste of money anyway naughty man!!) If I can get through today/tomorrow without cheating then I'll be back on the wagon. I want to lose a few stone and we have our holiday in August so it'd be good to have done it by then. Or at least a stone anyway would be nice. Less chance of getting harpooned on the beach!!


Have a lovely day

chasingfreedom

Well it's not long till payday so in my lunch break today I decided to see what money I have left in the bank and see if there is anything more I can clear. I just paid £13.85 off one of hubby's credit cards (only 145 left on it now) and I totally cleared one outstanding catalogue which had a £60 balance. Woo hoo, one creditor down!! (12 left!!)


Also, just did another snowball calculator. I have a littlewoods account and its so difficult trying to include it because the money you owe each month isn't a percentage or a fixed amount, it depends what is outstanding. So I left it out and reduced total available monthly amount instead and I will pay that each month separately. According to the calculator, I will be able to clear my debt in 29 months!!! Not sure why it said 48 last time I did it, the totals match and all looks ok. I do think though maybe my APR's were out last time. That's only 2 years and 5 months.


So, next month I will be able to clear that £145 credit card so that'll be another creditor gone!! Won't make much different to monthly disposable income yet as they were both small monthly amounts but its nice to see some stuff disappearing nonetheless.


The best of all is that my 7 year loan is ending this month. As soon as I get paid next week I will pay my last instalment of £318 and that frees up a massive amount to clear off our other debts!!


So, as I budgeted in the snowball calculator for a figure just slightly above our monthly payments I reckon with some overtime and making some additional payments when possible I can get everything cleared within the 2 years and chop another 6 months off those estimated months. That is my challenge to myself. By the end of May 2017 I WILL be debt free!!!!




Challenge on and the world is starting to feel like a better place finally. I can see progress!

mumstheword***

I do go to Aldi for nappies and scotch pancakes, croissants and biscuits. It's near to O's school so I pop in on a Friday which is my only school pick up day. I did start buying their veg but have no idea how the dating works and it always seem to go out of date! Plus most of my shopping is after bedtime and sainsburys is open the latest!
Must be lovely to start crossing off the creditors no matter how small! Our smallest is OH's mint card which I have got down to £800, if it wasn't for our holiday it would be gone be now! My largest outgoing other than the mortgage is a loan and I think that end in 2017 - it's £293 a month!! Can't wait for that to go!
May 2017 isn't that far off!!!! ��

chasingfreedom

I know, I can't stop thinking about how close May 17 actually is. The last 6 years since I had my daughter have flown by, it'll be here before we know it!!


The veg dating in Aldi is weird (I worked there for a few months after maternity leave while job hunting) they go by week numbers which is useless to anybody other than the people who work there!! That's my only gripe really with Aldi, the fruit/veg isn't always the best. Gets a bit battered about in my local store. The rest is all good though


I feel your pain on the loan, they are so big aren't they. It feels a bit surreal that mine will be gone after this month. Feels like I've been paying 318 forever!! Hubby has a loan too which is 396!!! even those 2 debts alone will free up about 700 quid a month, that's more than our rent!!! We're gonna be rich one day, haha xx

chasingfreedom

Ooh another day closer to payday!! Last night set up hubby's standing order for his 'pocket money' into the other bank account and I have done a calendar of all his direct debits including changing a few to minimum payment only so I only overpay on the higher interest bills. I've got my snowball calculator all ready to go and I'm excited to make my first payments and see if I can follow the plan.


Just paid the balance off our holiday in August so that is paid for now, just spending money for while we're there. I'm glad that is paid so it's out the way. Our last big expense for a while.


Just 'wasted' £2.50 on some chicken for lunch which was a stupid idea. It wasn't even nice!! I really need to be more organised about bringing in lunches to work, or even having lunch some days!!


Right back to the grindstone!!

Igamogam

Hello

Just had a quick read through your diary so far - dint want to just read and run

Couple of quickies: slow cookers adapt recipes by using half the amount of liquid you would if cooking on hob or oven - thats my experience! Lots of fab websites with plenty of recipes designed for SC. Cook in it over night, or prep veg night before, or do mass cooking at weekends and freeze............possibilities are endless;)

Make small payments EVERYDAY - there is a thread on here dedicated to A Payment a Day - cant get my linky thing to work - but its easy to find and worth a look especially as you like to see the numbers dropping!

Any debts on CCs? get them shifted to 0%

Cornwall: if you havent got them already wetsuits are a must!! We had all our family holidays in Cornwall when the children where young - beach everyday rain or shine and wetsuits were the order of the day for EVERBODY

Finally have you thought of doing an SOA ( again can be found on this site somewhere) a Statement of Affairs - helps to see clearly where money is going and where/what can cut back.If you post on here others with 'fresh eyes' can offer advice......doesnt work for everybody but may be worth a try.

thegreenone

Hi
I've just read your diary and congrats. on getting organised.


Re. The slow cooker. I usually put all the ingredients in the night before, particularly if it's a curry, chilli or kleftico and then put the lidded pot in the fridge and let it marinate over night. The following morning, all you have to do is put the pot on the base and switch it on.
A whole chicken cooks beautifully on a base of onions, no liquid, and then there's cold for lunches.


Good luck on your DF journey.

chasingfreedom

Thanks for your advice thegreenone and Igamogram, I'll definitely have a go with the slow cooker and handy to know a bit more before I ruin a perfectly good dinner, haha I quite like the idea of prepping the night before and just turning it on in the morning. It'd be lovely to come home and not have to rush about getting dinner sorted as soon as I walk in the door.


Igamogam, I'm definitely going to look into that payment a day thing. It might make me feel less frustrated when I'm waiting for payday to come back round!! Unfortunately our credit isn't the best due to the level of debt we've got so its unlikely we'd get a 0% card, might be worth a try though. It's been a while since we applied for anything and we've cleared a bit since then. I shall have a go today and let you know what happens


I hadn't thought of wetsuits, I was just hoping/assuming it would be reasonably warm and we wouldn't need them!! I might investigate although not sure I want the expense of buying 5, I assume they aren't cheap. I will have a look though:)


I've decided I need to actually go and do a food shop tonight, the fridge is literally bare now apart from a bit of milk, yoghurt and some random sauces in the door. Not even a bit of cheese left and that's the fall back for sandwiches, lol. I debated last night doing an online shop and decided to wait and go to Aldi instead and get more for my money. Setting a £40 budget (only because we need meat aswell for the freezer and got all 3 kids for the weekend) but going to try and go as cheap as possible!!