Learning to live on a lower budget

A_simple_life

I have been here too many times in the past having a determination to clear my debts but after having cancer treatment and getting in deeper in debt this time I have to learn to live on less and fast. My bi polar medication is being reviewed as it is making me so tired and I am struggling to get anything done but I am just about managing to do 3 days a week work with the help of my DD.

Ok debt bit it has gone up a little due to gambling another thing I struggle with but I haven't gambled for a month now and taking each day at a time.

Debt at the moment is:

Mum £4900
Loan from friend £1000
Over draft £2000
DWP £650
SNC £230
[STRIKE]C/C £200[/STRIKE] PAID 28/07/2015

Total £8,790.00/£8,980.00


Ok not as bad as I thought I was expecting close to £10,000

My down fall is food and not meal planning properly I have cupboards and a freezer full of food so now I need to get more organised and start using the food I have. I have a plan from tomorrow I will start keeping the receipts in a box and go through them at the end of the month to see where and what all my spare money is going on.

From November I should be able to get a full time job as long as my medication is sorted out but that's my teams plan for then.

Tomorrow is food shop day so here's the plan for my menu:

Tuesday Pork Stroganoff with spaghetti
Wednesday Pork Stroganoff with spaghetti
Thursday Chicken and vegetable curry and rice
Friday Chicken and vegetable curry and rice
Saturday Roast breast of lamb, roast potatoes, mixed veg
Sunday Roast breast of lamb, roast potatoes, mixed veg
Monday HM fish goujons, mash and brocolli and cauliflower cheese

All I need this week is:
Pork chops, milk, bread, yoghurts, bananas, oranges, kiwi, strawberries, single cream, mushrooms, shallots.

If I can just come home with that list I will be making a great start. :j

A_simple_life

Just done my budget and I have £300 a month left over which means I will be debt free by April 2017 :mad: That is not a good situation at all but now I am determined to bring this closer as I am very impatient when I set my mind to something. My other money killer is smoking (I know I should quit) but with everything that's going on I think this will tip me over the edge so I will plan to stop on the 1st September as by then I will have had the final laser treatment will have been done for my cancer and the medication will have been sorted out :T

I have gone through my cupboards and freezer and all I can say is I am bordering on a major hordering problem with food.

I am going to set up a excel spreadsheet and then I can go through it each week and use food up and hopefully cut my food for a good while. Right off to make dinner chicken pie.mash and peas tonight

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

A_simple_life

Thank you beanie

My working family tax credits and PIP's came in today so I have paid my rent for the week and paid my credit card off, so that's one debt down and 5 to go, I should be able to pay the SNC off this month too then I can start tackling the bigger debts a bit each month, my plan is to equally split my spare money so they get at least £100 each a month and then once my friends paid I can throw it mostly at my mums debt and stick to £100 at the over draft. I can't wait for my meds to sorted out once and for all so I can actually start getting my life back on track with feeling like I need sleep constantly.

I have done the food budget and I only need £19 of food to make the meals this week and if I don't take DD I won't be tempted to buy a ton of junk food that we just don't need.

A_simple_life

I managed to stick to my budget first time I have done that in a very long time

I have an interview for a job a lot earlier than I really wanted but I am going to go for it as it's the same work I have done for many years. It will help a lot with the debt busting and then I can give up my weekend work up which will hopefully help with my bi polar.

I have started a housework rota and so far between me and DD we have stuck to it now I just need to get rid of a load of stuff and have a dam good de clutter. I find I can't relax at the moment as the clutter is everywhere and gets on my nerves. Ebay will be busy for a few weeks hopefully as a car boot will set me off as I am not very good in crowds at all.

Right off for the next room to be de cluttered the worst one (my room)

A_simple_life

One positive step today: i found my E cig I used it for six months before and it was a lot cheaper than smoking so I have been and bought a new battery and E cig liquids which cost me £14.99 but should last me at least a month a huge improvement on the £17 a week I have been spending. I now just need to stick with it :j

Put a pair of trainers on Ebay that I have never worn and a few dresses, I don't wear dresses at all any more as I don't go out much. If they all sell that will be £35 ish made from sales, I am getting there slowly but surely.

Pennypurse

Good luck on your debt free journey - take each day as it comes that's going to be my approach all the best - subscribed!

A_simple_life

Today will be a NSD, using my E cig and so far no cravings for cigarettes so hopefully I can stick to this I am going to do a couple of loads of washing as its dry not sunny but dry and the blowy so hopefully they will dry.

I am slowly getting through the freezer food and its starting to get small gaps in the draws instead of filled to the top.

I won't need much more next week either as I have plenty to be still used up. The excel speadsheet is working really well me and DD had bacon omelette for breakfast and I forgot how nice they are, right off to do some housework and sort out under my sink and see what cleaning products I have as that is another hoarding area,

Digging_2

Yay! another new diary to subscribe to :j

A_simple_life wrote: »

right off to do some housework and sort out under my sink and see what cleaning products I have as that is another hoarding area,

I need to do this! I'm adding this to my list for tonight... thanks for helping me get mine sorted to!:rotfl:

A_simple_life

Glad I motivated you Digging lol and sorry Hi pennypurse forgot to say earlier

Done under the sink OMG how much I have thrown out and I don't need any more polish or air freshener for a year lol my recycling bin for plastic is very full now oppps

A_simple_life

I set up my spend less folder today and I am running it four weekly as that's when my pips comes in. I have excel spread sheets set up for all the payments I make with 6 categories which are my varied spends and then I can see where I am against my budget.

It has made me realise I spend far too much on the pets well mainly the dog so I have finally done some research and got off my backside and the local butcher will give me huge bones for nothing as they have to pay a good bit for them to be taken away and disposed of also he gave me some free meat scraps and said I can pop in any time and get more got to love free dog food The cat however (known as Mr Fussy) will only eat canned meat but that's not too expensive.