Here I go again...

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

Well done on clearing the Santander card, you are doing so brilliantly!

Taking lunch to work will save you a small fortune. We always make our lunch, as you can easily spend £5ish a day if you buy lunch, a few tea/coffee etc. We made some homemade pumpkin soup this weekend, it says for 4, but there was a lot more than that, we have had 6 meals out of it! The ingredients were no more than £1, so each portion cost at most 16p-ish. We were surprised how easy it was to make (we have not made soup before), and will be doing it again in the future. If we get a bit short on shopping money at the end of the month, it will be a good, cheap way of filling us up. I am also getting very aware of the "hidden nasties" in food, so making our own soup really appeals as no hidden sugar/salt etc. I was horrified this weekend when I saw that a tin of beans from Aldi contains 25% of my daily salt allowance! EEK! Also, now the weather is turning cold, soup for lunch along with a sandwich is a yummy lunch. Salads are no longer cutting it, I need a hug in a mug (or food flask in this case)!

LittleMissDetermined

Hi

Time for a midweek update

I've been doing well with the take your lunches to work thread and I've had packed lunches all week so far... I also have enough in stores to see me through to the weekend! It's easy to not bother when you've just been paid but I reckon I've saved a good £12 already this week by taking my own.

I've been checking offer sites and things I've signed up for to see if I've won anything... nothing so far but it's always worth checking!

I've only spent on PADs and paid for petrol this week, that's good going for me. Whenever I've considered spending money I have just remember that holiday is only a few weeks away and I would be better off splurging then

I checked my Halifax balance this morning to check my payment had come off and it was even lower than I was expecting (by about £30) so that's a bonus. Sig has been updated to reflect new balance and I have paid into my savings as my PAD today. Tomorrow will be another large CC payment so I will be feeling good about myself all day again.

Work is looking up, I had been in a bit of a hole for a while and wasn't sure how to get over the hump. It's been an eventful and enlightening week for me and I am feeling so much better. I had even been contemplating looking for a new role so I'm glad I don't have to.

No spends on an evening either this week as I planned for the whole weeks meals and many were from the freezer (I batch cook in my slow cooker)

Anyway, off to cook dinner, no rest for the wicked!

LMD x

kirtsypoos

Fab news on the take your lunches to work challenge LMD, we've started batch cooking on a Sunday and it makes such a difference in terms of how much we spend.

That halifax card will be paid off before you know it, your PADs are fab!

Good news on the work front - not being happy at work causes so many other issues, and seems to leak into other parts of your life.

LittleMissDetermined

kirtsypoos wrote: »

Fab news on the take your lunches to work challenge LMD, we've started batch cooking on a Sunday and it makes such a difference in terms of how much we spend.

That halifax card will be paid off before you know it, your PADs are fab!

Good news on the work front - not being happy at work causes so many other issues, and seems to leak into other parts of your life.

Thanks for the encouragement, the biggest challenge for me is remembering to take my lunches to work with me! :rotfl:

X

LittleMissDetermined

Sooooo home from work and what do I find in the post for me? A letter from the blinking Halifax increasing my credit limit.... It's like they know what I'm trying to do!!!

Increase away... I'm not spending, I'm clearing!!!

Little miss even more determined x

LittleMissDetermined

Here I am at the very end of a really, really good week.

Work is great, I've hardly spent anything since I've been paid (4 days) this is good going for me. Oh, well I have cleared almost £800 of credit card debt with my PADs but that's not spending on me!

We have a quiet weekend ahead planned with days in the garden and then evenings in front of the telly... Doesn't sound too spendy to me. I will have to do a 'big-shop' but that's just the norm.

I managed 5 days of taking packed lunches to work, I never normally make the whole week and cave for a subway or jacket potato from the local cafe. I'm only in work for 14 days in November due to being abroad so I will aim for at least 12 of these to be packed lunches. I've actually been enjoying them far more than bought lunch.

I have 2 more credit card bills to pay and the rest of the month will be bank round downs for PADding. They will probably be quite small this month due to the holiday. It won't be extravagant but I don't want to scrimp either, it is a holiday after all...

Due to going away I won't be able to put any items on eBay until I get back, but I'm looking forward to selling more of my clutter:)

I'm feeling massively motivated and supported in my debt busting from this forum, it has become a bit of an obsession and I like to keep up with others' diaries; hoping things are going well and life hasn't knocked people off their path to debt-freedom.

I'm joining the 'make £10 a day in November' challenge next month, but aiming for a fiver a day. Mainly due to not being able to eBay anything until I get back (which won't finish until December lol) I'll see what I can make anyway, I'll use it as a benchmark to see what I can achieve.

Hope everyone is well and looking forward to a weekend full of treats rather than tricks!!

LMD x

crazy_cat_lady

Sounds like it's all going brilliantly well for you. It's great to see you so motivated and determined, and how brilliant that you've cleared so much of that debt...

LittleMissDetermined

It's not always a bed of roses in the world of determined but I try to stay as positive as possible. I seem to be having less and less sleep, crazy dogs and can't seem to get to a comfortable temperature, always the same in autumn and spring for me... I'm sure I'll get to a point where I just crash out and catch up.

Work is great now but has been hell for the past 7ish months, not actually sure how I stuck it out (except for the monthly pay of course)

The house needs some real TLC, hubby gets distracted and although we have all we need to get the master bedroom re-done this side of Christmas he's too busy to help. We need to focus on the garden which, in recent weather has turned into a mud bath for the hounds...said mud is currently all over my utility room and kitchen floors!

HOWEVER... That said, I am absolutely 100% aware that compared to others I am in a very fortunate position. I have a warm house, food in the cupboards, earn enough to pay my debts so I don't have people knocking on my door.

For that I am thankful and therefore can only ever focus on the positives...in comparison to some people, I'm "living the dream"!

kirtsypoos

What a lovely outlook to have on life LMD, with debt I know it is all too easy to get bogged down in the thoughts of that, when in reality even with having to stretch budgets to PAD or overpay, most of us are very fortunate.

LittleMissDetermined

Thanks Kirtsypoos

First day of November, new month, cruddy weather and lots of housework to do. We had a good few trick or treaters last night but we do still have some choccies left so I can take these to work with my lunches as treats this month!

Signed up for the make £x in November challenge, with all of the surveys I've been doing I'd forgotten to check my TCB, there was £24.32 sitting in there waiting to pay out. The big one from switching my bank account isn't expected to be payable until December but still tracking nicely.

This weekend has been quite 'spendy' although most has been Christmas and birthday gifts so no frivolous spends really. We do have to get through today though haha!

With this miserable weather it might be an afternoon of films and popcorn once the housework is done (does anyone else feel like it's NEVER done?)

I have lots in stores for my 'lunches to work' - aiming for 12 of these in October as I only have 15 work days (have I mentioned my holiday... :rotfl: ) and we have some meetings over lunches which are usually catered for.

PADding is going well, down to bank round downs now until other credit card statements have been generated later in the month. I am not sure if I will still be able to PAD whilst on holiday, I would like to but it all depends on wifi signals.

Anyway, off to do the housework... toodle-oo

LMD x