Jules DFW Diary!

Jules

There was more in the cupboards than I thought:
1.5kg of rice
Large bag of macaroni
Half a bag of pasta shells
2.5 packets of spaghetti = 5 meals as I use half a one per meal

dried soup mix
dried peas

1 tube garlic paste
1 tube of tomato puree
2 schwartz chilli mix
7 schwartx spag bol mix
2 asda spag bol mix
2 colemans sweet chilli chicken shake things
1 colemans bbq chicken
1 chow mein stir fry sauce
1 punjabi tomato curry sample

2 tins baked beans
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 tin lentil soup
1 tin tomato soup
1 tikka masala sauce
1 cream of mushroom soup - earmarked for chicken pie
1 tin corned beef

2 tins rice pud
1 tin peach slices
1 tin fruit cocktail

half a loaf of bread
lots of cereal
11 small onions
7 days worth of cat food & kitten milk

Fridge
left over cream which smells ok - monday for pasta bake
2 litres milk - will need more use 4 per week
1 egg lol
left over raspberries, strawberries, kiwi & grapes from xmas.....possible fruit salad
some wizzened carrots which look beyond redemtion but I haven't thrown them out
some brussels which look ok and will use for dinner tomorrow
4 slices of bacon
cheddar cheese

Freezer
small amount of frozen veg
2 frozen baguettes
1 frozen half of turkey crown cut in 2 pieces - one half left out for tomorrows dinner and turkey/pasta bake on monday! Don't know how that will go down but we'll see.
6 slices of bacon

Lots of flour and baking ingredients

Need
Potatoes
Butter
Chicken
Mince

Eager_Elephant

That's a great list Jules - I reckon you have the makings of a lot of meals and snacks ready for this month.


I often make a pasta bake from left over turkey, I don't eat pasta now so this year I did a turkey curry which is to die for!!


Hope you can get few bits of shopping as cheap as possible.


Forgot about wedges, maybe I need to make some of them - we do have an actifry so can do chips quite healthy - I love omelette, chips and peas!!

12_month_challenge

Jules wrote: »

Just had the packed lunch discussion with my son. Not happy but will do it!

Hi Jules

Can I ask what year your son is in? I was just thinking is there a learning mentor or a member of staff that can keep an eye on him at lunchtimes (I mean lurking in the background) There should be lots on duty

Or maybe your son could be allowed to eat his lunch with a couple of friends in a classroom and have it made to look like a homework/games club etc.

The reason I ask is I work in a school and we do this regularly for vulnerable students.

Well done for getting back on your wagon.. I am in a similar situation and am using the snowball method of paying my debts down.

I have subscribed to your diary and will spur you on

Good luck
12MC

Jules

Thank you 12MC I'll need all the encouragement I can get. I always start with great gusto and then my gusto runs out!

He's in year 12 so GCSE year. I know at one point he went to the chess club at lunch to eat, This was arranged by one of the teachers and given what you have said I think this may be the actual reason for the chess club. It never dawned on me until now. He never played chess lol so that makes sense. I'll suggest that he goes back again. He has a small group of friends and I think they go out for lunch but maybe one of them will join him.

I've just done my snowball and am playing about with it a bit to try and reduce the term.

Omelette Eager_Elephant, great idea. I love omelette and I bought eggs today.

I thought tomorrow was Sunday lol so roast turkey for Sunday, just deciding what to do for tomorrow. Omelette would be handy as OH is working.

Took some piping nozzles and piping bags back today and got a refund for £3.60. Greengrocers were closed so will go tomorrow for a big bag of potatoes and I'll nip in to the supermarket to see what reduced items they have. Was too late today and the only thing left was double cream at 30p which I don't need.

12_month_challenge

Hi again Jules

I was just looking at your signature and noticed just how well you have done. The amount you have paid off so far deserves a big pat on the back.

As for the snowball. I did about 25 snowballs and kept adjusting them and readjusting them until I got one that I know I can cope with. I was trying to get my debt paid a lot quicker and kept putting in amounts that I knew were too high.

I finally settled for the one I am using now and it seems to be working. I aim to be debt free in 36 months but I am a little ahead just by making the odd cheeky payment to my target CC. This is the one I want to pay off and then the next and so on and so on.

I copied and pasted a copy of it and emailed myself a copy. I now have it on my phone so I can look at it as and when needed. It has served me well so far and I hope it continues to do so :j

I also round down my accounts and keep the balances at round figures. I then transfer the odd amounts to a savings account and watch it build up

I have managed to save quite a bit doing this.

With budgeting and knowing where every penny is going you will do it. You have already come this far.

Keep going and good luck
12mc

Jules

Got updated balances for all but 2 of the original DMP debts and worked out the other 2 from statements less payments and the grand total is £31511.66 which is actually less than I had worked out. So I've paid £34127.56 with £31511.66 left which is more than half so that's something to focus on rather than the what's left! I'll update my signature later.

Last year a few of the creditors offered full and finals which I wasn't in a position to take up but hopefully if I can get on top of things then if they do this again at some point I will be able to at least consider it. One of them was a fantastic 70% reduction but I didn't have what they were asking for.

Jules

Well that was disappointing! Went to the local greengrocers and their prices were extortionate in comparison to the supermarket. I know the quality is better but I couldn't justify the spend. Asked about a large bag of potatoes and was grunted at that they didn't have any at the minute. Small bags of spuds £2.99!!!! I don't think so and a not very big tree of broccoli £1.50. So won't be going there again in a hurry.

Might take a wee trip to the wholesaler place tomorrow as their bacon is around £3.99 for a big packet and chicken breasts £19.99 for a large box (i think 5kg), we use lots of these and should get a big bag of spuds.

Not much motivation today and ended up buying cold sore cream at £6.85 in the local chemist but I can justify this as it will do me all year and I am prone to them. Need to buy vit B complex, I'm a nightmare without them, but very expensive in the local health shop so will see how much they are online.

What a dark, miserable day!

Eager_Elephant

Jules wrote: »

Got updated balances for all but 2 of the original DMP debts and worked out the other 2 from statements less payments and the grand total is £31511.66 which is actually less than I had worked out. So I've paid £34127.56 with £31511.66 left which is more than half so that's something to focus on rather than the what's left! I'll update my signature later.

Last year a few of the creditors offered full and finals which I wasn't in a position to take up but hopefully if I can get on top of things then if they do this again at some point I will be able to at least consider it. One of them was a fantastic 70% reduction but I didn't have what they were asking for.

Great news that the debt is less than you thought - over half way there is brilliant!!


Debt agencies buy debts for a fraction of the outstanding balance and so if they know they are not likely to get the money very fast they will offer full and finals so they can get back the money they paid to buy the debt.


70% is a brilliant offer - usually they start at 10% and then increase to 20%. The longer you pay token/small payments the bigger the discount because it costs money to keep processing payments.


(Just as a caveat - some debt agencies just collect on behalf of creditors and they don't usually offer much discount)

Eager_Elephant

Jules wrote: »

Well that was disappointing! Went to the local greengrocers and their prices were extortionate in comparison to the supermarket. I know the quality is better but I couldn't justify the spend. Asked about a large bag of potatoes and was grunted at that they didn't have any at the minute. Small bags of spuds £2.99!!!! I don't think so and a not very big tree of broccoli £1.50. So won't be going there again in a hurry.

Might take a wee trip to the wholesaler place tomorrow as their bacon is around £3.99 for a big packet and chicken breasts £19.99 for a large box (i think 5kg), we use lots of these and should get a big bag of spuds.

Not much motivation today and ended up buying cold sore cream at £6.85 in the local chemist but I can justify this as it will do me all year and I am prone to them. Need to buy vit B complex, I'm a nightmare without them, but very expensive in the local health shop so will see how much they are online.

What a dark, miserable day!

How disappointing about the greengrocers - if you were closer I would bring some to you!!


Broccoli definitely not worth £1.50 unless grown in fields of gold and picked by angels!!!



Good idea to go and see what the wholesaler has - hopefully a few bargains for you.


The days are still quite short even though we have had winter solstice, I read somewhere that the days don't get longer until mid Jan. Sun rise in my area was 8.06am and sun set was at 15.53 so under 8 hours of day light each day and if its rainy or just dark and grey it can really bring your mood down.
We walked the dog an hour ago and it was so dark, there's no moon and barely any traffic (odd for a very busy main A road on a Saturday - it felt like about 10pm not 6pm!!


Have you checked Amazon or Holland and Barrett for your Vit B?


Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Upsidedown_Bear

Jules wrote: »

Not much motivation today and ended up buying cold sore cream at £6.85 in the local chemist but I can justify this as it will do me all year and I am prone to them. Need to buy vit B complex, I'm a nightmare without them, but very expensive in the local health shop so will see how much they are online.

Hello :hello:

Don't know if you have a Wilko near you but they do Vitamin B complex at £1.30 for 90 tablets. Tesco are £1.80 and I imagine other supermarkets will have them.

You probably already know this - in which case ignore me :cool: but it's always worth checking the active ingredient in medicinal products to find out the cheapest way of buying it.
I don't know the active ingredient of the cold sore cream you got but I've seen it in the £ shop as well as Wilko (this has the same active ingredient as Zovirax) for way cheaper than Zovirax.
Similarly, painkillers are always cheaper if you buy supermarket own brand rather than branded. Nurofen or own brand. I've used Tesco - other supermarkets are available

Good luck with the debt busting :beer: