Fat, forty and financially f**ked

mothsinmywallet_2

Lovely afternoon watching rugby in the sun. No spend day. Going to keep track of these now as they feel possible.

mothsinmywallet_2

No spend day again.
Hard day at work but am tucked up in bed watching TV on my laptop - have a stinker of a cold.

Supper was sausages and mash with beans and fried onions. I bunged some mushrooms in with the onions as they were on their last legs and it was delicious. I served myself a portion for lunch tomorrow - have got back into the habit of doing this. I ate with the kids at work today and they were intrigued by my plastic boxes full of food. And a bit jealous of my apple crumble I reckon!

Child benefit goes into the bank tomorrow. Have 3 bill payments left to top up for next month which will use up most of it. Any leftover will go off the credit card. 

I get paid on Wednesday so will contact dca about the other credit card and try to negotiate a f&f settlement. I have no idea what they will accept though so don't even know where to start the negotiations. Current debt is £1200. 

mothsinmywallet_2

Had survey fatigue so did the following:

Prolific Academic - cashed out to PayPal and will overpay credit card.

Opinion outpost - cashed out £10 voucher, bought DS1 new school shirts (cost me £9 for 3!)

Swagbucks - was miles off the next voucher so donated to Save the Children. It felt really good!

Will plug away with OnePoll and Populus. Am at £19/£30 for OnePoll and £11/£50 on Populus so makes sense to focus on these. They will be put in the Christmas fund. We're generally not very spendy at Christmas. Usually well under £300 including extra food and a meal out. We've always tried to create cheap/free traditions and it has definitely paid off. Our kids' say their favourite bit of Christmas is watching the Box of Delights and decorating the tree. 

Child benefit in and bills all topped up. Pay looks to be £150 more than usual as we have been given a minuscule pay rise and it has been back dated. That will go in the Christmas pot too. Already have £50 in there so pretty happy with that! 

Must actually get up and go to work as they are now paying me so much 🤣

mothsinmywallet_2

Still here, still going. Just about.
YNAB categories all still up to date but realised I had missed a few. Have now created them and bunged a little in each so I'm not too far behind.

I did the shopping this week instead of Spendy McSpendface. I mean DH. I spent £67.48 but realised I had forgotten a few things so had to go back today and spent another £6.24. Still pretty good as this included dishwasher tablets and extra sugar for jam making. Hoping we can get back to under £80 per week. We certainly won't need teabags for a while (see below!).

Other spends this weekend -

The Range £12.87:
new ironing board cover, lined paper for my course, a muslin square for jam making and a box of decaf tea on special offer. This is the first time I have ever been to the Range and not bought at least one thing not on my list. 

Sainsbury's £18.00:
2 boxes of even better value decaf tea (there's only one brand I like so tend to buy it if I see a good offer), a jumper for work. This didn't fit so I gave it to DD as she needed a think one to wear under her suit for school. Annoyed by this as I should have just taken it back, she wouldn't have minded and she gets a good allowance so should have paid for it herself. 

Tesco £18.70:
Menopause vitamins (old lady pills as DH calls them) 3 months supply, 3 bags of popping corn for our popcorn maker - this has been a huge hit and costs pence and this will last ages, a newspaper (I get the cheaper one now that has the most crosswords and read my parents' copy of the more expensive one!).

Credit card now £5587.43. Going in the right direction but not fast enough for my liking. Money just seems to be disappearing although we have had some annual and unplanned expenses that have made it harder this month (rugby club annual memberships, new car etc). I am just tired of being in debt and fully aware that it is totally my fault. Rant over.

Cooking this weekend:
Banana bread (DD now has this for breakfast every day), flapjack and quince jelly. I was given the quinces and spent £1.30 on sugar. Had the jars already (have been reusing the same ones for a decade, very MSE) so cost per large kilner jar about 30p. It's really delicious and good with roast lamb etc as well as on toast or as jam tarts so all good. 
Flapjack went horrible wrong, stuck to tin and then all fell apart. I have told the kids they need to take a lump each time they have some. 
Made a nice leek and cheese flan yesterday and had it with potatoes and runner beans and courgettes from the garden. Courgettes slowing down now which is always a bit of a relief by this time. Runner beans still flowering but I love them so all good. 

I've cheered myself up today by having a little daydream about all the veg I will plant for next year. I may get the coloured pencils out and draw a plan...

mothsinmywallet_2

Also spent £7.88 on a pack of batteries for the kitchen scales. Yes, this was connected to the bad flapjack experience 

mothsinmywallet_2

Just changed my direct debit for the credit card from the minimum which was about £140 pcm to £250 pcm. This should be easily doable and I can always change it back if it gets too tight. 

Still haven't rung and offered full and final for capital one card. It feels like cheating. 

doingitanyway

I lurk, but have not caught up with your posts recently until today. I had to check it wa you and not another poster. You sound like a different person! Well done. Keep going

mothsinmywallet_2

Thank you. I've had a really tricky day at work. Have spent a lot of it wondering whether I can give up everything and hide in a hole.

GeorgianaCavendish

Ha - I know what you mean about courgettes, so lovely at the beginning of the season but am now getting a bit tired of ratatouille, grilled veggies, stuffed courgette etc!  

You are doing really well, it can be another full time job managing finances and when stuff piles on at work as well then no wonder we feel like hiding from it for a bit. 

mothsinmywallet_2

I am currently eating stuffed marrow. Well, big courgette that I missed. I've been trying to pick all the courgettes and beans early this year so they are small and tender and there's not too much of them. I found a huge courgette when I was mowing the grass the other day and have been dreading eating it. Well, today I stuffed it with veg chilli and put grated cheese and breadcrumbs all over it. We had it with rice and it was delicious. DS1 has just asked for more (in the interests of full disclosure he never, ever stops eating but I am pretending it was because of the cooking). Total cost about £1.50 for 6 portions.