Paid off the £31,000! BUT - still scrimping!

Sun_Addict

So pleased to see the positives list is far longer than the negatives one I used to always look back on my month and plan for the next one - I need to start doing this again, keeps me focused. Don't talk to me about the paper poppies, I'm lucky if mine last a day before losing.

Alarae

Popping in Seaside- I thought our diary relationship was a bit one-sided so thought I would come along to visit here :hello:

I have to say, your diary is so organised! I may need to pinch a few of your ideas- most importantly a running total for grocery spends as I am awful in that area!

It is good to hear you are on the mend from that nasty cold. At work they were offering flu jabs and I said no (not a fan of needles) to which my director said she wouldn't pay me for sick leave if I ended up with the flu! :eek: I work in tax so the next few months will be full on until 1st February. Luckily she was joking but it still didn't make me want to volunteer to be sticked! I happened to be out that day anyway for study leave, so it's not like I could have had it even if I wanted to...

If you want to give the weight loss thing a go, have you heard of Myfitnesspal? It basically helps you track your calories and gives you a goal number to eat that day. It's fantastic and the community are fab to help with any queries. No exercise required! I'm nearing a three and a half stone loss now since January, with two months off in between, not following any faddy diets at all. I also eat chocolate everyday without fail, so you don't have to give up the Cronuts! :rotfl:

I will also subscribe to your diary once I find the button... *wanders off*

Mysteek

Lovely shiny new badge! I wondered what had happened to it!
Fantastic news also on your new little nephew!

Seasidegal58

Morning all! I haven’t posted for a few days so making an early start today. This was due to some late work nights – thank goodness it will calm down this week. Also had visit to hairdressers after work and last night had fantastic time at concert (ticket bought a few months ago) with some friends – saw a band that was really big in the Sixties and early Seventies – it was great to listen to all the old tracks – took me back to my pre-teens when we all had little transistor radios to listen in to the pirate radio stations!

Hi to crunchy and SA – I find posting monthly positives/negatives really helpful – of course as my thread is my diary it’s nice to look back each month for a quick recap on what I have been up to and what is working for me money wise.

Thanks for the tips –taff :hello:– you are so right – I’m definitely going to source Amazon next time I am running out of water filters. Also, with regards to your comment on the universal filters, the cheaper Tesco versions sound like they will fit so I will check both Amazon and Tesco for price.

Welcome Alarae :hello: – it’s nice to see you over here! I have my own flu jab this week – we get vouchers through work for a free jab at Boots. I’m your opposite – I’m wimpy about not having the jab as the last time I got flu a couple of years ago I was so ill I could hardly get out of bed and had a week off work! I’d rather have the jab than the flu! Re. myfitnesspal, I’ve got something like that called nutracheck – recording on it has been sliding lately though!

Thanks Mysteek – it’ll be a few weeks before I can meet him but I’m really looking forward to it!

So last week I had a few NSDs – and today should also count as well. The non-scrimpy days included a few charity donations, impromptu lunch with a good friend who rang up out of the blue and who I hadn’t seen for a while, and drinks at the concert last night.

Scrimpy budgeted spends were my highlights/cut at hairdressers, birthday cards, £10 to birthday whip for work colleague on our desk (we do this for each other). Also bought some Christmas pressies – golf balls for my boss – cheapest sourced via quidco – and some Molton Brown smellies for one of my besties. We were given a 20% discount code via work so saved some money there! The girl in Molton Brown also wrapped it up really nice so all I have to do is put tag and ribbons on it!

I’ve signed up for the NOvember NSD thread though I have taken the less scrimpy/hardcore path of the two options. One of the tasks is to drop your budgeted food/household bill by 5% so that is £6 for me. After my monthly Tesco shop and minus the £6 I am left with £9.57 for each of the next three weeks. Big shop is being delivered tonight so this may change very slightly if there are any adjustments such as stuff not being available. Anyway I am winging the £6 over to the emergency fund!

The weight thing went better than I expected – after losing the 8lb two weeks ago I have also lost another 1lb when getting on the scales yesterday. My eating went rather back to normal last week and the 5:2 hasn’t really started as I have been all over the place. This week I’ll get back on the two days – Wednesdays and Fridays.

With regard to up and coming events for November – I have the Christmas Fair this week that my friends and I visit annually, a meal out to celebrate her retirement from the City with one of my oldest pals (lucky thing to be retiring!), and I’m having my bedroom carpet cleaned. Hopefully I will be able to do the NSD thread justice on all the other days and have a reasonably scrimpy month!:D

Seasidegal58

Forgot to add in my earlier post today that I’m in dire need of smart winter boots. Received 20% discount code from Marisota in post yesterday so will have scout through their website to see if I can find a nice pair.

I have also started a cleaning/tidying month so that everything will be nice and shipshape for when the Xmas deccies go up at the beginning of December.

A few months ago I bought a book on Kindle called “30 days to A Clean and Organised House” by Katie Berry, which I’ve never properly read through (I am a sucker for these sort of books!). Tbh my flat isn’t in that bad a shape as I’m a bit of a minimalist decor wise, definitely not a clutter bug and don’t have a lot of storage space! I do think however that things are beginning to grow behind closed doors! Also I’ve not been absolutely on top of things whilst I was poorly and the late night working hasn’t helped. So I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to start the tasks in the book. I’m more of a “flylady” tidier than the Marie Kondo type and this book fits in nicely with getting thing done bit by bit over 30 days. You have a basic routine that you do every day which is not arduous or particularly time consuming, plus she gives you three different types of jobs: cleaning, organising and maintenance. The main thing is that you have to follow her instructions strictly – no deviating from the tasks she gives you as each day is worked out precisely to complement each other. It’s a bit like flylady but you get a month to finish it. She does however state that if you are really time poor or have physical difficulties you can take longer than a month, but you must follow the order of the plan.

So this afternoon – Day 1 – the cleaning task was actually the basic daily cleaning routine - I think this is to give those with serious clutter/cleaning problems a bit of a flying start. So I fairly zoomed through that. The organising task was the spice/herb drawer/cupboard. In my case that is a shelf in one of my kitchen cupboards. Again mine wasn’t too bad as I don’t hoard a lot – I took them all out and wiped down shelf and jars/containers. They were all in good date so none needed to be thrown. The maintenance task was catching up with laundry, but as there’s only me to launder for I’m never behind with that particular task.

So easy day today – but will have more to do as I go along!

Seasidegal58

I managed 11 out of 12 NSDs for the October challenge so here's to winging into November!

One of the NSDs was today so that was a good end to the month.

Tesco didn't have a couple of items when my grocery shop was delivered so grocery spends for the next three weeks have been adjusted up to £12.98 each.

Re Day 2 of the cleaning project - I've got off easy again today as cleaning job was the fridge which I always do before the big shop arrives so that had been done yesterday. Likewise organising task was clearing out cupboard under kitchen sink. I did this when new washing machine was delivered a couple of weeks ago. That left the maintenance task which was dusting the bedroom furniture so that didnt take long!

Hiraeth

Great to see your site. I am in a position where I am just retired, in debt and not able to tell my husband about it. I have started looking at my finances seriously and making a note of everything I spend, and even working out before hand if I need to spend something before I do. Anyway am well motivated to get it all paid off.


Love the way you keep your diary and I think I might pinch your idea of making a list of positive and negatives. Also love the way it is so 'newsy' and full of ideas. As I get paid fortnightly I thought I would post my positive and negatives fortnightly - hopefully it will keep me properly on track.

brizzledfw

Hi SSG and pals :wave:

Love the newsy updates and so so much to be proud of! All going well which is great to see.

I would also like a ER badge SSG...not sure it's going to happen anytime soon but I did cross another brick off my MFW wall today, so the only way is up!

Xx

Sun_Addict

I would love to think I could clean and organise my home in just 30 days As fast as I clean/tidy Mr SA, DD and the dog undo it all!

Seasidegal58

Thank you Hiraeth. I have been lurking on your diary and wish you all the best on your debt free journey. It must be so hard to try and keep your debt to yourself when you have a live in OH but you have got off to a good start with your plan. I am going to pop in regularly to see how you are getting on.

Well done on knocking down another MFW brick in the wall brizzle. Slowly, slowly catchee monkey as the old saying goes.

Sun_Addict wrote: »

I would love to think I could clean and organise my home in just 30 days As fast as I clean/tidy Mr SA, DD and the dog undo it all!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

That did make me laugh SA! Actually I could have quoted exactly the same word for word some years ago (although the ex-Mr SSG would have taken pride of place!)

Anyway it was the end of Week 1 since I was paid and I have just over £90 left. I won't wing it over to emergency fund yet as I am off to Christmas Fair on Thursday so will keep it in lieu! Also it was a nice scrimpy NSD today to start off the NOvember turtles thread !

And - turning to:

SSG's Clean Up For Christmas Project - another fairly easy day today. Cleaning task was the freezer which again I checked and cleaned recently. Organising was the "junk drawer" which we all have lurking somewhere. Mine is in the kitchen so emptied it all out and chucked old bits and bobs out and tidied up all the pens and sellotape etc. Only took about twenty minutes and looks very nice now! Maintenance was doing a bit extra in bathroom, i.e quick sweep and mop etc - only took about 10 mins.:)