A Budgeteer's Adventure

CharlieKat

Popping in to report the last 3 days Saturday, Sunday and today as NSDs before i forget. I suspect tomorrow may not be as shopping for fresh food is in the offing.. veg, milk, fruit, cheese, stock.. perhaps some wine for the weekend. We'll see how i get on with the list

CharlieKat

Well today was not an NSD but i'm not going to focus on those too much. Because i've been food shopping today and will go to a different shop tomorrow (as i pass it) and another on Thursday (as I pass it) to get the things on my list which i didn't manage to get today. because they will be cheaper from the other shops - far better to save actual money than actual days of not spending

I also managed to buy items not on the list... but which maybe should have been so not as bad as it suggests - 80p for 600ml soap anyone? We were getting desperate. I've already decanted all the hotel minis into the bigger soap bottles so this was needed when i saw it at the right price - and this price was right enough for me.

£2.50 on snacks for Mr CKat - really they should have been on the list to be fair - even better a quarter of the usual price so enough bought for this week and next

Total spend £23.31 not too bad and not too many things left to buy - maybe £5.60 worth of shopping left to do - potatoes, nice bread rolls and some stock.

Which leads to my storecupboard - the essentials i need to try and keep in as they'll always help to make a meal and things i'm not going to focus on using some of these things up like i will jars of things or the entire contents of the freezer :eek: Still, a shelf which has things i'm not trying to use up and which will need to be replaced if they are - flour, stock, cornflour, stuffing, gravy, salt, vinegar, pepper and sugar.

I've meal planned up until monday and will plan next weeks meals perhaps on Sunday - or Monday which is a fairly easy tea day for us normally - cheese and crackers, egg on toast, toast and jam - it's a what we fancy that's easy day as we eat at different times.

I like lists, hopefully this will help to keep the shopping down until we clear some space on shelves - although we need to buy things to go with what we have so it can be turned into delicious meals.

i may stock take the cupboards and freezer - when they are 75% empty

CharlieKat

There were so many titles i was thinking of for this post...

*sneaks in and updates sig whilst whistling innocently* :whistle:

lists? what list? :doh:

anyone fancy a cuppa :coffee:

and so it went.

i also thought of many excuses for once again blowing the budget on the shopping

I picked up what i needed today, the things i hadn't managed to buy yesterday and i was feeling somewhat happy with myself. I'd popped into a shop in the hopes of finding yellow stickered goodies - i had 1 item in my hands.. and i put it back. It couldn't be frozen and we were sorted for tea for the next few days. I headed off to the next shop to complete my shopping. I had hold of a second hand book... i put it back :T

it was when i went to the last shop for what i needed that, put in my path, was a jar of coffee, complete with a jolly looking mug for £5 - this is cheaper than we often spend on coffee - we like both coffee and tea and a few of our mugs have taken a bit of a battering of late so we were in the market for some new ones. We buy lots of food which isn't a brand name but with our tea and coffee, we tried, but we like what we like with our tea and coffee and so we do spend on it. £5 was for a very big jar... Anyway we are now the proud owners of a complete set of 4 mugs and 4 large jars of coffee. Coffee will not feature in the shopping list for some time...

I had been feeling all virtuous for not buying a cauliflower to use up some cheese (which desperately needed to be cooked very soon) as well - oh well :A

On the other hand we had a very good tea which cost in the region of 80p - 40p each - as most of it was made using free food & very nice it was to and i'm happy to have used those items up

Not stopping there i had started operation use what we have with other items as well and had defrosted some meat to make a slow cooker curry so i could use some of a jar of chutney which i'd paid 55p for some while ago - some chutney is left for which i'll be trying out new recipes .

My haphazard labelling which results in the vast majority of the things in the freezer being unidentified resulted in some meat for said curry being defrosted... along with a small joint of beef :rotfl: Not to worry... our plans to eat out in the next couple of days have been cancelled at my suggestion and we are already looking forward to a happy mix of productive and relaxed time at home - i had decided to do a roast for then - so the beef is ready for that then This domesticity is not just thrown together you know :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

The ailing cheese was still on my mind as was some veg which was still lurking in the fridge. Not for long though - i now have a veg cheese soup - it is alot better than it sounds - good thing as there are 8 portions to eat through.

There will be at least 4 portions of curry too - not sure how much with the defrosted meat mishap but there may be more than 4 portions. It is happily doing it's thing in the slow cooker.
I'm happy to be using up the food we have and the things like the slow cooker too. The freezer doesn't look like it'll empty any time soon though :rotfl:

i also bought petrol today too and posted bay of e parcels.

So not a bad day all in all.

CharlieKat

Popping in to report a 49p spend which isn't going in my sig as i had a voucher which covered it - this was for reduced fresh food which will do my breakfasts for a few days

It's been a busy weekend and i'm not in an entirely jolly mood today - must pull myself out of my moping really! Such a waste of time and energy

And really, there's plenty to be jolly about - green shoots popping up in the garden - looks like we'll have daffodils flowering soon and i'm not sure what the other green shoots will be but it's still exciting :j

I'm going for a walk soon - just 4 miles with a break in the middle

i am meeting friends later

We're going to go to see some live music :dance: which should be most jolly

i lifted tea out of the freezer yesterday - so a quick and easy tea with Mr Ckat tonight :T

I have lifted tea out of the freezer for tomorrow and i have leftovers for lunch:T

The freezer doesn't seem to be looking any emptier though :eek:

Oh well, i'll give it time :rotfl:

And i've found some new recipes to use up things we have which i am excited to try

And i've started to use up the packets and jars we need to get through so i am pleased about that.

I cannot do an inventory as there really is just too much stuff! I have sorted a shelf which is for staples, and things we always need to have in so these don't need to be used up.

I will continue to use what we have this week making meals for us and see if next week space begins to appear. I would like that

I am really taken with my cups and may need to stop myself buying more

The day looks murky, i may get wet on my walk. But i have a jolly brolly so i shall manage

Right, dons cheerful head and gets a wriggle on, i need to be out in 15 minutes and whilst i have been busy doing things i am wearing my dressing gown and slippers :eek:

CharlieKat

Not exactly sure i shifted my miserable mood entirely - it was a lovely afternoon but i'm not entirely happy today. i like to be busy in work but i am *too* busy at the moment. oh well.

popped on to update spends and not to grumble! Very pleased with myself today - i picked up several items for the freezer as they were reduced to an 'ok' price - not super cheap but cheap enough BUT i put them back :T I'm trying to empty the freezer not fill the blasted thing back up!

So a total spend of £29.57

£6.90 of it on cat food

£1.49 on seeds

And 18p on some meat which was reduced enough for me to buy it :T

Added socialising into sig. This was 3 days out with 3 different lots of friends - 1 night was completely free so this is the sum of 2 meet ups both involving train journeys. I need to keep an eye on this - it is all about finding the balance

Ooh i almost forgot 70p spent on 5 books too.

CharlieKat

Also, i've a few things on my mind at the moment - things i'm considering doing this year - helping with a soup kitchen, going to a climbing wall to learn climbing, buying roller skates and re-learning how to skate, keeping up with my music lessons, running a regular half marathon.

Hmm things i wanted to do when i started this diary... will need some pondering. It's been a bit hard reading through - i keep seeing the date and being reminded that i was made redundant and i was very down for a long while

I didn't pop in to mope though - NSD today and using items up from the freezer continues.

CharlieKat

There's lots of things i want to include in my daily / weekly life that isn't happening at the moment. Fitness, overall health, studying: languages, music and career based and more reading. Relationships - my boyfriend, family and friends. This area overall is suffering less than the rest but i still want to focus on the quality and experiences we all share. I'm going to spend some time this weekend on time management and start putting things in place - it will only happen if i make it happen

and this too needs thought

CharlieKat

Quick post to say no further food or fuel purchased - did however spend £4 on a night out and £2 on a collection today.

CharlieKat

Well i have been in a real grumpy mood and so today, decided to tackle the debts head on by coming up with a plan it may not be pretty but it is a plan now, which has already changed too many times to count but we are here!

The Plan

Pay off the overdraft, all blummin £1500 this month! This is for the psychological boost too - having this under control then i can focus on everything else!

February to March - clear £1500 overdraft by not paying mortgage overpayment this month (to be caught up later) and using regular reducer amount

snowball

March - July - pay £200 month off Credit Card 1, reducing balance by £1,000 over this time and aim to clear in full by throwing everything extra at it except for

April am due £500 *if* i receive it, it goes off the mortgage to catch up on feb-march IF I DON'T I HAVE TO CATCH THIS UP

July £400 extra to mortgage to reach 10% cap

snowball

August - January pay £270 month off credit card 2 £1,310 off the balance approximately

February - May £1,070 off credit card 2 as reached limit on mortgage

snowball

June - July £1,220 off credit card 3

August - January £420 off credit card 3 plus all extra

snowball

February - April £1,400 off credit card 4

June - July £1,400 into savings each month

Credit card 5 should have dealt with itself by this time ie be clear by minimum payments

CharlieKat

It's not going to be easy, i know, but i feel so much better having a plan in place