A Budgeteer's Adventure

CharlieKat

Thanks Jessy - that's what i thought to - if I do 1 small place and then build on it until the whole house is back to as it should be - that's the plan anyway

CharlieKat

popping in with not much to report but aiming to keep myself on the frugal path

Spent a bit more than I wanted to on bits to take to a party at the weekend - it was a good night out but i could've done without the spends. We got to bring home what we took and wasn't used though so i'm hoping to eek it out and reduce the shopping as much as i can :cool:

When i did the shopping i parked away from the shops and made several journeys with heavy bags = good exercise and cost saving :A

We also got an invite to a fancy dress party - it's not an outfit i could make from anything i have here - all clothes being worn and only work stuff that may be reduced at the mo. so i'm keeping a watchful eye at the carboots and on the bay - so i can stick to my target of only second hand shopping :T I do enjoy dressing up and am really looking forward to it - even if i've nothing to wear at the moment :rotfl:

Since my last declutter I've completed decluttering the other 2 drawers in my bedside cabinet which has seen several small things being disposed of, I've also decluttered underwear - new tights definitely needed but i knew that anyway. Whilst i've not discovered anything to sell it's been good and lightening to clear out the unused / unusable / unwanted

I need to clear out another storage area which houses my bags and some study books - i feel like i'm delaying it due to being a bit torn emotionally The study books weren't really used I bought them for a course but when i got offered my last job i couldn't attend anymore (due to the hours) and it just feels like a waste. I also want to do the course still but think, if i did, i's study from home and the courses i've looked into for this provide all the books and they'll be updated at that time too The course i'm doing now and the next one are more specifically linked to my career so it'll be a couple of years before i get to return to studying this. Guess i should really sell them so they are used now Guess that's a job for the weekend then :rotfl:

Still no ideas on making extra money - work doesn't offer any paid overtime. ideally i'd like to earn extra from working at home - wouldn't we all x

CharlieKat

I've been so busy lately and hadn't realised how long it had been since i last posted.

I really need to make some time for myself so i can do the things that are important to me - which includes posting on here more, focus on health, family and studying to improve my career prospects.

Having already done all the 'big' things money saving i'm now onto the small things which i'm keeping up with but it is a part of daily life now so doesn't seem too exciting to post about. Anyways the little things i've done are:

Followed the advice of half a tank of petrol to try and make journeys as efficient as possible
packed lunch to work every day
Cut open moisturiser to get to the bit at the bottom that wouldn't squirt out - saving needless waste as there was 2 days worth :T
eaten from stores
got bargainous meat at the supermarket :T they normally reduce the prices when i'm in work so was very lucky with this.
Walked all walkable journeys
Changed plans so car journey done once and not twice for almost same route
Used coupons for some food shopping saving just over £5 :A
Sold some books to a book buying site
had family round for drinks (already had in) so much cheaper than going out :T
stuck to shopping list whilst shopping - except for meat but was reduced from prices like £10 to £1 and will go a good few meals

That's all i can think of for now but i'm sure there's loads more.
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

CharlieKat

Long time no post!

I think part of the problem is my Mr now uses the computer a lot for work so i don't get to pop on as much, plus his working pattern has changed meaning he's home more as well.

Good news is I've been paying my mortgage on my current deal for a year now - this meant my 10% for the year overpayments re-set :T

When i got paid I assume i got a rebate as there was more in my pay than expected (not got wage slip yet). I divvied this up by paying extra off the first credit card i'm trying to clear, popped £100 into savings to start towards that target for the year and also paid the extra pounds and pence to the mortgage company - meaning each overpayment now will be £800 until I've hit the limit again for this year.

I don't know if i've mentioned i used to overpay lots of bits and pieces to the mortgage to try and get this down and was very, very fortunate to be able to remortgage last year to a much lower interest rate but the only mortgage i could get had a 10% a year limit. I know they couldn't recommend a product to me but the person I was dealing with had to ask about the fixed 1 year, 2 year as well (i think these were the years) But i stuck with 5 years. If i'd done 1 year that would have been up and for review when i was redundant with no income :eek: As it is I've started year 2 with my income £8,000 less a year than when i got the remortgage. i know alot can change in the next year still but i have kept up with my own personal targets of where i want to be mortgage wise. IE in the first year i overpaid the full 10% limit and put money into savings. I've started year 2 with the overpayment i wanted to make, put a bit into savings and am focuing on the credit cards with the 'bits & pieces' of extra money coming in.

It felt good to clear a number of books out - sold to a book site - just got to find the box now but they're in the car ready to pick up a box at the supermarket and then drop off :T

I also cleared a good few clothes out as well - filling up a carrier bag - most to the bay but some to carboot (if i have one) or for weighing in as i don't think they're quite good enough for the bay. That said there were some dresses i was looking at on the carboot today which had been pulled and i was glad i noticed before buying.

I've enjoyed getting out to the carboot most weeks - i've not enjoyed the early starts, or at least i've missed my lie-ins! Getting up and out early has meant i've seen some beautiful sunrises at a lovely peaceful time of day. I've been good with the carboot, i think :rotfl: and bought things that have been needed - so i've saved us quite a bit of money there, New plants for the garden - again, very money saving! As well as selecting new pieces for my wardrobe Some of the clothes haven't quite fit right - which is always a risk - so i've decluttered these immediately.

What a long post this is - well done if you've got this far :rotfl: I'm going for a mosey round the diaries and will be back with my plans

CharlieKat

Had a happy read around some threads and also had a 5 minute wardrobe sort - resulting in 8 items to be listed on the bay of e. That'll probably be next week now, and, hopefully, during this week, i can get through more items in the wardrobe and decide if they can leave too :T

I've also looked up a few new recipes and have the beginnings of a shopping list for tomorrow

My plans are to increase my decluttering and see more things leaving the house :T and hopefully this will have the knock-on effect of money coming in too :cool:

I'm also wanting to reduce the amount of food we have in. I don't know why i stockpile so much :eek: or why i can't resist a bargain but this has resulted in, ahem, alot of food and drink in the house and i want to practically clear the cupboards bare so we can just buy and use what we need. I started this a bit in the last 2 weeks using up more packet / jar foods than we would normally. Some of these were buy 1 get 1 free when doing a shop previously and it made sense to get the extra. But. We really need to use our space better and make it work for us whilst we're living here. It's a small house and we could really do with extra cupboard space *dreaming of a larder*. As this isn't going to happen we're going to need to use up more of what we have and then food and drink isn't on the worktops as well as in the cupboards :mad: The problem is none of it is enough to make a meal - it's either sauces, rice, packet mixes,soup (that i don't like and will try to feed to my Mr as much as possible this month :rotfl:). Unless i can think of something else i could use the soup in :think:

It might take towards the end of the year to see a difference in this area but i am going to go for it!

CharlieKat

Good morning all - quick post before i jump in the shower.

have been up and about, packed a couple of boxes of books but need to find a bigger box for the last lot - has a large square book in it so nothing wide / deep enough it could fit in unfortunately. Looking forward to those leaving and money coming in.

Now i'm in the pension scheme at work i decided to check out my other pension pots and what they're doing - all very, very low value stuff. I'm considering increasing payments into the pension at work - it won't affect employers contributions but will affect my retirement 'pot.' So quite a productive morning. One lot of washing done also.

CharlieKat

An abrupt end to yesterday's post as i got called away to other things.

Yesterday saw 3 lots of washing done and moved :T

A few more items left the house as gifted to family - some weren't saleable although good items.

Saw family which was nice. Had a chat about money too - i *need* - it is a need and not a want, a new set of dining table and chairs - unfortunately, i'm restricted to a specific size and the one which will fit is pretty pricey (for me). We've bought cheap previously - hence the need now. I really, really want to start a savings pot for this but i don't know where the money will come from to go in this. All of my wages are 'spent' each month and all extras go towards paying the cards off. The table will impact greatly on our lives, it will mean we can have family and friends around for meals again, this will be good for the relationships and good for the soul too. I can't think of where any money will come from for this pot though

Current situation is i pay all minimums to cards from wages and i don't reduce this as the balance reduces. I currently pay £180 a month from wages to the cards. Anything extra such as from the bay of e goes to this. I really cannot think of how to raise any extra income. Although i did look online for a part time job yesterday - not sure how my Mr would feel about that to be honest - all the jobs i saw were all weekend (but were actually skilled so not suitable) it would mean we wouldn't see each other

Just read that back - not as down about it as those faces look :rotfl: just frustrated a little. Any suggestions for raising the extra welcome Whilst just about every spare penny goes to mortgage - overpay maximum of 10% a year and save the rest, and debt minimums met as well as extra from extra income, we do need to have a life too and the table will help.

Having a quiet day at home today. Cooking cottage pie filling, will be portioned for freezer when done. Also going to bake a cake for the first time in ages I may also make some individual cakes but should perhaps wait until the first one has been consumed Especially with the weight i need to lose.

Did i mention i weighed myself. It. was. not. good. Heaviest. ever. :eek::(

Going to be sensible and aim for 1lb a week off. Did have cake yesterday and already today :eek: but am introducing some good habits too. No Friday night wine for me last night :T Although i've got a headache this morning so that doesn't seem fair :rotfl:

Best check on the pie. hope everyone has a good day

michelle09

I think a lot of people here do online ways of making a little extra money? Surveys etc...

As for working weekends etc. OH and I both do shift work (we're both in the emergency services and it comes with the territory), and I have a second job on top of it. It's not easy, but it can be done. I think it's just important to make sure that the time you have off together is yours. Try and get chores etc. done when one of you is off so you can just enjoy each other's company when you're both at home.

CharlieKat

Hi michelle

Thank you for posting - it's lovely to have visitors

Thank you for the input too - i need to look into the surveys recommended by people i think - I used to do a lot a few years ago but a lot of them changed and the time / reward wasn't worth it. I'll hopefully pick up some tips from people's diaries too

Working weekends can definitely be done - me and Mr Kat have both worked all manner of shifts - I even had 3 jobs at one time - now though it is about finding the balance and ensuring our time together is quality time. If it's meant to be, and I stay on the look-out, hopefully something appropriate will pop up

CharlieKat

I've plenty to do today but fear i'm too tired to do much more today / this week

on the health front I weighed myself and lost a little bit this week - not as much as I wanted but it is my birthday week and it has been somewhat cake and nice meals filled There will be less cake once all the celebrations stops so hopefully that will help I do like a bit of cake though and I don't like to waste food :rotfl:

I was very lucky and was gifted some money for my birthday , for now I've paid it off the mortgage as a couple of other people have said they'll also give me money (instead of buying me a gift) if they do i'll pay that to the mortgage too, and if that takes the total to £100 then I'll pay the £100 to savings on payday and reduce the amount I pay to the mortgage on payday by the £100 - hope that makes sense. I have suggested to people that we don't buy each other gifts / give money - unfortunately no-one is in agreement with me on this - I think they think i'm being tight :rotfl: i'd rather just have quality time and experiences / make memories with people though. oh well! hope you guys on here understand

I've not updated my sig for the mortgage as I like to do this after the contractual payment and interest day.

I've been a good mser this week and have got a new sim only deal which saves me almost £45 a year :T I've had to pay extra in advance so have had to move some money I was going to pay the target card to the bills account to cover this - but for such a good saving I think it is totally worth it :T

I also got our home insurance for £20 less than the quote :T

I also challenged myself to clear 50 items out of the house today - not rubbish but things like clothes etc. I don't think I've met this challenge though I've cleared 10 things with a further 2 identified which it's too late to list on the bay as the pics won't be good enough. Me and my Mr though cleared over 50 shared items :T basically with me holding stuff up going can this go? :T My Mr agreed he'd been holding onto some things 'just in case' even though the items weren't suitable for purpose if they did need to be used :wall: I think he felt the benefit of clearing these things away too :T Altogether that is 2 very full carrier bags cleared out :T Out of my own 10 things a few got listed for sale, a few gifted and a few weren't any good to anyone and went in the bin.

During clearing out I've been through 3 drawers - 2 have Mr Kat's things in so have been left and are tidy. 3rd had mainly shared household stuff in and I identified a couple of things that would be more useful for me at work (for when I nip to the post office from there). This should see these items being used so I have housed in my work bag ready to be rehomed Monday

I've organised my jars / packets / tins etc. and slowly but surely am working my way through them - this should see months of use before things become clear(er). I don't want to clear the stock / staples things but do want all other things to be used and gone then I can start afresh. i'm happy progress is being made though :T

I've also been using my stash of body lotions - my body feels better for it :rotfl:

I've a bag I want to clear so i'm going to make tea and watch some TV and if I've the energy / mind to, in the ad breaks i'm going to try and work through it

Ooh - got card in sig below £2000 now :T Must post an update about credit card debt soon(ish) in case anyone's interested :rotfl: