Starting Afresh in 2017

StartingAfresh

Thanks all - I've downloaded the Wallet app, so thanks for the tip as well!
I'm cancelling HSBC and will check out other card options! I've heard bad reviews about their customer service, but I never expected it to be like this! Better to know now, I suppose!
This weekend plan's involve meeting an old school friend for lunch, a bit of yoga and not much else - grocery shopping for the week, cleaning room, all the boring stuff really. Looking forward to it, bizarrely!
I'm going to write out a meal plan for the week before shopping!
Have a good weekend, all

StartingAfresh

Hi All!

So, today has been quite low-key. I went to yoga (the cheapest classes I can find my city are £10 a go - yep! Told you it was expensive here); I used to go a couple of times a week, but I've scaled it back to three times a month and try and practice at home now. It's nice to go to the same class each time, actually; I feel like I'm getting to know the people there now!

I also went shopping and spent £16.55 on the weekly shop. I'm not eating meat this week - not consciously, I just haven't added it to my meal plan! - and I already have quite a lot of staple carbs in (cereal, pasta, bread, etc) which is why it's low. I bought lemons, avocados, red pepper, tomatoes, feta cheese, an aubergine, onions, chillies, carrots, sweet potatoes, chick peas, tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, some crisps, a bar of chocolate,hummus, mushrooms and peppermint tea.

My food plan this week:

Today - lunch is hummus and salad; make a sweet potato, aubergine and chickpea curry for dinner tonight, tomorrow and to freeze a portion
Tomorrow - egg on toast for breakfast, free lunch (I have an event at work), curry
Tuesday, egg on toast for breakfast, lunch with friends (this will be £5), tuna salad for dinner
Weds - cereal and fruit, tuna salad, make a mass veggie couscous with feta cheese
Thursday - cereal and fruit, couscous, make soup
Friday - toast, soup, couscous

Crisps or fruit for snacks!

So...hopefully, this will all work out! It's all quite healthy and things that are easy to make but not too boring. I have plans to meet a friend for a drink on Tuesday, but no dinner plans, and I might ask another friend to go for a walk.

I wish I could just have the kitchen to myself and have a big old mass cook - I'm in the mood for cooking/baking - but two of my housemates are downstairs cooking with their boyfriends, and a) there's no room for us all to cook and b) I'm not really feeling socialising today! I wish I lived alone (how anti-social, haha!) - it's one of the main reasons that's got me motivated to pay down debt actually. I've completely outgrown the house-sharing phase of my life; I just can't afford it!

For the rest of my afternoon, I'm blogging, reading and job hunting. Nice relaxing Sunday

Next week, I'm also finally cancelling my expensive phone insurance (£15 a month - I don't know why I agreed to it!) and looking into other balance transfer cards.

Treadingonplaymobil

Hi, just been reading your diary and the yoga stood out for me. Rather than going three times a month, you might find it more beneficial to have a more intensive week of going to classes once every 6 weeks or so. No guarantees, but personally i find that I get more the second or third day in a row I see a teacher, rather than going on random days. I practice at home (ashtanga) for several months without seeing a teacher, but I find those little week long sessions really move my practice along each time. And you might be able to get it down to three sessions every 5-6 weeks, rather than 3 per month, just to save a tiny bit more.

I hated house-sharing too (I'm not sure it's much better now it's a husband and three children I'm sharing with! :rotfl: ). Moving on from that is a great motivation got get your finances in order.

StartingAfresh

Tradingonplaymobil - that's good to hear! I'll give the classes in a row a go next month - you're probably right; I always find by the time Sunday rolls around, I'm feeling my progress from the week before has diminished, so it'll be interesting to compare this new way!

Today was a NSD! Yay! I didn't make my curry last night as I wasn't hungry, but I've made a big tuna, chickpea, tomato and pepper salad for dinner tonight and tomorrow - it's yummy!

I've also joined a survey website to see if I can make a bit of money on the side.

What I would have spent money on today:

I would have got some chicken to go with my dinner, but I dug out a can of tuna instead!

Plan for tomorrow:

Only take £5 into work for my lunch with my friends, so I'm not tempted to spend more!

Money's going to be tight for the next two weeks (pay day is two weeks today) but if I can have a few more NSDs this week, it will definitely help

boxofpaws

Wow, your meal planning and shopping is brilliant, i am in awe. :T

A place of your own is a great motivator for paying down the debt

StartingAfresh

Thanks, Boxofpaws! I do like cooking
So today, I spent £5 on lunch - but also spent £1.60 on a coffee, and £7 on some cleaning stuff and groceries after work. My friend and I ate dinner together this evening, but we ate dinner at home.
Today was also challenging. I was meant to go out for drinks tonight with a friend and I said no (she is someone who I ALWAYS spend money with, no matter what I say), and then i was meant to meet another friend, and I said no, and then I was meant to get a meal deal for two with my friend for £20, and I said no. I feel like a lot of this "new me" is just constantly saying no and feeling sad about it.
I'm also poor already - like my budget is sooo tight for the next twelve days. It's fine, I've dealt with it in my head, and I don't have much planned for the rest of the month. But I mentioned being skint to a colleague, who said "how are you poor already?" and I was so annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. To be fair, it's halfway through the month and I'm still breaking even, even with a few unexpected necessities like buying new glasses. I'd usually be poor within the first week and then flashing the credit card. My debt is still static at this point, too, and again I'd be spending away already. I definitely have some lifestyle changes to make, and I know the first few months of this will be hard, but it's quite exhausting constantly thinking about money, and stressing about it. I guess I was doing all the stressing before without thinking, anyway.
I read a few things on other people's diaries this week, and something stood out for me: that debt can be paid off in the long haul. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. And that's made me feel so much better. Sometimes, I sit at my desk and work and just obsessively add up my debt, and I feel sad that the number isn't drastically decreasing. But it's gone down a little bit this month, and again it'll go down a little bit the next, and the next. I can't just sit around feeling sorry for myself. The next few months will be filled with "no" and feeling a bit crap, and my friends being surprised that I'm not the "YOLO" person everyone knows, and feeling tight because I'm not the first one buying a round like always, but one day I won't need to think about this anymore, and my mindset will have changed.
I think I'm worrying too much at the moment. I want a new job so badly, and a new place to live, but it's all so connected to each other. It's hard to get time off for interviews, and I can't up and leave my job, and I can't find somewhere to live without a new job. I'm frustrated, and I'm sad.
But...one day at a time. And I know I'm lucky in a lot of ways.
Tomorrow is going to be a NSD, and my lunch is all prepared.
Now, I'm off to sip my tea and read my book!

Treadingonplaymobil

Sorry you're feeling a bit sad. It's hard sometimes. But remember, you are a new breed of YOLO-er - you are making the most of your one life by getting debt free so you can fully enjoy it.

Bobarella

It is a very good point about it being a long haul thing. I often get that itch to zap the debt feeling but stablising the monthly budget is so much more important I think. Personally!

StartingAfresh

Thanks TOPM - and Bobarella, you're so right! The past month has been an interesting experiment in my budgeting, and what has worked/not worked. I've attempted to pay off huge amounts of debt before and left myself a small budget to live off, and it's never worked - I spend it all up and more if I do that! So...slow and steady to win the race! At least whilst I fit my budgeting hat on.
I do feel a bit better this morning - it turned out I was particularly grumpy last night due to a certain time of the month today (sorry, all! haha!) - but hey! I feel more optimistic today.
Here's to a NSD! Just eaten my breakfast and packed up my snacks and lunch - bit of perspective: I left the radio on upstairs, and by the time I'd prepared everything, made a cup of tea and my toast, and come back upstairs, the same song was still playing! That's how little time it takes!
So next time you think "God, i really don't want to make my lunch today"...just put a song on and make it to the time of that!
Happy hump day, all!

Bobarella

Wow what song was it? Bohemian Rhapsody